Book it!

Borrow Kindle Library Books

2011-09-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how excited I am about Amazon.com's announcement that library books can now be checked out to a Kindle or Kindle app!

Borrow Kindle Books from Your Local Library

You can check out a Kindle book from your local library and read it on any generation Kindle device or free Kindle reading app.

When you borrow a Kindle public library book, you'll have access to all the unique features of Kindle books, including real page numbers and Whispersync technology that synchronizes your notes, highlights, and last page read. After a public library book expires, if you check it out again or choose to purchase it from the Kindle store, all of your annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

Kindle books are available at more than 11,000 libraries in the U.S.

How It Works
You can borrow Kindle books from your local library's website and, with the click of a button, have them delivered to your Kindle device or free reading app.

• Visit the website of a U.S. library that offers digital services from OverDrive.

• Check out a Kindle book (using a valid library card).

• Click on "Get for Kindle" and then sign in to your Amazon.com account to have the book delivered to your Kindle device or reading app.

Note: Public library books can be sent wirelessly to Kindle devices via an active Wi-Fi connection or transferred via USB.

Help
For technical assistance and frequently asked questions, please visit the Help page.

For questions about availability of Kindle library books, loan duration, and terms of use, please contact your local library.

We welcome your feedback at kindle-publiclibraries-feedback@amazon.com.

I'm so excited that I've already put 5 Kindle books on hold with my local library:

The 19th Wife: A Novel by David Ebershoff
Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base by Annie Jacobsen
The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain
The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement by David Brooks

Yippee!

That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World and How We can Come Back

2011-09-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

Just got to read a sneak preview of Thomas L Friedman's new book That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World and How We can Come Back:

Alexis de Tocqueville was a French aristocrat, born in 1805, who visited the United States in 1831 and 1832 with the intention of studying its prisons. In 1835 he published Democracy in America, based on his travels and investigations. Of all the thousands of books written about this country, Tocqueville's remains one of the best, with insights into American society, American values, American institutions, and the American national character that remain valid and relevant 175 years later.

Suppose that Tocqueville, with his intellectual gifts and powers of analysis, had been born in, say, 1970. His aristocratic background would have had no bearing on his career. He probably would have gone to one of France's elite schools but might not have taken part in French politics, as the original Tocqueville did. Nor would he necessarily have joined, and risen in, the country's national bureaucracy, as men of his caliber did for much of the twentieth century but did less frequently at that century's end. Instead, he might well have continued his education abroad. He might have studied history at an English university, spent a few years in Asia, earned a degree from Harvard or Stanford business school, and then done what many people with a cosmopolitan background and analytical gifts did at the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first: join an international consulting firm.

Suppose, further, that that firm was commissioned by a large multinational corporation to prepare, under Tocqueville's direction, an assessment of the United States as a place in which to invest and to do business in the second decade of the twenty-first century and beyond. The report that emerged from that assessment would be the work of many hands, filled with charts, graphs, statistics, and PowerPoint presentations. Tocqueville himself would likely write the conclusion, based on his own travels, conversations, and ruminations. We think it might read something like this:

Click here to continue reading a PDF version of the chapter "Shock Therapy" from That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World and How We can Come Back.

Can't wait to get my hands on a copy!

Ellen Feldman's Next to Love

2011-08-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to read Ellen Feldman's Next to Love:

Set in a small town in Massachusetts, Next to Love follows three childhood friends, Babe, Millie, and Grace, whose lives are unmoored when their men are called to duty. Beautifully crafted and unforgettable, Ellen Feldman skillfully depicts the enduring power of love and friendship, and illuminates a transformational moment in American history.

She's also the author of Scottsboro, The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, and Lucy.

Books for the Buddhism Curious

2011-07-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

Interested in Buddhism? Then check out this exhaustive list of books that brought people to Buddhism:

