The Artist’s Way

The Artist’s Way Paperback

by Julia Cameron  (Author)

The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published one decade ago, it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. In a new introduction to the book, Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist’s Way and describes the work she has done during the last decade and the new insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist’s Way for a new century. Read more of this post

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life [Paperback]

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life [Paperback]

Anne Lamott (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 1, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0385480016 | ISBN-13: 978-0385480017 | Edition: 1

“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my  brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy.  Just take it bird by bird.'” Read more of this post

Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don’t, and How to Make Any Change Stick

Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don’t, and How to Make Any Change Stick Paperback

by Jeremy Dean  (Author)

At least one third of our waking hours are lived on autopilot. But habits of the mind do not have to control us—we can steer them. Drawing on the latest research, psychologist Jeremy Dean explains why seemingly easy habits can prove difficult to form and how to take charge of your brain’s routines to make any change stick. Making Habits, Breaking Habits explains that it is possible to bend habits to your will—and become happier, more creative, and more productive. Read more of this post

Strategy: A History

Strategy: A History Hardcover

by Lawrence Freedman  (Author)

Selected as a Financial Times Best Book of 2013

In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world’s leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives.  Read more of this post

The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life – Master Any Skill or Challenge by Learning to Love the Process Paperback

The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life – Master Any Skill or Challenge by Learning to Love the Process Paperback

by Thomas M. Sterner  (Author)

In those times when we want to acquire a new skill or face a formidable challenge we hope to overcome, what we need most are patience, focus, and discipline, traits that seem elusive or difficult to maintain. In this enticing and practical book, Thomas Sterner demonstrates how to learn skills for any aspect of life, from golfing to business to parenting, by learning to love the process. Read more of this post

The Fortune Cookie Principle: The 20 keys to a great brand story and why your business needs one

The Fortune Cookie Principle: The 20 keys to a great brand story and why your business needs one. Paperback

by Bernadette Jiwa  (Author)

“This should be the next book you read. Urgent, leveraged and useful, it will change your business like nothing else.” SETH GODIN —Author The Icarus Deception

It’s not how good you are. It’s how well you tell your story.

Big corporations might have huge marketing and advertising budgets but you’ve got a story. Your brand story isn’t just what you tell people. It’s what they believe about you based on the signals your brand sends. ‘The Fortune Cookie Principle’ is a brand building framework and communication strategy consisting of 20 keys that enable you to begin telling your brand’s story from the inside out. It’s the foundation upon which you can differentiate your brand and make emotional connections with the kind of clients and customers you want to serve. Read more of this post

The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny

The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny Hardcover

by Peter McGraw  (Author) , Joel Warner  (Author)

Two guys. 19 experiments. Five continents. 91,000 miles. And a book that will forever change the way you think about humor.

Part road-trip comedy and part social science experiment, a scientist and a journalist detail their epic quest to discover the secret behind what makes things funny.
Dr. Peter McGraw, founder of the Humor Research Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, teamed up with journalist Joel Warner on a far-reaching search for the secret behind humor. Their journey spanned the globe, from New York to Japan, from Palestine to the Amazon. Meanwhile, the duo conducted their own humor experiments along the way—to wince-worthy, hilarious, and illuminating results. Read more of this post

Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction

Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction [Paperback]

John Brockman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 29, 2013 | ISBN-10: 0062258540 | ISBN-13: 978-0062258540

Unlock your mind

From the bestselling authors of Thinking, Fast and Slow; The Black Swan; and Stumbling on Happiness comes a cutting-edge exploration of the mysteries of rational thought, decision-making, intuition, morality, willpower, problem-solving, prediction, forecasting, unconscious behavior, and beyond. Edited by John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org (“The world’s smartest website”—The Guardian), Thinking presents original ideas by today’s leading psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers who are radically expanding our understanding of human thought. Read more of this post

The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion

Invisibles: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion Hardcover

by David Zweig  (Author)

An inspiring look at the hidden stars who perform essential work without recognition

In a culture where so many strive for praise and glory, what kind of person finds the greatest reward in anonymous work?
Expanding from his acclaimed Atlantic article, “What Do Fact-Checkers and Anesthesiologists Have in Common?” David Zweig explores what we can all learn from a modest group he calls “Invisibles.” Their careers require expertise, skill, and dedication, yet they receive little or no public credit. And that’s just fine with them. Read more of this post

How to Execute Innovation in Any Organization

Beyond the Idea: How to Execute Innovation in Any Organization Hardcover

by Vijay Govindarajan  (Author) , Chris Trimble (Author)

The New York Times bestselling authors of Reverse Innovation and How Stella Saved the Farm distill more than a decade of exclusive research into one short, powerful, action-oriented book.

