Posted by Elena del Valle on July 8, 2011
Ipad 2 book cover
Photos: O’Reilly Media Inc.
I bought my iPad as a last minute replacement for a netbook that, after less than a year of service, died two days before I was due to go on an overseas trip. I wish iPad 2 The Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer (O’Reilly Media $24.99) had been available then. It would have saved me several missteps. Eventually I got the hang of the basic features and it was easier than it might have been for me because, as the salesman at the Apple store explained, the iPad is like an iPhone but bigger.
As the iPad revolution continues with the new iPad 2 introduced earlier this year more users are joining the tens of thousands, or perhaps hundreds of thousands, of fans of the thin and light weight tablet. Simple functions like turning the iPad on and off can be important. I discovered before reading the book for example, that if you don’t turn off the iPad completely and it runs out of battery power it looses the stored data and apps, requiring a recharge and a reloading of data and apps. If this happens during a business meeting or trip it can be inconvenient.
Biersdorfer’s book is filled with color photos and user friendly explanations as well as Notes and Tips. Some of the comments have a touch of humor like one about the description of the screen’s fingerprint resistant oleophobic coating seeming to describe a psychiatric condition or a fear of butter substitutes. In relation to video capability, I liked the tip about the iPad playing hi-def video at the lowest resolution available and the list of video conversion programs on page 243.
J.D. Biersdorfer, author, ipad 2
The 313-page book is divided into sixteen chapters and two appendices: Get to Know Your iPad; Interact with Your iPad; Get Online; Surf the Web; Keep in Touch with Email; Use the iPad’s Built-in Apps; Shop the App Store; Read iBooks and ePeriodicals; Play Games; Get Productive with iWork; Organize and Sync Media Files with iTunes; Master iTunes; Play Music and Other Audio; Watch and Edit Videos; View, Edit and Manage Photos; and Sync Up with MobilMe. The appendices address troubleshooting and iPad settings.
Biersdorfer has written a computer column for The New York Times since 1998. Prior to this book she authored iPod: The Missing Manual, Best iPhone Apps and Netbooks: The Missing Manual.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on July 1, 2011
The Well-Spoken Thesaurus book cover
Photos: Sourcebooks Publicity
Often business people use the same words and phrases repetitively. It is not that they do not know other words it is that certain words and expressions have become familiar and comfortable. While that may be acceptable in everyday conversation with colleagues at the office it may present less than a professional face when attending meetings with clients, bosses or others in the industry.
A rich vocabulary populated with phrases other than “you know” and “not so much” and such popular expressions may enhance the way others perceive our knowledge and abilities and better position us for growth and promotion. To make a good impression we could slightly alter the word choices we usually make. Instead of saying elegant maybe we could say luxuriant; instead of saying writing skills we may try saying writing prowess, for example.
Tom Heehler, author, The Well-Spoken Thesaurus
The Well-Spoken Thesaurus (Sourcebooks, $12.99), a 405-page softcover book of alternate words by Tom Heehler, could be a handy tool for vocabulary development. Published in February 2011 the book is the result of four years of work by the author after enrolling at Harvard University in the spring of 2006. Finding no easy way to improve his speech and prose quickly, he wrote down what he said and paired it with what he thought he should have said.
Heehler considers words to be “like little gods” and believes they affect people’s political leanings, the way they see reality, their confidence and self perception, according to the On Becoming Articulate section at the beginning of the book. In that section he goes on to say that people who are well spoken are expected by others to be more knowledgeable, more informed and capable of great things.
The Thesaurus contains 17 lessons from famous authors, like Ernest Hemingway, to well known speakers, such as President Barack Obama in the first part of the book. It also includes thousands of alternatives to common words and phrases.
