Borrow Kindle Library Books

I can't tell you how excited I am about Amazon.com's announcement that library books can now be checked out to a Kindle or Kindle app!

Borrow Kindle Books from Your Local Library

You can check out a Kindle book from your local library and read it on any generation Kindle device or free Kindle reading app.

When you borrow a Kindle public library book, you'll have access to all the unique features of Kindle books, including real page numbers and Whispersync technology that synchronizes your notes, highlights, and last page read. After a public library book expires, if you check it out again or choose to purchase it from the Kindle store, all of your annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

Kindle books are available at more than 11,000 libraries in the U.S.

How It Works

You can borrow Kindle books from your local library's website and, with the click of a button, have them delivered to your Kindle device or free reading app.

• Visit the website of a U.S. library that offers digital services from OverDrive.

• Check out a Kindle book (using a valid library card).

• Click on "Get for Kindle" and then sign in to your Amazon.com account to have the book delivered to your Kindle device or reading app.

Note: Public library books can be sent wirelessly to Kindle devices via an active Wi-Fi connection or transferred via USB.

Help

For technical assistance and frequently asked questions, please visit the Help page.

For questions about availability of Kindle library books, loan duration, and terms of use, please contact your local library.

We welcome your feedback at kindle-publiclibraries-feedback@amazon.com.

I'm so excited that I've already put 5 Kindle books on hold with my local library:

• The 19th Wife: A Novel by David Ebershoff
• Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base by Annie Jacobsen
• The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain
• The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement by David Brooks

Yippee!

La Seduction by Elaine Sciolino

Just read about Elaine Sciolino's book La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life in the New York Times Book Review.

Like Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not the French, La Seduction is a book about French culture and ideology from the perspective of an outsider who has spent years in France.

While Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong educates readers (presumably Americans) on why their preconceptions about the French are wrong, La Seduction  frames her book around the idea that the French live for the seduction. Where us Americans have only a way of life, the French have an art de vivre.

While the review by Caroline Weber in the New York Times isn't exactly glowing -- "Carefully researched and lucidly argued, “La Seduction” develops a wonderfully suggestive theory of French pleasure, but in practice, its sometimes schematic thinking and clunky prose would have benefited from a touch more je ne sais quoi — just a little soupçon of seductive allure" -- I would like to read it.

Expect another post about this book if I can find a copy at my local library.

Biblion: the Boundless Library for iPad

Biblion, a New York Library app for iPad, sounds awesome!

Download Biblion: The Boundless Library-- now available on the App Store--and go on an exclusive journey deep into the Library's legendary stacks. This app is designed to open up hidden parts of the collections and the myriad storylines they hold and preserve...through a unique immersive experience. In this free iPad app you will hold documents, images, films, audio, and essays — directly from the collections in your own hands.




With Biblion, you can jump from stack to stack, story to story, as you move through the infoscape of the World's Fair, created directly from NYPL's Manuscripts and Archives Division. The Fair — like the Library — has something for everyone, with topics ranging from technological innovation to pop culture to a world dealing with the crises of war and economic hardship.

Biblion: World’s Fair allows you to:

• read original essays from such prominent writers as Karen Abbott, William Grimes, Henry Jenkins, Elliott Kalan, James Mauro, and others
• view General Motors' famous Futurama ride, in full color, from the original carousel!
• explore the development of the Fair's designs, uniforms, buildings, and exhibits, including Salvador Dalí’s then-shocking Dream of Venus extravaganza
• relish the outrageous restaurant ideas that never made the cut
• learn about the fate of the Czechoslovakia Pavilion after the country was invaded by Hitler
• discover what was buried inside the Westinghouse Time Capsule … which won't be opened until the year 6939!
• fly from story to story, charting your own journey through the stacks…

This first issue of Biblion explores only one part of the Library’s vast and awe-inspiring holdings. Every edition of Biblion will open up another of the Library’s collections, services, or programs by providing exclusive content in an innovative frame.

