More than 15 years have passed since the ``ragpicker'' vanished from Chicago, leaving Mandino a set of principles on how to lead a more fulfilling life—principles that the author chronicled in a deadly earnest parable, The Greatest Miracle in the World. Mandino went on to achieve renown as an apostle of positive thinking in a series of simplistic texts (A Better Way to Live, 1989, etc.). Here, he again encounters the aging savior—who just happens to have a cozy backwoods cabin near Mandino's New Hampshire farmstead. The nonagenarian master and his pupil engage in less-than- Socratic dialogues that effectively allow the author to praise himself to the skies without seeming to blow his own horn. While quizzing the ragpicker on how careful a watch he kept during his physical absence, for example, Mandino is assured that 1983 ``was truly a vintage year for you, Mr. Og. You were awarded the first Napoleon Hill Gold Medal for literary achievement, and you also received the coveted CPAE Award from the National Speakers Association, which is the group's highest award for public speaking. Then in 1984, you became only the fourteenth individual inducted into the International Speakers Hall of Fame....'' When the expressions of mutual admiration finally run their course, it develops that the aged familiar has reappeared to ask Mandino to ``contribute some of [his] great talent'' to making a ``stirring manifesto'' of the old pro's wisdom. Eager to collaborate, the author produces a brief miscellany of prayers under the heading, ``For the Rest of My Life...''—pietistic appeals that request help from a higher power for assistance in observing the golden rule, establishing goals, and otherwise becoming a genuine credit to the human race. Having completed this labor of love, Mandino learns (would you believe from a great blue heron?) that his spiritual mentor has shuffled off this mortal coil. Which, hopefully, means no further returns for a straw man whose sanctimony could give Christian faith, hope, and charity a very bad name.
Pub Date: Feb. 17, 1992
ISBN: 0-553-07129-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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