Heehler is a degree student at the Harvard University Extension School and creator of Fluent in Five Languages, an online language course where students learn to speak four languages, French, Italian, Spanish, and Romanian simultaneously.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 24, 2011
The Age of Persuasion book cover
Photos: Counterpoint Berkeley
Based on a radio program by the same name The Age of Persuasion How Marketing Ate Our Culture (Counterpoint, $26) was written by Terry O’Reilly, the host of the program, and Mike Tenant, who with O’Reilly produced, researched and wrote the content of the program. Although the book is written in the first person it is the work of both contributors. At the beginning, they point out some of the things they have in common beyond their knowledge of the ad world and radio; they are both natives of Ontario, Canada of Irish ancestry who started writing ads at private radio stations in the early 1980s.
In the book, they address the difference between marketing (the process of promoting, distributing and selling) and advertising (exposing the public to the product or service through paid ads); branding (the promise of a product or service); new technologies; clutter; radio audience; billboards; telemarketers; and movie theater ads among other related issues.
Terry O’Reilly, coauthor, The Age of Persuasion
The 324-page hardcover book, published in 2009, is divided into 12 chapters: Clutter, Breaking The Contract, The Rise and Fall and Rise of Branded Entertainment, Persuading Yoots, The YouTube Revolution, Guerillas in Our Midst, The Lesson of Clark Gable’s Undershirt, The Language of Persuasion, A Sense of Persuasion, The Human Face of Persuasion, The Long and Short of It, and The Wall of Cynicism.
Mike Tennant, coauthor, The Age of Persuasion
O’Reilly has experience as a copywriter and director and is the cofounder of Pirate, an audio production company based in New York and Toronto. A resident of Kitchener, Ontario Tennant is the cocreator and writer of The Age of Persuasion, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio series.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 17, 2011
Conversion Optimization book cover
Photos: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
The internet has changed our lives in many ways. One of those is the way we gather and access information and, in some instances, buy and sell products and services. While the medium provides sellers direct access to potential buyers there are so many ads online surfers have become immune to them in many ways. Online potential customers are exposed to hundreds and, according to one source, as many as 3,000 ads each day.
Website owners and managers strive to drive traffic and more importantly sales to their space. As the internet has matured a specialty area has developed to help this process, conversion optimization. Experts in this field seek to maximize the number of sales related to the total number of visitors to a website.
In Conversion Optimization The Art and Science of Converting Prospects to Customers (O’Reilly Media, $34.99) Khalid Saleh, who has more than 12 years of experience in conversion optimization, and Ayat Shukairy, who dedicates her time to conversion optimization, website usability and online persuasion, explore the topic and share their tested and tried principles.
Khalid Saleh, coauthor, Conversion Optimization
They describe the Conversion Framework, a process they developed in 2007 and have refined since to encompass eight principles. The first six address a visitor’s experience at a website and the likelihood he or she will remain there. They are: understanding what website visitors seek, developing a website that inspires trust, being aware of the buying stages, addressing fears and related issues, incentives, and user engagement. The final two address testing and making a long term commitment to the process.
Ayat Shukairy, coauthor, Conversion Optimization
The 250-page softcover book published earlier this year is divided into two sections, online marketing and the Conversion Framework, and ten chapters: The Journey from Clicks to Sales, The Numbers Behind Your Website, Getting to Know Your Customers: Developing Personas, From Confidence to Trust, Understanding the Buying Stages, FUDs, Appealing with Incentives, Engagement, Testing: The Voice of Visitors, and Be Iterative.
Saleh and Shukairy are cofounders of Invesp, a conversion optimization company. Saleh, according to hi biography, has helped generate an average improvement of 65 percent in conversion rates for his customers. Shukairy is the company’s lead conversion rate strategist and also boasts of 65 percent conversion rates in her biography.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 10, 2011
Answering The Central Question book cover
Photos: News and Experts
Making mistakes is part of being human, some would say. Yet most people feel disappointment and even embarrassment when they discover they made a mistake, and strive to make fewer mistakes in the future.
