Reviews (4)

WARNING: This book can change how you think and see.
I've spent the last 30 years practicing and teaching psychotherapy.In that time I've read everyone from Jay Haley and Steve de Shazer to Otto Kernberg and Heinz Kohut and lots of people in between in search of helpful ideas. I came across Kenneth Gergen's writings several years ago and now I can't stop reading the guy. This book is the best introduction to social constructionism and Gergen himself I have read to date. I only wish it had been his first so I could have had this clear, broad ranging work as a starting point for reading his earlier, somewhat more challenging writings. Careful though, one book, and you might get addicted. WARNING: This book can change how you think and see.
I've spent the last 30 years practicing and teaching psychotherapy.In that time I've read everyone from Jay Haley and Steve de Shazer to Otto Kernberg and Heinz Kohut and lots of people in between in search of helpful ideas. I came across Kenneth Gergen's writings several years ago and now I can't stop reading the guy. This book is the best introduction to social constructionism and Gergen himself I have read to date. I only wish it had been his first so I could have had this clear, broad ranging work as a starting point for reading his earlier, somewhat more challenging writings. Careful though, one book and you can get addicted.

An Inspiring Introduction to Social Constructionism
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Subjects:  1. Discourse analysis    2. Social Psychology    3. Social Science    4. Social Work    5. Social interaction    6. Social problems    7. Sociology    8. Sociology - Social Theory    9. Subjectivity    10. Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Psychology    11. Social theory   

Subjects:  1. Academic achievement    2. Cognitive Psychology    3. Education    4. Education / Teaching    5. Educational Psychology    6. General    7. Psychological aspects    8. Social Psychology    9. Education / Educational Psychology   

Subjects:  1. Arms control    2. Conflict management    3. International Relations - Arms Control    4. International Relations - General    5. Peace    6. Political Science    7. Politics/International Relations    8. Social Psychology    9. Sociology    10. Sociology - General    11. War    12. Peace studies    13. Psychology    14. Psychology & Psychiatry / Applied Psychology   

Subjects:  1. Clinical Psychology    2. Clinical health psychology    3. General    4. Medicine And Psychology    5. Psychology    6. Social Psychology    7. Health psychology    8. Psychology & Psychiatry / Clinical Psychology   

Reviews (4)

A father is key to understanding choices and roadblocks in a career
The Father Factor: How Your Father's Legacy Impacts Your Career comes from a psychologist who maintains the influence of a father is key to understanding choices and roadblocks in a career. Both positive and negative impacts are surveyed, from a passive or absent father's influence to understanding how destructive messages translate into workforce action or inaction. The 'what you can do about it' section is critical for change and a successful career approach.
Daddy Dearest
This is a WOW of a book. Fathers are the stereotypical breadwinners in the household. How are father's careers evolve infuence how ours do as well. We become our parents patterns if we are not careful. For women, this is especially poignant, and for those of us whose fathers demanded results-oriented performance .... looking back ... it really was a blessing in disguise. Kudos to all the men who pushed their daughters to succeed and fobade them to date in childhood.
How your relationship with your father effects your outlook at work
I found "The Father Factor" by Stephan B. Poulter,very interesting and certainly helpful in analyzing my behavior towards my colleagues and the politics of the work place.
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Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business Life - General    3. Family Psychology    4. Family Relationships    5. Fatherhood    6. General    7. Interpersonal Relations    8. Parental influences    9. Personal Growth - Success    10. Psychological aspects    11. Psychology    12. Psychology, Industrial    13. Social Psychology    14. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (17)

Should be required reading.
This is the book that I would have liked to write.It gets to the heart of what makes the difference between success and failure.From just my little corner of the world, I have come to believe that the lack of attention and sometimes sense of entitlement or invincibility are what kills or cripples businesses.The author does a wonderful job of exploring this and all the habits, mindsets, assumptions and oversights which were the causes of great failures.He's a wonderful storyteller.And, the power of using examples both in and outside of the business arena drives home the point that these problems are ubiquitous -- they're common to being human (and perhaps uninformed and/or lazy).He summarizes with 38 insights which beautifully stand on the messages of the stories while at the same time providing a framework for actually doing something to exact positive change in your own life and organization.Great work.

