Customer Reviews:
Everyone should read this.......2005-10-25
If you want to explore the art of conversation - if you want to learn how to have a *real* conversation, this is the book for you. Most "conversations" are simply just one person engaging in a monologue while the other person waits for their turn to do their monologue. I think much of lonliness and misunderstandings in the world today could be eliminated if people actually practiced what is taught in this little book.
What it Is, What it's About.......2001-06-17
I'm reading this book on my way to a conference, a conference where I will give the keynote address and conduct a panel and a workshop. While a lot of what Michael Kahn says seems like plain common sense, it's the putting it into practice that counts. I'll be trying to do just that.
If common sense were always put into practice, we'd call it "common action" instead of common sense. Kahn's examples and propositions are not things to be documented in APA style, but clues to how to act, if you want to have really good, useful conversations that affirm and support you and the person you're talking with. The book is not written for academics, but for people who talk with other people--and would like the results to be more interesting and useful, and less combative.
I'd like to note also, that though it was written before e-mail became a dominant mode of communication for many of us, this book's insights will work well in that environment, and especially on e-lists, where the flow of messages is much like a group conversation.
We've all had conversations that at least might have proceeded in the helpful, healthy ways Kahn suggests. This book is helping me to sort out why my better conversations were better, and learn to make the better ones happen more often. More than that, in less than 200 pages, who can ask?
A new idea to me.......2000-04-01
I came accross this book by accident. I'm not a scholar on conversation, so this book not only opened up a new idea to me, but has inspired me investigate more about the topic of conversation. I feel that because it opened my eyes to how I converse and has helped me at my business, it deserves four stars.
Doesn't get to the point........1998-05-15
My opinion: Reused contemporary ideas about one aspect of good conversation. The author fills his book with far too many examples, and the examples that are given are summarized in points that are almost common-sensical. Supposedly a psychological book focusing on the author's years of research on the subject, but its apparent lack of APA citations downplay that notion. Wishy-washy.
Average customer rating:
- Brainstorm in a book
- H3: Horribly written, Horrific to read, all Hype
- Enron Defender
- Everyone Could Use A New Idea or Two
- Very disappointing
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New Ideas About New Ideas
Shira P. White , and
G. Patton Wright
Manufacturer: Perseus Books Group
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ASIN: 0738205354
Release Date: 2002-02-19 |
Amazon.com
Innovation--that elusive but vital ability to generate and foster new ideas--has been touted as the key to success in many a book, for many a year. But since the New Economy's nosedive and the market battering of some of the most loudly lauded "innovative" companies, the term's reputation has begun to seem a little tarnished. Not so fast, says Shira White in her revealing book New Ideas About New Ideas. Whether in good economic times or in bad, creativity is always the ultimate competitive advantage, and the repercussions of practicing innovation are often even more widespread and longer lasting in the latter. White's assertion that "we always need new ideas--and we need new ideas about how to get, grow, and better manage them" underpins valuable insights on where innovation begins; how ideas are developed, nurtured, valued, brought to life, and put into action; and even how an entire organization's culture can be imbued with innovation. Refreshing in its broad coverage, New Ideas is chock-full of the inspiring advice and experiences of leaders in business, science, technology, and the arts. Hot, hip, and happening is how White describes these innovators, and they include people like former AOL Internet Services president and current chairman of the organic foods company Acirca Inc. David Cole, physicist and author of The Elegant Universe Brian Greene, technology wizard Nathan Myrhvold, world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, as well as the movers and shakers at companies such as Corning Inc., Genzyme Corporation, Transmeta Inc., and Macromedia. Though references to Enron have been updated, its inclusion in this otherwise motivational collection of innovation adventures seems unfortunate; the former energy giant may still be smoking hot in one sense, but revelations postbankruptcy would seem to negate much of its previous brilliance. --S. Ketchum
Book Description
In New Ideas About New Ideas, Shira White offers a fresh, lively, and inspiring perspective on innovation. What makes some people and organizations more creative than others? How do they channel their creative impulses into productive projects? How do they sustain their creative edge when resources are scarce?
