Book Club... And Then Some!
Your brain at work: Strategies for overcoming distraction, regaining focus, and working smarter all day long
by David Rock
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
This is a 286-page book with 22 1/2 pages of notes.
Rock writes the following about the purpose of his book: “This book will help you work smarter, be more focused and productive, stay cool under pressure, reduce the length of meetings, and even tackle the hardest challenge of all: influencing other people. Along the way it may help you be a better parent and partner, and perhaps even live longer” (p. xi).
The real value of the book—beyond the practical suggestions and ideas—is the scientific research Rock uses to support his various courses of change. It is certainly sufficient to convince you that Rock’s ideas are sound and the changes you can make will work.
The fun of this book comes from the way Rock approaches his content. He presents it as a story: “This story involves two characters, Emily and Paul, as they experience a set of challenges over a single day at work. As you watch Emily and Paul,” Rock writes, “go through their day, some of the smartest neuroscientists in the world will explain why they struggle with their email, schedules, and colleagues. Even better, you will also get to see what Emily and Paul might have done differently if they’d understood their brains better” (p. xii).
So we have here a four act play. The first act, “Problems and Decisions,” has six scenes, and they are activities most readers will find commonplace: being overwhelmed by emails, projects that hurt to think about them, juggling five things at once, saying no to distractions, searching for the zone of peak performance, and getting past roadblocks.
The second act, “Stay Cool Under Pressure,” includes three scenes: being derailed by drama, drowning amid uncertainty, and when expectations get out of control.
The third act, “Collaborate with Others,” includes three scenes: turning enemies into friends, when everything seems unfair, and the battle for status.
The fourth act, “Facilitate Change,” includes two scenes: when others lose the plot and the culture that needs to transform.
Notice throughout that the scenes are experiences with which we can all closely identify. There is a great deal of information in each chapter, and each chapter includes a section at the end, “Surprises About the Brain,” and another entitled, “Some Things to Try.”
Wendy Ulrich, author of, The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win, writes the following about Rock’s book: “As a psychologist with a business background, I found this book extremely worth the read. It is not that often that I get a personal ah-ha from a book these days, but this one did the job. I learned several things that were personally extremely helpful and that gave me very specific ideas about how to work more effectively, understand how to work with others better, and stay out of common work traps. I found the style as well as the science approachable and useful. I'll be buying this one for family members and talking about it with friends. Well worth the read.”
I found the information in Rock’s book both interesting and attention-grasping, the suggestions practical and valuable, the revised scenarios (from what Emily and Paul chose to do in the original scenario) excellent, on point, insightful, and worth considering. This book has the potential of changing many things in your life.
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This book is available from Amazon.com: Your brain at work: Strategies for overcoming distraction, regaining focus, and working smarter all day long.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Brain sense: The science of the senses and how we process the world around us
Book Club... And Then Some!
Brain sense: The science of the senses and how we process the world around us
by Faith Hickman Brynie
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
This is a 274-page book with 26 pages of notes, two-and-one half pages of “Recommended Resources,” an eight-page index, and a 15-page “Appendix,” on the brain and the nervous system. The point: the book is to be taken seriously.
There are 218 pages of content and 30 chapters; thus, each chapter averages about 7.3 pages long
Brynie explains her book in the preface: “It’s part memoir because it’s my opportunity to reminisce about some things I’ve learned from science and from life. It’s part investigative reporting because I’ve delved into the work of some cutting-edge researchers who are designing clever experiments to gain answers to questions that we didn’t even know how to ask a decade ago. It’s part biography because I want you to know—as I have come to know—what real scientists are like as they work in real labs on real questions that have never before been answered. It’s part textbook because basic knowledge about how our senses work is important to everyone. It’s part history because we can’t appreciate where we’re going if we don’t value where we’ve been. It’s part newspaper because it contains some of the late-breaking stories that are making headlines on a daily basis. It’s part travel journal because I invite you to fly with me as I visit working neuroscientists . . . . It’s part personality profiles because the scientists I met and talked with are intriguing people, doing interesting work and living full and satisfying lives . . .” (p. xiv). She also adds that her book is a tribute to courage and to some wonderful people . . . and, too, a love letter to science and scientists.
