AAUW CAOnline Book Group

November Book Selection

noreply@blogger.com (Sheli Ryan) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safra Foer

Join us as we read a novel by acclaimed author Jonathan Safra Foer. It is a post 9/11 story, set in New York City, of a family told through the eyes of 9 year old Oskar.

Discussion will begin on November 20.

The House at Sugar Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Sheli Ryan) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:13:00 +0000

Return of the AAUW Online Book Group

Welcome back! Join us online as we start a new year of reading with AAUW. In October we will select a list for the remainder of the year as well as have the details for our online discussions.

I have taken the liberty of selecting the first book. It is The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper. Discussion will start on Oct. 20 2009 via listserv.

In the Eye of the Storm

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:25:00 +0000

June diversity selection (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month):
In the Eye of the Storm: Swept into the Center by God
by Gene Robinson

Gene Robinson is bishop of the tiny, rural Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, but he's at the center of a storm of controversy raging in the Episcopal Church and throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion involving homosexuality, the priesthood, and the future of the Communion. This book offers an honest, thoughtful portrait of Robinson, the faith that has informed his life, and the controversy that continues to rock his Church.

Home Rich

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:22:00 +0000

June financial literacy selection:
Home Rich: Increasing the Value of the Biggest Investment of Your Life
by Gerri Wills

Your home is the single most valuable thing you can own, yet making it pay can intimidate and confuse even the savviest investor. Now, in an indispensable new book, finance expert Gerri Willis leads you step-by-step through the entire experience of buying, maintaining, and selling a home, and shows you how to come out ahead–maybe even way ahead.

Strategic Organizational Change

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:21:00 +0000

June organizational change selection:
Strategic Organizational Change: A Practitioner’s Guide for Managers and Consultants
by Michael Beitler

Strategic Organizational Change is written by a practitioner for practitioners. Much has been written about organizational change. Unfortunately, little guidance is provided for practitioners who are responsible for designing and implementing change — until now! In this book, Beitler begins by providing a systematic approach for diagnosing organizational problems. Then he offers his step-by-step approach for designing and implementing organizational change interventions. Everything is written in a practical, easy-to-follow style, with an abundance of checklists and practice tools.

Interpreter of Maladies

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:02:00 +0000

May Diversity selection:
Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri

Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In "A Temporary Matter," published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession.

This title is on AAUW's Adelante book list because of our branch's recommendation. We discussed in it July 2007 on our book group listserv. Here's what I wrote in that group discussion:
I was fascinated by the multiple layers of cultural blending revealed in these stories
-- Indian-born living in America, American-born (of Indian heritage) visiting India, some told from the perspective of the adult immigrants, some told from the perspective of their American-born children.

One of the strengths of these stories is the vivid imagery. There were times when I felt I could feel the textures of the fabrics and smell the aromas of the foods. Perhaps it's because of my limited exposure to (and knowledge of) Indian culture that I found these stories so vivid. Yet what they ended up emphasizing was rather universal themes of loneliness, jealousy, vulnerabilities, infidelities and foibles. The one that seemed to stand out as more pointedly an immigrant's isolation in America was the story "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," where a man is separated from his family, and watches the news with another Indian couple as they see the war in their homeland erupt over partition -- the adults' immersion in the news from India, whereas the child notices no other children in school are even vaguely aware of it.

Lahiri is a gifted writer, and each story had distinct, memorable characters. But by the time I reached the last one, I found myself aching for at least ONE happy ending. And, lo and behold!, that's what she gave me.

Rich Woman

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:01:00 +0000

May Financial Literacy selection:
Rich Woman
by Kim Kiyosaki

Written by Kim Kiyosaki, the wife of bestselling author Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Woman is for women who insist on being financially independent — without depending on a man, family, company, or government to take care of them. In her book, Kiyosaki applies the same moneymaking strategies that have made Rich Dad, Poor Dad one of the great publishing success stories of all time — but in a voice that is aimed directly at women. No matter what your financial background is or your current job situation, Rich Woman provides the essential road map for any woman who aspires to be financially free.

Changing Minds

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:00:00 +0000

May Organizational Change selection:
Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People’s Minds (Leadership for the Common Good)
by Howard Gardner

Drawing on his innovative thinking on multiple intelligences (e.g, Frame of Mind) and his own experience, the Harvard psychologist presents a new framework for analyzing "levers" that trigger/thwart changes of mind exemplified by historic and current change agents in diverse fields.

What Is the What

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:41:00 +0000

April Diversity selection:

What Is the What
by Dave Eggers

In a heartrending and astonishing novel, Eggers illuminates the history of the civil war in Sudan through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee now living in the United States. We follow his life as he's driven from his home as a boy and walks, with thousands of orphans, to Ethiopia, where he finds safety — for a time. Valentino's travels, truly Biblical in scope, bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation — and a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Valentino finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States, from where this novel is narrated. In this book, written with expansive humanity and surprising humor, we come to understand the nature of the conflicts in Sudan, the refugee experience in America, the dreams of the Dinka people, and the challenge one indomitable man faces in a world collapsing around him.

