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Every month, combined with our Monthly
Commentary, we offer you a review of a book that will
help answer your deeper questions and help guide you on your
path.
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A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
By Daniel H. Pink
Reviewed: September 2008
 If you only read one book this fall, make it this one. Daniel Pink, with thorough research, insightful linking and skillful writing, presents a case I think we’ve all felt but been unable to put a name to: that there is a shift in global thinking that goes much deeper than globalization. He calls it "right-brain directed thinking" and he spells out in beautifully readable language the sum total of the quantum changes now afoot and with which we are all—in one way or another—feeling.
Click here for more...
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It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a
Richer Life With Less Clutter
By Peter Walsh
Reviewed: June 2008
 Most people I know will admit to having too much stuff. As George Carlin said, “You ‘gotta get a bigger house, man, to hold all your stuff.” The thing I like about this book is that it’s not just about getting rid of your physical life-clutter; it’s about taking command of the psychological and spiritual clutter as well. Knowing of my impending move a friend handed me the book. I’m glad he did.
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Crucial Conversations
Tools for talking when stakes are high
By Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switsler
Reviewed: March 2008
 I’ve been conducting more “conflict resolution” and individual coaching sessions of late. It seems there are more and more people experiencing difficulties in relationships, primarily because they lack basic effective communication tools. Crucial Conversations, while published in 2002, is one of those books that’s worth having on your shelf, not only as an immediate source of assistance in trying times, but also as a long-term reference resource.
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Beyond Zero Point
By Gregg Braden
Reviewed: February 2008
 I’ve been a fan of Gregg Braden’s for the past decade. Finally getting international recognition, he presents a point of view in Beyond Zero Point to which I subscribe: We are already in a massive “shift” on both a planetary and cosmic level.
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The
Fred Factor: (How passion in your work and life can turn the
ordinary into the extraordinary)
By Mark Sanborn
Reviewed: January 2008
 Whilst
shopping for family in a local bookstore I came across this
slim volume by a top motivational speaker. The book tells
the story of Mr. Sanborn’s mailman, the first “Fred,”
who provided such exemplary service that the author began
using him as a real life example of how to go from ordinary
to extraordinary in his corporate training talks.
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The
Road Less Traveled, 25th Anniversary Edition:
A New
Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and
Spiritual Growth
By M. Scott Peck, M.D.
Reviewed: December 2007
 I
read the original version of this book when it was first published.
It had a profound effect on me - and the world: to date it
is the second all-time best-seller, right behind the Bible.
The reason I am including it here as recommended reading is
I’ve noticed a lot of people in my classes the past
few years who haven’t read it when I ask for a show
of hands. If you’re one of them, you owe it to yourself
to pick it up and examine some of its timeless truth.
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Molecules
of Emotion:
The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine
By Candace Pert, Ph.D.
Reviewed: November 2007
 About
four years ago I took some time to research and ultimately
write a book on the power of words in producing emotion, which
in turn stimulate certain biochemical changes on a molecular
level. During that time I discovered Ms. Pert’s work
on neurotransmitters and the role they play in proper cellular
communication. This is particularly important in immunology,
especially the role cellular communication (those neurotransmitters)
play in the fight against AIDS, an area in which Ms. Pert’s
work has played a ground-breaking role.
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How:
Why How We Do Anything Means Everything...
in Business (and in Life)
By Dov Seidman
Reviewed: October 2007
 Whew!
Want to read a book that despite wanting to put down, you
don’t? Then this is for you. My sister, a priest who
has been nominated to become a bishop in the Episcopalian
Church, recommended this book to me saying that she knew little
about leadership she hadn’t learned on the job the past
20 years and she thought it would be a good idea to broaden
her horizons.
It’s that kind of
thinking that makes a difference - or a Bishop.
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Micromessaging:
Why Great Leadership is Beyond Words
By Stephen Young
Reviewed: September 2007
 Should
you sweat the small stuff? Stephen Young says yes, especially
when it comes to communication: no matter what you think you’re
saying, you may actually be communicating something entirely
different through the “micro-messages” your body
language and tone of voice are sending.
