June Book Choice

Malcolm Gladwell is keynote speaker for this years NECC in Washington DC.
A British-born Canadian journalist, author, and pop sociologist, Malcolm Gladwell is based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. His books and articles often deal with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences and make frequent and extended use of academic work, particularly in the areas of sociology, psychology, and social psychology. He is best known as the author of The Tipping Point (2000), Blink (2005), and Outliers (2008).
In this best-seller, a staff writer for The New Yorker weighs the factors that determine good decision-making. Drawing on recent cognitive research, Gladwell concludes that those who quickly filter out extraneous information generally make better decisions than those who discount their first impressions.

June Book Choice

In the book, Johnson claims that popular culture – and in particular television shows and video games – has grown more complex and demanding over time and is making us smarter.

"This book is an old-fashioned work of persuasion that ultimately aims to convince you of one thing: that popular culture has, on average, grown more complex and intellectually challenging over the past thirty years"

For those of us that use Facebook, Twitter, IM, Gaming and enjoy some reality TV... this is an enticing read!

Enjoy... Ready for feedback comments

May Book Choice: Here Comes Everybody, By Clay Shirky

In this book, Shirky describes three levels of group activities, made possible by social media:
1. Sharing with others, using del.icio.us, Flickr, Slideshare and other social tools. After September 11th, a professor of Middle Eastern history starts writing a blog that became a resource for reporters covering the battles in Afghanistan and Iraq.

2. Collaboration, perhaps using Linux or Wikipedia. Kite makers find each other online and collaborate on the most radical improvement in kite design in decades. So are architects.

3. Collective action, where groups form to pursue a larger purpose and use social tools, ranging from google or Yahoo! groups to free online social networks such as Ning to share news and tips, recruit others, support each other and remain unified.

Please share your review and comments on this book.

May Book Choice: Disrupting Class By Clayton Christensen

Applying Business Concepts for Innovation to the Field of Education Clayton Christensen has gained fame in researching how disruptive technologies are best brought to market in the world of business. He applies the results of this research to hypothesize how education methods uniquely tailored to each student through the use of computer led education are likely to be adopted.

Please share your review of this thought provoking book.