Average customer rating:
- Reader beware.
- If you want your Child's Mind Left Behind do not read this.
- Five Minds Provides Wake-up Call for Educators
- A Map for Educating the New Philosopher Kings
- Excellent new approach from Professor Gardner
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Five Minds for the Future
Howard Gardner
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
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ASIN: 1591399122
Release Date: 2007-04-03 |
Book Description
We live in a time of vast changes. And those changes call for entirely new ways of learning and thinking. In Five Minds for the Future: Howard Gardner defines the cognitive abilities that will command a premium in the years ahead:
- the disciplinary mind—mastery of major schools of thought (including science, mathematics, and history) and of at least one professional craft
- the synthesizing mind—ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole and to communicate that integration to others
- the creating mind—capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions, and phenomena
- the respectful mind—awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings and human groups
- the ethical mind—fulfillment of one’s responsibilities as a worker and citizen
World-renowned for his theory of multiple intelligences, Gardner takes that thinking to the next level in this book, drawing from a wealth of diverse examples to illuminate his ideas. Concise and engaging, Five Minds for the Future will inspire lifelong learning in any reader as well as provide valuable insights for those charged with training and developing organizational leaders—both today and tomorrow.
Customer Reviews:
Reader beware........2007-10-08
I purchased this book on the basis of a number of good reviews. As a Ph.D. engineer, I have extensive experience reading boring texts in order to retrieve a few nuggets of valuable information. However, I could not force myself to get through this mind numbingly boring writing style. I'm sure it must be a good book based on the other reviews, but be prepared to suffer mental torture in attempting to read this book.
If you want your Child's Mind Left Behind do not read this........2007-08-17
The ideas in this book deserve the broadest possible scrutiny and review. As we now know, our brains are able to significantly change themselves depending on how they are used and not used.
Dictators, slave owners, and totalitarian regimes have always suspected this. They carefully restrict the arts and depend on rote drill in education. They require competency testing that penalizes teachers that teach good questioning methods and foster disciplined minds that can synthesize, create, and empathize.
Teachers in the USA today are increasingly being overwhelmed by the requirements to teach facts and specific skills. School facts are often dated, while updates are instantly available via an Internet search. Thinking abilities (other than rote memorization) are not being taught because our tests are not well designed to assess Gardner's categories. The ability to synthesize (transfer and apply what we know from an array of experiences and sources), create (the ability to think divergently and imaginatively to produce better scenarios), and/or empathically (Gardner's terms are `respectful' and `ethical') are not as simple to assess. Consequently, facts are taught without time to learn how to question the viability of what is learned.
Assessment tools could be vastly improved if we had the creativity and the will to see what Gardner tries to tell us. I believe that computer programs could be developed that would assess education for Gardner's mind categories rather than simply for the rote accumulation of information that is often unconnected to what we need in life.
Any parent who does not care if their child's mind is left behind should not read this book. I pity children in schools that are under pressure to focus on learning without thinking. They are being brain damaged. If we want to see more capable and caring people in the future, this book is a starting place. Any leader of company, political entity, or other organization should not read this book if they are content with staying behind and coming in last.
Five Minds Provides Wake-up Call for Educators.......2007-08-14
Five Minds for the Future is an excellent look at the wider picture of how we need to use our brains to accomplish the tasks we will be faced with in the coming years -- both for our planet, our communities, our workplaces, and our families. This should be even more of a wake-up call to educational institutions across the world than Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences because it is about global approach to education (global in terms of "big picture").
A Map for Educating the New Philosopher Kings.......2007-07-17
The learned ancient Greeks were fascinated by what an ideal education would involve. Why? They hoped to apply that education to the kings of the era and to create a better society through the leadership of the kings. That ambition came closest to being fulfilled through Alexander the Great, who became a highly effective conqueror and spreader of Greek ideas and values.
Professor Gardner takes up this challenge once again in perceiving new challenges for modern people that will be more difficult to meet in the future. I suspect that his vision is, in part, aimed at the same goal as the ancient Greeks except as executed through the leaders and most prominent citizens of a republic employing democratic principles.
