change Books

Plato's allegory of the cave is a story that everyone must read in order to claim to be educated. In it, people are permanently located in a cave with their back to the entrance. The shadows of what takes place outside the cave appears on the wall and the residents use that information to reach conclusions regarding what is outside. It is designed to show you that much of what you think you know is only a faint shadow of what the world really is.
This story begins in that vein; Unga, Bunga, Oogie, Boogie and Trevor are cave dwellers with a fear of the outside. They watch the shadows and reach conclusions and each has a different opinion regarding what terrible fate would befall them if they ever set foot outside their domain. They eat only what blows into the cave, so their diet consists largely of dried plant life and dead insects.
Eventually, Boogie expresses a desire to explore the exterior world, an opinion that immediately gets him ostracized. When he leaves, he discovers an amazing world of animals and vegetation. He wanders until he encounters a wise man named Mike, who tells him how it used to be.
In the old days, there was a major civilization that built towers to see what was beyond their immediate vicinity. In one direction, there were enormous herds of wild animals and in the other direction there were abundant fruits and vegetables there for the harvesting. There were two groups, each of which looked in only one direction. This led to an immediate split, one group wanted to build spears and other hunting tools while the other wanted to build baskets for gathering. Neither side would budge from their position, which led to a battle for control. This battle led to separate groups retreating into caves, where they remained to this day.
After the initial story of the cave dwellers, there is a serious discussion of the meaning of the tale. You are asked to ponder the significance of the story and how it relates to the modern business world. With the advent of global markets and the instantaneous transfer of information, for most companies a strategy of staying put is suicide. Each and every day, someone in the company must be examining all of the fundamental assumptions used to justify the business decisions.
This is a short book that is perfect for the half-day management seminar. Illustrated and only 81 pages long, it can be read in about an hour and is packed with information designed to get you thinking about your approach to life, work and career.

Fun and easy read but compelling! This is a book that I will want to keep on my bookshelf and revisit. A must read for managers, educators, and leaders.
Just as enjoyable and illuminating, Outlearning the Wolves, again, by David Hutchens.

Simple, yet powerful. A fun way to learn and very effective for group discussion.

I really enjoyed this book! The author's clever sense of humor and the great illustrations make a difficult subject--mental models--fun and easy to learn about. I think the book would help any company, family, or even couple get better at exploring why they think the way they do, and how to communicate better with colleagues and loved ones. The discussion guide at the end of the book makes it easy to start using the ideas in your day-to-day life.

David Hutchens brings new insight and twists to an age old metaphor. This book begins with a humorous tale whose analogy, to the world in which we live and the mental models which we hold, will hit you between the eyes. The writer quickly points out problems every organization battles with to improve performance and grow. While the business culture has become so overwhelmed with change, many leaders have embraced their current state of affairs. Holding tight to what we have, we spend much of our energy trying not to lose market share. This book gives insight into why and when this happens and how to move from there. "In a world of chaotic information, the mind instantly locks onto that which it already knows--and simply filters out other data." (from Shadows of the Neanderthal) I'm glad I bought it. Thom Hazelip, Arthur Andersen LLP

I bought this book largely on the strength of the reviews. For the price, it's very thin both physically and in content. I haven't yet tried any of the suggested scripts but reading them didn't cause any alarms bells, until some other books I've looked at in store and so maybe it'll work. Will be creating a recording and trying it out over the next couple of weeks to see if it actual makes any change in my life.

But for now, can't really recommend this book.

This book covers many specific areas of self-change and personal development. And as it covers all of the basics, it means that this title is beneficial for anyone.

"Things should be as simple as they need to be, and not simpler." This book took me only a few minutes to read, but the knowledge in it will last a lifetime. Mr. MacKenzie talks about self-change in the most quick, simple, succinct and ingenious way I ever read. (And I've read a lot...) And I have no complaints about his delivery of the subject matter, either. The way he uses language and metaphors shows that he isn't just a hypnosis/NLP expert on paper, he really is. And that's a beautiful thing. So, obligatorily, yet totallly encouragingly. Buy and read this book.

Captain Josh.