Excellent! A real page turner and you will certainly remember its teachings for long
It may be one of the most overlooked but great business book. A likely explanation is that Wharton School Publishing is far less famous than HBR. Who knows! No matter what, I am obliged to express my heartfelt appreciation to the author for his concise but superb accounts for the tragedies/incidents of/re Titanic, Three Mile Island, Columbia/Challenger/NASA, Enron, Coke, crashes of airliners and nuclear submarines, Tylenol, Ford/Firestone, Xerox, Kodak, IBM, DELL and so on. Forgive me to say that it's easy to write a business book, but not a good one like this which you can remember well its teachings after you close it for a day or two. Despite some typos, it is well written and organised. The 38 key points named as "Insights" distributed in ten chapters are genuinely insightful. Though this book seems to target at CEOs and enterpreneurs, I am sure people from all walks of life can benefit much from it coz you never know which one small mistake will trigger a chain of them (plus the hidden damages made beforehand) and get you killed. In a word, dont miss it!
Applicable to Businesses and Society
Another valuable source book for organizational (and personal) success from the Wharton School
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Crisis management    5. Errors    6. Management    7. Management - General    8. Management Science    9. Organization Theory    10. Organizational effectiveness    11. Prevention    12. Strategic Planning    13. Business & Economics / Systems & Planning    14. Social, group or collective psychology   

Subjects:  1. Behavior    2. Cognitive Psychology    3. Movements - Behaviorism    4. Personality    5. Physiological Psychology    6. Psychology    7. Social Psychology    8. Control (Psychology)    9. Psychology & Psychiatry / Personality    10. The self, ego, identity, personality   

Reviews (23)

Very insightful....thought provoking...
get this on audio tape. I assume that it is Liz Perle narrating.
Money, A Memoir- to remember!
I LOVED this book, and have referred to in often in conversations with different groups of women.It's amazing the way that Liz Perle has been able to "put her finger" on the way we, as women, think of and feel about money.I loved it- will read it again!

A Helpful Memoir for Women
Liz Perle does a really nice job in "Money, A Memoir" of weaving statistics, professional studies, and other people's experiences with her own personal experience and insight.While many parts of her book sound familiar (e.g., women shopping when they're in a slump) it does look below the surface at some of the root causes of our unhealthy relationship with money and why we differ vastly from men in that regard.The other thing I appreciated about the book was that Perle doesn't claim to have all the answers, and explains how she was able to find a happy medium in her relationship with money, which to me sounded like something I could attempt and achieve.Thanks, Liz for a very important memoir that women of all ages should read! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Case studies    2. Consumer Finance    3. Finance, Personal    4. Money    5. Personal Finance    6. Personal Finance - General    7. Personal Finance - Money Management    8. Psychological aspects    9. Psychology Of Women    10. Social Psychology    11. Social Science    12. Sociology    13. Women    14. Women's Studies - General   

Reviews (13)

A bright set of studies, but the framework is somewhat vague
In the first two chapters of the book, Howard Gardner considers those components that make leadership possible. He reviews the features of human development that make possible the phenomena of leadership: humans' primate status, early socialization and so on. The author introduces a set of distinctions that figure in a cognitive approach to leadership: such factors as direct/indirect forms of leadership, leadership within and across domains, inclusionary/exclusionary kinds of stories, identity stories, the embodiment of stories, and resistances and counterstoreis.The author identifies four factors crucial to the practice of effective leadership: a tie to the community (or audience); a certain rhythm of life (combination of being inside the fire and being able to do reflection in isolation); an evident relation between Stories and Embodiments; and the centrality of choice.
Scholarship of Leadership
Gardner does something very rare in the leadership literature...he provides a book with practical ideas based on solid research and scholarship.Where many leadership books present only one person as a role model, Gardner uses a range of examples from a variety of areas to develop a simple but effective model of how to be an effective leader.

