How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci
Michael J. Gelb

My Take
This book was for me an absolute confirmation of the creative process. A fascinating read full of exercises you can use to bring out your inner genious.

From Publishers Weekly
Founder and president of the High Performance Learning Center, Gelb, in seminars and workshops and now in this book, offers "the Seven Da Vincian Principles" for learning how to approach life like a genius. He uses Leonardo's native Italian language to label these principles: "curiosita" (curiosity and continuous learning), "dimostrazione" (learning from experience), "sensazione" (sensory awareness), "sfumato" (accepting and embracing uncertainty), "arte/scienza" (balancing art and science, or "whole-brain" thinking), "corporalita" (physical fitness and ambidexterity) and "connessione" (seeing the interconnectedness of everything). Gelb provides discussion of each principle in relation to Leonardo's work, questions for reader "self-assessment," exercises and even notes for parents to apply the principles to child-rearing and teaching. His view reflects the current trend in working with "multiple intelligences" and creativity, and is similar to the approach outlined in Todd Siler's Think Like a Genius (1997). The Renaissance mood Gelb successfully invokes, however, adds a unique richness to this deeper, more expansive work. Illustrations. Editor, Tom Spain; agent, Muriel Nellis. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. -- This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook

Created to structure and motivate the reader's development of the seven da Vincian principles introduced in How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook represents the natural extension of Gelb's da Vinci line. As any modern da Vinci student knows, Leonardo's notebook both served as the incubator and repository of his unique genius and provides the foundation of any modern-day student's attempt to emulate that genius on his own. From the very first exercise in the original How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, Gelb encourages readers to keep their own personal notebooks in which to hone their da Vincian skills; now he provides that notebook for them, with the added bonus of tips on exercises they'll recognize and new suggestions and assignments that will build on the work they've already done.

The Last Word on Power
Executive Re-Invention for Leaders Who Must Make the Impossible Happen
Tracy Goss

My Take
This book represents to me a courageous program of personal honesty and transformation in the service of creating something great. I was very inspired by this book.

From Library Journal
For over 20 years, consultant and lecturer Goss has been working to help senior executives in her intensive seminars to "transform" themselves into another state of being. Now, she offers her reinvention process for those willing to commit to a lifetime of hard work required to make this process real. She explains her seven transformative steps: uncovering your winning strategy, understanding the limits of the "universal human paradigm," putting everything at risk, inventing a new master paradigm, inventing an impossible game to play, breaking the addiction to interpretation, and operating beyond the limits of your winning strategy. Goss offers powerful information, far above the glib self-help mush that already lines the shelves. She answers the fundamental question of why management fads do not work: the personal work has not yet been done. Her unique approach is as significant a work in this genre as Peter Block's Stewardship (LJ 6/15/93) and Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Successful People (S. & S., 1989). Highly recommended for all libraries. Dale F. Farris, Groves, Tex. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Artist's Way
A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
Julia Cameron with Mark Bryan

My Take
The best book on healing your inner artist and releasing your gifts. Julia helped me set myself free.

Industry Reviews
"This is a book that addresses a delicate and complex subject. For those who will use it, it is a valuable tool to get in touch with their own creativity." Publisher's Catalog - Martin Scorcese

"If you have always wanted to pursue a creative dream, have always wanted to play and create with music or words or paints, this book will gently get you started and help you learn all kinds of paying-attention techniques; and that, after all, is what being an artist is all about." Publisher's Catalog - Anne Lamott

"Not since Dorthea Brande's Becoming A Writer and anything by Alan Watts has there been such a magnificent book about the soul of creativity. The Artist's Way is a treasure of a process text that makes creative uncomprehendability comprehensible for all." Publisher's Catalog - Lew Hunter

The Artist's Way Workbook

The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal

Man's Search For Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl

My Take
A poignant and emotionally moving story on the beauty and healing grace of forgiveness and humanity's ability to overcome even the most unbearable experiences.

Gerald F. Kreyche, DePaul University
Frankl is a professional who possesses the rare ability to write in a layman's language. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is among the most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud. The book begins with a lengthy, austere, and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years, and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live. At times, Frankl's personal and professional discourses merge into a style of tremendous power. "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is," Frankl writes. "After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."

The Art of Possibility
Transforming Professional and Personal Life
Rosamund Stone Zander
Benjamin Zander

My Take
One of my absolute favorites, the Zanders have captured the need to release yourself , and help release others, from self-imposed limitations and open to possibility. Just loved it!

Amazon.com
The lure of this book's promise starts with the assumption in its title. Possibility -- that big, all-encompassing, wide-open-door concept -- is an art? Well, who doesn't want to be a skilled artist, whether in the director's chair, the boardroom, on the factory floor, or even just in dealing with life's everyday situations? Becoming an artist, however, requires discipline, and what the authors of The Art of Possibility offer is a set of practices designed to "initiate a new approach to current conditions, based on uncommon assumptions about the nature of the world."

The Power of Now
A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Eckhart Tolle

My Take
Nothing less than phenomenal. Eckhart Tolle says it like it is, at least for me, and I have found his work transformative.