Drawing from hundreds of interviews with the world's most creative people (from innovative leaders at companies such as Palm, Corning, AOL, and Progressive Insurance to genius architect Frank Gehry, technology oracle Nathan Myrhvold, performance artist Laurie Anderson, and biotech visionary Henri Termeer), as well as her own extensive experience as an innovation management consultant and artist, White offers many surprising insights. For example, leading-edge innovators recognize that creativity is not a discrete "event" but a dynamic state of being. They embrace uncertainty and ambiguity. They invite conflict. They find myriad ways to diversify their "inputs" and expand the spectrums of their experience. And they are continually asking new questions, chasing new problems, and experimenting with new solutions.
Blending concepts from the worlds of management, the arts, science, and technology, White illustrates how anyone can achieve a creative mindset and let the sparks fly. Whether you are building a new organization, turning around a company, initiating a radical education program, launching a new ad campaign or product line, or staying a step ahead of your competitors on any front, New Ideas About New Ideas is bound to change the way you look at your life, your work, and your world.
Shira P. White is President of the SPWI Group, a leading innovation management and new product development consulting firm. An accomplished painter and writer, she has served as an instructor at the Pratt Institute and lecturer at NYU's Stern Graduate School of Business and School of Visual Arts. She lives in New York City.
Customer Reviews:
Brainstorm in a book.......2003-06-06
I have to admit when I bought this book over a year ago and started to read it, I put it down out of frustration. I have read many books on creativity and innovation and there seemed to be nothing new that this book added. There have been many books released recently that seemed to be just rehashing the creative techniques and tools. There is some really good books already published that, can teach you the different aspects of creativity, creative techniques and innovation.
I have listed a few here by Author, please check out my innovation listmania list on Creativity 101.
Jordan E. Ayan ý A good overview of creativity and some tools.
Edward De Bono ý The pioneer of ýLateral Thinkingý,
Tony Buzan ý The Pioneer of Mind Mapping and other tools for the mind
Bryan W. Mattimore ý A collection of essays on creativity
Michael Michalko ý Covers the SCAMPER method
Roger Von Oech ý Author of the Creative Whack Pack, a great set of tools of creativity
Charles Thompson ý Average Treatise on Creativity
Denise Sherekjan - Uncommon Genius ý A book based on interviews with people who have been awarded the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship ýGenius Awardý
Brenda Ueland - If you want to Write ý An amazing book on writing and creativity
Tom Peters ý Great Books on Business Innovation and Creativity
Peter Law - Creative Company ý The Story of St Lukes ý the Most Creative Company in the world.
Michael Schrage - Serious Play ý Interesting book on business Creativity
Gordon Mackenzie - Orbiting the Giant HairBall ý The Story of creativity and finding it in corporate America (HallMark)
But, I have to admit my first impressions about this book were wrong. I try not to judge a book too early, and hence 1 year later I picked this book up again. Scanning through the book I noticed many interesting profiles of innovators that I admire (Nathan Myhrvold, Brian Greene etc.). I was looking for a stimulating read, so I decide to take this book with me on a business trip. I ended up devouring this book very quickly, and then I ended up going back through the book with my highlighter and post it notes. I have tagged many pages and highlighted many paragraphs. There are notes all over the pages.
I found this book to be very stimulating and even though on first glance this does not seem to add anything new to the creativity field, there is a lot to gain from this book. The best way I can describe this book as is a ýBrainstormý in a book. I found the different interviews and examples that Shira White details in this book to be very interesting. She obviously draws a lot from her own business experience, which is a good thing. I know some people will see this as just a plug for her company, but I would rather someone write about creativity from a position of knowledge and experience than just pull examples from other people.
There is a lot of research that has gone into this book. It is very apparent that she conducted some very in-depth interviews with the innovators profiled.
