When you type the word “serendipity” in a word-processor application such as Microsoft Word, the autocorrection engine suggests you choose other words like “luck” or “fate”. This correcting act turns out to be incorrect. However, it points to the reality that serendipity is not a familiar English word and can be misunderstood easily. Serendipity is a very much scientific concept as it has been found useful in numerous scientific discoveries, pharmaceutical innovations, and numerous humankind’s technical and technological advances. Therefore, there have been many books written around the concept. So why do we need this additional book? This is not just another book about serendipity. It has evolved from the Editor’s question lingering for a decade after finishing his widely cited article (coauthored with Prof. Nancy K. Napier of Boise State University, ID, USA) “Serendipity as a strategic advantage?” in T. Wilkinson’s edited volume Strategic Management in the 21st Century, published by Praeger. The Editor and contributing authors have tried to achieve the following in this title. Demystifying the Serendipity Myth The phenomenon of serendipity has always been thought of as a “miracle”. It is the mystery of human innovation and one of the ultimate secrets of our society. But serendipity is not just a lucky coincidence nor any hidden conspiracy. This book explores the science of the information process behind this seemingly miraculous phenomenon. It connects human society with nature, going back to the root of our existence and looking at the flame of survival to discover the harmony in making creativity. Presenting the nuts and bolts of being an adventurer of science The authors present their conceptual investigations into serendipity’s nature and its mechanism by examining interesting real events and stories. The content is thought-provoking, and readers are led to question and explore their own life stories and problems along the journey of reading this book. Catching an elusive high-value target requires great strategies and efforts. But there are no dark secrets here because this is the “way of nature” – how we humans have always strived for innovation without realizing the blueprints behind such processes. Unlike other books on serendipity, this book will show you that a powerful “secret” is closer than you think. Delivering practical uses for different audiences By understanding the conditionality and survival drivers of serendipity, individuals or organizations can make better decisions on creating the right environment to facilitate the encounter and attainment of this valuable phenomenon. For scientists: With clear explanations of the information processes underlying serendipity, flexible theoretical frameworks of mindsponge and the 3D principle of creativity, researchers are provided with the tools they need to dig deeper into their own fields of study and find practical applications, be it psychology, economics, sociology, or anything that involves innovation (which is, in fact, every scientific discipline). For curious casual readers: Everybody needs innovation to make breakthroughs or spice up one’s life. If you think great ideas come to people randomly from an unknown fairy place, this book will convince you otherwise without taking away that awe and wonder. But above all, you will know how to become more creative, scientifically and straightforwardly, with no snake oil and no weird tricks. For ambitious business people: The flame that brought about great successes throughout human history is within you. But you can only use it if you understand it. While others wait for serendipity to come, you will be able to actively hunt for those precious moments. As it has always been: the best hunters triumph, not the passive wanderers. And in this age of information chaos, finding the golden fruits is not easy. Those from information technology know this problem well, and this book is the treasure map that they have been seeking to navigate that stormy ocean looking for jewels. Like a kingfisher tracking its prey through the water, waiting to gracefully strike, with serendipity, a person seizes the prize of creativity amid the chaos of life. ¤ ¤ ¤ Official introduction: The book explores the nature, underlying causes, and the information processing mechanism of serendipity. It proposes that natural or social survival demands drive serendipity, and serendipity is conditional on the environment and the mindset, on both individual and collective levels. From Darwin's evolution theory to Sun Tzu's war tactics, major innovations throughout human history are unified by this key concept. In the rapidly changing world, information is abundant but rather chaotic. The adaptive power of serendipity allows people to notice treasures within this wild sea, but only for those who understand how it works. To increase the probability of encountering and attaining serendipity, one should employ the mindsponge mechanism and the 3D process of creativity, for without these frameworks, serendipity is truly an elusive target. The book also discusses methods to build environments and cultures rich in navigational and useful information to maximize the chance of finding and capitalizing on serendipity. As a skill, serendipity has a resemblance to how kingfishers observe and hunt their prey.