“When it hits us that we’ve made a mistake, we always have that instant of ‘Wow, that was stupid, what was I thinking?’ before we move on and try to solve the problem we’ve inadvertently caused,” said Peter Demarest, a life coach. “I refer to the elimination of that space of time between when we screw up and the time we realize we’ve screwed up as ‘practical enlightenment.’ For the past dozen years or so, I’ve been studying mind-brain science to see if there is a way to help us think better so we make fewer mistakes and create a better life.”
He and Harvey J. Schoof, MS coauthored Answering The Central Question How Science Reveals the Keys to Success in Life, Love and Leadership (Heart Lead Publishing, $21.95), a 230-page softcover book published this year to address the possible choices and behaviors readers can pursue that will result in the best value.
Peter Demarest, coauthor, Answering The Central Question
Demarest believes it is possible to do more than reduce mistakes. He believes that through science-based techniques people can dramatically improve how they think, make choices, act, and react without having to fix their so-called weaknesses. He derived these ideas from research in neuro-axiology, a combination of brain science and value science.
According to the authors, answering The Central Question is about more than self centered pursuits like making more money or being the best leader; they believe it is about creating the best value in business, life, relationships, and family. They believe readers can improve their performance and that successful people bring success to others through a leadership message that enriches their lives. The concepts and ideas they propose, they are convinced, have the potential to transform lives and the world in the long term in the way that the Renaissance changed the world in the past.
“Axiology,” Demarest said, “is the name of a fascinating science about how our value perceptions influence our thoughts, choices, actions, and reactions. It’s also about how value actually gets created in the world and in our lives.”
The book is divided into nine chapters: Introduction; Value, Values and Value Judgements; Neuroscience; Axiology, Philosophy and Science; Applied Axiology; Axiogenics, Applied Neuro-Axiology; The Valuegenic Organization; More Possibilities; and Final Thoughts.
Harvey J. Schoof, coauthor, Answering The Central Question
Demarest is a co-founder and president of Axiogenics. According to his biography, he discovered the connection between axiology or value science and neuroscience or brain science. He has spent more than seven years researching, developing, and testing the technology. Schoof, a founding partner of Axiogenics, LLC, has worked as a rehabilitation counselor, manager, human resources staff person, and university instructor of management and organizational communication.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 3, 2011
Growing Old book cover
In the United States we are not alone dealing with the financial issues affecting a large population heading to retirement on the heels of a recession. Some Asian countries like Japan have also pledged to look after their elderly and have large aging populations that will require financial payments in the coming years. The mushrooming problem, as older adults approach retirement age, is the gap that exists between the moneys due to be paid and the moneys available to make the payments when they become due. At the same time, the number of new workers generating revenue is decreasing, especially when compared to the number of workers retiring.
Yasuyuki Fuchita, a senior managing director of the Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research in Tokyo, Japan, Richard J. Herring, professor of finance, University of Pennsylvania, and Robert E. Litan, senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, believe the damage to the economy caused by the recent recession will be felt for years to come. One of the biggest challenges they foresee is the pension plan obligations of governments in the United States (population exceeding 300 million), Japan (population of 127 million), Korea (population of 48 million) and China (population of 1.3 billion) as these countries’ populations age.
In Growing Old: Paying for Retirement and Institutional Money Management after the Financial Crisis (Brookings Institution Press Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research, $26.95), a 151-page softcover book just published, they explore, along with academics and private sector expert contributors, what might happen in the future with pension plans and institutional money management in the United States and some countries in Asia. The chapters in the book, part of a yearly conference summary being published since 2004, are based on Growing Old: Paying for Retirement and Institutional Money Management after the Financial Crisis, last year’s conference held October 2010 in Washington, D.C.
Contributors Akiko Nomura, Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua Rauh, Olivia S. Mitchell, Robert C. Pozen, Betsy Palmer, Natalie Shapiro outline their theories in five chapters: Introduction, Trends in Pension System Reform in Asia: Japan, Korea and China, The Crisis in Local Government Pensions in the United States, Managing Risks in Defined Contribution Plans: What Does the Future Hold? And Asset Allocation By Institutional Investors after the Recent Financial Crisis.
