Behavioral Sciences Books - Page 12

Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind

Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: McGraw-Hill Amazon Marketplace: 59 new & used starting at $14.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> International -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> International -> General AAS
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Organizational Behavior -> Workplace

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Monumental Book Well Worth the Read 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

The father and son team of Geert and Geert Jan Hofstede have done a remarkable job breaking down the (measurable) elements of the world's cultures, usingt the somewhat antiquated IBM studies combined with more recent (less comprehensive) studies. The end result is that nations can be evaulauted on the basis of criteria such as "uncertainty avoidance," "individualism" and "power distance from superiors."

The work is enlightening and helpful to anyone who works internationally. It is also useful to break down one's own nation (for example, some Americans lean toward the British way of thinking while others are more German-like). The same criteria that divide nations also divide families within a society.

Businessmen, missionaries, pastors, counselors, journalists, and social scientists should devour these materials!

This should be required reading for anyone planning to live overseas or anyone who deals with internationals. In short, this book is relevant to our modern "shrinking" world and quite well done.

Like most significant works, this volume has its weak points.

Although the authors claim to espouse a "values neutral" position (which I have always argued is an impossible and illogical position), their Dutch/Swedish preferences ring out loudly and clearly (humanistic, environmnetalist, etc.). Although the authors do make a serious attempt to look at things from other perspectives, they simply cannot divorce themselves from their own cultural preferances. This is not bad -- they simply need to be above board and stop pretending to take the role of the neutral outsider (at least to better influence those of us who are American conservatives; we are big into distinguishing between fact and evaluation of fact; these evaluations are always done through a person's own personal gridwork).

The authors also have occasional trouble connecting a few dots. For example, on the bottom of p. 355, the Hofstedes are tactfully scolding the U.S. for its lack of foreign aid (again, showing their own bias), but on the top of p. 356 they add, "Looking back to half a century of development assistance, most observers agree that the effectiveness of much of the spending has been dismal." They then say those countries which did improve did so because of their cultural values, not foreign aid. But they seem incapable of concluding that good intentions (and even money) is not the most effective way to solve these problems. They just don't get it.

The same is true with contributions through governments to Tsunami relief. It should be expected that individualistic countries would be more prone to give as individuals, not as collective societies. Rather than look at total giving (or perecentage) OF A SOCIETY, they authors confuse a society with its government. Lots of missed "dot connections" in this work.

Despite the books weakspots, it is overwhelming strong and rich with fascinating content. It is a "mind opening" work -- well worth the read. You simply must read this one!

Editorial Review:

The landmark study of cultural differences across 70 nations, Cultures and Organizations helps readers look at how they think—and how they fail to think—as members of groups. Based on decades of painstaking field research, this new edition features the latest scientific results published in Geert Hofstede’s scholarly work Culture’s Consequences, Second Edition. Original in thought and profoundly important, Cultures and Organizations offers vital knowledge and insight on issues that will shape the future of cultures and nations in a globalized world.

Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving

Jonathan G. Koomey

Amazon Price: $23.07 List Price: $34.95 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Analytics Press Amazon Marketplace: 9 new & used starting at $12.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Decision-Making & Problem Solving
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Management
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Delightful excursion in thinking about how to think 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

It is different from, and for many purposes, better than a science textbook. More than enough science books have been written, but TNIK is better because it teaches readers how to think about the data on which science is built. Its fresh approach to understanding the natural world as well as human-made systems is a noteworthy improvement over the plug-in, grind-out perspective that academic classes typically offer and that turns off students.

Editorial Review:

Mastering the art of problem solving takes more than proficiency with basic calculations; it requires understanding how people use information, recognizing the importance of ideology, learning the art of storytelling, and acknowledging the important distinction between facts and values. Intended for professors, managers, entrepreneurs, and students, this guide addresses these and other essential skills. With clear prose, quotations, and exercises for solving problems in the real world, this book serves as an ideal training manual for those who are new to or intimidated by quantitative analysis and an excellent refresher for those who have more experience but want to improve the quality of their data, the clarity of their graphics, and the cogency of their arguments.