Love it!

Owning Books

I've always loved books.

As a child, the only things I ever wanted to buy were books.

And as an adult, I've amassed over 300 books.

Strangely, these last few weeks I no longer feel this desire to own lots of books. In fact, part of me wants to give away my entire library of books.

Not sure what's come over me...

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner

I borrowed Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA at the urging of friends, but I decided to return it without reading.

It is a National Book Award Winner and many friends have recommended this book so maybe I will borrow it again later.

It didn't feel like a book I wanted to read right now, if that makes sense. Just wasn't in the mood for it.

But if you're interested, click here to read an excerpt, here to read the CIA's statement on this book, or here to read a New York Times review by Michael Beschloss titled "The C.I.A.’s Missteps, From Past to Present" published July 12, 2007.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

One of my book clubs has just selected yet another Oprah's Book Club book as it's next selection: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski.

Some of the girls in my book club said that Oprah told her viewers not to read the inside cover of the book until they have read the book, and the girls in my book club who have already read the book suggested not reading anything about the book until you've read the book in its entirety.

So all I know about this book is what I read in Janet Maslin's review for the New York Times "Talking to Dogs, Without a Word" published june 13, 2008.

That's all I'll say since I'd hate to spoil the book for anyone.

Click here to visit the author's website where you can read an excerpt, find discussion questions, and much more.

Books on Publishing

I'm interested in learning about the book publishing industry. I've been told to read:

• Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual, 16th Edition: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book by Dan Poynter


• Publishing for Profit: Successful Bottom-Line Management for Book Publishers by Thomas Woll


• How To Start And Run A Small Book Publishing Company: A Small Business Guide To Self-Publishing And Independent Publishing by Peter I. Hupalo

I tried my local library but they don't seem to have many books on this topic.

Any other suggestions?

More Library Books

As usual, I went to the library with the intent to leave without picking up any books and failed.

I borrowed Michael Shermer's The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics and Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.

I hadn't heard of The Mind of the Market but with the economics crisis I've been drawn to learn more about economics and the psychology of financial market.

This book focuses on the new field of neuroeconomics, investigating how psychology and biology affect the way we think about money. I had a friend in college who did some undergraduate research in this field so I'm looking forward to seeing if his work is featured in this book.

Click here to read an excerpt or here to visit Shermer's website.



Friends have been recommending Legacy of Ashes for months.

I don't know if I believe that this book, based on 50,000 documents (including CIA archives), will be everything folks say it is but I expect it will be full of drama and intrigue. It's been highly praised by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and many others -- it even won the National Book Award.

Interestingly, the CIA has condemned this book as incorrect and deceptive . . . I wonder what my friends who work in government think of this book. Hmm . . .

Click here to read an excerpt or here to read a New York Times review by Michael Beschloss titled "The C.I.A.’s Missteps, From Past to Present" published July 12, 2007.

The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America by James Bamford

James Bamford -- author of Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency, The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization, and A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies -- has a new book out about the NSA's spying on average Americans. Click here to read a recent article from The New York Times about the author.

As I understand it, Bamford (with the help of former intercept operators) exposes how private contractors have done the sensitive work of storing and processing the voices and written data of Americans and non-Americans alike and that the NSA has created a massive facility in Texs to store such data.

I realize national security isn't of much interest to most folks with the current financial crisis, but The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America seems like an important book.

Click here to submit a question for the author for his 3pm online discussion today (October 14) on the Washington Post website.

Nobel Prize Winners 2008

I always like reading about each year's Nobel Laureates.