The 250 Estate Planning Questions Everyone Should Ask

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:39:00 +0000

April Financial Literacy selection:
The 250 Estate Planning Questions Everyone Should Ask
by Lita Epstein

How can you provide a financially sound future for your loved ones while avoiding estate planning or even making a will, unsure about how to effectively plan for the disposition of your assets? Estate planning is essential-no matter how much money or property you intend to leave to your heirs. In this handy Q&A guide, you'll find answers to all your questions about taxes, gifts, wills, will substitutes, and much more.

A Survival Guide to the Stress of Organizational Change

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:36:00 +0000

April Organizational Change selection:

A Survival Guide to the Stress of Organization Change
by Price Pritchett and Ron Pound

Make sure your people know how to manage their own stress! Teach your employees and managers to cope successfully with today's accelerating rate of change and assume much more personal responsibility for their own emotional well-being. This handbook will show you how to cut healthcare costs, overcome the "victim" mentality in employees, reduce resistance to change, improve morale and quality of work-life, and protect productivity and profitability.

Triangle

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:02:00 +0000

March diversity selection:

Triangle by Katharine Weber.

If this looks familiar, it should! This title made the AAUW Adelante list thanks to a recommendation from our branch's book group after we read and discussed it. Take a look at our past discussion. Here is Adelante's summary:

By the time she dies at age 106, Esther Gottesfeld, the last survivor of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, has told the story of that day many times. But her own role remains mysterious: How did she survive? Are the gaps in her story just common mistakes, or has she concealed a secret over the years? As her granddaughter seeks the real story in the present day, a zealous feminist historian bears down on her with her own set of conclusions, and Esther's voice vies with theirs to reveal the full meaning of the tragedy.

A brilliant chronicle of the event that stood for ninety years as New York's most violent disaster, Triangle forces us to consider how we tell our stories, how we hear them, and how history is forged from unverifiable truths.

Insurance for Dummies

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:01:00 +0000

March financial literacy selection:

Insurance for Dummies by Jack Hungelmann

Insurance For Dummies introduces readers to the basics — as well as the more complicated issues — of every kind of insurance. Packed with expert advice and step-by-step guidance, it shows you how to find the right amount of protection at the best possible price, for you life, health, car, home, and anything else you can think of.

You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

March organizational change selection:

You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Positive Difference by Mark Sanborn.

In his inspiring new book, Mark Sanborn, the author of the national bestseller The Fred Factor, shows how each of us can be a leader in our daily lives and make a positive difference, whatever our title or position. Through the stories of a number of unsung heroes, Sanborn reveals the keys each one of us can use to improve our organizations and enhance our careers

The Souls of Black Folk

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:05:00 +0000

February diversity selection (Black History Month):

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois

The first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University, Du Bois was a sociologist, historian, novelist, and activist whose astounding career spanned the nation’s history from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement. In The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, Du Bois argued against the conciliatory position taken by Booker T. Washington, at the time the most influential black leader in America, and called for a more radical form of aggressive protest—a strategy that would anticipate and inspire much of the activism of the 1960s.

Du Bois’s essays were the first to articulate many of Black America’s thoughts and feelings, including the dilemma posed by the black psyche’s “double consciousness,” which Du Bois described as “this twoness—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings . . . in one dark body.” Every essay in The Souls of Black Folk is a jewel of intellectual prowess, eloquent language, and groundbreaking insight. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the struggle for Civil Rights in America.

Planet India: How the Fastest-Growing Democracy is Transforming America and the World

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:02:00 +0000

February financial literacy selection:

Planet India: How the Fastest-Growing Democracy Is Transforming America and the World by Mira Kamdar

India is everywhere: on magazine covers and cinema marquees, at the gym and in the kitchen, in corporate boardrooms and on Capitol Hill. Through incisive reportage and illuminating analysis, Mira Kamdar explores India's astonishing transformation from a developing country into a global powerhouse. She takes us inside India, reporting on the people, companies, and policies defining the new India and revealing how it will profoundly affect our future — financially, culturally, politically.

Leading Change

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Organizational Change title for February:

Leading Change by John P. Kotter

Geared toward managers and business students, this leadership guide identifies an eight-step process that companies must go through to achieve their goals. It also details change issues, the force behind successful change and future trends for organizations. To help illustrate principles, the author provides interesting stories and examples.

The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:55:00 +0000

January Diversity selection:

The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies
by Scott E. Page

In this landmark book, Scott Page redefines the way we understand ourselves in relation to one another. The Difference is about how we think in groups--and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity--not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities.