In a break from his prior focus on multiple intelligences, Five Minds for the Future emphasizes five methods of thinking that he hopes to see integrated into individuals. These methods of thinking are based on:
1. Mastering an important subject matter (such as history, math, or science) and staying up to date through application of the discipline's method of thinking. This is quite different from knowing the facts of the discipline.
2. Being able to integrate large quantities multidisciplinary facts and apply them into one's work.
3. Posing new questions, developing new solutions to existing questions, stretching disciplines and genres in new directions, or building new disciplines.
4. Being open to understanding and appreciating the perspectives and experiences of those who are different from the individual.
5. Doing one's work in an ethical way that reflects responsibilities to others and society.
What does this boil down to as a problem? Basically, most people never get as far as mastering one important discipline. They just memorize whatever is needed to pass tests. Professor Gardner's own work documents this problem. As a result, we face a hollowing out of our civilization as most people lack the ability, education, or interest to do more than function in an everyday living fashion. Beyond that, some of those who can perform a discipline are tempted by treasure or fame to stretch the rules and not honestly perform.
If we step back another few feet, there's an implicit vision of a future that's led by a smaller and smaller number of people as a percentage of the world's population. It will be easier for rot to set in at the top. In addition, the rewards for those people will grow exponentially . . . tempting those of limited ethics to falter.
I think the risk is a genuine one, and I applaud Professor Gardner for penning this book. I hope he will follow it with more books that spell out more about how to educate others and ourselves (after we leave school as students) so that these goals are achieved.
I have a few quibbles that I mention only in the spirit of sparking an awareness of what's needed. Peter Drucker taught me that the educated person should learn enough about a new subject each year to appreciate and be able the discipline involved. I found that suggestion missing from this book. Without that bridging method, I suspect we'll just end up compartmentalized from one another.
In addition, I think that some areas of public responsibility lend themselves to combined perspectives that encompass these minds more efficiently than by keeping them separate. For example, the advanced leader who is good at accomplishing continuing business model innovation will be able to cross these five boundaries and many others . . . simply by knowing one discipline. I suspect that other fields also lend themselves to such new integrating disciplines.
I also found that Professor Gardner mischaracterized the meanings of many of the business examples he cited. He does, however, do a fine job of summarizing what academics have written about business. I suggest that he have someone who is more familiar with business than he is help with checking such examples in future books. I realize that this book is published by Harvard Business School Press, but editors of books don't necessary have mastery of the facts within the subjects they edit.
Bravo, Professor Gardner!
Excellent new approach from Professor Gardner.......2007-07-05
Wonderful and breathtaking reading!! After transforming how intelligence is considered and measured, and offering millions a new chance to develop their potential, Professor Gardner presents his new approach about minds that will survive better in the future. He offers strong support for capacities not yet recognized as valuable in our rapidly changing and aggressive environment, such as ethical, respectful and sinthesizing minds. Three times "Hurrah!!".
Amazon.com
Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea.
Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making. In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like. --Barbara Mackoff
Book Description
Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea. Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making.In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like.--Barbara Mackoff
Customer Reviews:
An entertaining and thought provoking read.......2007-10-09
An engaging and easily read essay on the way we think, and how "shooting from the hip" isn't always such a bad thing...when it's backed up by experience. Gladwell's research into an area completely removed from his own arena of expertise is detailed and thorough. He approaches the subject with enough humility and honest curiosity that the reader feels he is more along for the ride than being lectured from the podium as are most tomes on psychology and sociology. Especially noteworthy are his many references to specific studies and the occasional invitation to participate in a few prove to be...illuminating to say the least (I swore I wasn't bigoted, until...).
a must read.......2007-10-09
I've been recommended to read this book by my mentor, and I have to say he was right (as very often he is). This is definetely the kind of book that make you say: hey, I didn't know, but know that I'm thinking about, that's true!