Self-Published Unprofessionalism

The only reasons I can think why this would have been so highly rated by other reviewers, is because they have experienced change through hypnosis, and are therefore reviewing the technique itself rather than the book.

Don't make the mistake I made, of thinking that the bland cover indicates a technical manual. I was expecting an A4 sized volume with tiny writing, filled with content - instead I got a small handbook written in a gigantic, horrible sans-serif font.

The style of writing is conversational rather than scholarly, and the book is rife with spelling and grammar errors. One sentence refers to learning how to use the "peddles" in a car. As for the content... Well, about all I can say is there is some. Probably less than you'd find on a decent website about hypnosis. The introduction is a pep talk, telling us how great hypnosis is. Then comes the single induction script, then a few odds and ends and a couple of scripts for specific issues, before a section on the history of hypnosis, obviously included as padding.

Reading this book tends to raise more questions than it answers. The less enquiring mind may find that this is all they need to know to achieve success with hypnosis. However, those who want to truly understand how and why hypnosis works, in order to apply it most successfully, will find little of value here. Similarly, those with complicated or persistent issues, will not find any detailed information on how to deal with them.

Knowing nothing about self-hypnosis I bought this book assuming that, like meditation, I could do it on my own without equipment. This book would be a helpful tool after working with other self-hypnosis recordings. Then one would be experienced and motivated enough to create a custom tape.

This is the book for one of my poly sci classes at college and I really like it. I recommend it!

I purchased this book for my grandson for use a college. It was shipped quickly.

Another patterns book -- it certainly is a popular type of book these days. I got about half-way through this one before someone else wanted to read it. What can I say? Not bad. Recommended reading if you're trying to introduce a change in the way people work. The stories or case studies are pretty readable. But I'm not sure how much it helps to give little (pattern) names in brackets inside every other sentence. Pick up any book about industrial success like Marriot or The HP Way and you'd probably do just as well. The important thing is to read about others' similar successes and how they did it, and always to get help from lots of other people.

Fearless Change is a catalogue of patterns for introducing change in a company. Personally I've been in the role of change agent for years and this book provided me many "ah-hah"s which you get from reading good patterns. Most of the patterns I've applied in the past. Now I realized it and I got a name for them, which makes me more able to reuse the patterns. Some of the patterns were new to me and I've applied them immediately in my work.

The book is organized in three parts. The first part tells short stories on the different phases of change. These stories already made me understand the basics of the patterns and how they were related. The second part has a couple of case studies. Personally I found this part rather boring, but it was very short. The third part of the book is the actual pattern catalogue which provided the needed details.

The book was easy to read and, except for the case studies, didn't make me feel bored at any time. I've learned an awful lot from the book and it gave me some new tools in my toolbox when trying to introduce change.

I've rated this book 4 stars, which should have been 4.5 starts, but I don't have that option. I wouldn't want to give it 5 stars for the small boring parts and since I wouldn't call it perfect yet, but close! The books is an absolute must for anyone introducing change in an organization though!

Just like all books on patterns, this gives you the feeling of 'oh, this is soooo obvious' the first reading it. The fact is that a second after reading it you start thinking and talking about brown bags, angles and evangelists and refer to the book all the time. Linda and Mary Lynn give us an idiom, a very very useful idiom.

Also, the book is funny. Must read.

I had found myself moderately successful at introducing new ideas and influencing change in my organizations, but never knew why, or how to improve my ability to influence and sustain the change effort. The lightbulb was illuminated immediately upon getting a few patterns into this book- I had been, in one way or another, using some of these patterns without realizing it. Opportunities I had failed to take advantage of in the past became obvious as well in many patterns that were new to me, and in the past went unrecognized (next time, they will either be easy to spot or part of the plan in the first place!)

Once you are able to recognize techniques as patterns, influence becomes something much more controllable. This is a powerful, easy-to-use (and reuse) toolkit for introducing ideas and influencing change. I believe that those experienced in influencing change will find a well thought out set of techniques and those unsure of even how to start will have a great roadmap and set of practices to start with and to invoke as-needed as their change efforts evolve.