Zen mind, Beginners Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chogyam Trunga
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
Awakening Compassion by Pema Chodron
Awakening to the Sacred by Lama Surya Das
Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das
The Tao of Sobriety by David Gregson
Dharma Punx by Noah Levine
One Breath at a Time by Kevin Edward Griffin
The Buddhist Path to Simplicity by Christina Feldman
Peace in Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula
Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Cow in the Parking Lot by Leonard Scheff and Susan Edmiston
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps
In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Bhodhi
The Middle Discourses by Bhikku Nanamoli
The Long Discourses by Maurice Walshe
The Connected Discourses by Bhikkhu Bhodhi
The Energy of Prayer: How to Deepen Your Spiritual Practice by Thich Nhat Hanh
Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en
Life of Milerapa by Lobsang Jivaka
The Way of Zen by Alan Watts
Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Taking the Path of Zen by Robert Aitken Roshi
The Three Pillars of Zen Philip Kapleau Roshi
Buddhism: An Introduction and Guide by Christmas Humphreys
Everyday Zen: Love & Work by Charlotte Joko Beck
Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction, Fourth Edition by Richard H. Robinson
Shobogenzo by Dogen
The Sound of Silence by Ajahn Sumedho
The Tibetan Book of the Dead as translated by Gyurme Dorje
Indestructible Truth by Reginald A. Ray
Secret of the Vajra World by Reginald A. Ray
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
How to Meditate by Kathleen McDonald
If the Buddha Got Stuck by Charlotte Sophia Kasl, Ph.D.
No Time to Lose by Pema Chodron
Buddhism Plain & Simple by Steve Hagen
Blue Jean Buddha: Voices of Young Buddhists edited by Sumi Loundon
Women's Buddhism, Buddhism's Women by Ellison Banks Findly
Getting Unstuck by Pema Chodron
Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron
Spirit of Zen by Alan Watts
Manual of Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki
On The Road by Jack Kerouac
How to Solve Our Human Problems by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Turning the Mind Into an Ally by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
Awareness by Anthony DeMello
Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor
Myth of Freedom by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
A Still Forest Pool by Ajaan Chah
Mindfulness In Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan
Buddhism at Work by George Bond
The New Social Face of Buddhism by Ken Jones
World as Lover World as Self by Joanna Macy
Everyday Suchness by Gyomay M. Kubose
Returning to Silence by Dainin Katagiri
The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri by Dosho Port
The Wisdom Of No Escape by Pema Chodron
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
Eight Steps to Happiness by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
The Way of the White Clouds by Lama Anagarika Govinda
A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: a commentary on Shantideva's Bodhicharyavatara by the Dalai Lama
Buddhism for Beginners by Thubten Chodron
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Being Nobody, Going Nowhere by Ayya Khema
Golden Wind Zen Talks by Eido Shimano Roshi
Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodrom
Not Always So by Suzuki Roshi
The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I've read many of these books, but I've never read Kerouac. Seeing two of his books on this list makes me think I should pick one up.

Moral Animal

2011-07-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

More than 15 years after it was first published, I've finally gotten around to reading Robert Wright's highly praised book on evolutionary psychology: The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology.

In this book, Wright presents the latest findings (well, from the early 90s) from the (then) emerging field of evolutionary psychology, which views human behavior within Darwin's theory of evolution. It attempts to answer questions like:

Is monogamy natural for men?
Is monogamy natural for women?
Where does sibling rivalry come from?
Why do parents favor some children over others?
Do parents prefer boys or girls depending on their social status?
What evolutionary advantages might come from having low self-esteem?
Are there biological roots for self-deception?

I thought it was interesting how the author framed each evolutionary psychology insight around specific circumstances in Darwin's own life, essentially using him as a test subject. But other than that, I didn't find the book particularly insightful. Of course, that might be because I'm reading it more than a decade after initial publication and evolutionary psychology has simply become accepted and commonly discussed in news and personal conversations.

Water for Elephants Discussion Questions

2011-07-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

Just took at a look at the book-group discussion questions for Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants (prepared by Hal Hager, of Hal Hager & Associates, Somerville, New Jersey and published in the last few pages of the edition of the book I read)

