In My TBR Stack:

One Minute Mentoring: How to Find and Work With a Mentor - and Why You'll Benefit from Being One
by Ken Blanchard and Claire Diaz-Ortiz
William Morrow
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

The bestselling co-author of the legendary The One Minute Manager® and a former Twitter executive join forces to create the ultimate guide to creating powerful mentoring relationships.

While most people agree that having a mentor is a good thing, they don’t know how to find one or use one. And despite widespread approval for the idea of being a mentor, most people don’t think they have the time or skills to do so.

Positive mentoring relationships can change the way we lead and help us succeed. In One Minute Mentoring, legendary management guru Ken Blanchard and Claire Diaz-Ortiz, a former Twitter executive and early employee, combine their knowledge to provide a systematic approach to intergenerational mentoring, giving readers great insight into the power and influence of mentoring and encouraging them to pursue their own mentoring relationships. 

Using his classic parable format, Blanchard explains why developing effective communication and relationships across generations can be a tremendous opportunity for companies and individuals alike. One Minute Mentoring is the go-to source for learning why mentoring is the secret ingredient to professional and personal success.

On My Radar:

My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues
by Pamela Paul
Henry Holt
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Imagine keeping a record of every book you’ve ever read. What would this reading trajectory say about you? With passion, humor, and insight, the editor of The New York Times Book Review shares the stories that have shaped her life.

Pamela Paul has kept a single book by her side for twenty-eight years – carried throughout high school and college, hauled from Paris to London to Thailand, from job to job, safely packed away and then carefully removed from apartment to house to its current perch on a shelf over her desk – reliable if frayed, anonymous-looking yet deeply personal. This book has a name: Bob.

Bob is Paul’s Book of Books, a journal that records every book she’s ever read, from Sweet Valley High to Anna Karenina, from Catch-22 to Swimming to Cambodia, a journey in reading that reflects her inner life – her fantasies and hopes, her mistakes and missteps, her dreams and her ideas, both half-baked and wholehearted. Her life, in turn, influences the books she chooses, whether for solace or escape, information or sheer entertainment. 

But My Life with Bob isn’t really about those books. It’s about the deep and powerful relationship between book and reader. It’s about the way books provide each of us the perspective, courage, companionship, and imperfect self-knowledge to forge our own path. It’s about why we read what we read and how those choices make us who we are. It’s about how we make our own stories.

BookSpin Excerpt

Szen Zone: Reaching a State of Positive Change
by Gary Szenderski
CreateSpace
Trade Paperback

Excerpt:

Introduction

My earlier book, The Book of Szen, is a compilation of stories written and shared over many years. The response was very positive and inspired and encouraged me to continue writing, and now, a few years later, the SZEN ZONE emerges. It contains lighthearted and positive narrative on life and its possibilities, with stories that cover the gamut from interesting to profound. The general overarching theme has been on change and all of the aspects of it - Creating, surviving, and managing change with the goal to recognize the power we have to become what we choose, both when we’re feeling in control and how to manage when we’re not in control.

In terms of how to go about reading this book, it is up to you. Open it anywhere and find a short story that may make your day or make you think. My own copy has dog-ears, postit notes and sections highlighted and underlined. I find it useful to review key ideas that remind me that change is constant and so is life and that our perspective makes a difference in how all of it unfolds. 

The SZEN ZONE focuses on identifying the lift-off point for creating positive change. Although everyone is different and it’s a very individual and sometimes internalized process, the principles in this book can help you establish the context and right frame of mind to embrace and manage change. After many years of professionally helping individuals and companies navigate change, I’ve observed how some changes seem

to take forever while unforeseen change can come right at you and in an instant move your world.

To that end, wherever you may find yourself at this moment, you will find an insight or example in this book to help you change course and take charge.

The files that they are drawn from will help guide you too. I’ve categorized them here:

Szenabling File – Ideas and insights to spark motivation

Szenippets – The end point of each story

Now & Szen – Memories and perspective recast

60 Word Szen Story – Stories to introduce the topic

Make Shift – Time to take charge

Szenippet: If I told you that change would be easy, you may not believe me. But if I said that it’s possible, you would cast your doubt aside. Once we see “it”, we can be “it.”

An Excerpt from: A Course in Creation

We are not our resume. Nor are we what we own or how we look or sound. We

Author Gary Szenderski

are not what others see when they look at us. We are not the title, or the paycheck, or the car or the house. We are not without power. We are not weak or limited. “Where” we are does not define who we are.

