Variety of new non-fiction

This time of year is always so very busy due to Junior Theme and the many research projects underway.  In recent years, the emphasis has shifted to controversial and more current issues and that, of course, helps drive our collection development. So here is a brief review of some newly published non-fiction works – more coming soon.

THE HAPPINESS EFFECT by Donna Freitas  (2/1, Oxford UP) is subtitled “How social media is driving a generation to appear perfect at any cost” which is clearly a high interest topic for our students and faculty.  Unfortunately, this book seems to be geared more to parents and takes an overly serious, scholarly tone. Freitas, a researcher affiliated with the University of Notre Dame and Hofstra University , says, “in our constant attempts to edit out our imperfections for massive public viewing, we are losing site of the things that ground our life in connection and love, in meaning and relationships.”  She bases her work on a survey and college student interviews which are liberally quoted.

ALL IN by Stephanie Breedlove (2/7, Greenleaf) centers on “How Women Entrepreneurs Can Think Bigger, Build Sustainable Businesses, and Change the World.” Breedlove draws on her own experience, having worked first for Accenture and then started, built and sold Care.com HomePay for fifty million dollars.  She writes about her own struggles and accomplishments in chapters with action-oriented titles like “Take Small Steps,” “Overcome Obstacles,” and “Pace Yourself.” I think our entrepreneurship class will especially like the sections which she includes on business strategy advice and statistics about US entrepreneurship.  Kudos also to The Wall Street Journal’s Joann Lublin for EARNING IT (2016, Harper Collins), filed with more well-known role models, “hard-won lessons,” and examples of “trailblazing women at the top of the business world.”

THE HIT MAKERS by Derek Thompson (2/7, Penguin) is already on our shelves. This work is a fun read for pop culture enthusiasts especially since, as the publisher says, “it leaves no Pet Rock unturned to tell the fascinating story of how culture happens and why things become popular.”  Thompson, senior editor at The Atlantic magazine, writes in an extremely entertaining and informative fashion.  Each of his chapters includes plenty of facts and anecdotes, often centering around a trio of related examples such as chapter one, The Power of Exposure, which deals with Monet, Adele and Trump. Thompson explains fluency (thinking that feels easy) and disfluency (difficult to process), noting that “most people generally prefer ideas that they already agree with, images that are easy to discern, stories that are easy to relate to….” Often, then “less thinking leads to more liking.” Similarly, USA Today recently noted that Trump's repetitive rhetoric is a trick used in advertising. THE HIT MAKERS’s chapter eleven, What People Want II: A History of Pixels, and Ink, uses tabloids, television and news feed to introduce tales about George Gallup and applied anthropology.  As he continues, Thompson mentions Steven Levy’s “dozen doughnuts” problem, noting that if people think the [Facebook] News Feed is just a sugar bomb without any deeper meaning, readers might shutter their accounts.” Did that realization lead to last Thursday’s Building Global Community manifesto?  Clearly, THE HIT MAKERS is a highly recommended and worthwhile read, filled with timely examples; it received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

THE FBI AND RELIGION by Sylvester A. Johnson and Steven P. Weitzman (2/7, University of California Press) is another more scholarly work focusing on “faith and national security before and after 9/11.” Northwestern University’s Johnson and University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman have collected a series of essays such as “Policing Public Morality,” “A Vast infiltration,” and “Allies against Armageddon?” which explore threats to religious liberty by describing the FBI’s relationship over time with a variety of religions and groups, including, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, Muslims, and Branch Davidians.  Very specialized and extensively researched.

THE NATURE FIX by Florence Williams (2/7, W. W. Norton) has a beautiful cover and a chapter titled “You may squat down and feel a plant"; how fun is that?  Science journalist Williams deftly describes current research on “Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative.”  Her examples come from around the world: Japan, Korea, Finland and several more places. She notes numerous benefits from contact with nature, including reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, and helping cope with ADHD or PTSD. Filled with fascinating findings and producing an urge to get outside, THE NATURE FIX received a starred review from Kirkus.

Several of these titles are from university presses and we have not made final purchase decisions yet, but we have been adding many non-fiction titles since the library’s move – be sure to check some out!