To what extent do the chapters concerning the elderly Jacob enhance the chapters recounting the young Jacob’s experiences with the Benzini Brothers circus? In what ways do the chapters about the young Jacob contribute to a deeper understanding of the elderly Jacob’s life?
How does the novel’s epigraph, the quote from Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hatches the Egg, apply to the novel? What are the roles and importance of faithfulness and loyalty in Water for Elephants? In what ways does Gruen contrast the antagonisms and cruelties of circus life with the equally impressive loyalties and instances of caring?
Who did you, upon reading the prologue, think murdered August? What effect did that opening scene of chaos and murder have on your reception of the story that follows?
In connection with Jacob’s formal dinner with August and Marlena in their stateroom, Jacob remarks, “August is gracious, charming, and mischievous” (page 93). To what extent is this an adequate characterization of August? How would you expand upon Jacob’s observation? How would you characterize August? Which situations in the novel reveal his true character?
August says of Marlena, “Not everyone can work with liberty horses. It’s a God-given talent, a sixth sense, if you will” (page 94). Both August and Jacob recognize Marlena’s skills, her “sixth sense,” in working with the horses. In what ways does that sixth sense attract each man? How do August and Jacob differ in terms of the importance each places on Marlena’s abilities?
After Jacob puts Silver Star down, August talks with him about the reality of the circus. “The whole thing’s illusion, Jacob,” he says, “and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what people want from us. It’s what they expect” (page 104). How does Gruen contrast the worlds of reality and illusion in the novel? Is there anything wrong with pandering to people’s need for illusion? Why do we crave the illusions that the circus represents?
Reflecting on the fact that his platitudes and stories don’t hold his children’s interest, the elderly Jacob notes, “My real stories are all out of date. So what if I can speak firsthand about the Spanish flu, the advent of the automobile, world wars, cold wars, guerrilla wars, and Sputnik—that’s all ancient history now. But what else do I have to offer?” (page 110). How might we learn to appreciate the stories and life lessons of our elders and encourage people younger than ourselves to appreciate our own?
Looking at himself in the mirror, the old Jacob tries “to see beyond the sagging flesh.” But he claims, “It’s no good. . . . I can’t find myself anymore. When did I stop being me?” (page 111). How would you answer that question for Jacob or any individual, or for yourself?
In what ways and to what degree do Uncle Al’s maneuvers and practices regarding the defunct Fox Brothers circus reflect traditional American business practices? How would you compare his behavior with that of major businessmen and financiers of today? What alternative actions would you prefer?
As he lies on his bedroll, after his night with Barbara and Nell, Jacob cannot empty his mind of troubling visions, and he reflects that “the more distressing the memory, the more persistent its presence” (page 143). How might the elderly Jacob’s memories corroborate or contradict this observation? What have been your experiences and observations in this regard?
In his Carnival of the Animals, Ogden Nash wrote, “Elephants are useful friends.” In what ways is Rosie a “useful” friend? What is Rosie’s role in the events that follow her acquisition by Uncle Al?
After Jacob successfully coaches August in Polish commands for Rosie, he observes, “It’s only when I catch Rosie actually purring under August’s loving ministrations that my conviction starts to crumble. And what I’m left looking at in its place is a terrible thing” (page 229). What is Jacob left “looking at,” how does it pertain to August’s personality and Jacob’s relationship with August, and what makes it a “terrible thing”?
How did you react to the redlighting of Walter and Camel, and eight others, off the trestle? How might we see Uncle Al’s cutthroat behavior as “an indictment of a lifetime spent feigning emotions to make a buck” (in the words of one reviewer)?
After the collapse of the Benzini Brothers circus and Uncle Al’s having “done a runner” (page 314), Jacob realizes, “Not only am I unemployed and homeless, but I also have a pregnant woman, bereaved dog, elephant, and eleven horses to take care of” (page 317). What expectations did you entertain for Jacob and Marlena’s—and their menagerie’s—future after they leave the Benzini Brothers circus? How do the elderly Jacob’s memories of Marlena and their life together confirm or alter those expectations?
At the end of the novel, Jacob exclaims, “So what if I’m ninety-three? . . .why the hell shouldn’t I run away with the circus?” (page 331). What would you project to be the elderly Jacob’s experiences after he runs away with the circus the second time? How does his decision reflect what we have learned about his early years?
Sara Gruen has said that the “backbone” of her novel “parallels the biblical story of Jacob,” in the book of Genesis. On the first night after his leaving Cornell, for example, Jacob—as did his biblical namesake—lies “back on the bank, resting my head on a flat stone” (page 23). In what other ways does Water for Elephants parallel the story of the biblical Jacob? How do the names of many of the characters reflect names of characters in the biblical account?
In the words of one reviewer, Water for Elephants “explores . . . the pathetic grandeur of the Depression-era circus.” In what ways and to what extent do the words “pathetic grandeur” describe the world that Gruen creates in her novel?

I thought I'd share it in case anyone else was interested.

Drive - When to Use Rewards: A Simple Flowchart

2011-07-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

Great flowchart from Daniel Pink's Drive, titled When to Use Rewards: A Simple Flowchart.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

2011-06-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

I recently finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and while I found it entertaining it's an easily forgettable escapist novel.

Gruen writes the story of Jacob Jankowski, a simple farm boy from a veterinarian family who leaves Cornell after an unexpected family tragedy and ends up on a Benzini Brothers' Greatest Show on Earth circus train. Once at the circus, he makes friends with a variety of characters: an elephant named Rosie, a midget clown named Kinko, the horse whisperer star of the show Marlena, and her bi-polar husband August.

Ultimately, it's a love story told in flashbacks. But it's not something I'll read again.

It's worth reading for a glimpse into America's circus history.

La Seduction by Elaine Sciolino

2011-06-26T15:13:00.000-07:00

Just read about Elaine Sciolino's book La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life in the New York Times Book Review.

Like Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not the French, La Seduction is a book about French culture and ideology from the perspective of an outsider who has spent years in France.

While Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong educates readers (presumably Americans) on why their preconceptions about the French are wrong, La Seduction frames her book around the idea that the French live for the seduction. Where us Americans have only a way of life, the French have an art de vivre.