Asperger Syndrome And Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions For Tantrums, Rage And Meltdowns

Brenda Smith Myles; Jack Southwick

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Autism Asperger Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $13.67

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Personal Health -> Children's Health -> Autism & Asperger's Syndrome
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Personal Health -> Children's Health -> Special Needs Children
Subjects -> Medicine -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 50 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Aspergers Syndrome Emotional difficulties 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

An excellent book, good practical advice. A must for anyone involved with teaching a child with Aspergers Syndrome. The first few chapters breakdown in simple talk what Aspergers People have the most difficulties with. It points out the areas that are considered "normal" for Aspergers syndrome, and that your child is not the only child having these difficulties. I found this particularly useful to show to teachers and principals who are either too busy or lack the inclination to learn about the Syndrome.

The next part of the book explains the rage process, what to look out for, where the teaching zones are and where it is best left until the child has calmed down.

The latter stage of the book gives solutions to the issues that result in Tantrums and meltdowns.

A must for anyone teaching Aspergers children and a great help to parents.

Editorial Review:

This long-awaited expanded edition of this bestselling book offers parents and professionals alike true-and-tried solutions to minimize and circumvent the often frightening circumstances that surround the rage cycle – for the child with Asperger Syndrome as well as others in the environment. In addition to almost doubling the section on interventions, this highly practical and user-friendly must-have resource also focuses on the behaviors and reactions of the adults around the child going through the stages of the rage cycle and emphasizes the importance of utilizing the teachable moments before and after a rage episode.

Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex

Olivia Judson

List Price: $24.00 By: Metropolitan Books Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $3.22

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Ecology -> General AAS
Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Nature Writing
Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Reference

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A sex guide for all living things and a hilarious natural history in the form of letters to and answers from the preeminent sexpert in all creation.

Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation is a unique guidebook to sex. It reveals, for example, when necrophilia is acceptable and who should commit bestiality with whom. It discloses the best time to have a sex change, how to have a virgin birth, and when to eat your lover. It also advises on more mundane matters -- such as male pregnancy and the joys of a detachable penis.

Entertaining, funny, and marvelously illuminating, the book comprises letters from all creatures worried about their bizarre sex lives to the wise Dr. Tatiana, the only sex columnist in creation with a prodigious knowledge of evolutionary biology. Fusing natural history with advice to the lovelorn, blending wit and rigor, she is able to reassure her anxious correspondents that although the acts they describe might sound appalling and unnatural, they are all perfectly normal -- so long as you are not a human. In the process, she explains the science behind it all, from Darwin's theory of sexual selection to why sexual reproduction exists at all. Applying human standards to the natural world, in the end she reveals the wonders of both.

Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors

Nicholas Wade

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 By: Penguin Press HC, The Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $4.51

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Anthropology -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Anthropology -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 81 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Based on a groundbreaking synthesis of recent scientific findings, an acclaimed New York Times science reporter tells a bold and provocative new story of the history of our ancient ancestors and the evolution of human nature

Just in the last three years a flood of new scientific findings-driven by revelations discovered in the human genome-has provided compelling new answers to many long-standing mysteries about our most ancient ancestors-the people who first evolved in Africa and then went on to colonize the whole world. Critically acclaimed New York Times science reporter Nicholas Wade weaves this host of news-making findings together for the first time into an intriguing new history of the human story before the dawn of civilization. Sure to stimulate lively controversy, he makes the case for novel arguments about many hotly debated issues such as the evolution of language and race and the genetic roots of human nature, and reveals that human evolution has continued even to today.

In wonderfully lively and lucid prose, Wade reveals the answers that researchers have ingeniously developed to so many puzzles: When did language emerge? When and why did we start to wear clothing? How did our ancestors break out of Africa and defeat the more physically powerful Neanderthals who stood in their way? Why did the different races evolve, and why did we come to speak so many different languages? When did we learn to live with animals and where and when did we domesticate man's first animal companions, dogs? How did human nature change during the thirty-five thousand years between the emergence of fully modern humans and the first settlements?

