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CROSSINGS

EVERYDAY PEOPLE, UNEXPECTED EVENTS, AND LIFE-AFFIRMING CHANGE

Pushing the envelope, a psychotherapist explores a world where psychology, the supernatural, and spirituality intersect. Heckler (Waking Up Alive, 1994), a director of the Hakomi Institute of San Francisco and a professor of counseling and psychology at John F. Kennedy University, interviewed and recorded the stories of people whose lives were transformed by an unexpected happening. He asked his subjects to characterize their lives before the event, to detail the event itself, and then to describe the changes, both internal and external, that followed. Nine of these stories are reported here, told in large part by the subjects (identified by first names only) in their own words. The unexpected happenings range from the drama of Rebecca’s survival of a storm at sea and Ben’s brush with death in a car crash to the subtlety of Christopher’s glimpse of a church against a night sky and Brooke’s visualization of musical notation in a French cafÇ. Many involve visions and voices: A grandfather figure appears before Tara as she’s cleaning house in Washington, telling her to come to Taos, and Jesus confronts Charlotte in her gym, telling her to exercise an hour a day. What to make of all this? Heckler sees a six-step pattern of personal evolution: the slumber of everyday life, the call of the unexpected event, an incubation period in which the event is assimilated, followed by a search for its meaning, a leap, i.e., life-altering decision, and finally an integration phase in which the individual enters a new life with a greater sense of purpose, control, and a profound awareness of life’s possibilities. Heckler expresses no skepticism about his interviewees— stories and even accepts the idea that time and space can be altered by human intervention. Those who find shamanic flights on the backs of eagles credible may find value in Heckler’s interpretations; those requiring more rigorous science will not be persuaded.(Book-of the-Month Club/Quality Paperback Book Club selection)

Pub Date: June 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-15-100341-6

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1998

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THINKING, FAST AND SLOW

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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THE CULTURE MAP

BREAKING THROUGH THE INVISIBLE BOUNDARIES OF GLOBAL BUSINESS

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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