Spirit and Art: Pictures of the Transformation of Consciousness

Book Description

“As an art student in the late sixties, I recall how painfully dry and intellectual my art history classes were. I thought to myself, or rather felt to myself, `There must be something more'” (Van James).

Artist Van James offers that something more. This is a richly readable and lavishly illustrated text that reveals how, at every stage, human consciousness has evolved through the medium of art. It makes the case for a hidden stream that has put forth art works and art movements throughout history, in an ongoing visible revelation of invisible spiritual currents.

Art, originally a part of the secret Mystery cults of the ancient world, has become an expression of the individual creative intuition. At every stage, Albert Einstein's comment applies: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”

Book Description

A visual time capsule of the pivotal photographer and his place in history.

André Kertész (1894-1985) was one of the most inventive, influential, and prolific photographers in the medium's history. His combination of Modernist vision and poetic wit defined a vocabulary that generations of photographers have continued to use. Kertész's iconic images of 1920s Paris, such as "Chez Mondrian" and "Satiric Dancer" and his later images from New York—"Melancholic Tulip," "Washington Square"—have seeped into contemporary culture, and yet Kertész maintained that the real roots of his work were in Hungary.

This book, the first completely dedicated to Kertész's early Hungarian prints, offers a unique window on the origins of genius. Ninety images, selected from more than one thousand contact prints in the artist's estate, are meticulously reproduced to actual size, revealing the explosive cultural context of early twentieth-century Hungary. A treasured addition to any photography library, André Kertész: The Early Years is a rare opportunity to witness the beginnings of a great artist. 90 duotone photographs.

Customer Reviews:

A Prefect Introduction to Kertesz.......2007-09-24

Andre Kertesz is perhaps the greatest photographer of the the twentieth century, certainly the pre-eminent photo-journalist of his era. No other photographer has some many great works, covering such all aspects of photography (portrait, landscape, urban, etc, over some many decades. This superbly presented "small" book, details his early work in loving detail. One sense the sensuality and freedom of his early years, living untrammeled in the first decade or so of the last century in Hungary. There is a freshness, unbridled enthusiasm for life in these early works. Yet so too is his trademark playing with light and shadows, and the solo figure set in contrast, hinting at both menace and loneliness. A lovely volume and a joy to look at.

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When Cathy was still funny

A Hand To Hold, An Opinion To Reject (A Cathy Collection)
Cathy Guisewite
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Shoes: Chocolate For The Feet - A Cathy Collection

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ASIN: 0836220927

Customer Reviews:

When Cathy was still funny.......2007-09-26

Back before the Cathy comics were only about dieting and shopping, they were very witty and charming. There were actual characters, plots, and many women could identify with Cathy. If you were a fan, this is a worthwhile book.

The third collected Cathy: A two-in-one volume including: Why do the right words always come out of the wrong mouth?; A hand to hold - an opinion to reject

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The third collected Cathy: A two-in-one volume including: Why do the right words always come out of the wrong mouth?; A hand to hold - an opinion to reject
Cathy Guisewite
Manufacturer: Andrews And McMeel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Nobody said to take this book seriously. It's just fun

Nothing but a gag gift. Not serious Voodoo!

Portable Voodoo: Take Control of Your Life-and Others-with Voodoo

Portable Voodoo: Take Control of Your Life-and Others-with Voodoo!
Voodoo Lou , and Harry Lou
Manufacturer: Running Press Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Voodoo Kit: Includes Voodoo Doll and the Voodoo Handbook

Dr. Snake's Voodoo Spellbook

The Little Voodoo Kit: Revenge Therapy for the Over-Stressed

Voodoo Lou's Office Voodoo Kit: Take Charge of Your Career -- With Voodoo! Includes Corporate Voodoo Doll and Executive Spellbook

The Mini Love Voodoo Kit (Miniature Editions Pocket Pack)

ASIN: 0762417943
Release Date: 2004-07-20

Book Description

Our original Voodoo Kit sold more than 400,000 copies, and this revision of the kit's book should translate into comparable sales in a new market. The uniquely offbeat Portable Voodoo offers a funny, informative history of voodoo rites, with a whole new feature: a complete lineup of tongue-in-cheek spells to cast on those who deserve them. A cloth voodoo doll is mounted on the front cover, along with a packet of pushpins for pinpointing the exact physical location of the spells to be cast.