The flow of the book, and how it starts, leaves a lot to be desired, but once you understand that this is not a book that is going to teach creativity, or creative techniques (please refer to the above list if you are looking for other books and authors on creativity and innovation). This book is full of ideas from some very respected innovators and draws from Shira Whiteýs own experience and this is pulled together in what I can only describe as creative vignettes. I found this book very rewarding to read, once I got past my initial perceptions. As another reviewer pointed out, the cutsey nature of the titles will put some people off (H3ýs, Spark soup etc..). If you get past this, you will find this is a truly stimulating read.
The flow of the book seems to jump around, but there is a cohesive feel to the book. It follows through the different stages of innovation and illustrates the stages with examples.
I am still not sure how you would categorize this book since just saying business innovation and creativity, doesnýt really tell you what this book is about. Reading the book, felt like taking part in a brainstorm/think tank on creativity with some world-renowned innovators.
I found the book to be stimulating, and well worth the effort to read. There is one caveat; the examples drawn from Enron, probably were a bad idea in retrospect. They seem to have upset a few people. Putting Enron and creativity together under one cover seems to give creativity a bad name.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a stimulating and inspirational read on the subject of creativity.
H3: Horribly written, Horrific to read, all Hype.......2003-05-28
One of the few books I gave up before finishing, New Ideas lacks any original ones. I guess its goal is to describe how companies benefit from innovation and creativity, but unfortunately, the book is too poorly written and organized to even get THAT out in a clear manner.
That author, an "innovation consultant" (whatever the hell that means), just spews jargon all over the place like "spark soup," "H3s," "bubbling" and even "innovation" (that word finds its way into almost every paragraph), while rehashing case studies that usually have nothing to do with innovation. For instance, AOL's quick entry and overexposure and its obvious result in gaining the lead market share is attributed to innovation, when really it's just business as usual. (In fact, AOL gained so much market share, not from customer satisfaction or a superior product, but because they just kept dumping it on people.) Other dubious companies, like ImClone and Enron, are praised highly for their innovation, which is sort of like praising Stalin in a book on leadership.
Worse yet, she brings up companies and artists in a random, chaotic way, confusing readers and complicating her point, if she has one. I finally put the book down, not out of frustration, but from the realization that it wasn't written to be insightful but, like other marketing jargonheads, to be self-advertising.
This book was itself a bad idea and should never have evolved out of the primordial "spark soup".
Enron Defender.......2002-10-03
I agree with a previous reviewer's comment that the book is a long advertisement for White's consulting business, which had to include that motherlode of creativity, Enron, although she doesn't admit it in the book and offers some lame upfront comment about regardless of what happens to Enron it's to be admired for it's creativity. The quotes from Skilling are "great" entertainment when you consider they occured all pre-meltdown, but the author's defense of Enron's "creativity" (which resulted in the loss of billions of dollars and had a negative impact on millions of lives) really turned me off.
Instead of trying to justify the inclusion of such a ethically bankrupt company such as Enron, the author should have added a chapter on, when creativity turns criminal.
Everyone Could Use A New Idea or Two.......2002-08-06
And this book has plenty. I run a small business of my own and I am always looking for little nuggets in business books that I can apply. I took notes all over this book. If you are looking for a well for your creativity this book can definitely be of help. I gave it as a gift to some other entrepreneurially-minded friends and they all had good things to say about it.
Very disappointing.......2002-08-01
This book is an advertisement for her consulting business. It's
a sad poorly designed and poorly written book. With so many books on creativity out there, don't waste your money on this one.
Book Description
Illustrations by Raina Bays
In a remote fishing village in Japan, Daishinji the origami master creates a beautiful fish from one flat sheet of paper. But the fish says she is lonely, so the master creates a whole paper world for her -- ocean, seaweed, an octopus, and many other creatures. Still, the paper fish begs to be set free in a real ocean, to know the feel of water and understand the mysteries of the deep.
Reluctantly, Daishinji sets her creation free, even though she is sure that the paper fish will be destroyed and that "imaginary things must stay in imaginary places." But amazingly (even if briefly) the fish becomes real, and a part of something much bigger than Daishinji could ever have imagined, proving that great ideas outgrow their creators and take on lives of their own.