Here is a warning to future readers of this book: It is so full of interesting details, fascinating anecdotes, findings that you will have trouble believing, personal insights and revelations, as well as a wealth of information about the way your brain works, that you will have trouble putting the book down. The trouble is: it all relates to us personally and intimately. I absolutely devoured Brynie’s every word. (But I have to offer a caveat here: I studied science for five years as a pre-med student thinking he was going into medicine as a career; thus, I have more than just a simple curiosity about the kinds of things Brynie discusses.)
Annie, a neurology nurse, wrote the following as part of her review of Brynie’s book at Amazon.com: “So, while you're getting the latest and greatest on sensory research, you also somehow come out of it with a lot more than you already knew about the fundamentals of the brain. I do this for a living, and I was still discovering new things on almost every page. I think this is a great recommendation for students, families of people with brain injuries, or just about anybody with a passion for discovering what those crazy scientists have come up with now.”
Well-written, down-to-earth, practical, and yet full of wonderfully interesting substance, this is a valuable book that is just plain fun to read.
-----
This book is both available from Amazon.com: Brain sense: The science of the senses and how we process the world around us
Brain sense: The science of the senses and how we process the world around us
by Faith Hickman Brynie
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
This is a 274-page book with 26 pages of notes, two-and-one half pages of “Recommended Resources,” an eight-page index, and a 15-page “Appendix,” on the brain and the nervous system. The point: the book is to be taken seriously.
There are 218 pages of content and 30 chapters; thus, each chapter averages about 7.3 pages long
Brynie explains her book in the preface: “It’s part memoir because it’s my opportunity to reminisce about some things I’ve learned from science and from life. It’s part investigative reporting because I’ve delved into the work of some cutting-edge researchers who are designing clever experiments to gain answers to questions that we didn’t even know how to ask a decade ago. It’s part biography because I want you to know—as I have come to know—what real scientists are like as they work in real labs on real questions that have never before been answered. It’s part textbook because basic knowledge about how our senses work is important to everyone. It’s part history because we can’t appreciate where we’re going if we don’t value where we’ve been. It’s part newspaper because it contains some of the late-breaking stories that are making headlines on a daily basis. It’s part travel journal because I invite you to fly with me as I visit working neuroscientists . . . . It’s part personality profiles because the scientists I met and talked with are intriguing people, doing interesting work and living full and satisfying lives . . .” (p. xiv). She also adds that her book is a tribute to courage and to some wonderful people . . . and, too, a love letter to science and scientists.
Here is a warning to future readers of this book: It is so full of interesting details, fascinating anecdotes, findings that you will have trouble believing, personal insights and revelations, as well as a wealth of information about the way your brain works, that you will have trouble putting the book down. The trouble is: it all relates to us personally and intimately. I absolutely devoured Brynie’s every word. (But I have to offer a caveat here: I studied science for five years as a pre-med student thinking he was going into medicine as a career; thus, I have more than just a simple curiosity about the kinds of things Brynie discusses.)
Annie, a neurology nurse, wrote the following as part of her review of Brynie’s book at Amazon.com: “So, while you're getting the latest and greatest on sensory research, you also somehow come out of it with a lot more than you already knew about the fundamentals of the brain. I do this for a living, and I was still discovering new things on almost every page. I think this is a great recommendation for students, families of people with brain injuries, or just about anybody with a passion for discovering what those crazy scientists have come up with now.”
Well-written, down-to-earth, practical, and yet full of wonderfully interesting substance, this is a valuable book that is just plain fun to read.
-----
This book is both available from Amazon.com: Brain sense: The science of the senses and how we process the world around us
Monday, September 13, 2010
Monday Morning Motivation: Five Steps to Energize Your Team, Customers, and Profits
Book Club... And Then Some!
