Review of "Math Minders Word Problems: Activities to Stretch Young Minds," by Raymond Bottom

Review of

Math Minders Word Problems: Activities to Stretch Young Minds, by Raymond Bottom ISBN 076820027x

Five out of five stars

 This book of word problems covers many familiar topics that children of the grade seven level can understand and oftentimes are required to solve. For example, young sports fans are generally familiar with shooting percentage in basketball and batting average in baseball. Nearly all children have received some money and have to determine how to spend it and to make sure to include the sales tax. By the seventh grade most student have had to figure out how to apportion the shared cost of items such as a pizza.

 If you are looking for a large set of word problems  to challenge students at the seventh grade level, this book is a very cost effective way to do that. Brief solutions to all of the problems are included at the end.

Review of "1000 Pin-up Girls," by Peter Driben

Review of

1000 Pin-up Girls, by Peter Driben ISBN 9783836520508

Five out of five stars

 In the modern world of nudity on demand and where it is often sent as a pick-me-up, the appearance of the pin-up girl seems rather quaint. The women only go down to the level of bra and panties, although there is some occasional cleavage or other suggestive curve.

 The title of this book is accurate in that it contains a series of images taken from the “tame” girlie magazines. Most of the entries are of cover images that were painted, although there are a few B & W photos. These often include advertisements that appeared in the magazines, which is also of interest. Some of the sexiest images are the photos of the clearly topless women taken in dark silhouette.

 A throwback to a time when tantalizing, suggestive images of women were placed on covers to catch the eye, this book contains a great deal of artwork that is now a part of history. The women are sexy in a sense considered subdued to the modern eye, but was thought to be very hot decades ago.

Review of "Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-performance Companies," by Paul J. Zak

Review of

Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-performance Companies, by Paul J. Zak ISBN 9780814437667

Five out of five stars

 It is a point of contention in the modern business world whether it is better to have a strict hierarchical management structure with firm adherence to a rigid set of rules that keep workers in their place or to severely limit the command nature of the hierarchy, allowing workers to make their own decisions. The first is a low trust environment and the second a high trust one. Furthermore, in the strictly structured organization, workers are expected to work long hours, limit their vacation time and closely follow directions. In the second, worker fatigue and exhaustion is understood and workers are encouraged to simply drop everything from time to time in order to recharge.

 This book takes a position in favor of the second organizational structure and the arguments are made in two ways. Paul Zak is a neuroscientist and much of his work has been research into the levels of specific neurochemicals in the blood. He puts forward the arguments that when a worker is trusted to do the work and make their own decisions, the levels of key neurochemicals changes in the direction that improves performance. When workers are kept rigidly confined, the levels go in the wrong direction.

 The second argument is based on case studies of companies that have adopted unusual organizational tactics, even to the point of paying poor hires to leave the company. Zak cites a statistic that I have read in several other publications, that companies that trust their employees and give them power over their work tend to outperform those that don’t.

 In the modern world where there is a great deal of electronic decision support and business is global and moving at a rapid rate, empowering employees that are highly skilled to make the necessary moves is essential. There has always been a gap between the average and high achievers and there is a lot of evidence to indicate that the difference is growing.

 While some will find what they consider to be heresies in this book, the objection to the gap in salaries between the workers and the CEO and questioning the true role of a corporation in the modern world, it is an important book for all decision makers. Every successful company has superstars and people are not interchangeable. Therefore, the point of this book about allowing people to develop and use their skills is one that all should consider.