book+review category archives
I don't quite know how I got on this kick of reading, but in the last year or two, I have read a number of books that are centered around the 18th and 19th Centuries and many of the discoveries and social upheavals that happened around that time. It's fascinating to learn about how these things are all inter-related. The Invention of Air by Stephen Johnson is another of those books.
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A brief review of Digital Barbarism: Mark Helprin is one angry man. And he wants copyright to stay.
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My review of Simplifying Innovation by Michael A Dalton, a business novel that shows how Constraints Management principles can be applied to new product development and other areas that require a lot of innovation.
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Death By Meeting by Patrick Lencioni is an entertaining and rather direct leadership fable on the importance of creating a good meeting culture. It's helpful for all sorts of reasons, but the key is that bad meetings lead to bad decisions.
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Velocity is a business novel from the Theory of Constraints community with co-author Jeff Cox coming at TOC again after his work with The Goal years ago. This one introduces combined improvement efforts that are designed to set direction AND give you speed: Velocity.
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I picked up Eli Goldratt's latest business novel, Isn't It Obvious, and absolutely flew through the book. The title of the book is one of Goldratt's favorite ideas: that the best theories are always seen (in hindsight) as obvious solutions.
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My friend, Tammy Green, just sent me a copy of her luscious Chicago Cupcake Crawl e-book. Not only is it about cupcakes (cupcakes bakeries) in Chicago, but the pictures are just fabulous. And the writing is funny too - her personality shines right through the pages.
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My thoughts about David Allen's 2009 book, Making It All Work, an extension to Getting Things Done. I also make a connection to some of my other work, beyond the obvious organizing and prioritizing that come from the book.
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A quick report of the books I read this year. This shows fewer than 20, but I could have sworn I hit more. Ideally, I will get through more in 2010.
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I have been reading Lilia Efimova's PhD thesis, and the second half is as good as the first. And just as familiar for long-time readers of her blog.
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I have been reading Lilia Efimova's PhD thesis, Passion at Work: Blogging Practices of Knowledge Workers, and the words feel very familiar.
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I'm a little behind the curve on this one, but I picked up and devoured Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, The Story of Success. Now, the question is, what do I do with this information?
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"Supply Chain Management at Warp Speed" is another book in the growing supply of Theory of Constraints books. For people the know the oeurve, this book is an extension and update to Schragenheim & Dettmer's Manufacturing at Warp Speed. TOC experts will find this informative, but I am not sure those outside this circle will.
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My comments on Essays on the Theory of Constraints. Short form: interesting material, but don't buy it if you are new to TOC.
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Imagine having your pick of 30 different fireworks. Each has its own effects, but taken in combinations, they can really light up the sky. That's the idea behind Leandro Herrero's Disruptive Ideas, a how-to follow-on to Viral Change.
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I have finally gotten around to reading Built to Last, and I see a lot of connections to Theory of Constraints - and the consulting that I am doing once again.
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Eli Goldratt is in the process of writing another book, this one entitled Inherent Simplicity. Rather than a fiction, it is a monograph set up as a (fictional) discussion between Goldratt and his daughter, Efrat.
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On recommendation of a friend, I re-read Necessary But Not Sufficient, a TOC business novel. I rediscovered the rules for technology. And it gives me more to consider in my new job.
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I took We All Fall Down with me on a business trip and found I couldn't put it down, once I had started it. That sounds like a ringing endorsement to me.
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Expert Product Management puts one spin on product management, providing a quick overview of several areas in which product managers play.
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I was given a complimentary copy of Reaching The Goal: How Managers Improve a Services Business Using Goldratt's Theory of Constraints by John Ricketts. I am always interested in learning how people are applying TOC beyond the manufacturing sector, where it started.
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I received a review copy of Personal Information Management edited by William Jones and Jaime Teevan. It's a topic in which I have a great interest, so it makes sense for me to review the book.
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I recently read a complementary copy of All Your Money Won't Another Minute Buy: Valuing Time as a Business Resource by Curt Finch of Journyx. And then this afternoon, I had a nice conversation with Curt around the topics raised in his book as part of his Blog Book Tour.
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I'm in the middle of reading Personal Information Management, Edited by William Jones and Jaime Teevan. I am missing the typical graphics and drawings that books aimed at the major markets provide.
