Monday, November 17, 2014

Book Review: Give and Take

Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success 
By Adam M. Grant
***
“This is what I find most magnetic about successful givers: they get to the top without cutting others down, finding ways of expanding the pie that benefit themselves and the people around them. Whereas success is zero-sum in a group of takers, in groups of givers, it may be true that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” 
― Adam GrantGive and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success
From Goodreads: 
For generations, we have focused on the individual drivers of success: passion, hard work, talent, and luck. But today, success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others. It turns out that at work, most people operate as either takers, matchers, or givers. Whereas takers strive to get as much as possible from others and matchers aim to trade evenly, givers are the rare breed of people who contribute to others without expecting anything in return.

Using his own pioneering research as Wharton's youngest tenured professor, Grant shows that these styles have a surprising impact on success. Although some givers get exploited and burn out, the rest achieve extraordinary results across a wide range of industries. Combining cutting-edge evidence with captivating stories, this landmark book shows how one of America's best networkers developed his connections, why the creative genius behind one of the most popular shows in television history toiled for years in anonymity, how a basketball executive responsible for multiple draft busts transformed his franchise into a winner, and how we could have anticipated Enron's demise four years before the company collapsed-without ever looking at a single number.

Praised by bestselling authors such as Dan Pink, Tony Hsieh, Dan Ariely, Susan Cain, Dan Gilbert, Gretchen Rubin, Bob Sutton, David Allen, Robert Cialdini, and Seth Godin-as well as senior leaders from Google, McKinsey, Merck, Estee Lauder, Nike, and NASA-Give and Take highlights what effective networking, collaboration, influence, negotiation, and leadership skills have in common. This landmark book opens up an approach to success that has the power to transform not just individuals and groups, but entire organizations and communities.



From Me: 
This is our Florida One Book-One State pick for the upcoming year. It's an in depth look at personalities from the angle of givers, takers, and matchers, and how they succeed and/or fail in the workplace. It's highly readable with interesting anecdotes. 

That being said, this is not the kind of book I choose to read; give me fiction or give me boredom. I wouldn't label Give and Take as boring; it's much better than that. But still -- there were no dragons.

Monday, November 3, 2014

HELLHOLE Trailer Reveal!

I picked up Croak at my library a couple of years ago and fell in love with Gina Damico's Grim world (read my review of Croak here and Scorch here). I'm super excited that she's written brand new book in a brand new series. Welcome to Hellhole:


Holy crap on a cracker, that trailer is amazing.

You want more? Well, here's a bit about the book:
Geeky, squeaky-clean Max Kilgore only has one dirty habit: digging for fossils. One day, to his horror, his shovel strikes not upon a dinosaur bone, but a pit to hell—and out of it comes a devil. Specifically, the kind of devil who eats a lot of junk food, watches a lot of reality television, plays a lot of video games, and refuses to leave Max’s basement. But evil is still evil, no matter what form it takes. And Max has to find a way to comply with the demands of the big red menace, lest he lay waste to everyone and everything Max cares about.

With the help of Lore, a former goth girl who knows a thing or two about the dark side, Max goes in search of a new abode for his unwanted guest. Finding a place where he can reside in luciferian luxury isn’t easy, but Max has strong motivation: his mother, whose terminal illness the devil promises to cure if Max gives him what he wants. Lore has her doubts about making a deal with the devil, but Max will stop at nothing to save his mom. And pretty soon, he’s doing things the good kid he once was would never dream of doing. Clearly, hanging around with a devil is a bad influence. But how can Max get rid of the guy without incurring the wrath of hell?

What the hell are the deets, you ask? Hellhole will be published on January 6th, 2015 (I have my copy ordered already - happy birthday to me!) and can be found at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and IndieBound. Or go straight to the source for all the info at www.ginadami.co

Now I'm craving Doritos.