August Read 2018

Title: Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life And Maybe the World
Author: McRaven, William H.
Call Number: 158.1 M174M 2017
Book Description from amazon:
On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. Taking inspiration from the university's slogan, "What starts here changes the world," he shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his training and long Naval career, but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves-and the world-for the better.

Admiral McRaven's original speech went viral with over 10 million views. Building on the core tenets laid out in his speech, McRaven now recounts tales from his own life and from those of people he encountered during his military service who dealt with hardship and made tough decisions with determination, compassion, honor, and courage. Told with great humility and optimism, this timeless book provides simple wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire readers to achieve more, even in life's darkest moments.
My Read:
It's all about self-discipline.

July Read 2018

Title: Get Out of Your Own Way at Work..and Help Others Do the Same
Author: Goulston, Mark
Call Number: 158.1 G699G 2005
Book Description from amazon.com:
Shares practical recommendations for employees and managers on how to overcome self-sabotaging behaviors that can compromise career advancement and satisfaction, in a guide that addresses forty self-defeating actions including fear of change, failure to delegate, and expecting too much.

June Read 2018

Title: Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone
Author: Goulston, Mark
Call Number: 650.13 G699J 2010
Book Description from amazon.com:

Foreword by Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone and Who's Got Your Back The first make-or-break step in persuading anyone to do any thing is getting them to hear you out. Whether the person is a harried colleague, a stressed-out client, or an insecure spouse, things will go from bad to worse if you can't break through emotional barricades. Drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist, business consultant, and coach, and backed by the latest scientific research, author Mark Goulston shares simple but powerful techniques readers can use to really get through to people-whether they're coworkers, friends, strangers, or enemies. Just Listen reveals how to: * Make a powerful and positive first impression * Listen effectively * Make even a total stranger-a potential client, perhaps-feel "felt" * Talk an angry or aggressive person away from an instinctual, unproductive reaction and toward a more rational mindset * Achieve buy-in, the linchpin of all persuasion, negotiation, sales, and more Getting through is a fine art but a critical one. With the help of this groundbreaking book readers will be able to turn the "impossible" and "unreachable" people in their lives into allies, devoted customers, loyal colleagues, and lifetime friends.

May Read 2018

Title: Visual Intelligence: Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life
Author: Herman, Amy E.
Call Number: 152.14 H551V 2016
Book Description from amazon.com:
How could looking at Monet’s water lily paintings help save a company millions? How can noticing people’s footwear foil a terrorist attack? How can your choice of adjective win an argument, calm your children, or catch a thief?

In her celebrated seminar, The Art of Perception, art historian Amy Herman has trained experts from many fields to perceive and communicate better. By showing people how to look closely at images, she helps them hone their “visual intelligence,” a set of skills we all possess but few of us know how to use effectively. She has spent more than a decade teaching doctors to observe patients instead of their charts, helping police officers separate facts from opinions when investigating a crime, and training professionals from the FBI, the State Department, Fortune 500 companies, and the military to recognize the most pertinent and useful information. Her lessons highlight far more than the physical objects you may be missing; they teach you how to recognize the talents, opportunities, and dangers that surround you every day. 
My Read:
     "Remember in your quest for the big picture not to lose sight of the small details. 
Don't be afraid of complexity, and don't rush to judgment. Step back and take things apart one layer at a time the way you would a complicated work of art. Start at ground zero. Prioritize by importance. Make sure you've considered all of the data possible. Did you miss a mahogany table?
Always ask questions, especially of yourself. No matter how "obvious" it seems to you, state what you see, because it's possible that no one else will see it. Don't forget the basics; say that one scene is a photo and one is a painting. to crystallize your communication, assume that the person you are communicating with can't see what you're seeing at all. Ask yourself, "Was I as clear as possible? did I ask the right questions to elicit the answers I need?"
Make sure you are only dealing in objective facts. Describe what you see without letting your emotions and assumptions block your perception. Don't divorce yourself from your experience, but be conscious of it and how it might affect you so it doesn't lead you toward faulty assumptions."--page 277
     The author advises to ask 1)what do I know?, 2) what don't I know?, and 3) what do I need to know?
Also to find answers of who, what, where, and when.
It's a good read.

April 2018 Read

Title: Mindhunter
Author: Douglas, John
Call Number: 363.25952 D734YD 2017
Book Description from amazon.com:
Discover the classic, behind-the-scenes chronicle of John E. Douglas’ twenty-five-year career in the FBI Investigative Support Unit, where he used psychological profiling to delve into the minds of the country’s most notorious serial killers and criminals.

In chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, fascinating, and challenging cases—and into the darkest recesses of our worst nightmares.

During his twenty-five year career with the Investigative Support Unit, Special Agent John Douglas became a legendary figure in law enforcement, pursuing some of the most notorious and sadistic serial killers of our time: the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, the Atlanta child murderer, and Seattle's Green River killer, the case that nearly cost Douglas his life.

As the model for Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, Douglas has confronted, interviewed, and studied scores of serial killers and assassins, including Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Ed Gein, who dressed himself in his victims' peeled skin. Using his uncanny ability to become both predator and prey, Douglas examines each crime scene, reliving both the killer's and the victim's actions in his mind, creating their profiles, describing their habits, and predicting their next moves.

March 2018 Read/3

Title: Into the Gray Zone: A Neuroscientist Explores the Border Between Life and Death
Author: Owen, Adrian
Call Number:616.849 O97I 2017
Book Description from amazon:
In this startling and thought-provoking book, which will remind readers of works by Oliver Sacks and Atul Gawande, a world-renowned neuroscientist reveals his controversial, groundbreaking work with patients whose brains were previously thought vegetative or non-responsive but turn out—in up to 20 percent of cases—to be vibrantly alive, existing in the “Gray Zone.”

Into the Gray Zone takes readers to the edge of a dazzling, humbling frontier in our understanding of the brain: the so-called “gray zone” between full consciousness and brain death. People in this middle place have sustained traumatic brain injuries or are the victims of stroke or degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Many are oblivious to the outside world, and their doctors believe they are incapable of thought. But a sizeable number are experiencing something different: intact minds adrift deep within damaged brains and bodies. An expert in the field, Adrian Owen led a team that, in 2006, discovered this lost population and made medical history. Scientists, physicians, and philosophers have only just begun to grapple with the implications.

Following Owen’s journey of exciting medical discovery, Into the Gray Zone asks some tough and terrifying questions, such as: What is life like for these patients? What can their families and friends do to help them? What are the ethical implications for religious organizations, politicians, the Right to Die movement, and even insurers? And perhaps most intriguing of all: in defining what a life worth living is, are we too concerned with the physical and not giving enough emphasis to the power of thought? What, truly, defines a satisfying life?

This book is about the difference between a brain and a mind, a body and a person. It is about what these fascinating borderlands between life and death have taught us about being human.
My Read:
It's a good read. Unlike the other books I have read, I had to read this book from chapter one all the way to the last chapter so that I would have ideas what's been mentioned in the previous chapter.

March 2018 Read/2

Title: The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: the History of the Human Brain
Author: Kean, Sam
Call Number: 617.48023 K24T 2014
Book Description from amazon.com:
Early studies of the functions of the human brain used a simple method: wait for misfortune to strike-strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, lobotomies, horrendous accidents-and see how the victim coped. In many cases survival was miraculous, and observers could only marvel at the transformations that took place afterward, altering victims' personalities. An injury to one section can leave a person unable to recognize loved ones; some brain trauma can even make you a pathological gambler, pedophile, or liar. But a few scientists realized that these injuries were an opportunity for studying brain function at its extremes. With lucid explanations and incisive wit, Sam Kean explains the brain's secret passageways while recounting forgotten stories of common people whose struggles, resiliency, and deep humanity made modern neuroscience possible.
My Read:
     As I close this book one of the cases stated in it stays with me. It's listed in the chapter named "Wiring and Rewiring." Pedro, father of Doctor Bach-y-Rita, suffered a massive stroke in 1959 and was left half paralyzed and speechless. George, Bach-y-Rita's brother who was also a doctor, refused to send their father to a nursing home suggested by the patient's doctors. George designed his own rehab regimen. George made Pedro crawl like an infant at first, learning how to move each limb again, before gradually working him up to his feet. Then he made Pedro do household chores such as sweeping the porch and scrubbing pots and pans. Pedro struggled and appeared to make little progress, but the repetitive motions eventually retrained his brain. Not only did he regain the ability to talk and walk, he also resumed his teaching job, remarried, and started hiking again. His brain proved plastic enough to reroute the cues for walking and talking around the ravaged tissue. Instead of routing signals from A to B, it now routed them from A to C and then C to B.--page 90