July 2021 Bookshelf

What do our bodies know that our minds don’t have easy access to? And, how can accessing this knowledge or these “extra-neural resources” lead us to “create more imaginatively”? Acclaimed science writer Annie Murphy Paul digs through the research to find out. In The Extended Mind, Paul connects groundbreaking research conducted by the world’s leading neuro and psychological scientists with leaders across disciplines (including educators) who are putting these findings into everyday practice. As you read, consider what skills and knowledge you’ve been carrying with you your entire life that have gone unnoticed and unutilized.

Imagine you are tasked with making a decision regarding a problem for which you have a good amount of information at your disposal. Now, imagine making that decision on a Monday versus a Thursday. Or, in the morning versus the afternoon. Will you make the same decision each time? Daniel Kahneman and his co-authors, in Noise, have an answer that might surprise you: No, you probably won’t make the same decision. Based on numerous shifting, confounding factors, every moment of every day creates variability in judgement, even if the problem before us hasn’t changed. This “noise” can’t be eliminated, but it can be noticed and adjusted for. If you want to get better at recognizing this noise in your decision making, this might be the book for you.

Conscious living, mindful consumption, and collective impact. These three concepts are the foundation of Think Indigenous by Doug Good Feather, Lakota from the Standing Rock Indian reservation in South Dakota. His work was inspired by the lessons he learned from his elders and his belief that there are Indigenous roots in all our ancestries that have been lost or forgotten. Good Feather presents an invitation to consider how reconnecting to these roots could shift the choices we make for ourselves, our families, and our communities.

Big problems beget big opportunities, but we must get past our own fear and terror to realize the opportunities before us. Work With Source by Tom Nixon aims to build that bridge. He invites visionaries and founders to think through the many juxtapositions of purpose-driven work, including how to grow a collective endeavor and how to decentralize control, while still honoring the need for original vision and leadership from the founder. Nixon’s work, inspired by decades of research by Peter Koenig and decades of implementation by Nixon himself, might be the guide you’ve been looking for to honor your visionary ability while “harnessing the creative potential of everyone involved” in your collective endeavor.

Whether speaking to a group of parents, a team of colleagues, or delivering testimony in front of a state legislature, you might find yourself stricken with the world’s most common phobia: the fear of public speaking. Mike Acker wants to show you how to subdue those sweaty palms and speak with the energy and passion that fuels your everyday work to transform education and learning for the young people you serve. By reading Speak With No Fear, you will gain access to seven public speaking strategies that might be just what you need to calm your nerves and confidently speak in front of crowds of any size, enrolling them into the learner-centered movement.