I am fascinated by Daniel Pink’s new book Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. The book is about what motivates people to improve the quality and quantity of their work. I won’t do justice to the concepts and the big picture that Pink paints in his book, but I would encourage you to [...]
Posts under ‘Books’
Top Ten Reasons Daniel Pink Should Follow Jimwenz on Twitter!
This is a shameless attempt to get Daniel Pink to follow me on Twitter. This effort started because my good friend, Tom Daccord (@thomasDacord), said that Mr. Pink is following him on Twitter. I am a huge fan of Mr. Pink’s books and have posted about them my blog and on Twitter. As a fan, [...]
Stealing Lincoln’s Body
I really enjoyed reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. It was an outstanding book. Towards the end of the book, the author mentioned that there had been an attempt to steal Lincoln’s body and that his body had been moved several times. He also mentioned that when they moved his casket, [...]
Scat
Scat is the “solid waste, or droppings, of carnivorous animals.”* It is also a book by Carl Hiaasen rated for ages 9-12. When my son was much younger we used to go on a lot of backpacking trips. I think we have slept in a tent in over twenty states. We always use to carry [...]
Student Storybooks
Student publishing and writing for an authentic audience has been a theme of many of my blog posts and my presentations. That’s why I was excited when I discovered Tikatok.com. The lead sentence on their web site is “Tikatok™ is where kids channel their imagination into stories – and publish those stories into books for [...]
Harry Truman
Since I live on the shore of Lake Huron just north of Port Huron, I had to share this little piece of insignificant history. Today I was reading Truman by David McCullough. McCullough was talking about Harry Truman marrying Bess Wallace. The honeymoon couple stopped by Chicago, Detroit, and Port Huron, Michigan. In Chicago, they [...]
Outliers: The Story of Success
I was going to write more about Outliers (See my previous posts.), but then I read a question and answer session on Gladwell’s web site. It gives a good overview of the book. It may encourage you to read the book. I really did enjoy Outliers and would encourage you to read it. I just [...]
Work
“Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning.” Malcomb Gladwell, Outliers, the Story of Success p. 150 Perhaps this should be written on the back wall of classrooms to remind teachers about the importance of meaning. Work that is so engaging that you loose track of time. Work that brings [...]
Outliers, The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell
I started reading Outliers, The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell today. Gladwell also wrote Blink and The Tipping Point. I read the other two books and enjoyed them both. After reading the first hundred pages of Outliers, I think I will enjoy this book aslo. He makes some very interesting and disturbing observations. First, [...]
Boy In the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Boy In the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne I finished Boy in the Striped Pajamas yesterday. It is for ninth graders and up. Also, it has been made into a movie that should have it’s first showing this month. I think it is just playing on one theater in the Detroit area. The average review [...]