Change is hard. I've been part of companies that merged, were acquired, acquired others, downsized drastically, changed the CEO, moved corporate headquarters to another state and completely changed their target market. The change was difficult in each of these circumstances. That's not particularly surprising. What is surprising is that change is also difficult when doing something as seemingly simple as changing the company health plan. I wish I'd read this book before going through those changes.

A large part of my current work is in helping companies manage the transition from how they currently develop software to developing software with an "agile process." The book codified some of the things I've done for years without thinking about why but more importantly it also presented ideas I hadn't thought of. For example, the "Champion Skeptic" pattern says to designate a skeptical, strong opinion leader to be the "official skeptic." I've always made a point of involving these skeptics because they can become your best advocates if you convert them. However, I've experimented with the idea as presented here and it works well.

Change will remain hard, even after reading this book. But, you'll be much better prepared and you should find many of the patterns here very helpful.

This book is amazing from the point of view of a H.R Professional.As the head of HR for a Global Multi National Corp I have been looking at a concise book which will help me to sell the idea of a Learning Organization to the top management.

I'am planning to distribute a copy of this book to each of the Executive Committe Members in my Company.

The 10 steps outlined in the book are Simple and Clear which will motivate any Top Mgmt to go towards creating a Valuable Organization.

A must read for every H.R Professional.

I've had to read many learning organizational books for my graduate studies -- this was one of my favorites out of maybe 10 I've read. One, it's fun to read! The examples are erudite, taken from other disciplines like science and math, not just business. The 10 steps are easy to follow, logical and well represented. The authors rely on concrete examples that everyone can relate to. If I had to train a group of people or point an organization towards achieving its goals as a learning organization, I would rely on this book as my bible. Great writing style, great examples -- overall one of the most enjoyable I've read!

While there are many books about brain-compatible learning, systems thinking, communication, organizational and culture change, multiple intelligences..., this book has integrated them all into a very practical, wise and interesting manual for organizational growth. Ideally, people in any organization should start with the assessment tool and go sequentially through all the ten steps: 2. promote positive, 3. safe thinking, 4. risk taking, 5. people as resources, 6. learning power, 7. map the vision, 8. model the vision, 9. systems thinking, 10. get show on the road. But there are so many useful guidelines, stories and exercises, you can dip into any page and be enriched and enlightened. Just take "16 principles that promote learning" (pp. 16-19) or the 36 assessment items (pp. 66-67), they are very specific goals for us to aim at. "Why most training doesn't work" (pp. 168-171) should be required reading for all trainers. In fact, the whole book should be required reading by all those in management or interested in fostering growth through participative learning. For follow-up, it helps to read Peter Kline's The Everyday Genius, that gives a more comprehensive background to the Integrative Learning that underlies the present book. People can also go on to Peter Senge and team's books--if they haven't done so. In another revised edition, it might help to include an index and also update the checklist on 7 multiple intelligences to include the natural and existential intelligences.

In our town, Yorktown, NY, we formed a group to go through the Low Carbon Diet. Over a period of six weeks or so, we met four times. We cataloged our energy usage, discussed what steps we were taking, and at the end calculated the total savings. For our group of seven households we were able to save enough energy to reduce our carbon emissions by 60,000 pounds per year. This is about equal to the total for a single household.

You can do this by yourself with the help of the book. However, the group dynamic works very well. Some of the steps to take were obvious, e.g., replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, CFLs. Other steps were not so obvious but equally effective. I have found that I can wash my clothes in cold water. All it took was to push the cold button on the washing machine. The results are good. The clothes are clean. Another step was to put my TV, cable box, cable modem and wireless router on a power strip. Turn it off at the end of the day; turn it on to watch TV or use the Internet. This saves three-quarters of the standby electricity for those devices.

Eventually, I am sure that our elected representatives will enact legislation to reduce our national carbon emissions. However, we do not have to wait for them to act. A few easy steps, documented in the Low Carbon Diet, will enable each one of us to achieve a fifteen percent reduction. We did it. The money savings are immediate and real, but in the end if we can convince our neighbors to do the same we will have taken a real step towards slowing climate change.