Wade takes readers to the forefront of research in a sweeping and engrossing narrative unlike any other, the first to reveal how genetic discoveries are helping to weave together the perspectives of archaeology, paleontology, anthropology, linguistics, and many other fields. This will be the most talked about science book of the season.

Crowds and Power

Elias Canetti

Amazon Price: $12.24 List Price: $18.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $6.25

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Social Psychology & Interactions
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 12 people found this review helpful.

It requires a deeply individual experience to understand 'Crowds and Power'. According to Canetti, The concept of crowd is ontologically prior to Man; a crowd is not just a bunch of people. In one of the most illuminating books ever written, Canetti takes one through two of the most important traits that have shaped Man's destiny on this planet - the formation of crowds and the facet of power. This is not a book about crowds. Its about Man. What emerges is no mere dry academic treatise, but an absolutely fascinating journey through topics such as the rain dances of the Pueblo Indians, the finger exercises of monkeys, and the hallucinations of alcoholics.

The kaliedoscopic journey for the reader includes a vast range of topics from Australian aborigines,pueblo indians, jivaro indians, etruscans to ants, monkeys, kangaroos to Islam, Christianity, Judaism. This is anthropology at its best. The study psychology of crowds in human history: crowd behaviour, crowd symbols, types of crowds, crowd mentalities; the individual vs the crowd, the crowd in contemporary history; there are anecdotes about everything from primitive tribal cultures, ancient African rulers, modern European history etc... For example, in describing the psychology of mass fear as it relates to its twin, the desire to out-survive others, he cites unexpected examples: burial customs in rural India in which a strenuous attempt is made to appease the spirit of the child if it dies a preventable death; the peculiar madness of Roman emperors; and the Viking warriors' tradition of piling up a mound of stones before going into battle.

Canetti defines crowd as a cumulation of small units into a large ensemble, causing it to become something entirely different from the units that make it up. He sees nature as the teacher that taught man to behave as a crowd, as a liquid. For example, for the Germans, it is the forest with its innumerable trees, standing vertically, that has inspired the German soul since time primordial in its aspiration to become a marching liquid. For the Arabs, it is the sand of the desert. For the Dutch, it is the threatening sea itself. For the Mongols, the horse.

Editorial Review:

Crowds and Power is a revolutionary work in which Elias Canetti finds a new way of looking at human history and psychology. Breathtaking in its range and erudition, it explores Shiite festivals and the English Civil war, the finger exercises of monkeys and the effects of inflation in Weimar Germany. In this study of the interplay of crowds, Canetti offers one of the most profound and startling portraits of the human condition.

Principles of Neural Science

Eric R. Kandel, J.H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell

Amazon Price: $80.13 List Price: $80.13 Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks By: McGraw-Hill Medical Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $77.88

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Medicine -> Internal Medicine -> Neurology -> Neuroscience
Subjects -> Medicine -> Internal Medicine -> Neurology -> General
Subjects -> Medicine -> Internal Medicine -> Neurology -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great material 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

When I picked up this book, I had little clue about the science behind neuroscience and more importantly as to how physiologists think. For the engineer/mathematician, there is plenty of information for the uninitiated. A MUST for your reference shelf on account of its high-density resource on the subject.

Editorial Review:

This is the most authoritative introduction to the brain, its structure, function, development, and control of behavior available today. It presents both a comprehensive summary of the state of the science and a full discussion of historical issues in the study of the brain. Neuroanatomy, cell and molecular mechanisms, mechanisms of signaling, and development are thoroughly described in the context of the cognitive approaches to behavior. Thoroughly revised, with a new full-color art program, this text was re-designed to be more user friendly. Also featured is an expanded treatment of the development of the nervous system, the genetic basis of neurological and psychiatric diseases, the cognitive neuroscience of perception, and ion channel mechanisms.