Intelligence: Not Beyond Good and Evil
This time in collaboration with Emma Laskin, Gardner has again produced a remarkably entertaining as well as informative book, one in which he takes a cognitive approach when examining eleven great leaders: Margaret Mead, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Robert Maynard Hutchins, Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., George C. Marshall, Pope John XXIII, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Margaret Thatcher, Jean Monnet, and Mahatma Gandhi. Read more

Subjects:  1. Entrepreneurship    2. General    3. Leadership    4. Political Process - Leadership    5. Political Science    6. Politics/International Relations    7. Psychology    8. Social, group or collective psychology    9. The self, ego, identity, personality   

Reviews (40)

Why we think differently
One of the most enduring questions in the social sciences is how culture comes about, and how it leads to different behaviors in people from different societies.In the last 2 - 3 decades, much empirical research in the physical and life sciences have come to demonstrate that factors in the physical environment are determinative in the culture of the people that live there.This book goes one step further, and argues that our physical environment actually determines how we think.By contrasting the actions and language of people from East Asia and Western Europe, and tracing their modes of thinking back to the ancient Greeks and ancient Chinese respectively, the author shows how the different physical environments of each led to two quite different modes of thinking.Specifically, China, being a wide vast country composed of continuous fertile fields, was inducive to a culture where people think of relationships between different creatures, objects and behaviors.Greece, on the other hand, was composed of many different islands, and was in the center of trade routes between Africa, Asia, and Europe.This led to a culture of individualism and a need to classify objects based on their inherent properties.The descendants of these two cultures: Western Europe and the US on hand, and Japan, Korea and modern China on the other hand, have inherited these ancient precepts.
The best in its category, but
This book is the best in its category, but it shouldn't go beyond its own field to blindly comment on political issues. The last chapter should really be cut off, and all lab tests should be presented in a more rigorous manner: more statistical numbers, stricter test design, and be sensitive to "Confirmation Bias". However, using falsification tests to throw away the main points of this book may not be as attractive as one thought. Post-Popper "philosophy of science" shows that facts simply can't falsify theories, because facts or observations are by themselves theory-laden and facts are not separate from tools. There are actually more wrong facts than wrong theories. All these views from philosophy of science actually find their psychological proof in this book.
A good read for general audiences and undergraduate students
The field of psychology has long been dominated by a `universalist' position in which the results of experiments (often using American college students as subjects) have been generalized to the whole of humankind, and the complicating role of culture conveniently ignored.Therefore, as a cultural anthropologist, China specialist, and writer on cross-cultural aspects of visual perception, I was especially interested in this persuasive book by a leading social psychologist who has recently abandoned the universalist view.
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Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Cognitive Psychology    3. General    4. Psychology    5. Social Psychology    6. Epistemology, theory of knowledge    7. Ethnic studies    8. Psychology & Psychiatry / General   

Reviews (21)

A Social Psychology Explaining Totalitarian Movements
Erich Fromm originally wrote this work in 1941 which explores the psychological reason for the success of Nazism in Germany.However that is not the only subject of the book.It also explores the pathologies in industrial democracies as well.
more relevant than ever, unfortunately
I started reading Fromm after the terrible election of 2004 for two reasons: 1)I needed a diagnosis of political authoritarianism, particularly its psychological aspects; and 2) I wanted to hear something from someone who still had some hope for humanity and the essential goodness of people, at least in potential. Fromm usually isn't included in the syllabi of trendy crit theory/Frankfurt School grad seminars, and it's a shame. For Fromm, modern society is not individualistic so much as it is individualized--like it or not, the modern individual is stranded alone in the world without the anchors of tradition, security, community, etc. Laissez-faire economics and neo-liberal ideologies celebrate this condition, but the fact is that humans are social beings and this type of "freedom" is just as terrifying as it is liberating. Powerless and alone, the individual too often tries to escape from freedom by masochistically submerging his/her self to some greater authority and/or sadistically taking power over others (which of course is also a form of subservience, because the master needs his slave). If this sounds all too familiar in America in 2006 then pick Escape From Freedom along with Wilhelm Reich's Mass Psychology of Fascism and Theodor Adorno's The Authoritarian Personality. But despite being surrounded by Nazism in Germany and then Cold War conformity in the US, Fromm remained optimistic that individuals could discover true freedom by realizing their interdependence with others and nature in a way that perserved rather than annihilated their personal dignity. He discovered Zen in his later years and attempted to synthesize it with his Freudian-Marxism. If you need a dose of that kind of optimism, see Fromm's books Man For Himself, Marx's Conception of Man, To Have or To Be?, and The Art of Being.