Interesting episodes that you have always lived, and know you can understand why
Not in a blink.......2007-10-02
I was about to buy the book, since the subject and the assumed hypothesis look appealing and interesting. Then my Amazon friend Conan wrote a rather lukewarm review and I delayed the purchase. Then I found the book on my daughter's shelf. Thanks to Conan for saving my money.
I borrowed the book and read it. In a blink I thought it was as interesting as it had promised. It took me more than a blink to find out, that it does not deliver: you learn some interesting anecdotes about marriage predictions and about malpractice suits (my other Amazon friend Joe Neuschatz will be interested) and such things, but you never really get nearer to understanding what the alleged special rapid intelligence process really is.
The book reminds me a bit of the style of articles in Der Spiegel: journalism well short of science. Sometimes entertaining, but mostly disappointing.
entertaining, educating analysis of snap judgments (but it's no The Tipping Point).......2007-09-29
A few years ago, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a very entertaining book, The Tipping Point. He had a central thesis, and while it was plausible, I wasn't particularly convinced. BUT Gladwell is one of the best writers around at making psychology experiments and other social science studies fascinating and accessible, so the book was interesting and fun to read.
That brings us to Blink, in which Gladwell seeks to demonstrate that our split-second first impressions can be incredibly insightful but that sometimes they are not, and how we can train ourselves to move toward the insightful side. The book is not particularly convincing (even less than Tipping) on the final aspect of the thesis that we can train ourselves to do better. But along the way, he presents fascinating cases of how these snap judgments can be right on (and why they're wrong when they are). The research isn't quite as interesting as in The Tipping Point, but I was still engrossed, entertained, and instructed.
For an example of a psychology writer who also makes research fascinating and accessible (and funny) but is much more convincing on his hypothesis, read the excellent Stumbling on Happiness, by Harvard psychology professor Dan Gilbert. He also reads the audiobook himself and does a fantastic job.
Despite my critiques, this was still good enough that I'll read whatever Gladwell gives us next.
A new way of seeing.......2007-09-29
In the blink of an eye we gather huge amounts of information. The author, Gladwell, likens our brains to giant computers capable of processing lots of data in a flash. I found it fascinating how we can use this information either for survival purposes and / or we can apply our intuitive knowledge to any given situation. The author coins the term "thin slicing" to explain the process of applying one's intuition. He states that we are often suspicious of trusting this intuition because it's so quick and easy, even when it's on target. He relays experiments where instantaneous "thin slicing" has amazing results, sometimes in life and death situations, but also explains what can cause the skillto fall short. The reason often being that we are not truly living in the present moment.
Two books that easily guide one into the present moment are Ariel and Shya Kane's "Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment" and "How To Create A Magical Relationship". These refreshingly fun and practical books effortlessly get the reader into the present moment where enlightenment resides. In an instant life can become brilliant and magical. Both of these intelligent books have shown me that life needn't be hard work in order to be amazing.
Customer Reviews:
Extremely good reference guide.......2005-08-04
I first came across this book whilst doing my MBA at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. The subject was Competitive Analysis and Babette Bensoussan was a guest lecturer. Working in Strategic Projects in a large Australian company, I found this book extremely useful in selecting strategic models to use for my analysis. The explanations of the models and how they work are accurate and precise and enables the reader to apply the model efficiently and effectively.
a must have for all business students.......2005-07-18
I just had the pleassure of having one of the authors (babette bensoussan) as a lecturer at bond university.
This book is THE reference for startegic analytical tools.
it is not one of the usual useless academic books - it is a practical usefull resource for most if not all strategy areas.
Selected as "the" text for government all-source analysts.......2004-01-14
Rather than outline the wonderful aspects of this book, which other reviewers have done so ably, I will just say that I rank the authors up there with Ben Gilad (Israel), Mats Bjore (Sweden), and Jan Herring, Dick Klavens/Brad Ashton, and Leonard Fuld (USA), and we have made this book "the" text for the annual government all-source analysis training that centers on Open Source Intelligence (OSINT).
