Mark McKergow,
Positivity by Barbara L Fredrickson Groundbreaking research reveals how to embrace the hidden strengths of positive emotions, overcome negativity and thrive Barbara Fredrickson’s theory of ‘broaden and build’ has been discussed in the SF community for some time, notably by Michael Hjerth. Fredrickson is strongly connected to the positive psychology movement, and this accessible yet excel- lently-referenced book is her first for a wide audience. The book is in two parts; the first part deals with the whole back- ground and idea of positivity and introduces Fredrickson’s Positivity Ratio – comparing positive and negative activities, thoughts, emotions and so on during our day to day lives. She shows a tipping point in the ratio around the 3:1 mark, where people experience transformed lives through positivity. The second part of the book deals with practical ideas in raise your own ratio.
Tricia-Lustig,
The Art of Possitility by Rosamund Stone Zander The best book I’ve read in the last year! I was driving down the motorway and listening to Radio 4 (as you do when you live in the UK) when I heard Benjamin Zander interviewed as he had been running some workshops at The World Economics Forum at Davos. I was so excited by what he was discussing – The Art of Possibility – that I ordered his book.
Coert Visser,
Intelligence and How to Get It by Richard E. Nisbett This book will provide answers to your questions Did you read the book The Bell Curve (Hernnstein and Murray, 1994)? Did it make you feel uneasy because you did not (want to) agree with its conclusions but did not exactly know how to refute them? Among the conclusions were (loosely formulated): 1) that intelligence is highly important in many areas of life, 2) that differences in intelli- gence are largely responsible for societal stratification, 3) that differences in intelligence are largely heritable, and 4) that intelligence gaps between (racial) groups are hard to close (if that is possible at all).
Andrew Gibson
Reviewed by Wendy Van den Bulck Just as the whole world is overwhelmed by complexity, here’s Andrew’s latest book, ‘Make Life Simple’. I’d say, brilliant timing…
I met Andrew on two occasions; the SOL World Conference in Frankfurt in 2017 and the SFiO Unconference ‘SF use in Large Scale Contexts’ in 2019, long before he wrote this book. Having read his book, I realise now that in our conversations at these events, Andrew did a lot of what he describes. He is a great explorer of desired outcomes, is authentically interested in peoples’ stories and is always thinking about opportunities that make a difference. That, to me, is one of the purest things that I can say about the book; he writes from within, and you can read that in every word.
On Thursday, 23 June 2022 at 11:00 EDT (7:00 Sydney Time). This is your chance to hear an interview with Haesun about her book, her favourite and most memorable chapters and her answers to your questions.
Who makes it to the top, givers or takers? Surprisingly, even in cutthroat business environments, it is givers — those who help and support others with their time, mentorship, resources or network; and do so regardless of whether they would benefit from it.
The first impression one has is of a substantial textbook. The work is divided into eight sections on different topics such as: One Swallow Makes Summer; When Leaders Initiate Change; How to Change Solidified Structure; Large Scale Interventions; Generating Directions; Solution Focused Organizations; Modus Operandi; and Lessons Learnt. Each section contains five or six essays or case studies. This adds up to 46 contributions by 37 authors from across Europe.
A Review of: Solution Focused Practice by Guy Shennan
The research based perspective offered in this book allows for an optimistic stance about educational and societal issues. It justifies an attitude of not giving up in trying to improve efforts to design better learning environments, educational designs and teaching approaches.