Dan Ariely

I saw him speak at the recent American Library Assoc. Conference in Anaheim, CA.  I got a copy of his latest book, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone---Especially Ourselves.  He's a great teacher, speaker and researcher. I highly recommend his books.

What I Learned on the Way to the Top

by Zig Ziglar.  I bought this book at the Tuscaloosa Public Library bookstore.  I'm really enjoying reading a snippet (one page per day) while my computer boots-up in my office in the AM.  These are the type of books I really enjoy. They are light reading with a positive message (this one even includes a small Bible verse on each page to help get my day started in the right way).  A great read!!!

How to Read a Financial Report

by John A. Tracy. I bought this 3rd ed. recently from the Tuscaloosa Public Library bookstore. There are later editions that have been published. I think this will be a good book to read through to get a better understanding of company financials. Bruno Library has a 1999 e-edition that can be found here or some older print versions that are in the collection with the call number: HF5681.B2 T733

Learner-Centered Teaching : ...

Putting the Research on Learning Into Practice by Terry Doyle. Forward by Todd Zakrajsek.

I discovered this book around the last part of 2011. Dr. Z (Todd Zakrajsek) was the invited speaker at a UA faculty workshop at the Bryant Conference Center. He is a psychology professor at UNC and friend of the author of the book. I'm about half-way through this book and have found it to be very helpful in the way I lead my library instruction sessions. The book, in a nutshell, is about ways to move to an audience-centered format of teaching rather than lecture-information-data-dump style of teacher speaking and students taking notes and having little participation.

So far this is a good and helpful read!

Don Noble Book Reviews

I sometimes hear these on Alabama Public Radio and was curious to learn if one could get podcasts of his book reviews. I think this is a great way to get a sense of someone's work in a quick synopsis format. I was glad to find a link on the Alabama Public Radio website and even an archive (not sure how deep) of some of the past books that he has reviewed. He reviews books from what appears to be a wide variety of topics. Here is the link for your enjoyment.

Best regards,
Paul

"Business Education: Students Struggle for Words"

"Business Schools Put More Emphasis on Writing Amid Employer Complaints" by Diana Middleton

This article from the Wall Street Journal on March 3, 2011 was a good read. Written communication is very important and doing it right is crucial. Click here to read the article.

Worthy reads from Thomas Friedman

I occasionally read Thomas Friedman and am generally impressed with what he has to say. Here's a link to his New York Times site that has his editorials listed. I would like to direct your attention to two recent ones that I read. The first one, The Start-Up of You, deals with the new realities of today's job market versus that of the past. The second one, The Clash of Generations, pertains to the state of today's worker versus that of the retiring baby boomers. Also, in this article is the assessment of America's standing in the world relative to up and coming economies like China's.