This book, in combination with Ben Gilad's "Early Warning", the Leonard Fuld's "New Competitor Intelligence", Dick Klavens and Brad Ashton's "Keeping Abreast of Science & Technology", and Mats Bjore forthcoming book, are the essential five books for any business intelligence professional or anyone seeking to understand best in class business intelligence.
Excellent coverage of management analysis tools.......2003-07-23
This book fills a niche that should have been done by somebody a long time ago. It includes most of the popular analysis techniques that a management consultant would normally use, and provides a common process description for employing the method. It makes an excellent complement to Porter's series of books and can be nicely combined with more conceptual treatments in the strategy field. I have already bought several copies for my office colleagues as it will be useful for them in their consulting work as well. I can see why it has gotten many good reviews and I'd concur with these. It is worth having this one on your book shelf although, like me, you may find yourself pulling it off the shelf to refer to on a frequent basis.
Outstanding one stop source for techniques and "how to".......2003-03-25
It is rare to find a text that pulls together the many quite different techniques that can be used to analyze a business and the competitive environment in which it operates. This book does that, and more!
The authors have addressed their personal needs as much as the needs of those who will use the benefits of their labours. Now, when asked about a technique or asked for a recommendation as to how to attack an issue, one can turn to this one text and extract the most appropriate tool(s) and make sensible assessments of which of the various analytical tools is most appropriate.
The authors have gone one better - and I suspect that more than one MBA student will appreciate their efforts - they have included a very useful and quite comprehensive outline of financial analytical tools that add to the more "marketing" oriented techniques detailed in the core of the text. The various financial ratios are now at your fingertips. The financial analysis can be woven into the market and environmental competitive analysis.
Oh to have had access to this at an earlier stage of my career.
One of those indispensable tools. A "must have" in the office.
Book Description
This completely revised second edition presents an introduction to statistical pattern recognition. Pattern recognition in general covers a wide range of problems: it is applied to engineering problems, such as character readers and wave form analysis as well as to brain modeling in biology and psychology. Statistical decision and estimation, which are the main subjects of this book, are regarded as fundamental to the study of pattern recognition. This book is appropriate as a text for introductory courses in pattern recognition and as a reference book for workers in the field. Each chapter contains computer projects as well as exercises.
Customer Reviews:
A best book on Statistical Pattern Recognition.......2005-09-13
Multivariate analysis is borrowed to name a NEW subject, Statistical Pattern Recognition (SPR). Many statisticians think it unfair or a shame. In spite of these, it is a good reference book of SPR. :-)
[1] Many contents of this book can be found in any graduate textbook of Multivariate Analysis, for instance, Fisher's linear disciminant, etc.
[2] The book is badly printed. Why not using LaTeX?
[3] Guassian distribution is assumed here and there.
[4] It may be good as a reference book, but definitely not as a textbook.
Standard reference and a classic text but with flaws.......2004-01-20
I do not like to consult this book for the following, quite superficial reason. The book is sloppily produced and proofread
(and the fault is [probably] mainly the publisher's instead of the author's). This manifests itself, e.g., as follows
(1) the typography is flawed (the equations hurt at least my eyes);
(2) at its each appearance, the all-important >
< -sign goes the wrong way.
good coverage for engineers.......2000-08-04
Fukunaga is a standard source for pattern recognition methods often cited in the engineering literature. Covers parametric (particularly linear and quadratic discriminant algorithms) and nonparametric methods (density estimation). It is designed for and popular with engineers. When I was working at Nichols Research Corporation Fukunaga's papers and this book (earlier edition) were often cited as sources to justify the algorithms we used for discrimination problems. In fact Fukunaga had been a consultant to the company (used primarily by the Boston branch of the company where the KENN algorithms were developed). It is a reputable source. I still like Duda and Hart (1972) for good explanations of the fundamental concepts. For statisticians McLachlan's book is now far and away the best source.
Standard Reference in the Field.......2000-04-06
If you are writing a machine learning paper, and need to cite something to support an argument, you can almost always cite Fukunaga. This work is a standard reference in the field. The presentation of most material is very terse, but that is great if you already have a good feel for the material and need to look up some details about some algorithm or technique. There isn't much about neural networks here, but for the rest of the pattern recognition techniques, this is almost always the first place to start. Another strong point for this book is the use of realistic examples, which illustrate many of the statistical techniques.