While the review by Caroline Weber in the New York Times isn't exactly glowing -- "Carefully researched and lucidly argued, “La Seduction” develops a wonderfully suggestive theory of French pleasure, but in practice, its sometimes schematic thinking and clunky prose would have benefited from a touch more je ne sais quoi — just a little soupçon of seductive allure" -- I would like to read it.

Expect another post about this book if I can find a copy at my local library.

Goodreads

2011-06-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

I've just joined Goodreads.

bookitreader's book montage

bookitreader's favorite books »

Want to join me?

Type I for Organizations, Compensation Teaching, Exercise

2011-06-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

I liked Daniel Pink's Drive so much that I took notes on his suggestions on Type I behavior on Organizations, Teaching, and Exercise.

Type I for Organizations: Nine Ways to Improve Your Company, Office, or Group

Try "20% Time" with Training Wheels: Encourage employees to spend one-fifth of their hours working on any project they want. Or start with 10%, or an afternoon. Give people autonomy, and maybe someone in your group will invent the next Post-it note.
Encourage Peer-to-Peer "Now That" Rewards: Allow anyone in your company to award a $50 bonus to any of their colleagues, without permission at any time.
Conduct an Autonomy Audit: Ask everyone in your group to rate anonymously on a scale of 0 ("almost none") to 10 ("a huge amount") these four questions: 1. How much autonomy do you have over your tasks at work–your main responsibilities and what do you do in a given day? 2. How much autonomy do you have over your time at work–for instance, when you arrive, when you leave, and how you allocate your hours each day? 3. How much autonomy do you have over your team at work–that is, to what extent are you able to choose the people with whom you typically collaborate? 4. How much autonomy do you have over your technique at work–how you actually perform the main responsibilities of your job?
Take Three Steps Toward Giving Up Control: 1. Involve people in goal-setting. People often have higher aims than the ones you assign them, so involve them in goal-setting. 2. Use noncontrolling language. Next time you’re about to say “must” or “should,” try saying, “think about,” or “consider.” 3. Hold office hours. Set aside one or two hours a week when your schedule is clear and any employee can come in and talk to you about anything that’s on their mind.
Play "Whose Purpose Is It Anyway?": Gather your team, hand out blank 3×5, and have everyone write down the answer to this questions: “What is our company’s (or organization’s) purpose? Collect them, read them out loud, discuss.
Use Reich's Pronoun Test: Do employees refer to their company as “they” or as “we?”
Design for Intrinsic Motivation: Clay Shirky (shirky.com) says that the most successful websites and electronic forums have a certain Type I in their DNA. You can do the same with your online presence if you: 1. create an environment that makes people feel good about participating 3. give users autonomy 3. keep the system as open as possible
Promote Goldilocks for Groups: 1. Begin with a diverse team. You want people who can really cross-fertilize each other’s ideas. 2. Make your group a “no competition” zone. If you’re going to use a c-word, use “collaboration” or “cooperation.” 3. Try a little task-shifting. If someone is bored, see if they can train someone else, and then take on some aspect of a more experienced team member’s work. 4. Animate with purpose, don’t motivate with rewards.
Turn your Next Off-Site Day into a FedEx Day: Set aside a day where your employees can work on anything they want, with whomever they’d like. People must deliver something the following day.

The Zen of Compensation: Paying People the Type I Way

Ensure internal and external fairness.
Pay more than average.
If you use performance metrics, make them wide-ranging, relevant, and hard to game.

Type I for Parents and Educators: Nine Ideas for Helping Our Kids

Apply the Three-Part Type I Test for Homework. Refashion homework into home learning by asking yourself three questions. 1. Am I offering students any autonomy over how and when to do this work? 2. Does this assignment promote mastery by offering a novel, engaging task (as opposed to rote reformulation of something already covered in class. 3. Do my students understand the purpose of this assignment? That is, can they see how doing this additional activity at home contributes to the larger enterprise in which the class is engaged?
Have a FedEx Day. Let kids come up with projects themselves and complete them overnight.
Try DIY Report Cards. Ask students to list their top learning goals, and then ask them to “do-it-yourself” grade themselves.
Give Your Kids an Allowance and Some Chores -- but Don't Combine Them.
Offer Praise ... the Right Way. Praise effort and strategy, not intelligence. Make praise specific. Praise in private. Offer praise only when there is a good reason.
Help Kids See the Big Picture. Why am I learning this? How is it relevant to the world I live in now?
Check Out these Five Type I Schools: Big Picture Learning (bigpicture.org), Sudbury Valley School (sudval.org), The Tinkering School (tinkeringschool.com), Puget Sound Community School (pcsc.org), Motessori Schools (montessori.org).
Take a Class form the Unschoolers. They encourage mastery by allowing children to spend as long as they’d like and to go as deep as they desire on the topics that interest them. Start with John Taylor Gatto's Dumbing Us Down.
Turn Students into Teachers