The Nobel Prize Winners announced last week and today are:

Physiology or Medicine
Harald zur Hausen, for his discovery of "human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and
Luc Montagnier, for their discovery of the "human immunodeficiency virus" (click here to watch a PBS Frontline video about it)

Physics
Yoichiro Nambu, "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics"
Makoto Kobayashi and
Toshihide Maskawa, "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature"

Chemistry - "for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP" (isolated from jellyfish)
Osamu Shimomura
Martin Chalfie
Roger Y. Tsien

Literature
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, French writer of more than 40 books

Peace
Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland who is knowsn for his peace efforts and cautious diplomacy (particularly in Africa)

Economic Sciences
Paul Krugman (MIT PhD ’77), "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity"

I'll have to see if I can get a copy of one of Le Clézio's books and Paul Krugman's The Return of Depression Economics (click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents) or any of his other books at my local library.

White House Ghosts by Robert Schlesinger

I've just started reading Robert Schlesinger's White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters.

I found out about this book through the New York Times, checked it out from the library after the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, and finally got motivated to start reading this lengthy book as I've been eagerly watching the presidential and vice presidential debates and the candidates speeches about the bailout bill.

So far, this book seems very well-researched. Schelsinger is a natural storyteller and expertly weaves the facts into a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of presidents and their speechwriters.

This book is required reading for students of the American presidency.

Click here to read an excerpt of White House Ghosts on the publisher’s website or click here to view the table of contents.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

Many of my friends idolize Warren Buffett.

Truthfully, I don't know much about him so I'm happy to hear that Alice Schroeder, former managing director at Morgan Stanley, has just written a biography of Warren Buffett after spending approximately two thousands hours interviewing and observing Buffett.

The book is titled The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life and refers to one of Buffett's folksy sayings about success: "Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill."

As usual, I heard about this book from the New York Times -- Janet Maslin's "The Richest Man and How He Grew (and Grew His Company, Too)."

I have no doubt that my local library will carry this unprecedented biography of "The Oracle of Omaha" (after all, even Walmart is selling this book) but I may want to purchase a copy anyway.

Click here to read an excerpt.

The Secret Life of Words by Henry Hitchings

I just read about The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English by Henry Hitchings in this article from The Economist and I've got to get a copy!

Hitchings is also the author of Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary, which I also want to read after I first heard about it in Charles McGrath's New York Times Book Review "A Man of Many Words" published December 4, 2005. William Grimes also reviewed it in the New York Times here; click here to read the first chapter of Defining the World.

Though I don't know much about it, I've always been fascinated by the history of language -- one thing I liked about Cullen Murphy’s Are We Rome? was learning how we use words derived from words the Romans used).

And as the review from The Economist mentions, the history of words is the history of culture:

All this is another way of writing history. The Arab etymologies of “saffron”, “crimson” and “sugar” speak of England’s medieval trade with the Arab world. We have “cheque” and “tariff” from this source too, plus “arithmetic” and “algorithm”—just as we have “etch” and “sketch” from the Dutch, musical terms from the Italians and philosophical ones from the Germans. French nuance and finesse are everywhere. At every stage, the book is about people and ideas on the move, about invasion, refugees, immigrants, traders, colonists and explorers.

I hope my local library has a copy!

Nancy Pelosi Lecture

Tonight (Tuesday, September 23) at 7PM, Baltimore's own Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, will speak about her memoir, Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, in Mount Vernon at the  Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Library, 400 Cathedral, Baltimore, MD.

Click here to find out more.

The Lizard King: the True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers by Bryan Christy

I subscribe to a several e-newsletters from major publishers, including Random House, Penguin Group, Hachette Book Group, and many more.

I just read the latest Nonfiction e-newsletter from Hachette where I read about Bryan Christy's The Lizard King: the True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers.

Reading Janet Maslin's review of this book -- "Coldblooded Commerce in Coldblooded Contraband" published August 6, 2008 in the New York Times -- and Terri Jentz review of this book -- "Cold-Blooded" published August 15, 2008 in the New York Times -- makes me think this book will be quite a page-turner. And Bryan Christy's website is worth a look for more information.


Here's what the publisher has to say about this book:

Imagine The Sopranos, with snakes! The Lizard King is a fascinating account of a father and son family business suspected of smuggling reptiles, and the federal agent who tried to take them down.