In responsibility is freedom
The escape from freedom is as Dostoevsky wrote inin 'The Grand Inquisitor' section of 'Brothers Karamazov' is made out of a desire to escape the burden of responsibility and decision. The preference for ' bread and circuses' over a life of hard decisions is one way of succumbing to totalitarianism.
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Subjects:  1. Democracy    2. Liberty    3. Movements - Behaviorism    4. Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights    5. Psychology    6. Social Psychology    7. Totalitarianism    8. Modern fiction   

Subjects:  1. Art Therapy    2. Family Psychotherapy    3. Family Therapy    4. Psychology    5. Psychotherapy - Couples & Family    6. methods    7. Psychiatry    8. Psychology & Psychiatry / Family Therapy    9. Psychotherapy    10. Social, group or collective psychology    11. The Arts: General Issues   

Reviews (6)

Distinctions that liberate
"The Power of TED" is about the transformation of "victims" into "creators." The "victim orientation," as David Emerald points out, is a fundamental aspect of unreflective human experience, and it has probably been with us since we came down from the trees.If you have ever wondered, when confronting life's challenges and disappointments, "Why is THIS happening to me?" then you are already familiar with the victim orientation.The book starts with a scenario that raises this very question.And as you read on you will understand how it is that the way most of us think about our problems assures that our victimhood will be repeated, over and over again.
Sacagawea for Our Souls
Two hundred years ago when Lewis and Clark explored the unknown lands of the Pacific Northwest on their voyage of discovery, they were ably (and essentially) guided by the wise yet unassuming Sacagawea. "The Corps of Discovery," as they called themselves, set out on their journey with grave misconceptions -- fearful of finding wooly mammoths, giants, and even the lost tribe of Israel -- but returned with the unprecedented knowledge that the "wilderness" was filled with natural wonders, unlimited potential and the key to the future of the nation.
Profound reframe and value
Isn't it so often the case that powerful and compelling ideas are somehow the simplist? The Power of Ted is the power of Tao.It identifies an empowerment dialectic that rings true and resonates with common sense and practicality. I not only find immediate usage with my individual clients, but find it valuably applicable to larger scale consulting engagements as well.I believe we will be hearing a lot more from Ted...
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Subjects:  1. Personal Growth - General    2. Psychology    3. Psychology & Psychiatry / Counseling    4. Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Psychology    5. Dysfunctional Families    6. Triangles (Interpersonal relations)   

Subjects:  1. Cerebral Physiology    2. Life Sciences - Anatomy & Physiology    3. Medical / Nursing    4. Neuroscience    5. Pathological Psychology    6. Psychology    7. Psychopathology - General    8. Social Psychology    9. Cognition & cognitive psychology    10. Medical / Neuroscience    11. Neurosciences   

Reviews (9)

A New Marketing Classic
Heros and Outlaws should be a new marketing classic.Among the dozen or so marketing books I have read in the past year, this one ranks highest.Don't go searching for just one "kernel" in this book, you will want to read every word. Heros helped me, as an entrepreneur, begin to re-position my twelve year-old firm. I feel fortunate to have read it before I began the redesign of my company's web site. If you like Joseph Campbell's work, this book will help you translate those concepts into marketing your firm. I am recommending it to the local university's head of the marketing department as an auxiliary text.

