Personal Development Recent Picks

March 2010

The title-underlined links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

Dump 'em : how to break up with anyone from your best friend to your hairdresser, Jodyne L. Speyer (2009)
"Everybody has that special someone in their life that they can't wait to get rid of. Whether it's a housekeeper, a therapist, or a personal trainer, the time comes when you have to pull the plug on the relationship. Featuring personal stories, useful scripts, and interviews with experts, Dump 'Em is a practical guide for giving any bad relationship the boot. Speyer provides a roadmap to finding your own way of saying "thanks, but no thanks." Written with honesty, empathy, and ruthless wit, Dump 'Em will teach you to conquer your fear of confrontation and master the art of the peaceful and permanent breakup." (Book Jacket)

Drive : the surprising truth about what motivates us, Daniel H. Pink (2009)
"We’ve been conditioned to think that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is through external rewards like money or fame, or by the fear of punishment - the carrot-and-stick approach. That’s a mistake, Daniel H. Pink says in his transformative new book. The key to high performance and satisfaction is intrinsic, internal motivation: the desire to follow your own interests and understand the benefits in them for you. And Pink has discovered thirty years of scientific data that confirm these ideas and show an exciting way forward. As he did in his groundbreaking bestseller A Whole New Mind, Pink lays out the hard science for these surprising insights; describes how people and corporations can embrace such insights; offers details about how we can master them; and provides concrete examples on how intrinsic motivation works on the job, at home and in ourselves. This is a book of big ideas that explains how each of us can find the surest pathway to high performance, creativity, and even health and well-being." (Global Books in Print)

Opening up : a guide to creating and sustaining open relationships, Tristan Taormino (2008)
"Relationship expert and bestselling author Tristan Taormino offers a bold new strategy for creating loving, lasting relationships. Drawing on in-depth interviews with over a hundred women and men, Opening Up explores the real-life benefits and challenges of all styles of open relationships - from partnered non-monogamy to solo polyamory. With her refreshingly down-to-earth style and sharp wit, Taormino offers solutions for making an open relationship work, including tips on dealing with jealousy, negotiating boundaries, finding community, parenting and time management. Opening Up will change the way you think about intimacy." (Book Jacket)

Talent is overrated : what really separated world-class performers from everybody else, Geoff Colvin (2008)
"One of the most popular Fortune articles in many years was a cover story called “What It Takes to Be Great.” Geoff Colvin offered new evidence that top performers in any field--from Tiger Woods and Winston Churchill to Warren Buffett and Jack Welch--are not determined by their inborn talents. Greatness doesn’t come from DNA but from practice and perseverance honed over decades. Now Colvin has expanded his article with much more scientific background and real-world examples. He shows that the skills of business—negotiating deals, evaluating financial statements, and all the rest—obey the principles that lead to greatness, so that anyone can get better at them with the right kind of effort. Even the hardest decisions and interactions can be systematically improved. This new mind-set, combined with Colvin’s practical advice, will change the way you think about your job and career—and will inspire you to achieve more in all you do." (Amazon)

Reinventing the body, resurrecting the soul, Deepak Chopra (2009)
"Alternative medicine guru Chopra, author of more than 50 books, argues that the bond between body and soul has been severed; it's his hope that humankind is about to embark on a restoration project that will give the soul the attention it deserves. Chopra presents five 'breakthroughs' that address the body and five that address the soul. He also walks readers through a fascinating discussion of how energy affects spiritual and physical health, and includes a scored personal energy efficiency quiz." (Publisher's Weekly Review)

An intelligent life : a practical guide to relationships, intimacy and self-esteem, Julian Short (2010)
"An Intelligent Life is a practical guide to modern life and relationships. Julian Short draws upon 30 years' experience as a psychiatrist to offer hints, tips and guidelines for coping with many of the problems and events that we face every day. In straightforward language Short explores rejection, family, professional and personal relationships, improving self-esteem and winning an argument, even when you lose. He arms us with the techniques and language to walk away from conflict feeling good about ourself. To feel good we need to act well. We see ourselves in the mirror of other people's reactions and if we want to like the person we see, we need the skills to give and get as much love as we can. An Intelligent Life is designed to show that we can lose and still like ourselves, liberating us to be hopeless at things, but sensational as people." (Global Books in Print)

Her mother's thighs : helping our daughters to love their bodies-even when we don't love our own, Dara Chadwick (2009)
"Using her own experience as well as the real stories of other women Chadwick helps women become aware of the negative body image messages they are unconsciously passing on to their daughters. By helping women live in peace with their bodies she also offers them ways to shape the body image legacy they give to their daughters. Dara writes, “as mothers how we feel about and relate to our own bodies -and the conscious or unconscious expression of that relationship - creates a "body image blueprint" for our daughters. 'You'll find lots of stories in this book not just mine but those of the many women and girls I interviewed while researching. Some are heartbreaking some will make you laugh and some will make you say "Why didn't I think of that?" But they'll all teach you the most important thing you need to know to raise a daughter who feels good about herself: She's watching you and listening to what you say. The message is up to you.” With humour and compassion Her Mother’s Thighs offers parents fresh and useful strategies for conveying that success isn't negated by carrying extra weight - or guaranteed by keeping it off." (Global Books in Print)

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