Customer Reviews:

Nobody said to take this book seriously. It's just fun.......2006-02-28

The two other critics here obviously don't get it. This is packaged and presented as a fun gift, not a serious look at voodooo. That's like criticizing a Mary Kate and Ashley novel for not being War and Peace.

Nothing but a gag gift. Not serious Voodoo!.......2005-12-21

Let me first of all say, that anytime you see the name Voodoo Lou. Be very cautious! The man is nothing but a trickster writing books and selling dolls about Voodoo like they were the real thing. If you're looking for a gag gift for someone who has a rotten boss,a stupid neighbor,or a emotionless lover, fine this stuff would give them a chuckle or two. But if you are looking for real Voodoo products stear clear of anything that has Voodoo Lou's name on it.

(The person called 'bookfan' is the one that doesn't get it, this review was written to inform people about this product, and to let them know that this is indeed a gag gift and not a real book on Voodoo, so don't buy it unless that's what you're looking for.)

Portable Voodoo: Take Control of Your Life-and Others-with Voodoo.......2005-09-03

More of a laugh than a serious delivery of how to do practice the craft.
Very dissappointing.

Book Description

The first collection of original essays on the work of writer-director John Sayles, this book addresses the full range of his films from a variety of critical viewpoints.

Customer Reviews:

Adorno/Eisler.......2007-03-08

This is a great book. While it was written over 60 years ago, it is still very applicable to today. It's worth the investment.

Average customer rating:

Brecht as they knew him
Hanns Eisler
Manufacturer: Lawrence and Wishart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Composing for the Films
Hanns Eisler
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0000D5IWP

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El cine y la música
Theodor W.; Eisler, Hanns Adorno
Manufacturer: Editorial Fundamentos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 8424501713

Gesammelte Schriften, Ln, Bd.15, Komposition für den Film

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Gesammelte Schriften, Ln, Bd.15, Komposition für den Film
Theodor W. Adorno , and Hanns Eisler
Manufacturer: Suhrkamp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3518572180

Hanns Eisler (Contemporary Music Studies , Vol 9)

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exhaustive collection on the Schubert of the 20th Century.

Hanns Eisler (Contemporary Music Studies , Vol 9)
David Blake
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3718655756

Book Description

This book makes no attempt to cover all aspects of Eisler's huge output. It does however draw together most of the main threads of his life and deals in detail with several of them. At the heart of the book is the first English translation of the libretto to the unwritten opera "Johann Faustus", a text of great literary distinction which represents one of Eisler's most sustained creative efforts. Along with other previously untranslated Eisler writings there are articles by several internationally recognised literary critics and musicologists representing a wide range of approaches. The editor, the only British pupil of Eisler, has contributed a substantial essay on the early music.
David Blake is Professor of Music at the University of York. He was awarded the 1960 Mendelssohn Scholarship, which enabled him to study with Hanns Eisler in East Berlin as a Meisterschuler of the GDR Akademie der Kunste.

Customer Reviews:

exhaustive collection on the Schubert of the 20th Century........2004-12-22

This is an exhaustive survey of Eisler's work,music,aesthetic and life. David Blake the editor and composer studied with Eisler for a time. Blake also has wonderful essays on Ernst Bloch.
Eisler was a marxist activist composer in every respect of the term, he simply worked at whatever the movement and music, the arts needed, and this endeavor was a problematical one even today.
He emerged from Vienna and studied with Arnold Schoenberg,and is never really recognized by anyone(other than Schoenberg) as the third great student of the 12 Tone School(Berg and Webern the obvious others).But bourgeois prejudice has made Eisler actually throughout history, an outcast in the new music community. Even Luciano Berio had nothing perceptive to say about Eisler's work,simply that it was too simple. This from a composer (Berio) who found the shortest distances the dilution and homogenizations of the post-serial languages.He is still however deeply respected by the younger generation composers certainly in England Cardew and Skempton, and Smith,and the Germany,composers H.K. Gruber and H. Goebbels.
Eisler early had found the thread of politics to music writing pieces and conducting within collective settings as the worker chorus,mass songs(United Front Song)(Forwards)became the focus for this period prior to the rise of fascism, where the ruling classes of the globe did have in fact something to fear, with the system not working, the Depression.
With the eradication of the Left,The Nazis had put a price on Eisler's head so he immigrated and remained in the USA living as a film composer in Hollywood.This was a place he found the greatest hypocrisy in the arts.He was only to be deported after the war during the Witch Hunts of the McCarthy era.
This collection of essays reveals Eisler not only the composer but the theoretician,of speaking on problems of creativity,history,structure,text and concept. He found himself on Lecture Tours,throughout his life and this process became an integral part of his music, knowing how to speak to people is just as important as writing music.
Here included are some of his primary essays that perhaps had more mass appeal "On the situation of modern music"and "On the bourgeois concert business". He does have vigorous essays, actually translations of his Lectures on aspects of the sociology of music,on finding the class origins for instance within the history of music,topics seldom discussed even within academia today.Much of this material is still in its original German.He found it a challenge as the essay here by Albrecht Betz"Music and politics:theme and variations" on the paradigm of tracing the line that exists between outright propaganda and serious music.This became an art in and of itself when you also contemplate Brecht's contribution to poetry and literature, where he discovered new literary genres placing his poetry in forever differing context.Eisler as collaborator with Brecht was certainly influenced by this affinity for the new in terms of the aestjetic and structure.(Betz has his own booklength study of Eisler.)And Eisler never simple took the easy route and maintained a sophisticated sense of the aesthetic throughout his life,even coming to terms with atonality the last years of his life. He did in fact write the most interesting atonal music during his early years,a topic Blake takes up as the "First and Second Piano Sonatas", and the pieces"Zeitungausshnitte".Opus 11 "Newspapperclippings" for Voice and Piano.Eisler had a gift for lyricism and transforming the most arduous text into power,directedness and lilting gentleness. Examples abound as his"An den kleinen Radioapparat""to my radio",the" Drei Wiegenlieds" "Three Lullabys","Change the World it Need it!". He found irony for instance in the song on the tric(man of the street) soliciting a prostitute,where he interweaves the famous harmonic progression from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde", that love can be bought, it is simply another commodity as anything else.
Eisler and Brecht being in the forefront of the issues of politics during the pre-and post war times in the arts were frequently the subject of discussion,even Walter Benjamin knew this body of work, and found the genre of "mass art" to be progressive as Brecht practiced it. Along this line Gunter Mayer provides a chapter "Eisler and Adorno" a formidable rendering of these issues between committment and marxist mandarin-ism Adorno.Adorno thought that mixing politics and music only cheapened one for the other. That the highest form of subversion was actually the privatized practicing bourgeois artist as recluse,not sacrificing his aesthtic for the market or the street, as Schoenberg,Berg and Webern had admirably done.
The great works of Eisler are surveyed,primarily the "Songs" the "Holderlin Fragment" is given one chapter by here as well the collaborations with Brecht, "Die Mutter" "Die Massnahme", "The Hollywood Songbooks", and the oratorio-like "Deutsche Sinfonie", and his last work the opera from 1952 "Johann Faustus". This last work was like the summary opus a deeply felt commentary on the state of the world after the war, and the opportunism that existed in the East with the Soviet satellites.Here we are provided with the libretto and Eisler's own notes on this work. Eisler when he returned to the DDR , East Germany he was largely ignored by the DDR government hardly mounting performances of his works.

There are also heretofore unavailable a translated interview with Hans Bunge where we now see Eisler past his career where he reflects on the politicalization of the arts,the situation in the East and when asked where music and politics renders itself,that all art is political the answer was that it is rather useless to politicize everything.It is rather the artist challenge to find the thread to jump over the border to find where this paradigm exists between politics and music.There is also a wonderful narrative on when Eisler brough Brecht to Schoenberg's home while they all lived in Los Angeles. Eisler had though Brecht would insult Schoenberg.