If Joseph Campbell was a copywriter...
...he could not have written a more interesting treatise on the subject of branding. It is the single most interesting book on advertising that I have ever read.
Marketing to the subconscious
This is the the future of marketing: Less emphasis on numbers, focus group, statistics; more on appealing to customers emotionally.This book shows how universal stories can be used to appeal to customers, even though neither the customers nor the businesses may be consciously aware of it.I would recommend this book not only to marketing professionals, but to anyone who would like to know him/herself better. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Brand name products    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Corporate & Business History - Strategies    7. General    8. Marketing    9. Marketing - General    10. Marketing Management    11. Product Management    12. Business & Economics / Marketing / General    13. Popular psychology    14. Sales & marketing    15. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (1)

Great Transaction!
the book was in good condition and shipped quickly! thanks for a great experiance! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Careers - General    5. Clothing and dress    6. Consumer Behavior - General    7. Consumer behavior    8. Consumers' preferences    9. Fashion merchandising    10. Marketing    11. Social Psychology    12. Art / Design / General    13. Consumer issues    14. Fashion & beauty industries    15. Social, group or collective psychology   

Editorial Review

On time, out of time, time out, time is money--if our vernacular is any indication, the concept of time has certainly infiltrated American culture. Does Read more

Reviews (10)

Being late is murder (literally) according to this guy!
I was enjoying this book right up until the author felt the need to make this nutty comparison to Brazilians always being late:
Time, Place, Pace: New ways to think about our creation.
A Geography of Time, by Robert Levine, discusses time as few may have previously considered it in their daily pursuits.Through personal experience, via a sabbatical, Levine offers keen insights into the rhythms of life as experienced by peoples and places the world over.Offering "tempo" and what he calls "clock time" and "event time," as points of departure in an analysis of his and his colleagues observations, Levine successfully illustrates how not only "personality types" impact a region, but also how the region impacts the personality as well, thus revealing the symbiotic relationship between the person or persons and place or places respectively.
Time well spent
"A Geography of Time" is an almost-excellent study of perception of time, and how this perception is affected by culture and location. A new vocabulary is introduced to the reader, along with a host of new ideas about time, including "event time," "natural time," and the familiar "clock time."The author's research is enlightening and challenging.Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Psychology    3. Sociology    4. Time    5. Anthropology    6. Cultural studies    7. Social, group or collective psychology    8. Intercultural    9. International Relations    10. Intercultural and International Relations    11. Award   

Subjects:  1. Achievement motivation    2. Educational Psychology    3. Inspirational    4. Motivation    5. Motivational & Inspirational    6. Personality    7. Psychology    8. Social Psychology    9. Perception    10. Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Psychology   

Reviews (4)

A Wonderful Book
As a white male working in a student affairs office at a very diverse community college it is important that I take a good long look at myself to be sure I am serving our students the best way I can.This book is incredibly helpful in doing that.Did I get pissed off at things Mr. Sue talked about?Yes, of course.But he does warn his readers that they will get angry.I only got angry because I didn't want to believe what he was saying was about me, but it is.This book taught me a lot about myself, which I think is the point.I highly recommend this book to anyone that is willing to keep an open mind and is willing to go through some self evaluation.

One of the Best Books Ever...
This is one of the best books ever....I noted that a women said that we complain about racism in this country and do not truly understand what discriminate is...I am grasping that she was European America(i.e. White Ethnic, White, Fair Skinned whatever you want to call it)....I ask you this have your people ever been inslaved for nearly 400 years, have your people ever had attempts of racial/cultural genocides...Is it deeply ingrained in society that your people are lazy, inferior intellectually, etc....You would not even begin to understand, Typical White Person Syndrome...Don't Walk around stupid your whole life....
Sick and tired of white guilt
I came to America from a country that was so violent it made the worst black ghetto look like a national park. My family was abused, tormented and casted aside like street trash.
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Subjects:  1. Discrimination & Racism    2. Minority Studies - Race Relations    3. Psychology    4. Race relations    5. Racism  &nbs