Customer Reviews:
Great reference.......2007-09-05
I've never found these type of books all that useful (certainly not something you read cover to cover), but this one does have great organization and an emphasis on the project management aspect (not just some techie jibber jabber which is out of date in a year).
I use it mostly to help me clarify with sr. management why our BI department is doing what it's doing, expected benefits and risks. It helps explain why it is important to do all the ground work. Even if we aren't given time and resources to do it, it helps me keep my eye on the ball, not lose sight of objectives, and work in good best practices whenever possible.
I would definitely recommend this book to someone who is entrenched in BI projects on a regular basis.
Excellent book - for beginners..........2007-07-18
The author has well organized the contents, and provided a clear explanation of each of the topics (each topic is a step/phase in the overall BI implementation methodology).... Has a project plan template also...
Good book for beginners in Data warehousing / BI.
Great for a PM.......2007-05-11
Am currently in the process of executing a DW/BI project, my background is JAVA application Project management. This book has been great in getting me upto speed on the basic architecture and lingo of BI/DW.
Book lays out step by step the different parts to a DW. The front office, the back office, meta data repository. Highlights how DW/BI phases are different from other application dev phases. It doesn't go into how to do data modelling - for this get the lifecycle toolkit. But it gives a great overview of planning a BI/DW initiative. Much better than the pure Project Management books.
To get a complete picture I'd use this book along with the Toolkit book.
Good organized document.......2007-01-11
I like this book, its easy to read it...
Good document
Good Practical advice.......2007-01-09
The book offers good practical advice that can be used in the development of a Business Intelligence (BI) project / initiative. The over all road map provides a check list of issues to consider and offers a place to start in planning your own initiative. It is a good reference for individuals starting a BI project for the first time.
Book Description
A remarkable, intense portrait of the robotic subculture and the challenging quest for robot autonomy.
The high bay at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University is alive and hyper night and day with the likes of Hyperion, which traversed the Antarctic, and Zoe, the world's first robot scientist, now back home. Robot Segways learn to play soccer, while other robots go on treasure hunts or are destined for hospitals and museums. Dozens of cavorting mechanical creatures, along with tangles of wire, tools, and computer innards are scattered haphazardly. All of these zipping and zooming gizmos are controlled by disheveled young men sitting on the floor, folding chairs, or tool cases, or huddled over laptops squinting into displays with manic intensity. Award-winning author Lee Gutkind immersed himself in this frenzied subculture, following these young roboticists and their bold conceptual machines from Pittsburgh to NASA and to the most barren and arid desert on earth. He makes intelligible their discoveries and stumbling points in this lively behind-the-scenes work. 15 illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Challenging insights into the thinking process.......2007-07-08
At the cutting edge of science and technology are discussions over what constitutes a human being, and what elements of humanity may translate into robot functions. ALMOST HUMAN: MAKING ROBOTS THINK is part of this discussion, reflecting the author's investigation into the realm of robotic developments and science and its concurrent search for a language to talk to machines and enable machine/human communications. While ALMOST HUMAN could also have been reviewed in our science section, it's featured here for its challenging insights into the thinking process and how it differs between machine and human.
Almost Human: Making Robots Think.......2007-06-27
Easy, fascinating read! If you are interested in what is being accomplished in Robotics, and where it is being done...buy this book.
Misleading title.......2007-06-26
Consider the following passage from pages 5 and 6: "Today, ten minutes of wild, bumping, swerving, backbreaking, jaw-crunching, roller-coastering later,with our backs aching and our knees bruised, we are all about to puke our guts out, when, at an invisible marker, Finch suddenly takes a wild turn right, skids on the salt-laden sand like a downhill skier, and streak up a steep hillside in an explosion of red dust."
If this is the kind of prose that floats your boat, then you may love this book. As for me, this passage instilled a great desire to avoid anything that this author has written. I am very glad that my copy is a library book which will be returned tomorrow.