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Jason Alba has taken a very conversational style with "I'm on LinkedIn - Now What?" He talks about his experiences using this tool, making the book read like he is sitting there with you, explaining the point of various features of LinkedIn.
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Patrick Lambe sent me a copy of his new book, "Organising Knowledge -- Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness," after I mentioned that I would love a chance to dive into the book. Given the title, how could I not be curious.
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The book for which my wife has written a chapter, A Day in the Life: Career Options in Library and Information Science , is now available. And her chapter is excerpted on the information page online.
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I picked up the audiobook version of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. It's interesting to "read" this book after seeing all the buzz about the book when it first came out.
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John Baldoni has a review of Frank Luntz' new book "Words that Work." I couldn't help thinking of The Leader with Seven Faces, as "what you say" is the first of these.
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A review of The Leader with Seven Faces by Leandro Herrero.
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I read Bruce MacEwen fairly regularly for pieces like this one, "Do the Management Gurus Have Clothes?" I see a link to Theory of Constraints in his discussion.
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Sarah Elkins has posted her review of Introduction to Knowledge Management : KM in Business. The book looks like it needs to be on my list.
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My wife contributed a segment to "A Day in the Life: Career Options in Library and Information Science" to be published on 30 April 2007. Yipee!
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The Buzzword Dictionary is a humorous look at our use of language. The Chicago Tribune had a piece about the book which included the sample definitions below.
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Unusual stories are a fun way of remembering things. Here's one for The Four Agreements.
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Don Miguel Ruiz' "The Four Agreements" are 1) Be impeccable with your word. 2) Don't take anything personally. 3) Don't make assumptions. and 4) Always do your best
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The American Library Association has an annual Banned Books Week to remind people that "Free People Read Freely."
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I like coffee, so "Coffee: A Dark History" by Anthony Wild was a pretty sure bet as a gift. This book gave me lots of information to impress the people at my local coffee roaster as well as make sad about the "dark history" of the coffee trade that survives to this day.
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A review of "Internet-Based Organizational Memory and Knowledge Management," which is a collection of articles based on a 1999 workshop, focused on internet technologies.
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I know I am a little late to the game, but I just finished the very enjoyable The Innovator's Solution by Clayton Christensen and Michael Raynor. I particularly liked the no-nonsense tone of the book. And I see some connection to theory of constraints, once again.
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"They Just Don't Get It! (Changing resistance into understanding)" by Leslie Yerkes and Randy Martin is a quick and entertaining read. It is written as a how-to manual, not unlike the top-seller "Who Moved My Cheese?"
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A partial review of "Great Information Disasters'' from 1991. The book is a collection of "Twelve prime examples of how information mismanagement led to human misery, political misfortune and business failure."
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A review of Andrew Hargadon's "How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate." I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in the general topic of innovation as well as for Hargadon's insights on how people interact and even a few comments about knowledge management.
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In my challenge to read anything this year, my Father's Day gift of Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner was so good I could barely put it down. For someone who enjoys numbers and math, I couldn't help wanting more: data, questions answered, and toys to do the analyses myself.
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Review of Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, which does a great job of describing how innovation happens, and how to make it happen. Also some connections to recent reads that are related.
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A book excerpt for Friends in Low Places by Dr. James A. R. Willis is a nice portrayal of the "unconscious competence" pane of Johari's Window.
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Another book for the pile. How we work together is just as important as how I work as an individual. Maybe even more so. Kaliya's Musings: Personal Relationships are key to Knowledge Work One of the myths of knowledge management that Susan E. Jackson and Niclas L. Erhardt debunk in Leading...
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Johanna Rothman and Denise Robitaille have written the Corrective Action Handbook. Here's a blurb from Johanna's announcement: Managing Product Development Corrective action involves defining the problem, gathering data (quantitative and qualitative) to understand the root causes, developing a plan (and obtaining buy-in for that plan), executing the plan, verifying that the...
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A list of the 38 books I read in 2003 - not quite my goal of 40.
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After hearing David Ticoll talk in November, I went out and picked up his book. Transparency in business is clearly an important topic, but it wasn't until the end of the book that I got the big picture via their examples.
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