The Difference reveals that progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality. Page shows how groups that display a range of perspectives outperform groups of like-minded experts. Diversity yields superior outcomes, and Page proves it using his own cutting-edge research. Moving beyond the politics that cloud standard debates about diversity, he explains why difference beats out homogeneity, whether you're talking about citizens in a democracy or scientists in the laboratory. He examines practical ways to apply diversity's logic to a host of problems, and along the way offers fascinating and surprising examples, from the redesign of the Chicago "El" to the truth about where we store our ketchup.

Page changes the way we understand diversity--how to harness its untapped potential, how to understand and avoid its traps, and how we can leverage our differences for the benefit of all.

Nice Girls Don't Get Rich

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:53:00 +0000

January Financial Literacy selection:

Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich: 75 Avoidable Mistakes Woman Make With Money
by Lois P Frankel

Do you have outstanding balances on your credit cards? Are you afraid to change jobs? Will you retire with nothing? If you answered yes to any of these questions, behaviors that you learned as a girl may be denying your prosperity. Now, with the same frank advice and empowering information that made Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office a bestseller, Lois P Frankel, Ph.D. tackles the 75 money mistakes that stand between women and the wealth they deserve.

First, Break All the Rules

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kirkpatrick) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:51:00 +0000

January Organizational Change selection:

First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization present the remarkable findings of their massive in-depth study of great managers. In today's tight labor markets, companies compete to find and keep the best employees, using pay, benefits, promotions, and training. But no matter how generous its pay, or how renowned its training, the company that lacks great front-line managers will suffer.

Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations', how they motivate people by building on each person's unique strengths; and, finally, how great managers find the right fit for each person, not the next rung on the ladder.

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe vs. Wade

noreply@blogger.com (jlese) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:34:00 +0000

December Diversity selection

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe vs. Wade
by Ann Fessler

In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade. An adoptee who was herself surrendered during those years and recently made contact with her mother, Ann Fessler brilliantly brings to life the voices of more than a hundred women, as well as the spirit of those times, allowing the women to tell their stories in gripping and intimate detail.

Buffet: The Making of an American Capitalist

noreply@blogger.com (jlese) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:30:00 +0000

December, Financial Literacy selection

Buffet: The Making of an American Capitalist
by Roger Lowenstein

Starting from scratch, simply by picking stocks and companies for investment, Warren Buffett amassed one of the epochal fortunes of the twentieth century — an astounding net worth of $10 billion, and counting. His awesome investment record has made him a cult figure popularly known for his seeming contradictions: a billionaire who has a modest lifestyle, a phenomenally successful investor who eschews the revolving-door trading of modern Wall Street, a brilliant dealmaker who cultivates a homespun aura.

Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions

noreply@blogger.com (jlese) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:24:00 +0000

December, Organizational Change selection

Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions
by John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber, Spenser Johnson, and Peter Mueller (Illustrator)

Our Iceberg Is Melting is a simple fable about doing well in an ever-changing world. Based on the award-winning work of Harvard's John Kotter, it is a story that has been used to help thousands of people and organizations.

The characters in the story, Fred, Alice, Louis, Buddy, the Professor, and NoNo, are like people we recognize — even ourselves. Their tale is one of resistance to change and heroic action, seemingly intractable obstacles and the most clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles. It's a story that is occurring in different forms all around us today — but the penguins handle the very real challenges a great deal better than most of us.

The New Recruit: What Your Association Needs to Know about X, Y, and Z

noreply@blogger.com (jlese) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:18:00 +0000

November 2008 Organizational Change selection

The New Recruit: What Your Association Needs to Know About X, Y, and Z
by Sarah L. Sladek

The Baby Boomer generation has sustained membership associations for quite some time. As that era nears an end, it's time to start thinking about X, Y, and Z -- the next generation of association executives, board members, and volunteers. The New Recruit brings to light the challenges that Boomer-centric membership associations are experiencing and viable solutions that association executives can implement to successfully recruit and retain younger generations. The only succession plan a membership association has is the continuation of its membership. The New Recruit will teach you how to survive the post-Boomer era and create an association for the next generation.

The American Dream vs. the Gospel of Wealth

noreply@blogger.com (jlese) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:10:00 +0000

November 2008 Financial Literacy selection

The American Dream vs. the Gospel of Wealth: The Fight for a Productive Middle-Class Economy
by Norton Garfinkle

Norton Garfinkle paints a disquieting picture of America today: a nation increasingly divided between economic winners and losers, a nation in which the middle-class American Dream seems more and more elusive. Recent government policies reflect a commitment to a new supply-side winner-take-all Gospel of Wealth. Garfinkle warns that this supply-side economic vision favors the privileged few over the majority of American citizens striving to better their economic condition.