When Bryan Christy began to investigate the world of reptile smuggling, he had no idea what he would be in for. In the course of his research, he was bitten between the eyes by a blood python, chased by a mother alligator, and sprayed by a bird-eating tarantula. But perhaps more dangerous was coming face to face with Michael J. Van Nostrand, owner of Strictly Reptiles, a thriving family business in Hollywood, Florida. Van Nostrand imports as many as 300,000 iguanas each year (over half the total of America's most popular imported reptile), as well as hundreds of thousands of snakes, lizards, frogs, spiders, and scorpions.

Van Nostrand was suspected of being a reptile smuggler by Special Agent Chip Bepler of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who devoted years of his life in an obsessive quest to expose The Lizard King's cold-blooded crimes. How this cat-and-mouse game ended is engrossing and surprising.

Sounds like a book on an obscure topic that will be hard to put down -- just the kind of stuff I love!

The latest Hachette Nonfiction e-newsletter also included:

• Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran by Andy Taylor
• The Last Undercover: The True Story of an FBI Agent's Dangerous Dance with Evil by Bob Hamer (click here to read an excerpt)
• Mike's Election Guide 2008 by Michael Moore (click here to read the table of contents; click here to read an excerpt)
• The Lizard King: the True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers by Bryan Christy (click here to read an excerpt)
• Measure of the Heart: A Father's Alzheimer's, A Daughter's Return by Mary Ellen Geist (click here to read an excerpt)
• Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extroardinary People Who Made Them by John McCain (click here to view the table of contents; click here to read an excerpt)
• The Other Woman: Twenty-one Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal edited by Victoria Zackheim (click here to read an excerpt)

The Last Undercover: The True Story of an FBI Agent's Dangerous Dance with Evil by Bob Hamer, a 26-year veteran of the FBI's undercover operations, also sounds interesting.

Thankfully I have my hands full with lots of library books so I won't be tempted to go find copies of any of these books -- at least not for another month.

More Library Books

I went to the library today with the intention of return a few books and leaving empty handed. As usual, I proved incapable of resisting the lure of more books and I left with seven more (seems to be about what I can justify borrowing on a whim without feeling like I've gone completely overboard).

I'm sure I did overdo it but since I need to read one for a book club and I've already written about my interest in all the others, I don't feel too silly.

I checked out:

• The Moviegoer by Walker Percy (National Book Award for Fiction winner 1962)
• Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America by Cullen Murphy (click here to view all my posts about this book)
• In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan (click here to view all my posts about this book)
• Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics by Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (click here to view all my posts about this book)
• The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker by Steven Greenhouse (click here to view all my posts about this book)
• The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine by Sherwin B. Nuland (click here to view all my posts about this book)
• White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters by Robert Schlesinger (click here to view all my posts about this book)

I first heard about Cullen Murphy's Are We Rome? about a year ago at the Harvard Bookstore in Harvard Square and my interest in this book was renewed when someone in I.O.U.S.A. compared the United States to Rome. As a loyal reader of The Atlantic, I have great respect for Murphy who was their managing editor for two decades. I have high expectations for this book and hope I will not be disappointed. Click here to read an excerpt.

And I suppose the Democratic and Republican National Conventions have once again piqued my interest in speechwriters, so naturally White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters by Robert Schlesinger caught my eye.

With all the talk of tough times, economically, for the average American and the outrage over the recently released GAO data that most U.S. Corporations pay no income tax, I just couldn't resist picking up Steven Greenhouse's The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. I hope it provides new information and doesn't overlap too much with David Cay Johnston's Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) and Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich - and Cheat Everybody Else.

And like most Americans, all I know about Joe Biden I've learned from reading the news (in my case the New York Times) these past few weeks. It hasn't added up to much. I hope to get a better sense of the Democratic Nominee for Vice President from his 2007 memoir Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics.