Decent overall.......2007-06-08
The book might be a bit misleading with its title because you don't really get the impression how the robots described in the book are even remotely close to being human but it does an excellent job when it comes to describing the world that roboticists live in. It portrays their struggles and frustrations and then their celebration at even the slightest hint of success.
However, if you are someone that expects a book that mainly focuses on the concept of artificial intelligence and discusses all the abstract theories associated with the concept then you might be looking for the wrong book. There are little bits of info on the aforementioned topic throughout the book but the main focus of the book is about the experiences of the roboticists, not the theories behind the kind of work they do.
Overall, it is a great way to get a good picture of the robotics culture in the United States and get to know some famous individuals and institutions in the field.
Capturing the essence of creating silicon life.......2007-05-26
"Back in my day, we didn't have these fancy icons. All we had were 1's and 0's and sometimes we didn't have any 0's....". Yes, I'm a dinosaur who has been developing software-based products for almost 30 years and although the hardware has changed, and the languages have evolved, the creators still devote their lives to their creations. In this book, Lee has captured the essence of what we geeks refer to as the "zone". The willingness to forsake everything else to bring life to their silicon offspring. Whether an autonomous mobile robot or the latest "killer app", there is no linear path to a successful outcome (so eloquently described in the title of chapter 15).
I especially recommend this book to managers who may not understand the way software is produced and have uttered the phrase "when will that program be finished?". (LOL!)
Customer Reviews:
Competitors...Beware!.......2007-08-16
Whether a branding consultant, senior line manager or strategic planner, (the Bensoussan/Fleisher book) "Business and Competitive Analysis" provides a multitude of analytical techniques that can help one think about, build and successfully drive implementation of a winning operating roadmap. For example, with `hard' assets...e.g. buildings, plant and equipment...almost `nil' vs. that of their manufacturing counterparts, predominantly service-providing firms such as banks, insurers and investment firms might find Chapter 17 - Corporate Reputation Analysis - to be of particular value for managing "this", arguably their MOST important asset [as "reputation", NOT customers, is what usually "belongs" to a firm]. Babette and Craig...Thank you for sharing this important toolkit with us. With it, we certainly cannot say "but I did not know".
- Kevin McClair, Financial Services Industry Veteran and Wharton MBA
Book Description
People admire those who seem to have the innate ability to enter an unfamiliar social situation and begin to engage others in conversation. These people seem to have what is often called "the gift of gab." Others wonder to themselves, "How do they do it?" The assumption that most people make is that the ability to make successful small talk (i.e. "the gift of gab") is somehow a natural ability that one is born with. The truth of the matter is that the ability to make successful small talk is not an innate ability but an acquired skill. And like any other acquired skill, it can be learned, enhanced, and perfected if you have the right information and the determination to do so. With this guiding philosophy, The Pocket Guide to Making Successful Small Talk is designed to provide you with all the information you'll need to learn, enhance, and perfect the skills necessary for making successful small talk. And this information is presented in a manner that will ! give you the determination to put it into practice immediately and continuously. In The Pocket Guide, the author explains the purpose of small talk, discusses small talk apprehension, , and elaborates on the role your body, mind, and emotions can play in hindering your efforts to make successful small talk. To help you understand the underlying dynamics of small talk, there are case studies illustrating what you should and shouldn't do when making small talk, the basic formula and golden rules for making successful small talk, and a discussion of some of the more specific barriers to making small talk. To facilitate your efforts to make small talk, the author explains how to make successful small talk in some of the most common situations (e.g. at parties, on first dates, while networking) and discusses making small talk in the context of changes in technology (e.g. chatting on the Internet) and cultural diversity (e.g. talking with people from different countries.) Finally, he explains how you can master the art of successful small talk by making ! it a part of your day-to-day routine. Most importantly, throughout The Pocket Guide, you are provided with a variety of easy-to-use, practical tips on how to make successful small talk with anybody anytime anywhere about anything. And because opportunities to make small talk can occur with anybody anytime anywhere about anything, all this valuable information is presented in a convenient, efficient, easy-to-use guide that will fit a pocket, purse, briefcase, bookbag, backpack, glove compartment, desk drawer, or travel kit so that you can refer to it whenever opportunities to make small talk arise. Because this valuable information is presented in such an easy-to-use format, you will have little difficulty finding the determination to implement this information in your efforts to learn, enhance, and perfect your small talk skills. With such information and determination, don't be surprised if people start to ask you "Where did you get the ability to talk to people so successfully? Were you born with that gift?" Even if they don't come right out and ask you, they are probably thinking about it, as you once did. This is part of what makes the art of making successful small talk so fascinating and so important.