Monday Morning Motivation: Five Steps to Energize Your Team, Customers, and Profits
by David Cottrell
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
It appears from the front of this book that this is the sixth book in Cottrell’s “Monday Morning” series. The five steps he discusses in this 176-page small book are synchronization, speed, communication, customer passion, and integrity. Prior to discussing these topics, he explains the use of the formula E=mc2—in which E represents energy, m represents mass, and c represents the square of the speed of light in a vacuum. .He uses it to help explain his “Leadership Energy Equation,” motivation, and the positive energy required to empower people to achieve their targets.
This book, says the author, “is a blueprint showing how successful organizations and their leaders use energy to drive individual motivation in order to survive and thrive in any economic condition” (p. 6). He goes on to say, “The techniques offered in this book will provide you with the necessary tools to harness the energy of your organization, move it to higher levels of achievement, and emerge from any economic condition stronger and more resilient” (p. 6).
Each chapter ends with discussion questions and blanks that you can fill in to apply the chapter’s content to your own specific business or organization. This is clearly designed to be used as a workbook, and what Cottrell would like to see is business associates (or teams) getting together on Monday mornings—for the course of the book—to discuss the chapters and write specific ideas to accomplish what he writes about.
The book is well written, the examples are short and to the point, the content appears to be on target (simple and easy to understand), the questions at the end of chapters are useful, and the suggestions Cottrell makes for improving organizations appear sound, practical, and easy to apply. I think this would be an interesting and useful book for business associates or teams to use, and the idea of gathering on a series of Monday mornings to discuss the topics using the questions, and suggest ways the organization can improve, would be a great way to bring people together, help people move forward with specific guidelines and ideas, and build coherence and unity.
-----
This book is both available from Amazon.com: Monday Morning Motivation: Five Steps to Energize Your Team, Customers, and Profits
Monday Morning Motivation: Five Steps to Energize Your Team, Customers, and Profits
by David Cottrell
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
It appears from the front of this book that this is the sixth book in Cottrell’s “Monday Morning” series. The five steps he discusses in this 176-page small book are synchronization, speed, communication, customer passion, and integrity. Prior to discussing these topics, he explains the use of the formula E=mc2—in which E represents energy, m represents mass, and c represents the square of the speed of light in a vacuum. .He uses it to help explain his “Leadership Energy Equation,” motivation, and the positive energy required to empower people to achieve their targets.
This book, says the author, “is a blueprint showing how successful organizations and their leaders use energy to drive individual motivation in order to survive and thrive in any economic condition” (p. 6). He goes on to say, “The techniques offered in this book will provide you with the necessary tools to harness the energy of your organization, move it to higher levels of achievement, and emerge from any economic condition stronger and more resilient” (p. 6).
Each chapter ends with discussion questions and blanks that you can fill in to apply the chapter’s content to your own specific business or organization. This is clearly designed to be used as a workbook, and what Cottrell would like to see is business associates (or teams) getting together on Monday mornings—for the course of the book—to discuss the chapters and write specific ideas to accomplish what he writes about.
The book is well written, the examples are short and to the point, the content appears to be on target (simple and easy to understand), the questions at the end of chapters are useful, and the suggestions Cottrell makes for improving organizations appear sound, practical, and easy to apply. I think this would be an interesting and useful book for business associates or teams to use, and the idea of gathering on a series of Monday mornings to discuss the topics using the questions, and suggest ways the organization can improve, would be a great way to bring people together, help people move forward with specific guidelines and ideas, and build coherence and unity.
This book is both available from Amazon.com: Monday Morning Motivation: Five Steps to Energize Your Team, Customers, and Profits
Monday, September 6, 2010
Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Book Club... And Then Some!
Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
by Chris Hedges
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
“The sky is falling, the sky is falling,” said Chicken Little. In Hedges’ book, one reviewer—Jiang Xuequin of Toronto, Canada, says, “Chris Hedges writes in the lucid and cogent manner of a powerful intellectual who has become disgusted and contemptuous, angry and frustrated at the lame and stupid culture he finds himself suddenly imprisoned in. Unfettered market capitalism, corporate interests, and America’s oligarch have conspired to create a ‘brave new world’ of lies and stupidity that everyone hold dearly to be truth and wisdom.” Now, doesn’t that just sound like Chicken Little—"’The sky is falling,’ has passed into the English language,” says Wikipedia, “as a common idiom indicating an hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent.” I am not suggesting that Hedges is mistaken, but what I am suggesting is that his plea is intense and, perhaps, even hysterical. (Actually, I love it!)
Hedges includes five essays here: “The Illusion of . . . 1) Literacy, 2) Love, 3) Wisdom, 4) Happiness, and 5) America. Within these categories, Hedges draws his examples from industries as diverse as entertainment, wrestling, pornography, education, testing, wellness, celebrity, news, defense, armaments, health care, infrastructure, transportation, finance, and more.
The overall conclusion by Hedges is captures well by Xuequin in his review, and it’s a position I fully support as well: “People have chosen, and given a choice they have proven to everyone that they will do what human nature dictates and choose to live lives where they can enjoy their laziness and stupidity, and ignore critics who are trying to get them to read books and criticize.”
This is a well-written, meticulous, shocking yet honest, thorough analysis of how the American public is being seduced by advertisements, reality television, infotainment, and the “social” Internet, and how they are pathetic slaves to what they hear (and believe) on television, radio, and the Internet.
Hedges writes, “A public that can no longer distinguish between truth and fiction is left to interpret reality through illusion.” The book is a relevant, real, sombering wake-up call that everyone should read. Yes, “the sky is falling,” and Hedges offers a wonderful, captivating, well-researched and documented explanation of where and why it is happening and how everyone will be affected. Read it.
-----
This book is available from Amazon.com: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
by Chris Hedges
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
“The sky is falling, the sky is falling,” said Chicken Little. In Hedges’ book, one reviewer—Jiang Xuequin of Toronto, Canada, says, “Chris Hedges writes in the lucid and cogent manner of a powerful intellectual who has become disgusted and contemptuous, angry and frustrated at the lame and stupid culture he finds himself suddenly imprisoned in. Unfettered market capitalism, corporate interests, and America’s oligarch have conspired to create a ‘brave new world’ of lies and stupidity that everyone hold dearly to be truth and wisdom.” Now, doesn’t that just sound like Chicken Little—"’The sky is falling,’ has passed into the English language,” says Wikipedia, “as a common idiom indicating an hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent.” I am not suggesting that Hedges is mistaken, but what I am suggesting is that his plea is intense and, perhaps, even hysterical. (Actually, I love it!)
Hedges includes five essays here: “The Illusion of . . . 1) Literacy, 2) Love, 3) Wisdom, 4) Happiness, and 5) America. Within these categories, Hedges draws his examples from industries as diverse as entertainment, wrestling, pornography, education, testing, wellness, celebrity, news, defense, armaments, health care, infrastructure, transportation, finance, and more.
The overall conclusion by Hedges is captures well by Xuequin in his review, and it’s a position I fully support as well: “People have chosen, and given a choice they have proven to everyone that they will do what human nature dictates and choose to live lives where they can enjoy their laziness and stupidity, and ignore critics who are trying to get them to read books and criticize.”
This is a well-written, meticulous, shocking yet honest, thorough analysis of how the American public is being seduced by advertisements, reality television, infotainment, and the “social” Internet, and how they are pathetic slaves to what they hear (and believe) on television, radio, and the Internet.
Hedges writes, “A public that can no longer distinguish between truth and fiction is left to interpret reality through illusion.” The book is a relevant, real, sombering wake-up call that everyone should read. Yes, “the sky is falling,” and Hedges offers a wonderful, captivating, well-researched and documented explanation of where and why it is happening and how everyone will be affected. Read it.
This book is available from Amazon.com: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
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