There are also nice vintage phots and ample musical excerpts from score and manuscript.

Average customer rating:

Books is overpriced and inaccurate
comprehensive,analytic history of a 20th Century master

Hanns Eisler Political Musician
Albrecht Betz
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521034345

Book Description

Eisler’s role in German music is similar to that of Brecht in German literature and the two men worked together for nearly thirty years. Together with Webern and Berg, Eisler is considered one of the three great pupils of Schoenberg. Albrecht Betz divides Eisler’s life and music into four periods. The early formative period as student of Schoenberg includes compositions written in Vienna up to 1925. From 1926 to 1933, the second period, Eisler lived in Berlin and made his greatest impact with his political vocal music. The third phase of Eisler’s life, fifteen years of exile, was spent principally in the USA, and the fourth (from 1948) in East Germany. The author shows how Eisler is distinguished from other great twentieth-century composers in his belief that music had a social function, and how he liberated modern music from what he and others felt was its isolation. Originally published in German in 1976, this English edition is illustrated with music examples and includes a complete list of works, and a bibliography which has been adapted for the English-speaking reader.

Customer Reviews:

Books is overpriced and inaccurate.......2007-09-03

You would expect that for a book that cost as much as this one you would get an accurate history of Hanns Eisler, his life, his family, and his troubles with his family, but that is not the case. The book spends too much time mitigating Hanns and his brother Gerhardt controversial ties with the Communist party while marginalizing his sister, Ruth Fischer, their chief accuser. Sorry to say that this books, although interesting, is afraid to go beyond the surface and is a whitewash of this controversial, but brilliant musician. By the time you finish it, you will would think that his sister was crazy and that Hanns and his brother were just plain ordinary folks hounded out of America by that mean old committee and Richard Nixon. Go ahead and read it. Read his much marginalized, but brilliant sister's book too. By the time, you are finished both, you just might break out into a chorus of Night and Day instead of the Eisler composition, The Comintern March. Eisler's life, relationship with his familyand politics were much more interesting and complicated than you will find in the pages of this overpriced whitewash. I doubt, however, a true account of the man will ever see the light of day.

comprehensive,analytic history of a 20th Century master.......1999-04-14

Although written in the mid-Eighties this is still an exhaustive,detailed account of a Twentieth Century master,the first in English. Eisler was a Marxist and wrote music as well, two ultimately unique facets of a creator today. No one forsaw the emergence of culture as a last bastion of internal resistence to the state of the world. This is why Betz's book here is so important, for it gives both the analytic and the historical. Betz traces Eisler's entire career. Beginning with the early days as a Schoenberg student. Eisler to my mind anyway had more of a realist vision of the state of Germany,than his counterparts Weill,Berg or Webern in the Twenties,which is why he adopted his political convictions. His early music adopts a Schoenbergian free atonality but he finds his own voice there. Compelling, neurotic and momentum bound are the main features of this early music,He wrote a powerful "First Piano Sonata" from this period and began dabbling in music as social discourse He utilized newspaper clippings, or "Zeitungsausschnitte" the title of the work for piano and voice. Betz extends his analysis to Eisler's meeting in Berlin with Brecht, one of the most prolific and profound collaboration of this century. Betz develops a concept of Eisler's modernity and the unique creative challenges he faced in uniting text with music. Eisler, who wrote over 500 songs during his life was like the Schubert of our age,almost no text was beyond a run through with piano accompaniment. The thrust of this modernity was Eisler's penchant for a striking image, a compact,terse lyrical musical means. Often his songs are quite short which points to this modernity in fast development and quick,concentrated musical motives, where single exposed tones can trigger an image of violence or terror. There is also here an elaborate discussion of Eisler's last major work the opera "Johann Faustus". When Eisler was thrown out of the United States he returned to the DDR, East Germany, and was wholly ignored by the apparatcik authorities,despite the fact that he wrote their National Anthem. This opera was reason enough for this institutional neglect, with veiled barbs on the seductive sides of tyranny. He used the "Peasant Wars" in Germany in the early 1500's as a remote yet very immediate reality for this opera. Betz also includes a comprehensive list of all of Eisler's works including reference to numerous filmscores.