The Type I Fitness Plan: Four Tips for Getting (and Staying) Motivated to Exercise

Set your own goals. Don't accept some standardized, cookie-cutter exercise plan; instead, create one that's tailored to your needs and fitness level.
Ditch the treadmill. Unless you really like treadmills, that is. Turn your work(out) into play by gathering friends for informal games of tennis, basketball, dancing, etc.
Keep mastery in mind. Pick an activity in which you can improve over time; this should help keep your energy and motivation up.
Reward yourself the right way. If you’re really struggling, consider a quick experiment with Stickk (www.stickk.com) where you publicly commit to goals and must hand over money (to a friend, a charity, or an "anti-charity") if you fail to reach it.

Click here to read all my posts on Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

Beautiful photos by Stephane Vetter

2011-06-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

Beautiful photos by Stephane Vetter

The Drive Discussion Guide: Twenty Conversation Starters to Keep You Thinking and Talking

2011-06-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

If you liked my posts on Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, you'll love this discussion guide.

The Drive Discussion Guide: Twenty Conversation Starters to Keep You Thinking and Talking

Has Pink persuaded you about the gap between what science knows and what organizations do? Do you agree that we need to upgrade our motivational operating system? Why or why not?
How has Motivation 2.0 affected your experiences at school, at work, or in family life? If Motivation 3.0 has been the prevailing ethic when you were young, how would your experiences have differed?
Do you consider yourself more Type I or Type X? Why? Think of three people in your life (whether at home, work, or school). Are they more Type I or Type X? What leads you to your conclusions?
Describe a time when you’ve seen one of the seven deadly flaws of carrots and sticks in action. What lessons might you and others learn from that experience? Have you seen instances when carrots and sticks have been effective?
How well is your current job meeting your need for “baseline rewards”–salary, benefits, a few perks? If it’s falling short, what changes can you or your organization make?
Pink draws a distinction between “routine” work and “nonroutine” work. How much of your own work is routine? How much is nonroutine?
If you’re a boss, how might you replace “if-then” rewards with a more autonomous environment and the occasional “now that” reward?
As you think about your own best work, what aspect of autonomy has been most important to you? Autonomy over what you do (task), when you do it (time), how you do it (technique), or with whom you do it (team)? Why? How much autonomy do you have at work right now? Is that enough?
Would initiatives like FedEx Days, 20 percent time, and ROWE work in your organization? Why or why not? What are one or two other ideas that would bring out more Type I behavior in your workplace?
Describe a time recently when you’ve experienced “flow.” What were you doing? Where were you? How might you tweak your current role to bring on more of these optimal experiences?
Is there anything you’ve ever wanted to master that you’ve avoided for reasons like “I’m too old” or “I’ll never be good at that” or “It would be a waste of time”? What are the barriers to giving it a try? How can you remove those barriers?
Are you in a position to delegate any of the tasks that might be holding you back from more challenging pursuits? How might you hand off these tasks in a way that does not take away your colleagues’ autonomy?
How would you redesign your office, your classroom, or your home–the physical environment, the processes, the rules–to promote greater engagement and mastery by everyone?
When tackling the routine tasks your job requires, what strategies can you come up with to trigger the positive side of the Sawyer Effect?
Drive talks a lot about purpose–both for organizations and individuals. Does your organization have a purpose? What is it? If your organization is for-profit, is purpose even a realistic goal given the competitive pressures in every industry?
Are you–in your paid work, family life, or volunteering–on a path toward purpose? What is that purpose?
Is education today too Type X–that is, does it put too great an emphasis on extrinsic rewards? If so, how should we reconfigure schools and classrooms? Is there an elegant way to reconcile intrinsic motivation and accountability?
If you’re a mom or dad, does your home environment promote more Type I or Type X behavior in your child or children? How? What, if anything, should you do about it?
Does Pink underplay the importance of earning a living? Is his view of Motivation 3.0 a bit too utopian–that is, is Pink, if you’ll pardon the pun, too rosy?
What are the things that truly motivate you? Now think about the last week. How many of those 168 hours were devoted to these things? Can you do better?

To Lend or Not To Lend, That is the Question

2011-06-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

interesting post from boston book bums:

This week’s question has left a little scar on our psyche. It reminded us of a bad moment in book history and provoked a spirited conversation about generosity or miserliness.

Simply, do you let people borrow books?