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What
Got You Here Won't Get You There
By Marshall Goldsmith
Reviewed: Summer 2007
 Marshall
Goldsmith has written a simple, straight forward book designed
to actually change top-level executive’s career-stymieing
behaviours. That’s right; even those who have made it
to the top of their companies have things to work on. The
question is how to undo years of bad habits within a narrow
spectrum of a hugely successful performance record?
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The
Magic of Thinking Big
By David Schwartz, Ph.D.
Reviewed: June 2007
 This
book is an oldie but goodie. I’m amazed nowadays, when
I refer in my workshops to certain books I consider business/self-development
classics, how many people have not read them. Perhaps it’s
just that their popularity preceded the “younger”
generation of current corporate employees. So this month and
next I am recommending “older” books because they
are worth the read no matter when they’re read.
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Everything
Belongs
By Richard Rohr
Reviewed: May 2007
 This
is one of those books I wish I was wise enough to have written:
clear, concise, and compassionate. It also causes the reader
to stop, think, and reflect every so often; though small and
relatively short (123 pages) it would be best to digest this
book in bit-size pieces.
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more...
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The
Five Dysfunctions of a Team
By Patrick M. Lencioni
Reviewed: April 2007
 This
is a wonderful little book. Written in “fable-form”
(story), it presents a point of view in a less pedantic way
than many other more “scholarly” leadership books,
several of which I have read in the past couple of months
and none of which do I feel moved to recommend. This book
remembers a basic in human communication: Keep It Simple.
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The
Intention Experiment
By Lynne McTaggart
Reviewed: March 2007
 For
those who enjoy facts - scientific facts - as I do, you will
soak this book up like an eager sponge. Is it an easy read?
No, in that it forces the reader to face up to himself in
a way no self-help book would. A world class investigative
journalist, Ms. McTaggart puts before your very eyes the cold
hard facts of cutting edge scientific research.
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Corporate
Karma: How Business Can Move Forward
by Giving Back
By Peggie Pelosi-Gardiner
Reviewed: February 2007
I liked this book; it’s topical, timely, and reader
friendly. By that I mean I found it easy to want to keep reading.
I don’t necessarily like every book I recommend.
Sometimes, I recommend a book that’s good for
you, sort of like eating liver. Well, this little book is
good for you and it “tastes great.”
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The
Velveteen Rabbit
By Marjorie Williams
Reviewed: January 2007
 OK.
So it’s the holiday season, I adore this book, and I’m
taking the easy way out this month by recommending an old
favourite. If you haven’t read this one, go out and
buy the book and read it. Several times. It only takes twenty
minutes. It’s packed with wisdom.
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The
Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality
By David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D
Reviewed: December 2006
 This
is one of those books that will speak to your soul. Part hard
science, part amorphous spirituality, Dr. Hawkins—whose
book, Power
vs. Force I reviewed earlier this year—blends
the two seamlessly. His is a voice of knowing. This
man has lived his way to a state of enlightenment and one
cannot help but feel that truth in his words.
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more...
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Secrets
of the Millionaire Mind
By T. Harv Eker
Reviewed: November 2006
 Still
amazed he’s a millionaire many times over himself, Eker’s
delight spills over into his easy-reading handbook for acquiring
wealth. Or as Harv would put it: “A book to help you
get rich—by learning how rich people think!” Exclamation
point intentional. Harv writes like he speaks: direct, enthusiastically
from the hip, in everyday language and with clear examples
and lucid linking of his message.
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more...
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Peace
Is Every Step
By Thich Nhat Hanh
Reviewed: October 2006
 Thich
Nhat Hanh, Zen master and spiritual leader, is an exiled Buddhist
monk who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin
Luther King, Jr. in 1967. If you have never read a book of
his, do your self a favour and get one of them. Any one of
them; he’s written over a dozen. Each of them is a gem—or
at least the few I’ve read.