What all of us are, is how we end this sentence: I am…”____.” If we could take some time to consider how

often we sabotage our day or our thinking by finishing that sentence with a debilitating premise such as I am sick or tired or poor or alone etc. we could turn the moments of doubt and discomfort into something different, and better. To say to ourselves: I am strong, rich, powerful, healthy, alive and in love etc. are viable options too.

Creation takes place when we change the sentence. By listening to our inner voice within we can begin contemplating a grander presence and a new day and life. Filling in the blanks with a dream actually begins the process of bringing the dream to life. The pronouncement of I am “___” is whatever we want to be, or feel called to be; it is the key to change, which is where we find the seeds to create.

“I am” triggers thoughts, actions and events that will confirm what we believe. We literally live up to our own declarations of self. Change the script and everything changes with it. It’s a simple notion, and it works, and I am really happy that you let me share this with you. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I have writing it.

In every seed of change is the power to create something new. To leave what was, close a door and move toward a new, better version of ourselves.

- - - - - -

Many thanks to Book Publicity Services for their involvement in obtaining this excerpt for BookSpin.

In My TBR Stack:

To Fool the Rain: Haiti's Poor and Their Pathway to a Better Life
by Steven Werlin
Ti Koze Press
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

To Fool the Rain tells the story of the women who use the Chermen Lavi Miyo program's help to change their families' lives.

 

"Werlin takes us on a riveting journey down narrow dirt paths and up steep ravines to introduce us to some of the courageous women in Haiti's Central Plateau who are climbing a staircase out of extreme poverty through Fonkoze's Cherman Levi Miyo program."

--Gerald Oriol, Jr.

Haiti's Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities

"Steven is able to capture so eloquently and respectfully, the day-to-day lives and struggles of these brave women. It is a prayer lifted on their behalf."

--Garcelle Beauvais

Actress, author, and talk show host

"To Fool the Rain should be required reading for anyone who has either dreamed or doubted that a poverty-free world is achievable, or wondered what it would actually take to realize that ideal."

--Alex Counts

Founder, Grameen Foundation

In My TBR Stack:

The Big Buddha Bicycle Race: A Novel
by Terence A. Harkin
Silkworm Books
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

The Big Buddha Bicycle Race transports the reader to upcountry Thailand and war-ravaged Laos late in the Vietnam War. On one level a cross-cultural wartime love story, it is also a surreal remembrance of two groups who have been erased from American history—the brash active-duty soldiers who risked prison by taking part in the GI anti-war movement and the gutsy air commandos who risked death night after night flying over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. 

Brendan Leary, assigned to an Air Force photo squadron an hour from L.A., has got it made—until the U.S. invades Cambodia and he joins his buddies (and a few thousand Southern California co-eds) who march in protest. First Sergeant Link ships him off to an obscure air base in upcountry Thailand, but even then Brendan figures he’ll be working in an air-conditioned trailer editing combat footage for the 601st Photo Squadron, a useful detour on his way to Hollywood. He expects to return unscathed from what he knows is a screwed-up war, only Brendan is wrong. 

The Rat Pack needs cameramen and Leary is soon flying at night over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in a secret air war that turns the mountains of Laos into a napalm-scorched moonscape. He realizes he is trapped, his heart and mind divided between awe at the courage of the warriors he flies with and pity for the convoys of Vietnamese soldiers he sees slaughtered on the ground. As his moral fiber crumbles, he is seduced by a netherworld of drugs, booze…and a strung-out masseuse named Tukada. The Big Buddha Bicycle Race is a last gasp of hope, a project he dreams up that will coincide with Nixon's arrival in China, win hearts and minds in rural Thailand—and make him and his underpaid buddies a pile of money. The start of the race is glorious! Entrants from every Thai and American unit on the base mean big bucks for Leary’s syndicate. Except there’s a problem. Tukada has disappeared and Leary’s sidekick insists her brother is a terrorist... 

On My Radar:

Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think about Baseball
by Keith Law
William Morrow
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Predictably Irrational meets Moneyball in ESPN veteran writer and statistical analyst Keith Law's iconoclastic look at the numbers game of baseball, proving why some of the most trusted stats are surprisingly wrong, explaining what numbers actually work, and exploring what the rise of Big Data means for the future of the sport.