Do you let anyone borrow a book, friends or lovers? Or do you confine certain books to a mental cabinet of untouchables that no one is allowed to read from except you?

Before lending a book do you note how friends or loved ones handle books, weighing whether they are trust worthy to borrow a work? Or are you throw caution to wind lender, not worried at all about the state of the book upon return.

For the most part, the Boston Book Bums team are generous lenders, with a few being cautious. One however is a flat out book lending Scrooge.

Our eldest Book Bum had an experience back in High School where a friend was DYING to borrow a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The owner was a little hesitant to lend the book because the would-be reader wasn’t exactly the most voracious consumer of the printed page. Also, said would-be reader had a habit of being very messy. The idea of the beloved science fiction book buried under heaps or burger wrappers and empty soda cans was off putting.

Despite the concern, our lender handed over Hitchhiker’s. And then spring became summer, became fall and still the book wasn’t returned. After a few gentle proddings, the lender asked…”So…did you finish Hitchhikers?”

Reply, ” Uh, no. Couldn’t get into it. But it’s in my car if you want it back.”

With lip bit, lender nodded and the pair walked over to the friend’s jalopy. Door opens. Tension rises. Lender imagines a dusty but undisturbed book emerging from the glove box.

No, instead The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is PRIED from between the front seats. Wedged between the center console and the passenger seat, the great comedic novel emerges with torn cover, dozens of crumpled and folded pages; as well as a distinct and overwhelming odor of coffee. Yes, the book was soaked in Dunkin Donuts iced coffee somewhere along that long summer car ride.

That moment. That besmirched book was pivotal in making one of the Book Bums vow never to lend a book again. A vow he has stuck to ever since.

Al right, let’s hear it- Are you a one woman/man library or an alligator armed book lending miser?

I loan my books out freely, but once a person fails to return a book in perfect condition I won't lend another book to that person.

Drive - The Type I Reading List: Fifteen Essential Books

2011-06-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

If you liked my posts on Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, you'll want to take a look at his Type I Reading List.

I've added a few to my list of books to read.

The Type I Reading List: Fifteen Essential Books
Autonomy, mastery, and purpose are integral to the human condition, so it's no surprise that a number of writers -- from psychologists to journalists to novelists -- have explored these three elements and probed what they mean for our lives. This list of books, arranged alphabetically by author, isn't exhaustive, but it's a good starting point for anyone interested in cultivating a Type I Life:

Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James P Carse
Talent Is Overrated: What Really Seperates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation by Edward L Deci with Richard Flaste
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet by Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi, and William Damon
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Amateurs: The Story of Four Young Men and Their Quest for an Olympic Gold Medal by David Halberstam
Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes by Alfie Kohn
Once a Runner by John L Parker Jr.
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace by Ricardo Semler
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter M Senge

I was very surprised that several novels made this list.

Enjoy!

Drive: Create Your Own Motivational Poster

2011-06-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned before, I've really enjoyed Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and the section Create Your Own Motivational Poster reminded me of B Romain's 60 Quotes Project.

Pink suggests using one of the following websites to create your own motivational poster -- whether it's silly or serious, just make it deeply personal since only you know what words or images will resonate with you:

Despair Inc - http://diy.despair.com/motivator.php
Big Hugs Labs - http://bighugslabs.com/motivator.php
Automotivator - http://wigflip.com/automotivator/

Click here to view all my posts on Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

Biblion: the Boundless Library for iPad

2011-06-04T23:02:00.000-07:00

Biblion, a New York Library app for iPad, sounds awesome!

Download Biblion: The Boundless Library-- now available on the App Store--and go on an exclusive journey deep into the Library's legendary stacks. This app is designed to open up hidden parts of the collections and the myriad storylines they hold and preserve...through a unique immersive experience. In this free iPad app you will hold documents, images, films, audio, and essays — directly from the collections in your own hands.

With Biblion, you can jump from stack to stack, story to story, as you move through the infoscape of the World's Fair, created directly from NYPL's Manuscripts and Archives Division. The Fair — like the Library — has something for everyone, with topics ranging from technological innovation to pop culture to a world dealing with the crises of war and economic hardship.

Biblion: World’s Fair allows you to:

read original essays from such prominent writers as Karen Abbott, William Grimes, Henry Jenkins, Elliott Kalan, James Mauro, and others

view General Motors' famous Futurama ride, in full color, from the original carousel!

explore the development of the Fair's designs, uniforms, buildings, and exhibits, including Salvador Dalí’s then-shocking Dream of Venus extravaganza

relish the outrageous restaurant ideas that never made the cut

learn about the fate of the Czechoslovakia Pavilion after the country was invaded by Hitler

discover what was buried inside the Westinghouse Time Capsule … which won't be opened until the year 6939!

fly from story to story, charting your own journey through the stacks…

This first issue of Biblion explores only one part of the Library’s vast and awe-inspiring holdings. Every edition of Biblion will open up another of the Library’s collections, services, or programs by providing exclusive content in an innovative frame.