Sara, Book 1: Sara Learns the Secret about the Law of Attraction

Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hay House Amazon Marketplace: 59 new & used starting at $6.80

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Alternative Medicine -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Alternative Medicine -> General AAS
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> By Topic -> Motivation

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

buy these books 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

if you are a abraham-hicks fan i would highly recommend the sara book series. the books wrap up the whole abraham teachings into easy to understand words and explanations. i have all the abraham books and when i read the sara series, it was like "ah-ha" now i get it.

Incredible Spiritual book for all ages !!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This 1st book in the Series is a very spiritual "how to" for young and old which transcends all new age, self help books.
Leez Garlock, Grandmother and Little Girl

Editorial Review:

This book offers you, the reader, a thoughtful and inspired formula for generating appreciation, happiness, and good feelings—deftly blended into the uplifting story of a plucky, inquisitive girl named Sara; and her teacher, an ethereal owl named Solomon.
There’s something in Sara for any child, adult, or teen pursuing joy and meaning . . . and searching for answers about life, death, and the desires of the heart. It’s filled with techniques and processes for making one’s dreams come true . . . especially yours!
Sara and Solomon will delight and enchant you!

Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life

Daniel Dennett

List Price: $30.00 By: Simon & Schuster Amazon Marketplace: 64 new & used starting at $6.89

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> History & Surveys
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Movements -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 149 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Unintelligent design explained 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book is a philosophical work rather than straight science, the author does an excellent job of looking at all the various species of darwinian theories and their mutations, from scientific,to pop culture to philosophical,and subjecting them to a harsh environment of critical thought and logic, so selecting out the fittest for survival at the end of the book.I may be a bit biased as I have come to the same conclusions as the author,that there is only one true version of natural selection that works with no god or intelligent design, nor any adaption via senses, or experience of any organism, it is pure random mutation followed by the environment killing off what is not the best,strongest or most efficient. It is certainly not the sort of touchy-feely stuff some people seem to seek to explain things, its cold and harsh,cruel and unforgiving, although the author keeps it less harsh that my own view of it, and rightly states in a way,that just because it is harsh,doesnt change the reality of how we feel it and percieve it, love is still love no matter its mechanical, survival,or other basis. If you feel that describing something like life or love in a cold hard scientific way will change your view of it ,ruin it for you, if you are that open to suggestion, dont read this book. If you want a great philosophical arguement to open your mind and cut through the B.S. and sugar coating,if you think in a scientific way, and yes it can be quite a harsh and cold look at things, then this book is an excellent read. The author has done an enormous amount of research and distilled it into one volume, and some of the arguements or view points will be unknown to most people,and quite useless in a way, but seeing so many view points is always good for anyone who likes to think deeply and be challenged. I didnt learn alot from this book that I hadnt already figured out for myself using common sense,yet really enjoyed it for its excellent arguements and insights, its enjoyable for the philosophical side even if you have no interest in the subject matter. Also highly recommended is the authors book on consciousness, although its fairly hard going as the concepts are alot harder to grasp than evolutions mechanisms.

Editorial Review:

Offers a wider perspective on Darwin's scientific theory of natural selection, explaining how it extends beyond biology, analyzing current controversies over the origins of life and inherent biases, and challenging popular philosophies. 35,000 first printing. Tour.

Can't Stop Won't Stop : A History of the Hip Hop Generation

Jeff Chang

List Price: $27.95 By: St. Martin's Press Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $6.46

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> History & Criticism
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Rap
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica, hip-hop became the Esperanto of youth rebellion and a generation-defining movement. In a post-civil rights era defined by deindustrialization and globalization, hip-hop crystallized a multiracial, polycultural generation's worldview, and transformed American politics and culture. But that epic story has never been told with this kind of breadth, insight, and style.

Based on original interviews with DJs, b-boys, rappers, graffiti writers, activists, and gang members, with unforgettable portraits of many of hip-hop's forebears, founders, and mavericks, including DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, and Ice Cube, Can't Stop Won't Stop chronicles the events, the ideas, the music, and the art that marked the hip-hop generation's rise from the ashes of the 60's into the new millennium. Here is a powerful cultural and social history of the end of the American century, and a provocative look into the new world that the hip-hop generation created.