For decades, statistics such as batting average, saves recorded, and pitching won-lost records have been used to measure individual players' and teams' potential and success. But in the past fifteen years, a revolutionary new standard of measurement—sabermetrics—has been embraced by front offices in Major League Baseball and among fantasy baseball enthusiasts. But while sabermetrics is recognized as being smarter and more accurate, traditionalists, including journalists, fans, and managers, stubbornly believe that the "old" way—a combination of outdated numbers and "gut" instinct—is still the best way. Baseball, they argue, should be run by people, not by numbers.?

In this informative and provocative book, the renowned ESPN analyst and senior baseball writer demolishes a century's worth of accepted wisdom, making the definitive case against the long-established view. Armed with concrete examples from different eras of baseball history, logic, a little math, and lively commentary, he shows how the allegiance to these numbers—dating back to the beginning of the professional game—is firmly rooted not in accuracy or success, but in baseball's irrational adherence to tradition. 

While Law gores sacred cows, from clutch performers to RBIs to the infamous save rule, he also demystifies sabermetrics, explaining what these "new" numbers really are and why they're vital. He also considers the game's future, examining how teams are using Data—from PhDs to sophisticated statistical databases—to build future rosters; changes that will transform baseball and all of professional sports.

On My Radar:

Saul Goodman's Get Off the Grid!: Guide to Staying Off the Radar 
(as told to Steve Huff)
Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

So you want to disappear? Whether you got the fuzz on your back or a price on your head, Saul Goodman can help!

Big Brother’s got eyes everywhere—don’t pretend they’re not all watching you. Nowadays you’d better assume anything you do is already on the 24/7 news feed, but there are measures you can take. Darken your windows. Bash your smartphone. Cut up your credit cards. But first, buy this book. 

From the cunning counsel (me) who kept you out of the slammer with his handy manual Don’t Go to Jail!, here’s your escape plan for busting out of the prison of modern surveillance. You might be up to no good or you might be up to nothing at all—hey, it’s not my business, and let me tell you, it’s nobody else’s business, either. My business is making sure it stays your business. 

An unlisted phone number is no longer enough. I want to help you find your inner alias. I want to show you your dream safe house. I don’t want to hear about you on the Internet. Get Off the Grid! can do all of this and more. It’s your one down-to-earth guide on going to ground, and not just that: it’s the best vanishing act you’ll never see!

On My Radar:

Dig If You Will The Picture: Funk, Sex, God, & Genius in the Music of Prince
by Ben Greenman
Henry Holt
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Ben Greenman, New York Times bestselling author, contributing writer to the New Yorker, and owner of thousands of recordings of Prince and Prince-related songs, knows intimately that there has never been a rock star as vibrant, mercurial, willfully contrary, experimental, or prolific as Prince. Uniting a diverse audience while remaining singularly himself, Prince was a tireless artist, a musical virtuoso and chameleon, and a pop-culture prophet who shattered traditional ideas of race and gender, rewrote the rules of identity, and redefined the role of sex in pop music.

A polymath in his own right who collaborated with George Clinton and Questlove on their celebrated memoirs, Greenman has been listening to and writing about Prince since the mid-eighties. Here, with the passion of an obsessive fan and the skills of a critic, journalist, and novelist, he mines his encyclopedic knowledge of Prince’s music to tell both his story and the story of the paradigm-shifting ideas that he communicated to his millions of fans around the world. Greenman's take on Prince is the autobiography of a generation and its ideas. Asking a series of questions—not only “Who was Prince?” but “Who wasn’t he?” and “Who are we?”—Dig if You Will the Picture is a fitting tribute to an extraordinary talent.

In My TBR Stack:

Fitter Faster: The Smart Way to Get in Shape in Just Minutes a Day
by Robert J. Davis with Brad Kolowich, Jr.
AMACOM
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

I don’t have time . . . I’m too tired . . . I hate gyms . . . These are among the most common excuses for not exercising. But the truth is that getting in shape requires less time and effort than you might think.