New Business Books

Every year, our business classes are asked to read a recent business book as part of an assignment.  And the choices are often fascinating and wide-ranging.  I, too, have been reading several recently published business books and thought I would briefly profile them here: 

First, from Harvard Business Review Press, HBR's 10 Must Reads 2015 contains a series of essays by business writers and commentators, many of whom like Clayton Christensen (Disrupting Class) and Daniel Goleman (Focus and Ecological Intelligence) have longer works in our collection. I particularly liked the first essay, “Beware the Next Big Thing,” by Julian Birkinshaw. Overall, this collection spans a range of industries and is worth a look by those interested in functions like marketing and human resources.

I also flipped through Work Smarter with Social Media by Alexandra Samuel who has repackaged earlier Work Smarter titles on email, Twitter, Evernote and LinkedIn in this release also from Harvard Business Review Press. She offers a Quick 30 Minute Set-up Guide on each of those topics and while the information like setting up folders and rules may seem obvious, I really liked the bullet point format she chose. It mimics a checklist, but has enough detail (e.g., choose a photo with at least 500 x 500 pixels) to help accomplish the tasks and provides a basic introduction to these tools.

Another title, Are You Fully Charged? by best-selling author Tom Rath (Strengths Finder 2.0), is a quick read and really focuses on three key areas to help yourself stay charged: creating meaning, interactions, and energy. Along with his previous work, Eat Move Sleep, Rath has developed a comprehensive website, children’s book, an app and promises a full length documentary in 2015. I can readily see an organization adopting this as a “one book” selection for everyone to read and discuss as part of professional development and well-being activities.  

Non-Obvious by Rohit Bhargava has an amazingly clever and memorable cover.  Its subtitle, “How to Think Differently, Curate Ideas and Predict the Future,” appeals to librarians as well as business leaders.  I initially struggled to read and navigate the digital form of this book, but found the print copy which Georgetown University Professor Bhargava sent me to be much more manageable.  I liked the headings, shaded labels and drawings – there even was a bookmark summarizing the 15 trends.  Some dealt specifically with education and directly addressed changes we are seeing like Glanceable Content (think Flipboard or Newsela) or interest in an emotional story like the Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty.”   Professor Bhargava suggest 5 habits of trend curators – another possible professional development focus – and provides numerous resources, plus lists and evaluations for past trends.  

Tomorrowland: Our Journey from Science Fiction to Science Fact by Steven Kotler is also related to the future while geared for those interested in popular science and topics like bionics or asteroid mining. Kotler explores the rate of technological change and its disruptive force. In particular, he looks at the idea of merging humans and machines.  These essays are based on writings that appeared in Wired, The New York Times and Atlantic Monthly. Unquestionably, a collection of quality writing on some tough issues – but it was complex and fought at times to hold my attention.  Does that prove the author’s point that we need to grapple with the ramifications even if we prefer to ignore them or do not understand completely?  I think that Science and Project Lead the Way faculty will find much to contemplate here and do want to sample more of the essays myself.  

Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts – Becoming the Person You Want to Be is written by executive coach Marshall Goldsmith. As the subtitle implies, it deals with personal growth, but looks at behavior and interactions (like Rath) and environmental scanning and forecasting (like Bhargava). While noting that change is difficult, Goldsmith encourages his readers to "try". Of particular interest to educators will be the sections on the power of active and engaging questions and becoming a planner, doer and coach.

For some global perspective, Alibaba’s World by Porter Erisman deals with the Chinese company that launched the world’s largest IPO in September 2014.  As a VP with Alibaba from 2000 to 2008, Erisman had an insider’s look at digital growth in China. 

 

For more information about CEO Jack Ma and this fascinating development, see the film Crocodile in The Yangtze whose trailer is above. Be sure to also investigate the many infographics and details at the Wall Street Journal project on this company. Added 6/2: Author Porter Erisman will be at The University Club of Chicago for a noon Luncheon on Thursday, June 4th - cosponsored with The Bookstall

Looking for more ideas of books related to Business and Economics?  The list could go on and on: reviewing Alibaba’s World led me to Age of Ambition by Evan Osnos which is a National Book Award Winner about China as well as an Economist book of the year. And I almost forgot to mention A Curious Mind by Brian Grazer which we have purchased and recommended to the Lit/Film classes. Finally, here are titles on the business and economics list of 2014’s bestsellers published by Library Journal.