Recommended Reading (6)

New Releases

Ury, William. (1999). Getting to Peace: Transforming Conflict at Home, at Work, and in the World. New York, NY: Viking.

250 pages. Ury draws on his perspective as anthropologist and professional mediator to explore human conflict. Using real-life examples from the family, the schoolroom, the workplace and the world, he gives ten practical ways we can all tap the power of what he calls the "Third Side." He challenges us to make the world safe for differences by changing the culture of conflict itself to one where disputes are handled on the basis not of force and coercion but of mutual interest and coexistence.

Kohn, Alfie. (1999). The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards". New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

344 pages. Kohn continues to challenge our assumptions about schooling, this time being the politicized demands for "back to basics" and "tougher standards." He cautions us against teaching which treats children as passive receptacles into which forgettable facts are poured. Ignoring what we now know about how and why kids learn, teachers are forced to spend time preparing students for standardized tests instead of helping them to become critical, creative thinkers. He shows examples of preferred models in real classrooms and suggests how we should guage the progress of schools and students.

Schwartz, Tony. (1995) What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

472 pages. Schwartz traveled America for five years seeking out key psychologists, physicians, philosophers, mystics, teachers and scientists who made the search for meaning primary in their lives. He personally experimented with their techniques, technologies, and practices aimed at transformation. He also shows how their work is related and the lineages from which they drew their inspiration. Using his journalist skill, Schwartz has in a single book provided us a fabulous descriptive, comparative and critical guide to the 20th century's best teachers and techniques for self-discovery and self-improvement.

Basco, Monica Ramirez. (1999). Never Good Enough: How to Use Perfectionism to Your Advantage Without Letting it Ruin Your Life. New York, NY: Touchstone.

273 pages. Psychologist and researcher Dr. Monica Ramirez Basco explains how uncontrolled perfectionism can lead to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, fear of failure, and broken marriages and friendships. She includes a thirty-question self-test to help us recognize and manage the negative side of our perfectionism replacing the pursuit of perfection with peace of mind. She also includes a chapter on how to live with a perfectionist!

Jourdain, Robert. (1997). Music, The Brain, And Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination. New York, NY: William Morrow and Company, Inc.

377 pages. Jourdain draws from a variety of fields including science, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy as he looks at the evolution of music introducing us to new concepts of memory and perception, knowledge and attention, motion and emotion. He takes us on a journey from sound to tone, to melody, to harmony, to rhythm, to composition, to peformance, to listening, to understanding and to how music can transport us to the threshold of ecstasy. This book is written so that no prior musical or scientific knowledge is required.

Updated: July 18, 2000.