change Books

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0714844012/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title
A simple question: "what for?" should be ask for designers. What exactly a process of design means and how it works or could work in contemporary global civilisation? It help get a consciousness of designers role in modern world.

Excellent vision and unhappy scenarios are show us. How could we do this? It's time to change!

Robson Quinello

An excellent look at the challenges and possible solutions facing the human race. My only complaint is that the book is a bit dated, but its perspective is future proof. The concept of the Institute without Boundaries is especially interesting.

Bruce Mau's previous book - "Life Style" - was a pivotal publication that had something very fundamental to say about the practice of design. The argument woven into this survey of Bruce Mau Design's portfolio derived its edginess from an underlying, existential dilemma. On the one hand, Mau wanted to do justice to design's capacity to give "style" to sprawling, viral "life" (originally a very Nietzschean concept, later taken up and politicised by Foucault and Deleuze). On the other hand, there was the fear for the domestication of his practice to the status of banal, lifeless purveyor of images and artefacts - global capitalism's lingua franca. This tension between subversion and acquiescence turned "Life Style" into a poignant testimony.

Massive Change is, I am sorry to say, a much less compelling read. It takes its cue from Life Style's key idea - design is able to reformat the very principle of life - but dispels the darker, problematic side of the equation. Indeed, although Mau would like us to believe otherwise, the book's perspective is squarely utopian. In adopting as its motto theme "Now that we can do anything, what will we do?", it echoes the pragmatist voluntarism of the peer-to-peer movement. But the dissonances - P2P's paradoxical (symbiotic/parasitic) relationship with capitalism - have been filtered from the echo. What remains is the suave message that technological progress - shaped and harnessed by design - will be able to solve all our problems if we only want it to.

So, although Massive Change promises to bring us a "wildly unexpected view of the future", it really doesn't reach beyond the intellectual horizon of, say, a special issue of Scientific American on "Key Technologies for the 21st Century". The material is conventionally organised in sections that review the state of the art in urban planning, transportation, energy, information, material sciences, military technologies, biotech etc. Only two chapters discuss governance issues ("market economies" and "wealth and politics"). The relatively meager substance comes from short interviews with a series of "experts" in the disciplines surveyed. The selection is very US-centric and contains quite a few usual suspects (Dean Kamen, Stewart Brand, Lawrence Lessig, Jaime Lerner, Hazel Henderson etc).

By now we are also well acquainted with Mau's cinematic and fractured style in book design. "Massive Change" doesn't break any new ground compared to previous volumes (not only Life Style but also S,M,L,XL (with Rem Koolhaas) and the Zone series of books). What was once truly refreshing is becoming stale. By the way, the short interviews are printed on glaringly yellow pages, which I find positively ugly.

All of this is disappointing. I can think of two explanations for the intellectual and stylistic flaccidity exhibited in this volume. First, we are missing the incisiveness and depth that Mau's sparring partner Sanford Kwinter brought to "Life Style" (In my opinion, Kwinter's three-page lead essay was worth the price of that book). I am not sure what happened between Mau and Kwinter, but the latter is almost completely absent from this volume.

Then, although this is not be obvious at first sight, "Massive Change" is not really a Mau book. In fact, it has been largely put together by Jennifer Leonard, one of the students from the inaugural year of the Institute without Boundaries (a newly established postgraduate education programme whereby students spend a full year in the Mau studio). So, although Mau's name figures prominently on the cover, inside we learn that the Institute led the research, development, design and production of Massive Change.

I can't recommend this volume. "Massive Change" is a missed opportunity.

Bruce Mau is more than a designer. He is a futurist who has swapped fatalism for idealism. His vision of the future is based on facts, but you feel his undertone of optimisim. Massive Change is an utterly interesting read from cover to cover. The structure of the book and the writing style makes it a great resource of information. Massive Change is a necessity for the bookshelf of every intellect and every dreamer.

Anyone interested in being elected in this next election should read this book. Women voters will ultimately be the deciders in this election and this book exposes clearly what women want from politicians. Contributors from Georgia to Hawaii, from Alaska to Florida and from all the regions of the country give voice to startlingly similar themes. A must read!