Love it!

Drive: Move Five Steps Closer to Mastery

2011-06-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us also provides a list of five steps to get closer to mastery:

Remember that deliberate practice has one objective: to improve performance. "People who play tennis once a week for years don't get better if they do the same thing each time," Ericsson has said. "Deliberate practice is about changing your performance, setting new goals and straining yourself to reach a bit higher each time."
Repeat, repeat, repeat. Repetition matters. Basketball greats don't shoot ten free throws at the end of team practice; they shoot five hundred.
Seek constant, critical feedback. If you don't know how you're doing, you won't know what to improve.
Focus ruthlessly on where you need help. While many of us work on what we're already good at, says Ericsson, "those who get better work on their weaknesses."
Prepare for the process to be mentally and physically exhausting. That's why so few people commit to it, but that's why it works.

Sounds a bit similar to Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers (click here to view my posts on Outliers).

Click here to view all my posts on Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

Nook Tablet!

2011-06-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

I have an Android phone and an iPad.

I want an Android tablet.

I think I'll wait to purchase one for myself, but for Father's Day I'm getting my dad one of these nifty Nook Tablets from Barnes and Noble.

At $249 it's one of the most affordable tablets you can get! (At least until Amazon.com comes out with it's Kindle Tablet.)

Why Keeping Your Options Open Is A Really, Really Bad Idea

2011-05-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

Glad to see that positive psychology is becoming more and more mainstream. Check out this article from Fast Company:

Given the choice, would you prefer to make an iron-clad, no-turning-back decision, or one you could back out of if you needed to? Does that seem like a stupid question? I understand why it might, but bear with me--because it isn't.

People overwhelmingly prefer reversible decisions to irreversible ones. They believe it's better to "keep your options open," whenever possible. They wait years before declaring a major, date someone for years before getting married, favor stores with a guaranteed return policy (think Zappos), and hire employees on a temporary basis (or use probationary periods), all in order to avoid commitments that can be difficult, or nearly impossible, to un-do.

People believe that this is the best way to ensure their own happiness and success. But people, as it turns out, are wrong.

Let's start with the happiness part. Research by Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert, author ofStumbling on Happiness, shows that reversible, keep-your-options-open decisions reliably lead to lower levels of satisfaction than irreversible ones. In other words, we are significantly less happy with our choices when we can back out of them.

(For example, in one of Gilbert's studies, people were asked to choose an art poster that they could keep. Those who were told that they could change their mind and return it for a different poster in the next 30 days reported being less happy with their poster than those who had to pick a poster and stick with it.)

Why does keeping our options open make us less happy? Because once we make a final, no-turning-back decision, the psychological immune system kicks in. This is how psychologists like Gilbert refer to the mind's uncanny ability to make us feel good about our decisions. Once we've committed to a course of action, we stop thinking about alternatives. Or, if we do bother to think about them, we think about how lousy they are compared to our clearly superior and awesome choice.

Most of us have had to make a choice between two colleges, or job offers, or apartments. You may have had to choose which candidate to hire for a job, or which vendor your company would engage for a project. When you were making your decision, it was probably a tough one--every option had significant pros and cons. But after you made that decision, did you ever wonder how you could have even considered the now obviously inferior alternative? "Wow, I can't believe I even thought about going to Yale, when Harvard is better in every way." (That's just an example--I am neutral when it comes to Harvard vs. Yale. I went to Penn, which incidentally was way better than those schools, but I digress ... )

Human beings are particularly good at rearranging and restructuring our thoughts to create the most positive experience possible in any situation. The psychological immune system protects us, to some extent, from the negative consequences of our choices--because after all, almost every choice has a downside. The key to happiness is to dwell as little as possible on that downside.

When you keep your options open, however, you can't stop thinking about the downside--because you're still trying to figure out if you made the right choice. The psychological immune system doesn't kick in, and you're left feeling less happy about whatever choice you end up making.

This brings us to the other problem with reversible decisions--new research shows that they don't just rob you of happiness, they also lead to poorer performance.

Once again, it's because thoughts related to making the right decision stay active in your mind when your options are open. This places a rather hefty burden on your working memory, and it's distracting. When you're still deciding what you should do, you don't have the cognitive resources to devote yourself fully to what you're actually doing. Your attention wanders. And as a result, your performance suffers. (For instance, in one study, people who made a reversible decision were able to recall fewer correct answers on a subsequent task then those who made a choice they had to stick with.)

