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What's On Your Bookshelf?
Hosted by Charles Hipbone Cameron (July 2006 - Closed)
A short while ago in our "Think Fast!" section, we asked our members to tell us "which book helped you become a better social entrepreneur." This week, Charles Hipbone Cameron asks a broader question --- what are your key books? They don't have to be about social entrepreneurship as such, they don't have to be business books, or books about philanthropy -- you can tell us about inspiring biographies, books that describe a particular global or local problem, books on communication, textbooks, history books, even works of fiction.
Start the conversation here.
Christine Le - Jul 18, 2006 5:25 pm (# Total: 14) An autobiagraphy of John Lewis entitled, "Walking With the Wind" about the civil rights movement in America in the 1960's.
"Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Traccy Kidder who tells the story of Paul Farmer, founder of Partners In Health.
"The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey Sachs of the United Nations Development Programme and the Millenium Development Goals. He explains how extreme global poverty can be eradicated by 2025.
All portray regular people who become leaders in attempting to solve critical social problems.
peepatlife.com - Jul 19, 2006 3:17 am (# Total: 14) Few books I could recommend to everyone here
"Capitalism at the Crossroads : The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World's Most Difficult Problems", Stuart Hart
"The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits", C.K. Prahalad
"Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty ", Muhammad Yunus
"The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence", Martin Meredith
abc4all - Jul 19, 2006 4:18 am (# Total: 14) A Better Community For All (ABC4All)
It is ironic that at the same time, a request comes in made to the "Zaadz Ambassadors" to list their books of personal interest, a request also to be fulfilled: http://www.abc4all.zaadz.com/books/lists/bookshelf
That a similar request comes in from Charles Cameron: http://www.socialedge.org/Events/ThoughtLeaders/34
A listing of such books had already been posted on Taking IT Global: http://profiles.takingitglobal.org/abc4all
 Reading List |
- Better Than Money Can Buy: The New Volunteers by Joseph Kilpatrick, Sanford Danziger
- Dying to Look Good by Christine Hoza Farlow
- Food Additives: A Shopper's Guide to What's Safe & What's Not (2004 Revised Edition) by Christine Hoza Farlow
- Healthy Eating: For Extremely Busy People Who Don't Have Time For It ("KISS" For Health) by Christine Hoza Farlow
- Hippocrates MD: The Transformation of Healthcare by Mary F. Zesiewicz
- In Balance For Life by Alex Guerrero
- Making a Difference: Changing the World One Penny And One Minute at a Time by Rhonda Hackett
There you have it!
Omar Hilario - Jul 19, 2006 9:56 pm (# Total: 14) My exposure to the concept of social entrepreneurs came from reading the book "How to Change the World" by David Bornstein. It was a fascinating book that takes you into a journey across the globe introducing you to average people with extraordinary mission and vision to make a difference in the lives of others.
I was both inspired and empowered by their stories.
Marguerite - Jul 20, 2006 10:52 am (# Total: 14) After a number of years of research related to the evolution of human consciousness, I'm now at the point of compiling in-form-ation relating to the "new science" and in particular to the "new biology" as it relates to consciousness and the choices we make as a collective consciousness.
However, in considering "the whole dynamic" of "what's happening today" and how we can heal it, some of the most important books are IMHO:
The Biology of Transcendence - John Chilton Pearce
The Dance of Life - Dr. V.Vernon Woolf
The Biology of Belief - Dr. Bruce Lipton
Molecules of Emotion - Dr. Candace Pert
Infinite Mind - Dr. Valerie V. Hunt
The Field - Lynne McTaggart
Smart Moves. Why Learning is Not All in Your Head - Dr. Carla McTaggart
Transforming Human Culture - Social Evolution and the Planetary Crisis, Dr. Jay Earley
Gardening for the Furture of the Earth - Howard-Yanna Shapiro, et al
Ageless Body Timless Mind - Deepak Chopra
The Chalice and the Blade - Riane Eisler
The Dancing Wu Li Masters - Gary Zukov
Entangled Minds - Dean Radin
A New Earth - Awakening To Your Life's Purpose - Eckhart Tolle
Beyond Beef - Jeremy Rifkin
The End of Work - Jeremy Rifkin
The Post-Corporate World - David C. Korten (Korten also has a new book: The Great Turning, which I have not read but already know from his past work will make an outstanding contribution)
Gaviotas - A Village to Reinvent the World - Alan Weisman
Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism - Richard H. Robbins
The Cultural Creatives - How Fifty Million People Are Changing the World - Paul H. Ray
Critical Path - R. Buckminster Fuller
The Lab, The Temple, and The Marketplace - edited by Dr. Shaon Harper
Gaian Democracies - Redefining Globalization and People Power - Roy Madron, et al
Food Politics - Marion Nestle
Grasslands - Richard Manning
Noticeably absent here are any books on war, terrorism, politics, etc. From what I know now, if we heal our collective psyche, then the "bad stuff" goes away. Healing the collective psyche means each of us taking personal responsibility for healing ourselves -- becoming whole again.
Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jul 22, 2006 10:20 am (# Total: 14) HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates
I've been holding back a bit, reading your lists and preferences with curiosity and interest, and I'd like to thank you for your posts.