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Ask and
It Is Given
By Esther and Jerry Hicks (the teachings
of Abraham)
Reviewed: September 2006
 I’m
going out on a limb here (I’ve heard that’s where
the fruit is found) by recommending a book that is so far
out of the mainstream that those who dare to accept my challenge
to read it will understand why I take this risk.
Click here for more...
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What Happy
People Know
By Dan Baker Ph.D.
Reviewed: July 2006
 Sometimes
I really enjoy reading a book that gets to the point quickly
by pulling together a lot of widely known information. What
Happy People Know is an easy, gentle read with a simple message:
happier people become healthier people.
Click here for more...
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Power
vs. Force
By David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.
Reviewed: June 2006
 Every
so often a book will cross my path that radically
alters the way I view the world. This is one such
book. Though I have dabbled in some rudimentary quantum physics
theory and drawn some conclusions regarding the unseen world,
this book took me on a gentle ride towards a fuller understanding
of my individual role in a creating a collective human wholeness.
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When
Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
By Pema Chodrom
Reviewed: May 2006
 A
friend handed me this little book not too long ago and suggested
I read it, saying something like, “it’s worth
the read.” Clients often ask me for reading recommendations
and I’m always on the look out for “little”
books for those who may enjoy reading ponderous material less
than I. This slim volume will be added to my top ten list
for people experiencing internal struggle of any kind. I read
a chapter a day during March (one of my morning rituals) and
was thoroughly engaged in a fascinating conversation with
the author.
Click here
for more...
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Loud
and Clear
By Anna Quindlen
Reviewed: April 2006
 This
extraordinary novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist
writes the way Tiger Woods plays golf: powerfully and passionately,
consistently demonstrating excellence. She’s written
many books. I read Black and Blue perhaps six years
ago – about a woman on the run from her abusive husband
– and it was so well written, so intensely real, so
incredibly moving, that the memory of it acts as a magnet;
it still pulls at my heart-strings.
Click here for more...
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Thou
Art That
By Joseph Campbell
Reviewed: March 2006
 In
an age of bigger is better, this slim little volume of collected
lectures and interviews by the late great Joseph Campbell
is a rare gem; a thousand ideas packed into a hundred pages.
I devoured it. Then I savored it.
Granted, Joseph Campbell rings my chimes. I am an unabashed
fan. Rabid, in fact, so I really don’t care what anyone
thinks about this book. I dare you to read it.
Click here for more...
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The Power
of Full Engagement
By Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
Reviewed: February 2006
 I
have done nothing but recommend this down-to-earth synthesis
of the human machine as manifested within our over-stressed
everyday world since my business coach recommended it to me.
Run do not walk, to your nearest bookstore. Here one finds
the scientific research of the medical world melded with the
new currency for high performance in the business world. Energy,
not time, is now our most precious resource – “energy
is the X factor that makes it possible to fully ignite talent
and skill” – and those who know how to manage
it skillfully consistently out perform those who don’t.
Click here for more...
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Selling
Sickness: How the world’s biggest pharmaceutical
companies are turning us all into patients
By Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels
Reviewed: January 2006
 In
Selling Sickness, authors Moynihan and Cassels present
statistics the drug companies don’t want you to know.
And why would they? At 500 billion dollars annually and growing
larger every year, the pharmaceutical industry and their marketing
strategies masquerading as education have no interest in helping
us get well. In fact, according to these Canadian journalists
who back their claims of targeted marketing with starling
data, they’re overtly marketing fear and helping us
to stay ill by enlarging the pool of potential patients.
Click here for more...
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A Short
History of Progress
By Ronald Wright
This little book packs a lot of information into 130 pages.
The notes at the end make for illuminating reading as well.
Perfect for a long flight or rainy weekend, it held my attention
throughout. Mr. Wright provides a bird’s eye view of
the history of humanity’s progress, if we can call it
that. As he points out, “Each time history repeats itself,
the price goes up.”
Click here for more...
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