Never received it so thats why the bad rating.....other than that i hear its a really helpful book.

I have not received these items, they seem to have gotten lost in the mail. it says they were delivered, but they cannot be found in the building where they were shipped. Please advise on how to get the books, can we get them resent? we were charged money for them, but still havent seen them.

Leah Elimeliah

I read many environmental books, most of which scare you with the doom and gloom before attempting to give you solutions. This book gives you the tools you need to make a difference on a worldwide problem. I highly recommend reading it and unlike most diet books - practice these tips the rest of your life.

Many books move people. This book is starting a movement across the nation at a time that it is very badly needed. So buy the book! Start a Carbon Shredding club like we did in Vermont(www.carbonshredders.org). And get to work saving money, the planet, and our children's future. It is easy and fun.

Bob Ferris
Executive Director
Yestermorrow Design/Build School

claims Clarice Bean about her current read, "The Ruby Redfort Survival Handbook: What to do When Your Worst Worry Comes Your Way." And Clarice, third of four children (p 10) "being the second from youngest isn't really anything, is it?" has a lot of worries, so many that she jots them in a "worst worries" notebook (p 7) "because people say things aren't so bad if you make a list." What might a girl like Clarice worry about, things like: (Pp 8, 9, 10, 96, 66) the meaning of life, infinity, change, being bored to nearly utter death, and largish spiders. Ms. Redfort's words of wisdom, (p 11) "REMEMBER-it's the worry you haven't even thought to worry about-that is the worry that should worry you the most." Also contained in the survival handbook, helpful hints, like: (p 19, 28, 35, 104) "A true spy will notice the unnoticeable," "Never eat a polar bear's liver-no matter how hungry you are," "If trouble is around the corner, try walking the other way," and my absolute favorite (in the subsection under How to survive in shark-infested waters), "Whatever you do, do not let them explore you with their teeth."

Fortunately, Clarice's "utterly best friend" Betty Moody shares her fascination with all things Ruby Redfort. Unfortunately, her ubf moves away, leaving her alone with her worries and her tickets for the movie premiere of Run, Ruby, Run, in which she has a small part. Even worse, a new (Swedish) girl arrives at the school, soaking up the attentions of her classmates. With Betty (mostly) incommunicado, Clarice slips into despair, and misinterprets the actions of others, thus piling on additional worries. But when all seems lost, she stumbles upon the clues to a kidnapping, uses what she's learned from RR to help solve the crime, and makes a new friend. The hardcopy version of this book, with its colorful cover and built-in bookmark, would be a great choice for any third to fifth grade worrier, with its refreshingly original variety of fonts, sketches, and predictably-positive-ending story. Also good: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, and The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.

My daughter (6 years) loves this book.
She loves all of Lauren Childs books

The condition of the book was excellent, it got it here fast and my sister loved it!!! Thank You Very Much!!!

I'm 8 years old and I like the Clarice Bean books. In this book Clarice Bean is upset because her best friend Betty Moody moved to California for her dad's job. Clarice misses her a lot. Other things start to go wrong like a new kid named Clem Hansson is sitting in Betty Moody's seat and Clarice doesn't like her that much. There are some problems with Clarice's house and they need to get it fixed. Clarice's new room is an attic, and she's a little nervous because she doesn't like spiders and there are a lot of them in the attic. My opinion about this book is that it is a very good book. I thought the book was very interesting. I read it in less than two days. I liked it a lot more than Clarice Bean Spells Trouble, and it's about as good as Utterly Me, Clarice Bean. I think a lot of kids would like this book.

My Review of Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now, by Lauren Child
By MJ age 9

I love this book! It was sooooo hard to put it down! This book is the BEST! (You must read the other books in the Clarice Bean series or this one won't make sense!)
Clarice Bean is miserable because Betty Moody has moved very far away. As her house is repaired, Clarice Bean has been e-mailing Betty Moody because Clarice Bean's phone isn't working. To make matters worse, a new kid comes to school and Clarice thinks she is a bully. Her name is Clem, Clem Hansson. Want to know more? Well, I don't want to ruin surprises, do I? =)