My own number one book would be Hermann Hesse's Magister Ludi, aka The Glass Bead Game. Some of you may know other works of his, Siddhartha perhaps, or Steppenwolf or Narciss and Goldmund. Magister Ludi is his last and greatest novel, and it won him the Nobel Prize for Literature. It's not the catchiest of stories, but it is perhaps the strongest presentation of the ideal of human culture and knowledge I've ever read -- both the beauty and the drawbacks.
More than that, it features a "game" which seems to me (and others) to be the most detailed "prophetic" foreshadowing of the massive interconnectivity of the world, and of the world wide web in particular -- far outpacing those other prescient candidates, the Net of Indra and the Noosphere of Teilhard de Chardin.
Many people find it difficult reading, many others (myself included) find it the most astonishing and inspiring of books. John Holland, one of the principals of the Santa Fe school and the father of "genetic algorithms" considers his life's work to be the building of a "glass bead game", for example. And Christopher Alexaqnder wrote an article saying we needed such a game in "real life" -- and his book on Pattern Language is arguably an attempt to translate Hesse's fictional game into architectural practice.
Has anyone else been inspired by a story, a novel -- something that wasn't "on topic' for social entrepreneurship, but that reached them at (perhaps) a deeper level than a business book ever can?
mfidelman - Jul 25, 2006 6:40 pm (# Total: 14) Center for Civic Networking
Probably the one book I keep coming back to time and time again is "The Medusa and the Snail," by Lewis Thomas (better known for "Lives of a Cell").
Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jul 25, 2006 7:22 pm (# Total: 14) HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates
Hi Miles:
Nice to see you here! I'll have to look out for the Lewis Thomas book.
Kzakama - Jul 26, 2006 4:09 am (# Total: 14) I love this discussion! For someone living in Africa, I can only read about some of the books mentioned here in magazines or on websites. However, I find the list very useful. Nigeria is developing and soon we will be able to get these books online! I have some good books on development which I will share with you later in the discussion.
corporate_crone - Jul 26, 2006 2:46 pm (# Total: 14) Your Mythic Journey – Sam Keen
The World Café: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter – Juanita Brown
Thinking in the Future Tense: A Workout for the Mind – Jennifer James
Life Launch: A Passionate Guide to the Rest of Your Life – Frederic M. Hudson
Classified: How to Stop Hiding Your Privilege and Use it for Social Change
http://www.classifiedbook.com/downloads.html free .pdf
Inspired Philanthropy: how to develop your personal giving plan – by Tracy Gary
Scanning the Landscape – from Ford Foundation @ www.grantcraft.org
Living in Balance – Joel & Michelle Levey
The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional & Personal Life – Zander
Art & Soul and Living Big (both by Pam Grout)
From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older – Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
jerry.kaiser - Jul 26, 2006 7:14 pm (# Total: 14) Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon. Transcendental science fiction from 1937.
the Seven Mysteries of Life Guy Murchie
The Ways and Power of Love, Pitirim Sorokin
The Enlightened Mind, Stephen Mitchell
How Can I help Ram Dass
E=MC2: the Biography of the World's Most Famous EquationDavid Bodanis
Love and Survival Dean Ornish
The Art of Happiness The Dalai Lama
Writing About Your Life William Zinsser
Appreciative Inquiry David Cooperrider, et. al.
Winning Life's toughest Battles Julius Siegel
Servant Leadership , Greenleaf
Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jul 27, 2006 7:37 am (# Total: 14) HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates
Mostly I'm just nodding my head and happy that people are sharing books of inbterest with other readers here -- but from time to time there's a choice that rates a particular, quiet sort of smile.
Your mention of Olaf Stapledon does that fr me. What a remarkable writer -- I kinds sorta hated him for the lack of plot and character, but was completely blown away by the breadth and scope of his vision... Not even sure if I'm thinking of the same book here, it was forty years ago for me at least that I last read him, and it could have been Last and First Men I read. But what a mind!
Pamela McLean - Jul 27, 2006 12:20 pm (# Total: 14) This is a book that I passed on to somemone else's bookshelf about 20 years ago - but I find myself referring to (my memory of it) often recently.
It was called Wealth of Information and and was written by a UK professor. It was based in many ways on the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. To oversimplify - Adam Smith looked at how things were as the industrial revolution took hold - and Wealth of Info did a comparison regarding info revolution. Guess what - in Adam Smith's book people who were landowners were struggling with the unfamiliar concept that people could be rich and powerful without being landowners - i.e. it was possible to be rich if you had financial capital.
As I recall Wealth of Info suggested there would be similar confusion as people whose understanding of richness is based on having financial capital try to make sense of the new richness and power structures that are emerging through our new relationships with information (and each other). That certainly strikes a chord with me - I wonder if I have remembered correctly 
Pam
Charles Cameron aka hipbone - Jul 28, 2006 9:26 am (# Total: 14) HipBone Games / Rheingold Associates
Stonier, Tom. The Wealth of Information: A Profile of the Post-Industrial Economy. (ISBN: 0423008005)
Available from abebooks.com