While I was reading this book I thought to myself, "This is what I think about!" This book contains the voices of everyday women. It is a book that reminds women they are not alone in what they want for this country. This book is a powerful statement to politicians expressing exactly what American women are thinking and brings attention to the issues this country needs to make their priority. Politicians listen! Women follow in the footsteps of this book and let your voices be heard!

Thank you to the editors and writers of this thoughtful and important resource. In this time when our voices as women need to be heard clearly, this book will serve as a tool to represent each and all of us. I plan to share this book with my key elected officials - this will allow them to know about women in a deliberate and powerful way.

Should be required reading for all politicians and all citizens who want to know what the majority of women believe and why they believe it. In these "less than friendly to women" times, what a great reminder this book is!

What a great idea this book is. Women all over the country have thoughtfully chosen words and the images that go along with them that correspond to the values of the feminine. In these times of change, as we rebalance our priorities as a culture, this book is a must read for policy makers and politicians.

Help in good manner to diagnose culture in organization. Have developed based on their approach a light software application.Very useful. Help to develop competency models based on cultural approach.

This is a great book. In addition, I recommend "Strategic Organizational Change" by Michael Beitler.

The authors provide a great model for understanding and diagnosing organizations. Their cultural quandrant methodology also provides a common language for people within an organization to talk about what they have and what they want. I recommend this for everyone who wants to understand their own organization. Their instrument (OCAI) is both easy to understand and easy to use.

The model presented is an interesting and for the most part effective one. For an alternative model see O'Reilly, Chatman and Caldwell's OCP Method and in particular the commercially available web tools from ThinkShed (www.thinkshed.com) that leverage the method.

Whichever method you use, culture change is ultimately about the application of a consistent approach...my personal preference is the OCP because of the availability of robust web based tools that enable one to penetrate the organization to a much deeper level than is otherwise possible with a paper based model or an interview based model. This can be important if you are wanting to get at deeply rooted and/or problematic sub-cultures.

Smith

This is the most helpful book available on organizational culture. Their OCAI instrument (for diagnosing organizational culture) alone is worth more than the price of the book. I use Cameron & Quinn's material with every one of my clients.

Dr. Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"

Great book! The exercises really force you to think and clarify the who, what, why and how of yourself and the group you are creating or trying to improve. I highly recomend this one.

With great insight and honesty Michael Jacoby Brown has drawn on his extensive experience to produce a practical and inspiring resource. This book is a must for anyone wishing to organize a group to work for social change or anyone who is part of a community organization which needs to rejuvenate or rediscover its purpose. It is beautiful in its simplicity, addressing its issues in a way everyone can understand, and broad in its scope, addressing every aspect involved in successful community organizing. "Building Powerful Community Organizations" demands engagement by the reader. It contains exercises and the reader gains best value from the book by engaging in the exercises at the point they are presented.

This book should be required reading for hospitals, foundations, public health agencies and people working on any form of community improvement. Michael has documented his learnings with stories and tools that can equip those willing to learn to build powerful community organization, as the title says. There are lots of various community organizing guides but this one mixes stories and tools in an easy to read, nicely laid out style. His wisdom comes from years of community organizing and translates here into practical, easy to access advice. This is the best handbook I have seen in a long time! The author makes himself available with info on how to reach him as well as a website with blog that makes him more than a distant author; he is approachable and willing to extend his teachings beyond the pages of his book. Not may authors do this.

Written by Michael Jacoby Brown, who has more than thirty years' experience in building community organizations, Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide to Creating Groups that Can Solve Problems and Change the World is a handy step-by-step guide to creating, strengthening, and revitalizing grass-roots organizations for bringing about social change to solve problems in the community or workplace. From how to effectively recruit (learning to "listen not sell", when short or long visits are appropriate, and how to turn success into momentum) to how to mobilize resources and raise money to the steps for setting change into motion and more, Building Powerful Community Organizations walks the reader through the necessary skills and processes while warning against common obstacles and pitfalls. Enthusiastically recommended for anyone looking to harness communal effort and make a lasting difference.