(Third edition with additions) This is a collection of short stories centering around the protagonist character, Kingfisher, originally written in Vietnamese. The book aims to introduce international readers to snippets of Vietnamese culture through the ordinary yet humorous life of the bird village. The first 15 of these short stories were published in the Khoảng Lặng (Quiet Moment) column of the Vietnamese magazine Kinh Tế và Dự Báo (Economy and Forecast Review) from 2017 to 2019. However, this is the first time that the collection of all the Kingfisher stories has been published in its entirety, covering stories that have not been published elsewhere, including new stories written during 2023-2024. The stories of Kingfisher are full of humor and satire while also deep in social commentary. I hope that the book brings readers joy and some food for thought, for beyond satire is genuine contemplation of the humanistic values in life. Hanoi, August 21, 2024 Quan-Hoang Vuong (Incld. Artworks by Bui Quang Khiem and Dam Thi Thu Ha)

This discussion shows that a new approach to an enlarged definition (or view or notion) will likely empower us to more effectively consider different notions of value across research or professional disciplines--economic, socio-cultural, or humanistic--under a more enabling theoretical paradigm. It is because now the key ingredients, i.e., information, quantum states, interactions, information entropy, and probabilistic assignments, will help build productive thinking apparatuses from basic granules. ~~~ Please cite it as: Vuong, Q. H., & Nguyen, M. H. (2024). Further on informational quanta, interactions, and entropy under the granular view of value formation. https://ssrn.com/abstract=4922461

A comprehensive textbook, "Strategic Management and Business Policy: Globalisation, Innovation, and Sustainability" examines the intricate dynamics of contemporary business environments. It provides a detailed examination of strategic management principles and their implementation in the modern, globalised world of fast change. Environmental analysis, formulation, implementation, and evaluation are some of the foundational concepts that are covered in the book to help readers gain an understanding of strategic management. Following this, the complexities of business policy are investigated, including how organisations can formulate and execute efficient strategies to accomplish their objectives. The book places significant emphasis on the concept of globalisation, acknowledging the interdependence of international markets, economics, and cultures. It addresses issues pertaining to cross-border competition, cultural diversity, and international expansion, as well as the opportunities and challenges that globalisation presents. The significance of creativity and adaptation in driving organisational success is brought to light by the book's focus on innovation, which is another key topic of the book. It investigates the role of technology in promoting innovation and explores a variety of strategies for nurturing innovation within organisations, including process enhancement and product development. The book emphasises the significance of incorporating sustainable practices into strategic decision-making, which is essential in today's corporate environment, when sustainability is a critical issue. Practical understanding of business policy and strategic management is imparted through the book's extensive use of real-world case studies and illustrations. Through the use of these examples, fundamental ideas and principles are brought to life, enabling readers to apply theoretical knowledge to situations that occur in the real world.

Drawing on the theories and philosophies of Deleuze and Guattari, this edited collection explores the concept of rhizomatic learning and consolidates recent explorations in theory building and multidisciplinary research to identify new directions in the field. Knowledge transfer is no longer a fixed process. Rhizomatic learning posits that learning is a continuous, dynamic process, making connections, using multiple paths, without beginnings, and ending in a nomadic style. The chapters in this book examine these notions and how they intersect with a contemporary and future global society. Tracking the development of the field from postructuralist thinking to nomadic pedagogy, this book goes beyond philosophy to examine rhizomatic learning within the real world of education. It highlights innovative methods, frameworks, and controversies, as well as creative and unique approaches to both the theory and practice of rhizomatic learning. Bringing together international contributors to provide new insights into pedagogy for 21st-century learning, this book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and postgraduate students in education and adjacent fields.

The contribution of the data paper publishing paradigm to the knowledge generation and validation processes is becoming substantial and pivotal. In this paper, through the information-processing perspective of Mindsponge Theory, we discuss how the data article publishing system serves as a filtering mechanism for quality control of the increasingly chaotic datasphere. The overemphasis on machine-actionality and technical standards presents some shortcomings and limitations of the data article publishing system, such as the lack of consideration of humanistic values, radical race for big data, and inadequate use of expertise in data evaluation. Without addressing the shortcomings and limitations, the reusability of data will be hindered, and scientific investment to facilitate data sharing will be wasted. Thus, we suggest that the current data paper publishing paradigm needs to be updated with a new philosophy of data.