Fuchita coedited After the Crash and Prudent Lending Restored and Pooling Money. Herring is Jacob Safra Professor of International Banking. Litan is also vice president, research and policy, Kauffman Foundation and coeditor of Pooling Money. He is coauthor of Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 27, 2011
The Millionaire Messenger book cover
Photos: Experts Academy
Everyone has something they are good at and can teach others. So believes Brendon Burchard, a non fiction book author, entrepreneur and speaker. The first step, in Burchard’s opinion, is to figure out what that special something is and know what to do to share it with others willing to learn and pay for the privilege. This way the expert does good and makes a fortune in the process.
In The Millionaire Messenger Make a Difference and a Fortune Sharing Your Advice (Morgan James, March 2011), a The New York Times bestseller (according to promotional materials, The Millionaire Messenger pre-sold 17,000 copies and debuted at the top on The New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists), Burchard outlines his formula for success as a speaker.
The softcover 167-page book is divided into an Introduction and ten chapters: A Crash Course in Sharing My Message, Behind The Guru Curtain, The Expert Calling and Lifestyle, You: Advice Guru, 10 Steps to an Expert Empire, The Millionaire Messenger’s Money Map, The Messenger Mind-set, The Millionaire Mandates, The Messenger Manifesto, and Trusting Your Voice.
Author Brendon Burchard
The author emphasizes the importance of excellence in the aspiring messenger’s work as well as the motivation to help others and not just to become a millionaire. He also points out that the most important value to strive for is distinction, being different from the pack and offering the audience something of value and uniqueness. He recommends that experts give away the most valuable information; and identifies six areas of profit for Entrepreneur Experts: writing, speaking, conducting seminars, consulting, coaching and marketing online.
Burchard is the founder of Experts Academy. He has been on ABC World News, NPR, Oprah and Friends, and onstage with the Dalai Lama, Sir Richard Branson, Stephen Covey, Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, John Gray, Keith Ferrazzi, T. Harv Eker, Tony Hsieh, David Bach, and Jack Canfield, according to his biography.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 20, 2011
Do More Great Work book cover
Photos: Workman Publishing
Work, work and more work. It seems everyday is filled with work and yet some people feel they are stuck in a rut that keeps them from growing and reaching higher goals. Is it possible to keep working and aspire to grow and develop new skills? How? Michael Bungay Stanier, a Toronto resident and founder of a company that assists companies who want to improve their productivity thinks he knows a way.
In Do More Great Work Stop the busywork and start the work that matters, a 200-page book published last year, he begins by addressing the definition of Great Work. He sees it as work that has impact and makes a difference. Then he outlines fifteen exercises for people who want to improve the quality of their work. He believed so much in his message he self published the book.
The goal he proposes is to identify ways to improve and find work that engages and challenges the worker, has a real impact, plays to his or her strengths and matters. He relies on what he calls Maps or “pause buttons in disguise.”
The softcover square book is divided into fifteen Maps and seven parts: Laying the Foundation, Seeds of Your Great Work, Uncovering Your Great Work, Pick a Project, Create New Possibilities, Your Great Work Plan, and Continuing Your Great Work Journey.
Michael Bungay Stanier, author, Do More Great Work
The author believes by dedicating 10 minutes a day motivated readers of his book will find ways they can produce Great Work, locate the balance between the job requirements and their needs, produce new ideas, manage their workload effectively, and double the likelihood that they will do what they want to do at work.
Bungay Stanier is the founder and senior partner of Box of Crayons, a company that works with organizations such as AstraZeneca and Xerox to help them do more great work. A Rhodes Scholar, he earned arts and law degrees with highest honors from Australian National University and an MPhil from Oxford. He was named Canadian Coach of the Year in 2006.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 13, 2011
Hard Time Life with Sheriff Joe Arpaio in America’s Toughest Jail
A book review by Luisa Fournier-Padró
Luisa M. Fournier-Padró
Photos: Luisa M. Fournier-Padró, Skyhorse Publishing Publicity
A British young man leading a structured life he planned would lead him in a VIP limousine straight to Wall Street took a wrong turn, made a poor choice and it led him straight to prison, to an inferno. Caught in the midst of uncertainty, disorder, jumble, bewilderment or mistaken values of life he delivered himself to a nightmare. In the 304 pages of Hard Time A Brit in America’s Toughest Jail (Mainstream Publishing, $13.73) Shaun Attwood recounts his struggle with and life under terrible circumstances at Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s prison in Tucson, Arizona.