So keeping your options open leads to less happiness and success, not more. Ironically, people don't actually change their minds and revise decisions very often. We just prefer having the option to do so, and that preference is costing us.

I'm not, for the record, saying reversible decisions are never beneficial. Obviously if you have no real basis for making a good choice in the first place and you're just guessing, or if the consequences of your choice might end up killing someone, the option of a do-over is probably a good thing.

But assuming that your choice is carefully considered and you've weighed your options, you will be both happier and more successful if you make a decision, and don't look back.
To learn more about reaching your career goals, check out Heidi's new book is Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals. Follow her on Twitter@hghalvorson. Her website iswww.heidigranthalvorson.com.

It seems completely irrational that keeping options open would lead to dissatisfaction but I do feel it's true (from personal experience).

Drive: Ask yourself questions, and take a Sagmeister

2011-05-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

I really liked Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

In Drive, Pink suggests asking yourself "What's your sentence?" (examples include "He raised four kids who became happy and healthy adults" or "She invented a device that made people's lives easier" or "She taught two generations of children how to read.") and then asking every night before your go to bed "Was I better today than yesterday?"

Pink also suggests trying the following exercise from Alan Webber's Rules of Thumb:

Get a few blank three-by-five inch cards. On one of the cards, write your answer to this question: "What gets you up in the morning?" Now, on the other side of the card, write your answer to your question: "What keeps you up at night?" Pare each response to a single sentence. And if you don't like an answer, toss the card and try again until you've crafted something you can live with. Then read what you've produced. If both answers give you a sense of meaning and direction, "Congratulations!" says Webber. "Use them as your compass, checking from time to time to see if they're still true. If you don't like one or both of your answers, it opens up a new question: What are you going to do about it?"

Pink also suggests following designer Stefan Sagmeister's lead and taking one year off every seven years, during which you travel, experiment with new projects, and generate ideas that (at least for Sagmeister) often provide income for the next seven years.

"Taking a Sagmeister" (as Pink calls it) sounds intense but it's something I've advocated for years.

Click here to view all my posts on Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

Fab.com

2011-05-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

Love design? Obsessed with flash sales websites?

Then make sure you sign up for fab.com before design sales start in 2 weeks!

Use this link here to get your invitation now: http://fab.com/5v174g

Nautilus and Rememberance

2011-05-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

I came across the website for the Northern Michigan University School of Art and Design and fell in love with these two pieces:

Nautilus by Alicia Bastian

Rememberance by Mitch Steinmetz

The Nautlius was designed to be a cherished family heirloom that, with its ascending pattern representing a reader's growth in age and advancement in personal knowledge like markings of a child’s height on the wall. The ascending shelves also symbolize the pursuit of lifelonog learning. In linear form, Nautilus acts as a whimsical room divider; but when closed, Nautilus’s circular form becomes an adapted reading sanctuary.

Remembrance combines the social interaction of family gatherings (like a coffee table) with the nostalgia and enjoyment of remembering the past (like a photo album). Instead of acting as a facilitator for a user's entertainment, Remembrance can be the source of entertainment while simultaneously creating new memories and cataloguing and cherishing old ones.

Doesn't the Nautilus look so inviting? And I love the idea of having what looks like a giant photo album as a coffee table.

Type I (versus Type X)

2011-05-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm very intrigued by Daniel H Pink's Type I description, as written in Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.
Where Type X (extrinsic motivation) is the center of Motivation 2.0, Type I (intrinsic motivation) is the center of Motivation 3.0. Here's more about Type I:

Type I behavior is made, not born.
Type I's almost always outperform Type X's in the long run.
Type I behavior does not disdain money or recognition.
Type I behavior is a renewable resource.
Type I behavior promotes greater physical and mental well-being.

Ultimately, Type I behavior depends on three nutrients: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Type I behavior is self-directed. It is devoted to becoming better at something that matters. And it connects that quest for excellence to a larger purpose.

Some might dismiss notions like these as gooey and idealistic, but the science says otherwise. The science confirms that this sort of behavior is essential to being human -- and that now, in a rapidly changing economy, it is also critical for professional, personal, and organizational success of any kind.

So we have a choice. We can cling to a view of human motivation that is grounded more in old habits than in modern science. Or we can listen to the research, drag our business and personal practices into the twenty-first century, and craft a new operating system to help ourselves, our companies, and our world work a little better.

It won't be easy. It won't happen overnight. So let's get started.

Doesn't it sound so inspiring?

Click here to view all my posts on Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

Books become Lampshades

2011-05-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

It sounds like a crazy idea, recycling old books and turning them into Lampshades. But the imaginative folks at Ginko Studios (GreenWallNL on etsy) have done it and they're available for $49 each.

What do you think? Would you buy one?