With this in mind, welcome, and let's get started with your efforts to master the art of making successful small talk!
Customer Reviews:
try it you'll like it!.......2007-01-15
great information - works like a charm with a little practice!
Not what I expected.......2006-07-16
The quality and cost of the book was quite disappointing. The pages that were stapled in the book were out of order and other pages were falling out. The first impression was not good.
The content was "ok" but not practical for the introverts that struggle to begin a conversation. If you want to spend this amount on a communication book and learn important details in communicating, I suggest ordering Conversationally Speaking that lists how others perceive you as you converse and how to read others' "signals" during a conversation. Another suggestion is How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less that also gave better advise on conversations than this pocket guide.
What Really Works.......2005-12-09
I find books like this help you with opening remarks, like simple one-liner ice breakers. OK, so they feed you some lines and then what are you supposed to talk about? If you don't know many people at the event, it's hard to come up with something interesting that won't end with you red-faced, or with your foot firmly in your mouth. I find online knowledge services like Agogus.com are very helpful in this respect, more that these kinds of books. I have more confidence to start a conversation, now that I have a wide knowledge of all kinds of topics. It's even fun to go to holiday parties, not a pain like it used to be.
Decent but there are better books available on the subject.......2005-11-26
I purchased this book, along with "Conversationally Speaking" by Alan Garner and "How To Start a Conversation and Make Friends" by Don Gabor. I bought all three books because I find that reading multiple books on a subject helps me remember the subject's key points more easily.
All three of these books cover the exact same topics, such as listening (instead of waiting for your turn to speak) and asking questions that promote conversation, along with various other skills meant to improve your conversational ability. Of the three books, Carducci's book is the shortest and most poorly organized, and the language used is rather awkward and difficult to read. The book also contains a surprisingly large number of minor grammatical and punctuation errors. It is also the most limited in scope, focusing exclusively on small talk, but without offering more information on this subject that Gabor's and Garner's books. This is a problem, since anybody looking to improve their ability to make "small talk" is probably really looking to improve their conversation skills, and good conversation includes more than just "small talk".
I read Carducci's book last, and I would have given it a more favorable review if I had not read Gabor's and Garner's books first. If you only buy one book on conversation skills, I would suggest Gabor's "How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends." If possible, buy both Gabor's and Garner's books, I feel that reading both together really helped improve my conversation skills! Garner's book is a bit more in-depth, while Gabor's is better organized and somewhat easier to read. I suggest avoiding this book entirely, since the other two books are both much more valuable, as well as slightly less expensive.
Confidence builder.......2005-10-18
When I purchased this book, I didn't think I knew much about this topic. Small talk was something I have always felt uncomfortable making, and I hoped this book might help. And in a way I never expected, it did...
What I realized while reading this book is that I knew way more about making small talk than I ever realized. I've been making small talk my whole life, using the exact stratagies outlined in the book. I just never gave names to the various stages of a conversation or thought about why some conversation fail and some don't the way this book does. Realizing how ingrained much of this books advice already is in my "small talk" has given me the confidence to do it more often. And I now have an expectation of success, which makes a big difference. So far, I like the results. This book has really worked for me.
Book Description
This book illustrates how organizations can make better, faster decisions about their customers, partners, and operations by turning mountains of data into valuable business information that's at the fingertips of decision makers. It describes what's involved in using business intelligence to bring together information, people, and technology to create successful business strategies-and how to execute those strategies with confidence. Real-life case studies show how world leaders in finance, manufacturing, and retail have successfully implemented business intelligence solutions and detail the benefits they have reaped.