Amazon.com
Ekhart Tolle's message is simple: living in the now is the truest path to happiness and enlightenment. And while this message may not seem stunningly original or fresh, Tolle's clear writing, supportive voice, and enthusiasm make this an excellent manual for anyone who's ever wondered what exactly "living in the now" means. Foremost, Tolle is a world-class teacher, able to explain complicated concepts in concrete language. More importantly, within a chapter of reading this book, readers are already holding the world in a different container -- more conscious of how thoughts and emotions get in the way of their ability to live in genuine peace and happiness.

A New Earth
Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
Eckhart Tolle

My Take
I love this man. If you want to really change things for the better, this is the place to start.

Amazon Product Review
With his bestselling spiritual guide The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle inspired millions of readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived "in the now." In A New Earth, Tolle expands on these powerful ideas to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence.

Leadership is an Art
Max DePree

My Take
What a wonderful story on leadership. DePree is a master at storytelling and the clear presentation of his ideas. A definite read to bring leadership to your life and your business.

From Publishers Weekly
Rather than offering a how-to manual on running a business, DePree, CEO of Herman Miller Inc., a manufacturer of office furniture, details, in deceptively simple but imaginative language, a humanitarian approach to leadership. The artful leader, he argues, should recognize human diversity and make full use of his or her employees' gifts. Further, he believes, a leader is responsible not just for the health of a company's financial assets, but for its ethics. Advocating management through persuasion, and the exercise of democratic participation rather than concentrated power, he favors covenantal relationships with employees that rest on shared purpose, dignity and choice. The author stresses the need for communication, but his only direct guidance concerns the need for job performance reviews and self-evaluation.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. -- This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Four Agreements
A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
Don Miguel Ruiz

My Take
This information is powerful beyond words. It reads beautifully and at the same time, you cannot escape the truth in these pages. A must read.

Amazon.com
Sit at the foot of a native elder and listen as great wisdom of days long past is passed down. In The Four Agreements shamanic teacher and healer Don Miguel Ruiz exposes self-limiting beliefs and presents a simple yet effective code of personal conduct learned from his Toltec ancestors. Full of grace and simple truth, this handsomely designed book makes a lovely gift for anyone making an elementary change in life, and it reads in a voice that you would expect from an indigenous shaman. The four agreements are these: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Always do your best. It's the how and why one should do these things that make The Four Agreements worth reading and remembering. -- P. Randall Cohan

The Four Agreements Cards

Amazon.com
Based on Don Miguel's New York Times bestselling book, The Four Agreements, the 48 cards in this deck provide a simple yet powerful code of conduct for attaining personal freedom and true happiness. There are 12 cards corresponding to each of the four agreements: (1) Be impeccable with your word; (2) Don't take anything personally; (3) Don't make assumptions; and (4) Always do your best. -- P. Randall Cohan

The Voice of Knowledge
A Practical Guide to Inner Peace
Don Miguel Ruiz

My Take
This was a new concept for me, and I found it fascinating and illuminating. I have been working with the concepts and have found the work to be life-altering.

From Publishers Weekly
With more than 2.7 million copies of his The Four Agreements sold, Ruiz returns to readers with a new volume that presents his latest thoughts on the ways and means of inner knowledge and healing. Written in the first person with frequent apostrophic addresses ("You need to challenge every belief that you use to judge yourself, to reject yourself, to make yourself little"), the book moves gracefully and anecdotally from "Adam and Eve: The Story from a Different Point of View" to "The Tree of Life: The Story Comes Full Circle," with 10 chapters in between, including "The Lie of Our Imperfection," a chapter that covers "emotional pain as a symptom of abuse" and one on "Writing Our Story with Love," with frequent stops for "Points to Ponder." For Ruiz, life can be a matter of storytelling, to ourselves and to others. His reflections on the process of how people tell these stories, and how they can change their narratives, draw on the lore of his native Mexico and feel both centered and earned.
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Mastery of Love
A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship
Don Miguel Ruiz

My Take
Brilliant. Beautiful. Profound. An absolute mastery work on living love.

Amazon.com
In a refreshingly honest investigation of the true nature of love, Don Miguel Ruiz brings to light the commonly held fallacies and misplaced expectations about love that permeate most relationships. In the tradition of Carlos Castaneda, he uses inspirational stories to impart the wisdom of three fundamental Toltec masteries (Awareness, Transformation, and Love). The themes explored include the Toltec wisdom of the heart, the track of love, and the war of control.

The Mastery
of Love Cards

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
Deepak Chopra

My Take
Very easy to read and understand, a powerful work on the principles of the universe and how to incorporate them into your life.

From Library Journal
Teilhard de Chardin said, "We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Chopra builds on this powerful thought in this recording that expands his life's work in spiritual approaches to daily living. He explains the laws of pure potentiality, giving, karma, least effort, intention and desire, detachment, and dharma and includes useful suggestions on how to apply these fundamental, natural principles if one is truly searching for purpose and a satisfying life.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. -- This text refers to the audio cassette.