How the Paper Fish Learned to Swim presents the fable as a springboard to unlocking creativity and innovation in the workplace. The story is followed by an outline for a practical process for encouraging and harnessing ideas, and the book also includes questions and discussion points. As beautifully illustrated as it is gracefully told, this book is both an enveloping read and a powerful workplace tool.
Customer Reviews:
How the Paper Fish Learned to Swim.......2007-07-18
An origami master in a remote Japanese fishing village creates designs so true to life that they could be real. From one such creation, a fish, the master learns an important lesson. The origami fish decides that he wants to be set free into the ocean with the other sea creatures. At first, the master is afraid for her creation, it will be destroyed as soon as it hits the water. Finally, she trusts her creation and is utterly surprised at the result.
This analogy fits perfectly with ideas in the workplace. Often, we have these really great ideas but we never speak up. When we do actually put work into a actually creating an idea we never fully commit to the process and trust our vision.
How the Paper Fish Learned to Swim is insightful and inspiring book for business. I particularly liked that each section was divided into In Principle and In Practice sub-sections that connect each idea with actual ways to use them in business. Some of the chapters also include The Case which gave a case study example of the principle in usage.
Book Description
n New Ideas About New Ideas, Shira White offers a fresh, lively, and inspiring perspective on innovation. Drawing from in-depth interviews with dozens of today's most fascinating people-from architect Frank Gehry to physicist Brian Greene-White illustrates how anyone can achieve a creative mindset and let the sparks fly. Whether you are building a new organization, turning around a company, launching a new ad campaign or product line, or staying a step ahead of your competitors on any front, New Ideas About New Ideas is bound to change the way you look at your life, your work, and your world.
Customer Reviews:
Where do I get my money back ?........2006-04-18
Not often one can find a book so irrelevant as this. It repeats the same trivia in support of irrelevant points and never gets to make a contribution to creativity. It is amazingly ignorant on scientific, technical and art issues and oddly enough it tells lies about those whom supposedly has interviewed. Where do I get my money back ?.
Brainstorm in a book.......2003-06-06
I have to admit that I bought this book over a year ago and started to read it and put it down out of frustration due to a feeling that this was just a rehash of creative ideas, with no real direction. I have read many books on creativity and innovation and this book seemed to be nothing new.
BUT 1 year rolls around, I am looking to have something stimulating to read and this book seems to be calling me again. I pick it up and scan it, there seems to be some interesting ideas here, some interesting profiles of innovators that I have admired (Nathan Myhrvold, Brian Greene etc.). So I decide to take it on a business trip with me. I start reading it again and this time I am immersed in this creative storm. The book is stimulating so many ideas and thoughts; I can't put the book down. I find myself waking up at 3am and devouring the book. I get out my post notes and highlighter and go back through and start marking pages and paragraphs.
I am not sure what this book was aiming to do, but the most amazing aspect of this book is that it gives an insight in a creative thinkers mind. It's like taking a peek at Shira White's Idea notebook. I am not sure that she keeps a notebook of ideas, but this book is chock full of ideas and snippets from many diverse sources reflecting her research. It is hard to get used to the style, which others have described as confusing with no direction. But if you read this book and let your self go and follow along with White as she brainstorms ideas, random connections between thoughts and facts you will find yourself immersed. I am not sure there is a genre for this book; it's a brainstorm in a book. It is like being inside White's mind as she bounces from one idea and thought to another, making some very interesting conclusions along the way. If you have ever read any of James Burke's books "Knowledge Web", "Circles", where he walks you through how ideas are connected to each other. This book gives you a similar feeling of being on creative journey through ideas.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a stimulating and inspirational read. This book can be very rewarding if it is read in the right state of mind (in this case the right state mind = using the right hemisphere of your brain).