According to the book, in this setup and much talked about prison atmosphere, Attwood was able to maintain his sanity and rational behavior through daily meditation of his past actions and dedication to physical and intellectual stimulation plus a strong desire to regain his life back.
In Hard Time, he depicts how the undercurrent of a frenzied style of life most glamorous to youngsters can bring so much heartache after short-lived trance of rave parties high on drugs and acid music. To the reader whose knowledge of these words -rave, acid house and music- seems foreign it takes just a moment to search its meaning and background. The term rave most often is used to describe high in energy music, including some forms of trance music that features loops and synthesizers and, less intense forms that include ambient music and chill out music played at chill rooms that provide place for ravers to rest and relax from the intense dancing plus, what pushers offer youngsters.
Click here to read the entire A book review of Hard Time
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 6, 2011
The Worrier’s Guide to Overcoming Procrastination book cover
Photos: New Harbinger Publications
Putting things off until mañana or the next day is common practice. It has become widespread in people’s personal and professional lives. Many staff and executives today may be living in what my college professors called management by crisis (as opposed to management by objectives). Procrastination often results in last minute rushing, stress and in many cases mediocre or poor presentations, reports and results. Why do we procrastinate? And, for those who want to modify their behavior is it possible to stop procrastinating?
Pamela Wiegartz, M.D., co-author, The Worrier’s Guide to Overcoming Procrastination
Kevin Gyoerkoe, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist, and Pamela Wiegarts, M.D., a psychiatrist, believe shifting the way we think and modifying the rules we live by can have a dramatic effect in reducing the postponing of actions. In The Worrier’s Guide to Overcoming Procrastination Breaking Free from the Anxiety that Holds You Back (New Harbinger, $19.95), a 159-page softcover book published in 2010, they address the topic.
The first step toward change, according to them, is to be aware of the rules we follow sometimes without even realizing it. For example, people often believe they should avoid difficult situations, they say, when in fact they should deal with the anxiety a situation provokes by facing it instead of avoiding it. Another reason people wait, they believe, is because they are seeking perfection.
Instead, the coauthors suggest readers accept less than perfect results that allow them to move forward rather than remaining stagnant awaiting perfect results that may never come. Fear of failure is another reason to procrastinate the coauthors cite in their book. They point out that failure is part of life and it should not stop us from taking action. Another flawed perspective, according to them, is to think that if something is boring or less than pleasant we shouldn’t have to do it; they counter that there are times we have to do things that are not fun and the sooner we do them the sooner we can go back to doing fun things.
Their book is divided into 13 chapters and four main parts, Learn About Your Anxiety and Procrastination, Change Your Mind About Anxiety and Procrastination, Get Moving on Your Goals, and Maintain Positive Change. Each chapter includes exercises, follow up suggestions and a summary at the end.
Wiegartz, coauthor of 10 Simple Solutions to Worry and The Pregnancy and Postpartum Anxiety Workbook, is director of CBT services and training in the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and is on the faculty at Harvard Medical School.
Kevin Gyoerkoe, Psy.D, co-author, The Worrier’s Guide to Overcoming Procrastination
In addition to this book, Gyoerkoe is coauthor of 10 Simple Solutions to Worry and The Pregnancy and Postpartum Anxiety Workbook. He is codirector of the Anxiety and Agoraphobia Treatment Center, a group practice in Chicago and Northbrook, Illinois. He teaches courses on cognitive behavioral therapy at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, has been certified by the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of OCD in Chicago.
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