Customer Reviews:
Good read if you are a non techie.......2006-03-29
The book was a very easy read. Finised it in one afternoon. Definitely recommended for a novice. However, if you have an understanding of BI, then this book is not for you.
I like the cover. Its orange !!!
A great primer.......2005-03-30
First of all, I will have to admit that I am a Microsoft advocate. I like their solutions and I think very highly of what they have to offer with SQL Server and Analysis Services.
This book lays down a good foundation for anyone to follow. It explains the concept of BI, the uses of BI, and the payback of BI. What more do you want.
I have been in charge of an SAP/BW group for a large consumer electronics company for the past 4 years. SAP's architecture for BI is very expensive, inflexible, and limited. Using Microsoft's concepts of BI would be cheaper, very flexible, with much more capabilities.
So, grab this book, read it, then read it again. Install SQL Server 2k. Install Analysis Services (comes with SQL Server 2k) and install SQL Servers Service Packs 1-3).
Then experiement with what they are telling you in this book and you will be amazed at what you can do....and cheaply!!!
Good Luck!
Concise, Practical and Inspiring Advice.......2004-01-10
Techies will enjoy learning from real world examples of business intelligence technologies. Business leaders will appreciate how complex technical and business topics are tackled from various perspectives - what is BI, how BI will help your organization, and the most helpful chapter, how to actually identify, start and implement a BI solution.
Only wish the authors had spent a little more time identifying pitfalls, but that is why you hire experts to help you out.
Book Description
> How do we make sense of other people and of ourselves? What do we know about the people we encounter in our daily lives and about the situations in which we encounter them, and how do we use this knowledge in our attempt to understand, predict, or recall their behavior? Are our social judgments fully determined by our social knowledge, or are they also influenced by our feelings and desires?
Social cognition researchers look at how we make sense of other people and of ourselves. In this book Ziva Kunda provides a comprehensive and accessible survey of research and theory about social cognition at a level appropriate for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers in the field.
The first part of the book reviews basic processes in social cognition, including the representation of social concepts, rules of inference, memory, "hot" cognition driven by motivation or affect, and automatic processing. The second part reviews three basic topics in social cognition: group stereotypes, knowledge of other individuals, and the self. A final chapter revisits many of these issues from a cross-cultural perspective.
Customer Reviews:
Good overview of cognitive science.......2005-08-12
The book--although poorly bound--is written very nicely. Kunda has a wonderful way of presenting the material objectively and respectfully while still engaging the reader. There are numerous, minor typos but this does not distract the reader terribly. A natural progression is found in Kunda's style, where she presents a topic, draws on some familiar day-to-day experiences, and presents the experiments and research that support it. She explains contradictions and allows the reader to make his/her own conclusions and inferences concerning topics like hot cognition, influences of mood on memory, subliminal processing, false-memories, and influences of culture on cognition. She, herself, did extensive work in the area of cognitive science and since her passing, will be missed by many as her work was incredibly innovative and interesting.
The book reads quickly and will be enjoyed by most. The only thing I wish was different about this book was its size (there is so much left over white space on each page--it's unnecessary). Most people with some experience or interest in cognitive science should find this book fascinating. Do not expect an in-depth or even moderate assessment of the biological or neurological underpinnings of cognition. This book explains cognition by reviewing social and cognitive experiments.
Excellent Consolidation.......2005-01-19
I spent some time looking for a simple bedside aggregation of the various topics associated with the psychology of decision making and the various perceptual biases, without finding much. Most of the books are excellent; but, aside from this one (and Jon Baron's) they are usually compilation of original research. I like to have a readable consolidation of the material not far from my figertips. I was lucky to have found this book, which provides a wonderful and comprehensive coverage of the topics.
It is limpid, precise, illustrative, showing a wonderful clarity of mind.
Now the bad news. The author passed away recently at the age of 48.
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