Examining everything from pre-workout stretches to post-workout protein shakes, this science-backed book slices through fitness fads and misconceptions to reveal how you can exercise quickly and effectively. For example, is it best to exercise in the morning? Does aerobic activity burn more fat than weight lifting? You’ll also learn how to get and stay motivated, what equipment to buy (and what not to waste money on), which dietary supplements really help, and how to combat muscle soreness. Fitter Faster explains how to:

Find the right balance between cardio, strength, and stretching • Slash workout times with high-intensity interval training • Prevent boredom • Enhance fat-burning

The accompanying Fitter Faster Plan, developed with celebrity trainer Brad Kolowich, Jr., pulls everything together. Requiring as little as 15 minutes a day, these quick workouts maximize efficiency—allowing you to reap the greatest benefit in the shortest possible time…all without ever having to set foot in a gym.

With photographs illustrating each exercise routine, this eye-opening book will forever change the way you work out— and help you get fitter faster.

On My Radar:

Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign
by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes
Crown Publishing
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

It was never supposed to be this close. And of course she was supposed to win. How Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump is the riveting story of a sure thing gone off the rails. For every Comey revelation or hindsight acknowledgment about the electorate, no explanation of defeat can begin with anything other than the core problem of Hillary’s campaign–the candidate herself. 

Through deep access to insiders from the top to the bottom of the campaign, political writers Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes have reconstructed the key decisions and unseized opportunities, the well-intentioned misfires and the hidden thorns that turned a winnable contest into a devastating loss. Drawing on the authors’ deep knowledge of Hillary from their previous book, the acclaimed biography HRC, Shattered offers an object lesson in how Hillary herself made victory an uphill battle, how her difficulty articulating a vision irreparably hobbled her impact with voters, and how the campaign failed to internalize the lessons of populist fury from the hard-fought primary against Bernie Sanders. 

Moving blow-by-blow from the campaign’s difficult birth through the bewildering terror of election night, Shattered tells an unforgettable story with urgent lessons both political and personal, filled with revelations that will change the way readers understand just what happened to America on November 8, 2016.

In My TBR Stack:

Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff
by Michael Nesmith
Crown Archetype
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Michael Nesmith’s eclectic, electric life spans his star-making role on The Monkees, his invention of the music video, and his critical contributions to movies, comedy, and the world of virtual reality. Above all, his is a seeker’s story, a pilgrimage in search of a set of principles to live by. That search took Nesmith from a childhood in Dallas, where his single mother Bette invented Liquid Paper, to the set of The Monkees in Los Angeles; to the heart of swinging London with John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix; and to an unexpected oasis of brilliance in the Santa Fe desert, where his friendships with Douglas Adams and Los Alamos scientists would point him toward the power of the infinite and the endless possibilities of human connection. This funny, thoughtful, self-aware book is a window onto an unexpected life, inflected at every turn by the surprising candor and absurdist humor of an American original. Opening Infinite Tuesday is like stepping into the world of Michael Nesmith, where something curious is always unfolding, and where riffs on everything from bands to dogs to the nature of reality make for an endlessly engaging journey.

On My Radar:

When You Find Out the World is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments
by Kelly Oxford
Dey Street Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Kelly Oxford likes to blow up the internet. Whether it is with the kind of Tweets that lead Rolling Stone to name her one of the Funniest People on Twitter or with pictures of her hilariously adorable family (human and animal) or with something much more serious, like creating the hashtag #NotOkay, where millions of women came together to share their stories of sexual assault, Kelly has a unique, razor-sharp perspective on modern life. As a screen writer, professional sh*t disturber, wife and mother of three, Kelly is about everything but the status quo.

 Perfect for anyone who ever wished David Sedaris and Mindy Kaling would just finally write a book together already, When You Find Out the World is Against You is filled with the biting, wise, and laugh-out-loud insights that have won Kelly legions of fans. Whether she’s detailing her obsession as an eleven-year-old with going to camp so she can become a “kissing bandit,” exploring the bittersweet boredom that so often accompanies parenthood, calling out the insanity of a posse of internet poodle vigilantes, writing bracingly about the anxiety that has plagued her as long as she can remember or taking us to ride shotgun as she stalks her husband on an accidental date with another man, When You Find Out the World Is Against You is Kelly at her most honest and disarmingly funny best. Her comedic skill, down-to-earth voice, and bull’s-eye observations on the absurdity of modern life mean there is nothing quite like seeing the world through Kelly’s eyes.

On My Radar:

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann
Doubleday
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances. 

In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the “Phantom Terror,” roamed—many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation, the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection.  Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. 

In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward American Indians that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly compelling, but also emotionally devastating.