Author Michael Jacoby Brown has created a book with very detailed information on how to organize, create, and lead a community organization. In it he clearly explains all the steps necessary to create an effective organization that can resolve problems. The various areas discussed include the theory of how a group should work, the chemistry involved, the seven basic steps for building an organization, developing a mission statement, goals, and objectives, designing the organization to last, recruiting others, mobilizing, raising money and taking action. Throughout the book are case studies and exercises to help you not only understand how it all works but also to help you work through developing your organization correctly. If you want to change the world and know you need help to do it then you will appreciate this book. Building Powerful Community Organizations is easily the best book on the market today on this subject.

As a Christian I was totally disappointed in this book. The author made it clear that this book was not about God, but rather trying to figure out on own why things happen.

let's get our definitions straight. by 'reason' i mean for a good purpose, k?

imagine this because everythin happens for a reason is a dangerous thought: there's a race going on 4 getting the gift of eternal salvation except the race isn't about who will reach the end first, it's about if you can make it to the end before the time limit ends. imagine a road: when u walk towards the prize, forward, you see the signs that encourage you to keep moving forward (and when you keep going forward, there are goodies that u can pick up off the bushes) =good path.when a person looks at what' behind them and walk the other direction away from the prize of salvation, there r signs saying to go turn around and to head the right direction. if a person keeps walking on that road, he could fall in a big ditch or trip over logs. The signs are like experiences or warnings or encouragements and God puts to urge u to go the right direction. When a person hears the saying 'everything happens for a reason.' they have the tendency to think "really? everything happens for a reason, good and bad? in that case, i'll do something bad on purpose becuase it'll happen for a good reason\ " ppl will walk on the backwards path and not pay attention to the signs because whatever bad things they do will happen for a good reason..or so they think. ppl will fall into ditches and use the saying 'everything happens for a reason' to justify their intentional sin. they will think that they are intentionally sinning so that they could learn how to forgive themselves, or want to learn things the hard way because they think the lessons going to stick to them better, or because they want to procrastinate going to the right path or because they think they'll know how much they have better becaus of the saying you never know how much you have until it's gone.

first of all,well, you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself if you walk into the ditch intentionally because you wouldn't be forgetting about things by moving on, instead, the person would be keeping thoughts of their mistakes, stuch in the ditch. Being in the ditch and having nothing to eat, would make you hungry and there would be a constant hurt in your stomach that u wouldn't be able to forget, so u wouldn't be able to forgive unless you got out of the ditch and went on the forward right path.we already have enough things in our life to forgive. it's better to learn things the easy way because ur just wasting ur time learning things the hard way on purpose, unless, u accidentally learn something the hard way. it's not worth going through all the trouble just to learn things the hard way because you can already learn things the easy way and that means that you could just do things the right way= easy way. if you keep learnigng things the hard way (purposely) then you won't be making things easy for people, and God wants to make things simple as possible. (psalm 116:6) what an excuse. we move better when being on the right path/. u can realize how much u have even if its not gone. :) think about it..u don't have to go to the poor in iraq to learn how much value whatever your possessions are.

there are different reasons though if you don't pass a test for college even though you tried your best. as for things like that, it's a different story. perhaps that field you're trying to be in is not really your skill.

This book is what I needed in this moment. I've just changed my job and the author really made me believe that what she wrote is absolutely true.

This book is an array of simplistic information based on cognitive therapy. Instant revelations of one's point of view and correcting it do not a big change in life make, in my opinion. The writer seems to think so.

I'm also tired of professional writers starting many sentences with "But" when the "but" should be connecting one half of a sentence with another, or the two thoughts should be separate sentences, either of which would work well, rather than repeatedly breaking rules of grammar in this way. Where are the proofreaders and editors?

I think overall the book offered great guidance and different perspective. I think it is to be used more for a personal analysis. I recommended this book to others who enjoyed it as well.

"Extreme Programming Explained" offers a thorough and good overview of the Extreme Programming (XP) approach to software development.

This book covers the fundamentals of XP and describes some of the benefits of this approach to developing software. While this approach may not suit all developers, project managers or companies, this book offers an interesting overview of XP.

I believe the basis in software development for business is in this book.
You can have the technique, the skills, and the money, but you will need the human side for any agile way of working.
This is not the silver bullet, but you NEED to read this book.

I came across this book in the Bibliography section of Scott Berkun's "The art of Project Management".

First, the structure. Well, this book is under 200 pages. So when Beck talks about keeping what is essential, he is surely applying it while writing books.