Hanns Eisler. Mit Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten.

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Hanns Eisler. Mit Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten.
Fritz Hennenberg
Manufacturer: Rowohlt Tb.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3499503700

Hanns Eisler: 's musst dem Himmel Hollenangst werden (Archive zur Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts)

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Hanns Eisler: 's musst dem Himmel Hollenangst werden (Archive zur Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts)

Manufacturer: Wolke
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3923997833

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Hanns Eisler: A Rebel in Music
Manfred Grabs
Manufacturer: International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000KYGF46

Book Description

60 rib ticklers — from "Betty beat a bit of butter to make a better batter" to "Does this shop stock short socks with spots?" — all with illustrations for coloring.

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A great help in my personal research

Money Isn't Everything

Useful information with research-based foundation

Highly Recommended!

Great Lessons for Increasing Motivation and Effectiveness!

Intrinsic Motivation at Work: Building Energy and Commitment
Kenneth W Thomas
Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Great Motivation Secrets of Great Leaders

ASIN: 1576752380

Book Description

Intrinsic Motivation at Work marks a major advance on the topic of work motivation -- one based on an understanding of the changing requirements of today's workplace and the limitations of older motivational models. Written in an engaging, accessible style, yet grounded in solid academic research, the book is divided into three parts. Part One assesses older models of work motivation and why they need an overhaul. Part Two explains the nature of the "new work" and the importance of reintroducing a feeling of purpose and self-management. Part Three presents in depth the four intrinsic rewards that make work energizing and compelling -- a sense of meaningfulness, a sense of choice, a sense of competence or quality, and a sense of progress -- and how to create them.

Customer Reviews:

A great help in my personal research.......2005-07-19

I purchased Dr. Thomas' book to assist me in my research in leadership behaviors and stakeholder empowerment, and what a great help.

However, the best part of reading this book, I was forced to remember much of my past training and reignite many of the qualities I had forgetten to practice.

What a great book, would recommend to anyone interested in understand how and why motivation works.

Money Isn't Everything.......2005-05-16

Intrinsic Motivation is one of the better books on leadership and management that I have read recently. Thomas targets both managers and employees, arguing that salaries and other extrinsic rewards are neither the sole nor the primary source of motivation in modern organizations. In fact, monetary compensation is only a factor when making major life decisions (e.g., whether and when to change jobs) and when there is a question of fairness. The best a manager can hope for, says Thomas, is perceived equity - that those doing the most and the best work are the best compensated. Absent major life decisions and inequities, it is intrinsic rewards that will motivate employees.

Intrinsic motivation, according to Thomas, means giving employees an understanding of the purpose of the tasks they do and giving them whole tasks whenever possible. Today's workforce is more highly educated than its forerunners. Competition and the need for quick decision-making have reduced the reliance on middle managers and bureaucratic rulebooks. In this environment, employees must be self-managing and they must have a sense of meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress in the work that they do. If they feel that they have all four of these factors, employees will feel a great sense of job satisfaction, be highly motivated, and perform well.

Thomas offers managers and employees suggestions on how to improve in each area if it seems that that factor is lacking. In fact, if an employee is feeling unmotivated, Thomas suggests the employee consider which of the four "vital signs" is weak and address it accordingly. It is important, for example, for employees at all levels to have a personal vision to boost their sense of meaningfulness. Feeling that you have no choice in how you do your work? Negotiate with your boss for more authority or, if all else fails, consider moving to another job that provides more choice. A sense of competence comes from training and learning, but it also comes from patting oneself on the back for a job well done. Progress can be measured in a number of ways, but one of the best is through contact with customers.

Thomas's book is only an overview into each of these areas. He intends Intrinsic Motivation to be an all-encompassing model of employee motivation, and he generally succeeds. Those seeking more details would need to use Thomas's notes to find articles and books on individual subjects discussed within the book. And it is a shame that while Thomas characterizes outdated management styles as "paternalistic" he uses analogies of parents and children when describing intrinsic motivation. Overall, however, Intrinsic Motivation is a healthy reminder to both managers and workers that there are many steps we can take to improve employee morale and productivity. More money is better than less, Thomas agrees, but a true sense of purpose and worth can be priceless.

