by AJ Harper ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 24, 2022
A practical, useful, and comprehensive guide to crafting a motivational work.
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A debut manual offers advice on writing an inspirational book that focuses on readers.
Harper has put in extensive time as a ghostwriter. Through her career helping others convey their ideas on paper, she has worked on numerous “personal and professional development books.” Her guide targets potential authors who wish to create works on such topics as obtaining business success and thriving while raising children with disabilities. The manual’s main message is simple: Authors should not aim to explore a certain subject but rather they should write for a specific reader: “A book is not about something. A book is for someone.” The purpose is to help this “Ideal Reader” obtain something or accomplish a goal. Harper lays out various steps and strategies in order to make this happen. For instance, authors must identify messages that make them want to write books. They will benefit from sticking to sensible word count goals and learning to work with editors. Harper shares her own experiences, from becoming determined to write a play at a young age to dealing with life’s setbacks. Some of the advice falls on the obvious side: The first draft of a work is going to be bad (“the Shitty First Draft”); a metaphorical story comparing writing to basketball (with the importance of practice and dedication in both endeavors) is heartfelt but not really groundbreaking. Still, Harper’s enthusiasm is prevalent throughout. She tells aspiring authors: “Write the shit out of your book.” And this manual’s main point about concentrating on readers helps set it apart from similar fare. As the author explains at the outset, many people want to write about, say, business development so they can simply “get something out.” Harper’s recipe that calls for a writer to hold tight to the concept of who the book is for and see it through—no matter the off days and inner doubts—proves to be both sensible and inspiring.
A practical, useful, and comprehensive guide to crafting a motivational work.Pub Date: May 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-989603-69-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Page Two
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Daniel Kahneman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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by Erin Meyer ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2014
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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