Second, the content. The book takes the reader from understanding business risks associated with software development, to understanding the changing economics of software development & why XP can fit the demands of an ever changing business scenario. The book then establishes what XP is, what are its features, what are the activities, who are the X players & then links the roles, activities, & features together across each phase in a typical XP project. While Beck is persuasive about the usefulness of XP, he has also included a chapter at the end of the book which talks about projects where using XP may not be advisable. And yes, such a project is an outsourced development project.

XP presents many interesting features. Traveling light - or code & tests together being all you need - sounds like a dream; nano-releases - or doing a daily or hourly build so that at any time you have a full system working, no matter the completeness of desired functionality - , building a system story by story, & going back & revisiting scope ever so often are all features that can be immensely valuable to the business & to the project team.

As a result of all this, & more such practices, XP resembles to an extent Darwinian evolution in some ways. Trying many things & keeping what works, designing for today's needs & changing that with tomorrow's requirements tomorrow but not today can be seen as interesting commonalities between Darwinian evolution & XP!

Overall, I think the book is great introduction to XP. I'd have liked case studies as well to understand how well good theory fits general projects of any kind, but this book does not cite too many such projects. Nevertheless, pick it up if you want to understand what the XP evolution is all about.

S!

This book is a good introduction to different aspects involved in extreme programming.

The author is the initial proponent of XP. First part of the book explains the present day software development realities(like deadlines etc) and the pitfalls that take place due to these time sensitive expectations. Author moves onto explain the necessity for XP and what are the basic guidelines of XP.

The author should be commened for covering where XP is impractical and should not be used. The book explains the life cycle of a XP project and different roles that are part of this radical process.

XP is not suitable for many present day organizations(due to age old approaches that are already implanted in the system); but should be considered for time sensitive deliverables. This book will definitely give a headsup on how to approach XP.

Small negative: The book takes too much time on what is wrong in other traditional approached to software development(for the size of the title:about 200 pages)

This is an excellent book, short, concise, and well-written. To derive the full benefit of the book, I recommend reading it three times.

The first time you should just try to grasp the concepts of XP and adapt your attitude to be willing to try XP on a real project. If you are a heavy-weight methodology old-timer, this might be a big step for you. Approach it with an open mind.

Only having read the book completely, should you attempt an XP project. That will prepare you for the second reading. Now you can begin to fully grasp the power of its concepts and their implementation. Reading the book retrospectively will shed new light on most of the books contents. Much of what was previously fuzzy or abstract will become lucid.

The third time through should be when you teach using XP. I found more benefit when teaching a formal course than when performing OJT, especially when training those who have more historically traditional development attitudes.
The reason Beck has experienced so much success with XP is because XP works. This book truly explains how to embrace change.

This book is very much like the adult version only with pictures. It would be good for later elementary ages through probably middle school. Being a teacher of lower elementary, I enjoyed it myself!

I love this book. It is a wonderful book to spark family conversations about the power of change. The illustrations are terrific and allow small children to follow along easily. We read this book often and talk about change and the benefits of trying new things. Extremly relevant and well done.

Mia Redrick
Author, Time for mom-Me-5 Essential Self-care Strategies for Mother's

This edition of "Who Moved My Cheese?" is beautifully illustrated and was enjoyed by all of my children from 2 to 12. As an adult, I also throughly enjoyed the book and recommend for children from ages 1 to 99!

I didn't know how well the illustrations were going to be, but I was pleasantly surprised. It covers the entire story line of the adult version and is tailored perfectly for kids. My five-year-old loves it.

Calling it "magical cheese" does not make it easy for kids to understand. This book is a disgraceful attempt to sucker more money out of parents who want their kids to succeed. Let's think about the original book and the message it tries to impart. The types of change that the original tries to prepare us for will not come up in a child's life. This has to be the longest picture book in history and frankly it is condescending. No child will ever sit down to read it. The author foolishly takes a very adult, complicated matter and tries to dumb it down with pretty illustrations... somethings don't dumb down. I have to admit when I read this I became frustrated, bored and confused. The author is completely unable to comprehend that painting the mice and using simple words does not mean that a book works for children. This is a mockery of parents who want to find good books to help their children. Picture books are targeted at children who are typically under five and this book... I know I could never get my nephew who is 14 to sit down and listen to it. Extremely insulting that the author would be out to make a quick buck like this.