Useful information with research-based foundation.......2004-11-26

This is the first book that I have read that provides me with the information to confront the problems associated with instilling intrinsic motivation in those that I manage. It is often the problem that people show little concern for their work. The rule seems to be something like this- Do just enough to get by while exerting the least energy as possible. I like this book because the information is not a story of what a good manager has as an opinion as to what works best but it is a scholarly book in the sense that it provides information based on research that is proven. This is to date the best book that I have to reference when dealing with teams that act out of extrinsic motivation or no motivation at all. I applaud the author for this work.

Highly Recommended!.......2001-04-17

Kenneth W. Thomas presents a model for using intrinsic motivation in the workplace to assure a more committed, self-managed workforce. He advocates leading for meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress. He emphasizes the need to use this approach to give employees the greater independence and decision-making authority they need as bureaucratic management models break down. While many of these themes are presented in other books on leadership, motivation, training and worker empowerment, Thomas pulls them together in a well-organized, clearly written presentation that gives readers clear directions. The succinct style of writing is easy to understand, even though it is directed toward the serious reader. We [...] recommend this book to executives, managers, trainers and management consultants, as well as to employees, who will find helpful ideas for exercising greater self-management.

Great Lessons for Increasing Motivation and Effectiveness!.......2000-10-11

This book deserves more than five stars.

Prior to Intrinsic Motivation at Work, management books often referred to the need for intrinsic motivation or sources of thta motivation (such as an inspiring purpose or interesting work). This book takes those isolated thoughts and connects them into a systematic method of improving overall motivation by increasing internal motivation and connecting with external sources of motivation. This book will be a landmark in the field of human resource management for decades to come.

The book contains many helpful elements to help you understand its message. One that I particularly liked was the management tale. In one connected example, it showed how management attention has shifted in the last 120 years from making people perform more effectively at predefined tasks (the rational approach as defined by scientific management) to creating passion and fulfillment from work, by focusing on the emotional side of a person. You get an overview of management practice and theory in very small and easy-to-digest doses. For example, one of my favorite sentences was "So the executives crafted Vision Statements that emphasized Contribution to Customers and Quality . . . but often [they] rang hollow in time -- like unkept promises."

The author distills the relevant sources of intrinsic motivation into meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress. These ideas are nicely developed in several dimensions. For example, it is explained how these affect the worker (or associate, if you prefer that term). You also find out what the leader or manager has to do to help create those factors for the worker. Then, the author also exposes how the four areas are connected in a system of postive (or potentially negative) feedback. Further, you are given five elements of each one to develop.

Basically, the model calls for the meaningful purpose of the organization as the starting point. The next step is to give people a choice of actions to implement that purpose. Then activities are performed, and these are monitored for the competency shown (which may generate the need for better choices to pursue the object or to enhance the competency of those involved). After the activities are completed, you also look for progress and relate this back to the original purpose and your choices for fulfilling that purpose.

The book goes on the explain how to integrate intrinsic and external sources of motivation so that they reinforce one another.

There are several points to keep in mind when considering this book. First, you will get even better results if the organization picks a meaningful purpose that offers the potential for more intrinsic motivation. Some purposes have more potential to be accomplished and some are more exciting to more people. I find that most people latch onto an organizational purpose with too little consideration of the alternatives. Second, any on-going organization has a perceived purpose that attracts and retains employees now. You should find out what that is before changing it. My experience has been that you get better results by building upon that assumed purpose than by striking off in a totally new direction. Third, simplification (see Simplicity) is a related thought process that should be employed with this one. A lot of demotivation along intrinsic lines follows errors in making things too complicated and difficult.

Although this book is about work, its principles apply just as well to volunteer activities. I suggest that you share the book with those you volunteer with and then discuss how to employ its lessons to fulfill your empowering purposes.

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