I tried to keep myself to just five books but when I saw Nuland's The Uncertain Art sitting on the shelf, I had to borrow it -- it's been a few months since I've read any books related to medicine or the human body and as a scientist I am compelled to reading science books. And all the talk about our nation's broken health care system makes this book about medicine from a doctor's perspective all the more irresistible.



And as I was about to leave, I saw Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto which I've wanted to read since January when I read Janet Maslin's review titled "Obsessed With Nutrition? That’s an Eating Disorder" and published January 3, 2008 in the NYTimes Book Review). I suppose my new gardening hobby (influenced by reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life and Bill McKibben's Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future) has made me even more interested in learning about food and nutrition. Click here to read the introduction of In Defense of Food on the author’s website or here to read the first chapter on the NYTimes Book Review website.

Alright, I think I've spent enough time trying to justify my borrowing way too many books -- I've got to get to reading now! My book club's discussion of Walker Percy's The Moviegoer is scheduled to start in three days!

Founders at Work: Stories of Startup’s Early Days by Jessica Livingston

I've really enjoyed Jessica Livingston's Founders at Work: Stories of Startup’s Early Days -- one of many library books I borrowed last month.

This book tells the story of startups like Firefox, TiVo, WebTV, Craigslist, Hotmail, Adobe, and others through interviews with their founders or creators.

Initially, it made me think of If at First You Don’t Succeed . . . The Eight Patterns of Highly Effective Entrepreneurs by Brent Bowers (click here to read all my posts on this book) in that both books seek to shed light on what makes entrepreneurs tick.

While Livingston interviews individuals who founded or created dot-com or other technology start-ups, Bowers talks with founders of small businesses from varied fields that include jam making, cosmetics, manufacturing and more.

The main difference in the book lies in the way each author organizes his/her book. Where Bowers organizes his book into chapters based on eight traits of entrepreneurs with stories from 40+ entrepreneurs sprinkled throughout the book, Livingston spends just her two-page introduction discussing the patterns of entrepreneurs and then spends a chapter on each person with an in-depth interview.

Call me crazy, but I much prefer the way Livingston organized her book. It is easier to follow and you learn more from each individual.

And, as you know by now, I love primary sources. so I appreciated how each chapter was an interview with a founder or creator of one or more start-ups.

Here are the patterns that Livingston found for comparison to the list by Bowers:

1. Uncertainty that they were actually onto something big.
2. Determination, especially to build things that work.
3. Perseverance through uncertainty, isolation, and sometimes lack of progress.
4. Adaptability and mental flexibility to understand what users/customers want and to change and develop their original idea.
5. Empathy for users/customers.
6. Desire to change the world and to keep building things.

Livingston doesn't assert this list as a steadfast rule (where Bowers does); she merely states that these were some of her observations from interviewing the 32 entrepreneurs featured in her book.

Back to reading!

If at First You Don’t Succeed . . . The Eight Patterns of Highly Effective Entrepreneurs by Brent Bowers

Still getting through the stack of library books I borrowed -- just read If at First You Don’t Succeed . . . The Eight Patterns of Highly Effective Entrepreneurs by Brent Bowers.

I've read a few chapters of this book and I have found it entertaining if not substantive.

Bowers starts out his book with a bold statement:

This is not an ordinary business book.

And I would agree. While I've read many articles that attempt to help a bright-eyed person with a business idea determine whether he or she should go ahead and start a small business, I've never seen a whole book devoted to this topic.

And it is certainly a worthwhile topic. As Bowers tells us of our "grassroots capitalist culture":

• There are 24 million entrepreneurs in the United States -- that's 11% of the adult population.
• Fifty percent of those entrepreneurs have started their venture as a side project and the other fifty percent devote their full-time attention to their venture.
• Small businesses account for 51% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and two-thirds of new jobs.

The eight traits of entrepreneurs sound great but there's just simply no way to know if they really are the characteristics you need to successfully start your own company. Bowers certainly tries to prove the accuracy of his list of eight by devoting an entire chapter to each trait. And to prove his point, Bowers spends a paragraph to a page and a half on stories of successful entrepreneurs after successful entrepreneurs, each story embodying the spirit of that chapter's trait.