The next big boom will be free energy. Vijay, people want free energy and not cheap energy. Tesla proposed free wireless energy for the world which never happen. Micropower offers cheap distributed energy, not free energy. The motionless Electromagnetic Generator is a technology makes possible distributed free energy in massive quantities. Alternatives like ethanol, solar, wind, and fuel cell are expensive and produce insignificant amounts of energy. Why offer a marginal increase in available energy? People want free energy. The usage of this energy would be limited to their creativity, boundaries of logic, and available capital. Image a world where the consumer uses a 1,000 fold more energy and higher quality energy producing higher quality standards of life. People want more control of the energy generation and consumption behaviors. Technology stagnation can no longer be an adequate reason for high energy prices. Nuclear power will provide more energy. Utility companies had wait for regulatory permission to build the plant, factor in costs to finance monies, billions of dollars borrowed that raised the rates. Between 1969 and 1984 the rates rose 60 percent.

"Small is profitable", by Amory Lovins, is quoted, "Thus the grid linking central stations to remote customers had become the main driver of thoses customer's power costs and power-quality problems-which became more acute as digital equipment required extremely reliable electricity. The cheapest, most reliable power, therefore, was that which was produced at or near the customers..." Fuels cells have niched in reliable electricity near the customer, small power plants located near the customer. Fuel cell technology has been used to provide megawatt power for companies, provide backup power for computers, and small electronic devices. Fuel cell technology for automobiles, buses, and trucks remain cost prohibitive until the cost per kilowatt drops below 30 cents a kilowatt, it will be infeasible. Fuel cell technology for transportation does not make sense. "Progress has come only in fits and starts, but the trend is clear: the era of monopolization, centralization, and overregulation has started to give way to market forces in electricity." Micropower has been given a chance to blossom, prices are determined by markets not monopolies, and energy is serve the needs of ordinary people. "Forward -looking firms are already developing microgrids that can electronically link together dozens of micropower units, be they fuel cells or wind turbines." For example, Hydrogren uses 400 kilowatt, air-cooled phosphoric acide fuel cells to generate multi-megawatt systems, 6 - 30 megawatts.

However, centralized power production failed in providing free energy. Decentralized power produce is the solution either in the form of local community energy production using power micro generators or off the grid power generation, such as, home generators or home power plants.


Providing internet to poor nations does not remove poverty. Free energy removes poverty but providing increased mechanical work and logic to grow food, manufacture products, and entertain. Over a half a billion people have no access to electricity. Micropower is an attractive option, in such places. "One significant advantage of micropower is that is call allow generator owners to become producers as well as consumers- selling surplus electricity back to the grid when they do not need it."

Electric vehicles make the car an appliance. "Who killed the electric car" is a compelling story about how GM distorted customer demand statistics to scrap the EV1. Consumers wanted the EV1. The EV1 used Ovonic advanced battery technology to provide cruising speeds for adequate distances. EV hybrids could combine hydrogen reforming, battery, and an combustible engine. Even more significant are cars that run on water or air. EV1 cost 60 cents a mile to operate.


Vijay's book suggests that modern cars emit less population; gas will be the preferred choice of fuel for the next fifty years; energy is the biggest market in the world; fuel cells are doomed; electric vehicles failed to create customer demand; environmental green house crisis emphasis will emerge in politics and in the media; and micropower will not mean the end of giant power plants, instead, it will mean cheap power to areas without power. Vijay sees super Enron, "As energy markets liberalize, on-line energy-trading markets develop, and individual consumers win the right to select their energy suppliers, some people even see the emergence of virtual utilities. Microgrids would allow such firms to combine the individual efficiency of the micropower plants with the market power that is gained by bundling together their collective generating capacity."

Power to the People does present a particular point of view. Many people do not like to read books on very political topics like this unless it matches their view. I guess I'm that way as much as anyone, maybe more than most.