Despite the remarkable cognitive power, humans are not alien beings living in their isolated universe but part of the Earth’s biosphere – a dynamic, intelligent system. The working of the human mind and society is built upon and follows the principles of the natural world. In today’s modern society, where technological advancement has significantly increased information accessibility to new knowledge, social sciences can greatly benefit from discoveries in natural sciences. In this book, the latest findings in life sciences are used as evidence to demonstrate and explain the mechanisms of psychological and social information processes. Mindsponge is a novel theory of information processing in the human mind. The mechanisms of information processing are present in all levels of the natural world – from ecological and physiological down to cellular and molecular. As a subset of nature, humans express these patterns in the way we think, believe, behave, and establish social constructs. By looking at the intelligent “minds” of nature, a more accurate framework for human cognition can be logically derived. The mindsponge theory reflects the physical, chemical, and biological laws upon the mental world, not the other way around. Throughout the book, readers will find interesting, often hilarious, stories of both the natural and social world, accompanied by clear scientific explanations and evidence. Each story brings to the table yet another angle to look at the unified principle of information processing within the biosphere: survive and thrive! The book also provides original quantitative findings employing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) to demonstrate the consistency and applicability of the theory in studying psychological and social phenomena.

Academia is a competitive environment. Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are limited in experience and resources and especially need achievements to secure and expand their careers. To help with these issues, this book offers a new approach for conducting research using the combination of mindsponge innovative thinking and Bayesian analytics. This is not just another analytics book. 1. A new perspective on psychological processes: Mindsponge is a novel approach for examining the human mind’s information processing mechanism. This conceptual framework is used to construct models in studies. The framework is highly flexible and widely applicable for many different types of information processes. The mindsponge approach can help researchers discover interesting ideas or even formulate their very own theories when investigating psychosocial phenomena. This approach brings a fresh wind to the current landscape of social sciences and humanities (SSH). 2. Easy-to-follow analysis protocol: The Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF analytics) is useful in terms of computing and visualizing power but also easy to learn and apply. Contrary to being intimidating, the Bayesian analytics section of this book is presented in a reader-friendly manner with a detailed yet clear step-by-step procedure. Examples are from published BMF articles, allowing readers to immediately practice the method and quickly create their own applications. With educational purposes in mind, the book is very suitable for ECRs who are looking to innovate their research methods. 3. Advocating for low-cost, high-quality research: Doing science can be very costly. Mindsponge innovative thinking and BMF analytics help produce impactful studies using openly available data on online repositories. This is based on the authors’ previous works and experiences. The book presents examples of employing the open R package bayesvl on secondary data from different sources. With less financial constraints, researchers can have more freedom of thought to pursue their curiosity and creativity. ECRs in low- and middle-income countries may find this aspect crucial in their careers. 4. Support and collaboration: The authors share their insights from experiences in the academic publishing system to help readers get through the processes of manuscript writing and peer-reviewing more easily. The authors are also ready to support other researchers with further inquiries and collaboration opportunities at the following website, https://mindsponge.info. This book is for: a) ECRs whose only abundant resources are their innovation capacity and strength of will; b) Researchers in SSH who want to explore a novel approach to thinking and study conducting; c) Low- and middle-income countries’ researchers looking for a cost-effective research protocol; and, d) Innovative thinkers who want to turn their interesting thoughts into good publications.

Learning from the quantum and information theories, we provide a new definition of value, which is expected to help economists relax assumptions and loosen established economic principles in order to change and evolve. The new definition is also expected to enable social scientists to address newly arising phenomena or events that are not accounted for by existing value systems, such as environmental crises, artificial intelligence (AI), and interdisciplinary information, more proactively and productively. We hope that, by incorporating the quantum physics perspective into the interpretation of information and value, social scientists, particularly economists, will offer more reliable predictions and advice for societal transitions toward sustainability. Hanoi, July 21, 2024