It is less than convincing.

Here are the magic eight traits, if you're curious:

1. An aptitude for spotting and seizing opportunities that nobody else has noticed.
2. Compulsion to be in charge and a gift for leadership.
3. A history of innovative activities dating back to childhood, usually in a family environment that encouraged that bent.
4. A talent for improvisation.
5. Doggedness - fierce drive, energy, and tenacity.
6. Enthusiasm that borders on the delusional for a product.
7. Unfailing pragmatism.
8. A knack for "falling upwards" - viewing setbacks as opportunities.

Still this business book is worth reading. The stories are inspirational (particularly those of the entrepreneurs who aren't widely known) and finding out if you've got these eight traits can't hurt -- even if Bowers doesn't convince you that his list is accurate.

Click here to read an excerpt.

Expect to hear more from me as I read more of If at First You Don’t Succeed . . . The Eight Patterns of Highly Effective Entrepreneurs by Brent Bowers.

Not a Drop to Drink: America's Water Crisis (and What You Can Do) by Ken Midkiff

Just heard about another book related to the potential water crisis facing America: Not a Drop to Drink: America's Water Crisis (and What You Can Do) by Ken Midkiff.

Published in 2007 with a foreword by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. , this book details the current state of America's water supply including the current condition of major groundwater supplies, privatization and agricultural production issues, and the effect of global warming trends on future water supplies.

Looks like a good book to me -- I'll have to check it out at my local library. I still have to get my hands on a copy of Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water!

Click here to view the table of contents or visit the author's website to find out more about his views.

The Opposable Mind by Roger Martin: Chapters 1 - 4

So far I've read the first half of Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking (Chapters One through Four) which focus on examples of CEOs succeeding through integrative thinking (defined as the ability to hold two opposing ideas in your mind at once, and then reaching a synthesis with elements of both while improving on both). Some of the people featured were quite varied:

• Michael Lee-Chin, AIC Limited
• Isadore "Issy" Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
• A G Lafley, Procter & Gamble
• Bob Young, Red Hat (and now Lulu.com)
• Tim Brown, IDEO
• Piers Handling, Toronto International Film Festival
• Marta Graham, Denishawn School dance company
• Moses Znaimer, CityTV

In Chapter Two, No Stomach for Second-Best, Martin discusses the process of thinking and deciding and isolates four key parts to this process: salience, causality, architecture and resolution. He further defines the differences between integrative and conventional thinkers:

1. Integrative thinkers take a broader view of what is salient.
2. Integrative thinkers don't flinch from considering multidirectional and non-linear causal relationships.
3. Integrative thinkers don't break a problem into independent pieces and work on each piece separately. They keep the entire problem firmly in mind while working on individual parts.
4. Integrative thinkers search for creative resolution of tensions, rather than accept unpleasant trade-offs.

Chapter Three, Reality, Resistance, and Resolution, focuses on the concept that how each of us filters the world around us (which we do to protect our brain from being overloaded) determines how we see the world; that none of us experiences reality as it is but simply a model of reality.

Chapter Four, Dancing Through Complexity, condemns simplifications and specialization in clear terms:

Truly creative resolutions . . . spring from complexity.

Simplification makes us favor linear, unidirectional causal relationships, even if reality is more complex and multidirectional.

...

Simplification also encourages us to construct a limited model of the problem before us, whatever it might be. The alternatives we perceive are meager and unattractive, closing any remaining avenue to an integrative resolution. The simplifying mind has no choice but to settle for trade-offs, also known as the best bad choice available.

...

Specialization is a variant of simplification. . . the specialist attempts to preserve depth and thoroughness by masking out all but a few square inches of a vast canvas.

Hmm, seems a little harsh to me but Martin does show some convincing examples of integrative thinking at work.

Slowly getting through these library books -- must keep plugging away!