Friday, July 24, 2009

Daily Thoughts 7/24/2009 (Golden Rules For Managers )

Tatyana from Evgeni Onegin, by Elena Samokysh-Sudovskaya. 1900-1904



Daily Thoughts 7/24/2009

I had some time to do some weeding in the oversize books and the sports section. I still have quite a bit to do. They are still shifting the 700s as well.

I took some time to look for award books. I looked at the Edgar Award for mysteries, the RITA award for romance, and also looked at the Horror Writers of America association. I picked out the 2008 Pulitzer prize for poetry book, The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin.

One of my favorite young adult adventure series of novels is the Montmorency series by Eleanor Updale. It just reminds me so much of Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson. The writing is truly intriguing. It is a tale of a gentleman thief with a very dark side.

I have been reading Golden Rules for Managers 119 Incredible Lessons For Leadership Success by Frank McNair. It reads like a management book for people who like to read motivational business titles. The book reminds me a little bit of Who Moved My Cheese. We have a few people who come in regularly for authors like Norman Vincent Peale or Og Mandino.

The book has lots of acronyms, business fables, anecdotes, maxims, and sayings. It would be excellent for a salesperson or gregarious customer service person to pull pithy quotes from. Unlike many other motivational titles it also includes a number of recognizable business terms like SMART targets, participatory management, and performance appraisals which are listed in the index. Frank McNair rolled many loose business ideas into one coherent book. This book is a 2009 reprint of the 2000 edition. The book itself is very presentable. The typeface is very clean and the page layout is vey readable.

Frank McNair has an MBA from Wake Forest University and a certificate in Presbyterian theology. He also runs a well respected consultancy, http://www.mcnairandmcnair.com/ He does not make any direct religious statements though except for the Golden Rule . It is the kind of book a company might bulk order for their whole sales department as part of a motivational seminar.


2 comments:

ibpurpledragon said...

You point out the appearance of the book, not just the content. I think that is normally not noticed unless it is bad. I have actually had some books that gave me a headache due to the poor type face or lack of contrast between type and paper. It is something that should be commented on, I just never think to do it.

Book Calendar said...

The appearance and design of a book are very important. The cover often determines whether or not someone will pick up a book. The typeface and layout if done right make it easier to read. A bad layout can make a book very hard to read. Some people collect books for their covers. Others keep books for their design and binding. It is important. The book itself is a cultural object, a device. It is now considered a container for words-- these words could be in other formats, ebooks, audiobooks, or converted into images with a graphic novel. People have a choice.