Average customer rating:
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Thinking About Literature: New Ideas for High School Teachers
Robert McMahon
Manufacturer: Boynton/Cook
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Literacy
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ASIN: 0867095121 |
Book Description
...an approach to lesson planning so intellectually engaging that students are keen to follow.
- Carol Jago
Do students respond to your question "What is the theme?" with a resounding silence?Does "What do you think?" meet with only a few raised hands and little enthusiasm? Is mastering the art of falling asleep undetected your students' greatest ambition?Maybe it's time to take a new tack...
Robert McMahon has contributed something genuinely new to the teaching of classic and contemporary literature in high schoola system of teaching English that achieves classroom control through engagement and interest in content. As longtime teacher Carol Jago attests, McMahon's approach to literature is so stimulating that students eagerly respond. The provocative questions he poses help students build a kind of mental muscle for reading challenging texts and, what's more, interacting with them.
The author proposes a "model of human action," with a series of questions that focus on character motivation and that foster reasoning, reflecting, and further questioning. Subtly but rigorously, he offers a heuristic that leads students through factual, interpretative, and evaluative questions and answers. Eventually, students internalize the heuristic and begin to ask the questions themselves, making them more independent readers and preparing them for lifelong engagement with challenging books. Along the way, McMahon intersperses "Provocations," imaginative exercises that help students to:
- imagine a character more fully
- grasp a writer's style non-analytically and creatively
- connect more deeply with relationships in a story
- prepare themselves to read, act, and recite well in class.
In the end, students participate in authentic conversations about issues that matter, finding in-text evidence for their views that simultaneously shed light on their own experiences.
Give McMahon's strategies a try. Read his chapter on Oedipus the King. Then teach itand have students respond to itlike never before.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Femnet News, published by African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) on May 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1167 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: About the African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET).(about femnet: information, experiences, ideas, strategies)
Publication:
Femnet News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2002
Publisher: African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET)
Page: S9(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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About the house: New ideas for easy management from Bissell
Joyce Flynn
Manufacturer: Dorison House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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How-to & Home Improvements
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| Woodworking
ASIN: 0916752089 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from City Limits, published by City Limits Community Information Service, Inc. on June 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1693 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Ailing giant: the Medicaid colossus is about to fall--thanks to a shove from Bush. (Intelligence the Big Idea).(cuts at federal level affect New York Medicaid funding)
Author: Kai Wright
Publication:
City Limits (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2003
Publisher: City Limits Community Information Service, Inc.
Volume: 28
Issue: 6
Page: 28(3)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Off The Wall Productions. (Business Profile).(designs props and sets)(Brief Article): An article from: SaskBusiness
Manufacturer: Sunrise Publishing Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
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Management
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Management
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ASIN: B0008F4D8C
Release Date: 2005-07-30 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from SaskBusiness, published by Sunrise Publishing Ltd. on March 1, 2002. The length of the article is 793 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Off The Wall Productions. (Business Profile).(designs props and sets)(Brief Article)
Publication:
SaskBusiness (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2002
Publisher: Sunrise Publishing Ltd.
Volume: 23
Issue: 2
Page: S5(2)
Article Type: Brief Article
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Set-Off in the Construction Industry
Manufacturer: Blackwell Science
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Business Law
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ASIN: 0632048247 |
Books:
- The Ultimate Guide to Search Engine Marketing: Pay Per Click Advertising Secrets Revealed
- Understanding Cry, the Beloved Country: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents (The Greenwood Press "Literature in Context" Series)
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- Warman's Coins & Paper Money: A Value & Identification Guide (Warman's Coins and Paper Money)
- Web Marketing Applied : Web Marketing Strategies for the New Millennium
- Web Site Design for Professional Photographers: Step-by-Step Techniques for Designing and Maintaining a Successful Web Site
- Webonomics
- What a Way to Live and Make a Living: The Lyman P. Wood Story
- Why Things Go Wrong: Deming Philosophy in a Dozen Ten-Minute Sessions (Motivational Series)
- Wiley GAAP 2004: Interpretation and Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
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