Companies stumble when they imagine that innovation is mostly about ideas. The reality is that ideas are only beginnings. Indeed, even a company with the world’s best idea still faces a devilish challenge: it must build the business of tomorrow without endangering the business of today. Read more of this post

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder by Arianna Huffington

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder Hardcover

by Arianna Huffington (Author)

In Thrive, Arianna Huffington makes an impassioned and compelling case for the need to redefine what it means to be successful in today’s world.

Arianna Huffington’s personal wake-up call came in the form of a broken cheekbone and a nasty gash over her eye — the result of a fall brought on by exhaustion and lack of sleep. As the cofounder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group — one of the fastest growing media companies in the world — celebrated as one of the world’s most influential women, and gracing the covers of magazines, she was, by any traditional measure, extraordinarily successful. Yet as she found herself going from brain MRI to CAT scan to echocardiogram, to find out if there was any underlying medical problem beyond exhaustion, she wondered is this really what success feels like? Read more of this post

Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently

Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently Hardcover

by Caroline L. Arnold  (Author)

A Wall Street tech leader explains how small behavioral changes lead to major self-improvement
Whether trying to lose weight, save money, or get organized, we’re always setting goals and making resolutions but rarely following through on them. Determination and willpower aren’t strong enough to defeat our mass of ingrained habits; to succeed we have to learn how to focus our self-control on precise behavioral targets and overwhelm them, according to longtime Wall Street technology strategist Caroline Arnold. Read more of this post

Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs

Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs Paperback

by Larry Keeley  (Author) , Helen Walters  (Author) , Ryan Pikkel  (Author) , Brian Quinn  (Author)

Innovation principles to bring about meaningful and sustainable growth in your organization

Using a list of more than 2,000 successful innovations, including Cirque du Soleil, early IBM mainframes, the Ford Model-T, and many more, the authors applied a proprietary algorithm and determined ten meaningful groupings—the Ten Types of Innovation—that provided insight into innovation. The Ten Types of Innovation explores these insights to diagnose patterns of innovation within industries, to identify innovation opportunities, and to evaluate how firms are performing against competitors. The framework has proven to be one of the most enduring and useful ways to start thinking about transformation. Read more of this post

Alan Watts: In My Own Way: An Autobiography

In My Own Way: An Autobiography Paperback

by Alan W. Watts (Author)

In this new edition of his acclaimed autobiography — long out of print and rare until now — Alan Watts tracks his spiritual and philosophical evolution from a child of religious conservatives in rural England to a freewheeling spiritual teacher who challenged Westerners to defy convention and think for themselves. Read more of this post

Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life: Collected Talks: 1960-1969

Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life: Collected Talks: 1960-1969 Paperback

by Alan W. Watts (Author)

Alan Watts introduced millions of Western readers to Zen and other Eastern philosophies, but he’s also recognized as a brilliant commentator on Judeo-Christian traditions as well as a celebrity philosopher who exemplified the ideas and lifestyle of the 1960s counterculture. In this compilation of controversial lectures, delivered at American universities throughout the decade, Watts challenges readers to reevaluate Western culture’s most hallowed constructs. Watts treads familiar ground, interpreting Eastern traditions, and also covers new territory, exploring the counterculture’s basis in the ancient tribal and shamanic cultures of Asia, Siberia, and the Americas. In the process, he addresses some of the era’s most important questions: What is the nature of reality? And how does an individual’s relationship to society affect this reality? Filled with his playful, provocative style, the talks show the remarkable scope of a philosopher in his prime, exploring and defining the ’60s counterculture as only Alan Watts could. Read more of this post

Professors, We Need You! Academics are some of the smartest minds in the world. So why are they making themselves irrelevant?

Professors, We Need You!

FEB. 15, 2014

Nicholas Kristof

SOME of the smartest thinkers on problems at home and around the world are university professors, but most of them just don’t matter in today’s great debates.

The most stinging dismissal of a point is to say: “That’s academic.” In other words, to be a scholar is, often, to be irrelevant. Read more of this post