What I’ve Been Reading

I was excited about this new book, but have to say that I ended up underwhelmed by it. In essence, the book argues that the concept of “flow” might be too high a bar for most people to aspire to in their daily life, and rather that reaching our “optimal zone” is more useful. The […]

I am a big fan of Leonard Mlodinow’s work, and can recommend anything he writes! He knows his stuff and writes in a way that is easy to understand, engaging and frequently humorous! In this book he explores the power of flexible thinking in a constantly changing world. The book covers how we approach change,

I absolutely loved this book, and I couldn’t put it down! I love the author’s writing style and the content was truly fascinating. I read it on holidays and kept interrupting my partner’s relaxation time to share some new interesting information I discovered within the book! The book explains how cooperation is the secret of

I was delighted to discover that David and Alikki had published this book on restorative practice. They are two of the leading academics and practitioners in the field and have combined their many years of experience to provide an accessible and much-needed overview of this field of practice. The book combines theory, research, and practice

This book caught my attention, as one of the mindset shifts we work on in REAL Conflict Coaching is the shift from certainty to uncertainty. Jackson acknowledges the natural human tendency to want to avoid uncertainty. She explores the perils of certainty, explaining how our drive for knowledge and certainty actually reduces the very cognitive

This book was written in 2017, but a colleague recommended it to me, so I bought a copy. It’s a short and easy to read book, with the most beautiful illustrations and lots of excellent advice about how to listen deeply. I wholeheartedly agree with one of the first paragraphs in the preface to the

The subtitle of this book is “The art of seeing others deeply and being deeply seen”. In many ways, this book is the result of a personal journey by the author, who recognised that he was living his life in a kind of detached way, without vulnerable emotional connections with others and who worked hard

Brené Brown made shame accessible in her work on shame and vulnerability, and this book continues the exploration of that emotion but in a slightly different way.  This book focuses on the harm that shame and shaming can do, and how shame is manipulated in social and political contexts.  It also considers the problem of

This book describes a fairly simple premise – that we often miss people’s hidden potential. It also provides some ideas for how to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to reach their potential. Grant explains that high achievers often vary dramatically in their initial aptitude, so early success is not necessarily an indicator of later

I met Sarah Federman when I was a visiting scholar at the Centre for Narrative and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University in Washington DC (now part of the Carter School of Peace and Conflict Studies). We shared an office and many fascinating conversations, including some while paddleboarding on the Potomac River! At the time