But while I do not agree with all that Vijay Vaitheeswaran says, I did enjoy this book. It's thoughtful, but entertaining. Cleverly written, but perceptive. Some of the comments that stick in my mind may not be the most important points in the book. (Vaitheeswaran's account of when he met Cindy Crawford and she said "the three words men most want to hear" was pretty funny.) But the thoughts in the book as a whole all hang together. They persuade, if not necessarily convince.

Contrast this with Internal Combustion, by Edwin Black, a book that I also read recently. His book draws on a wealth of research. And I agree with many of the principles he builds up from the facts. But Black's book ultimately does not hang together. Black draws basic conclusions from the facts that the facts do not support. The book's faults pull it down.

All in all, while I agree with much of what others see as faults in Power to the People, my opinion of the book as a whole could not be higher. It's a gem.

I almost didn't read this because of the title. In this day and age with many seemingly on the edge of reason I thought it was somewhat of an incendiary title.

I'm glad I did check it out - I loved it. This man is a seriously talented writer. The material is dense. Very dense. Lots of dates, places, people, times and tragic, infuriating, maddening events. It is rendered readable with Mr. Vaitheeswarans method of inserting ironic humor into the text just when your eyes start crossing.

I enjoyed the way he presented all of the sides that he perceives and the pros and cons for each one. Talking about the environment is a very emotional issue for some and I thought that he covered all of the bases well without making it sound like one particular answer is written in stone.

We have, at our fingertips such wonderful scientific advances. The trick will be to put them to use to solve the problems, not create more down the line from here. I think he pointed that out very well.

This book is as excellent an introduction to the topic of the future of energy as any book on the market. This statement, however, is more a reflection of the lack of alternatives to Power to the People as it is of the book's own strengths. To be certain, it is a well-written and smartly researched book. One would expect nothing less from a writer from The Economist. It's strongest point is to so thoroughly make the case for why the energy sector must change in the next decades. The pollution and inefficiency that the modern subsidization of the carbon-based energy economy creates harms global welfare. However, its greatest weakness is to skimp on the details as to how the energy sector should transform itself. This book does not go into how solar energy works, or what government policies concerning wind energy should be. In fact in doesn't even survey the prospects for renewable energy, by say, arguing that solar cells are the future. Rather it puts forth a well reasoned case that the days of carbon-based fuels must end, and that governments must stop the carbon subsidy and research alternatives. End of story. In fact its most interesting chapters don't concern energy at all but have to do with reconciling the philosophies of capitalism with those of environmentalism, as task that the author does quite well. A good starting point for those interested in the future of energy, but if you're looking for more specific forecast of how global energy production will or should be composed in the future, look elsewhere.

I expected something completely different when I read this book. I was expecting that this book would tell about different ways that the future would get energy to the people.

This book is nothing like that the first two thirds of this book is a diatribe on how everybody is using energy the wrong way. It tells that innovation and micro power is the wave of the future and condemns all government subsidies for energy. He does not explain why we will be going to micro power but says that's the way it is going to be.

I have to say I started reading this book and put it down for a while for the racist remarks throughout the book. It is told from an Indian viewpoint where he makes snide remarks about the British saying that the British East Indian Company was the ultimate in evil. He makes condescending remarks about the Americans not being smart enough to have back-up generator in Silicon Valley whereas in Bangalore India they have them.

He is obviously against nuclear power by making outrageous remarks about nuclear wastes not being safe for 100,000 years. I read nuclear renewal and the waste from the newer breeder reactors is a couple of 100 years and they will reduce that as time goes on.

He is all for the fuel cell and the book is very well written. He doesn't say how we are going to get the hydrogen that we will need and talks endlessly about the Kyoto Protocol like it was the only peace of legislation that mattered on global warming.

I thought there would be new ideas and processes for the future like biomass or solar chimneys. There is nothing new or insightful this book seems more like a list of grievances.

This book is disappointing. While it may help a college student or other really new person grasp some of the concepts of organizing it is not useful to practioners.

The Midwest Academy used to have a very good training manual covering many issues. As the book got slicker looking the information got worse.

Get Shel Trapp's old Basics of Organizing instead - much more useful, and free on the internet.

This manual takes you through waht you need to know about organizing. From strategy development to research to implementation, this book shows you how to do it. Well written and simple to understand. Outstanding reference for novice to experienced organizer.

The best purchase you can make and you won't need to buy others.