Bright-sided: How the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich.
Another entertaining and enlightening book by Barbara E. Her conclusion in this book is to try to have a realistic outlook on life. And what I really like about this book (and her others that I've read) is that they seem to present such an honest look at American society. The book is not advocating that we should be miserable, but that obsessively trying to be positive is not a good approach either. She points out how this approach tends to put the blame on the victim. Like, if only you had a better attitude, your cancer would've improved, or you would've been promoted or not fired. Moreover, such an attitude can also distract us from taking more meaningful action about the bad things that happen.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Your Child's Strengths
Your Child's Strengths: Discover Them, Develop Them, and Use Them; A Guide for Parents and Teachers by Jenifer Fox.
The basic premise of the book is that too much emphasis is placed on trying to fix what's wrong with kids, rather than trying to leverage what their strengths are. And, by strengths, she means not strictly what someone is talented at, but what makes someone feel strong ("...strengths are the things that we do that make us feel energized and alive when we do them"). The example she used, which I kind of like, was when she asked her dog if she wanted to play ball - immediately the dog's ears perked up. That's the kind of engagement and interest she wants to leverage in children.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I like a lot of what this book is about, how the author's approach looks to value every child. On the other hand, it comes across a bit too self-righteous like so many self/child-improvement/positive psychology books. She wants every school to adopt her program and really thinks it's what's missing across the country both in schools and in people's lives generally.
However, she really doesn't back up her theory with much besides her personal experience as an educator - no studies, research, or even a very coherently laid out model/theory.
While I haven't made it through the last workbook-like section, I'm a bit leary. However, I plan to at least read through and hope to gain some tips. Maybe I'll feel different after or at least gain a few useful nuggets.
The basic premise of the book is that too much emphasis is placed on trying to fix what's wrong with kids, rather than trying to leverage what their strengths are. And, by strengths, she means not strictly what someone is talented at, but what makes someone feel strong ("...strengths are the things that we do that make us feel energized and alive when we do them"). The example she used, which I kind of like, was when she asked her dog if she wanted to play ball - immediately the dog's ears perked up. That's the kind of engagement and interest she wants to leverage in children.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I like a lot of what this book is about, how the author's approach looks to value every child. On the other hand, it comes across a bit too self-righteous like so many self/child-improvement/positive psychology books. She wants every school to adopt her program and really thinks it's what's missing across the country both in schools and in people's lives generally.
However, she really doesn't back up her theory with much besides her personal experience as an educator - no studies, research, or even a very coherently laid out model/theory.
While I haven't made it through the last workbook-like section, I'm a bit leary. However, I plan to at least read through and hope to gain some tips. Maybe I'll feel different after or at least gain a few useful nuggets.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Fat and Mean
Fat and Mean: The Corporate Squeeze of Working Americans and the myth of managerial "downsizing" by David M. Gordon
The two themes of the book are how American corporations are both fat and mean. Corporations are fat by having bloated levels of management. And, they are mean by having a heavy-handed, top-down approach to management that he calls the "stick approach" and is comparatively adversarial with labor.
Though the book is now somewhat dated, it's message seems more relevant than ever. Though it seems there are still pockets of companies that work cooperatively with their employees, it still seems like these are exceptional. In fact, I would guess that even most employees, much less the average manager, can't fathom that things could be much different.
Some interesting quotes:
"Low road companies try to squeeze the last ounce out of older capital equipment, " Bennett Harrison observes, "rather than steadily retooling and upgrading their technical capabilities."
The two themes of the book are how American corporations are both fat and mean. Corporations are fat by having bloated levels of management. And, they are mean by having a heavy-handed, top-down approach to management that he calls the "stick approach" and is comparatively adversarial with labor.
Though the book is now somewhat dated, it's message seems more relevant than ever. Though it seems there are still pockets of companies that work cooperatively with their employees, it still seems like these are exceptional. In fact, I would guess that even most employees, much less the average manager, can't fathom that things could be much different.
Some interesting quotes:
"Low road companies try to squeeze the last ounce out of older capital equipment, " Bennett Harrison observes, "rather than steadily retooling and upgrading their technical capabilities."
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Free Range Kids
I'm adding this almost two month after I read this book, but wanted to add some thoughts to remember it by.
I'm generally pretty skeptical about parenting books, but was pleasantly surprised by this one. I had been intrigued about it upon reading the genesis of the book, how the author let her 10 year old son ride the subway by himself and how she got all kinds of attention, mostly negative, from the press for it. Rather than offer formulaic ways to raise kids, the book advocates that children need independence and opportunities to make decisions (that matter) in order to grow and become responsible people. She notes how many of the supposed dangers that parents go to extreme measures to protect their children from, are not statistically speaking all that risky. What's worse, many of the protective measures have negative repercussions. For instance, she points out that letting kids walk to school is generally quite safe (as safe as it's ever been) but with so many parents driving kids to school, kids are missing out on good exercise, getting to know their neighborhood, and most ironic of is that around half all of pedestrian accidents for kids walking to school involve cars being driven by parents driving their kids to school!
She also points out how many of the risks are exaggerated, surprise, surprise, by companies trying to sell products. (In this regard, this book makes a great complement to the book Consuming Kids).
Clearly, parents needs to take steps to keep their kids safe, but this book makes a compelling case that we're going a few steps too far.
I'm generally pretty skeptical about parenting books, but was pleasantly surprised by this one. I had been intrigued about it upon reading the genesis of the book, how the author let her 10 year old son ride the subway by himself and how she got all kinds of attention, mostly negative, from the press for it. Rather than offer formulaic ways to raise kids, the book advocates that children need independence and opportunities to make decisions (that matter) in order to grow and become responsible people. She notes how many of the supposed dangers that parents go to extreme measures to protect their children from, are not statistically speaking all that risky. What's worse, many of the protective measures have negative repercussions. For instance, she points out that letting kids walk to school is generally quite safe (as safe as it's ever been) but with so many parents driving kids to school, kids are missing out on good exercise, getting to know their neighborhood, and most ironic of is that around half all of pedestrian accidents for kids walking to school involve cars being driven by parents driving their kids to school!
She also points out how many of the risks are exaggerated, surprise, surprise, by companies trying to sell products. (In this regard, this book makes a great complement to the book Consuming Kids).
Clearly, parents needs to take steps to keep their kids safe, but this book makes a compelling case that we're going a few steps too far.
The Management Myth
This is quite a compelling book by Matthew Stewart. It is primarily a critique of modern management "theory", which it does by investigating the shoddy science of management "gurus" starting with Taylor, followed by Mayo, Drucker, Peters and others. He points out how these supposed experts are great at explaining the past, but offer little in predicting the future - that is, there is no real science behind their advice. The book also follows the author's own history as a management consultant. This insider view shows how management consulting firms actually work (or don't work as is often the case). It's a quite entertaining and captivating story.
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