Getting to Yes

A great series of tools and suggestions on how to negotiate a successful outcome to an impasse can be found in the book Getting to Yes by Fischer and Ury.  In their third edition, the authors offer a simplistic and thoughtful way to have both sides feel like they have their thoughts and needs discussed in the process.  As the authors note, this is pretty simple thinking, yet in the “heat” of the moment, we allow our “power hungry” side often to take the lead.  The five principles espoused in the book are: 1.) “separate the people from the problem"; 2.) "focus on interests, not positions"; 3.) "invent options for mutual gain"; 4.) "insist on using objective criteria"; and 5.) "know your BATNA (Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement)."  The most important point is that one needs to speak from their interest and not their position. So often we are just about “winning” and not really listening to what the other is truly interested in, which may not always be monetary in nature.  I felt that this is a very helpful read that can be used in your daily job for having two employees work better together, or when you are selling a house, purchasing a product, or discussing a problem with a neighbor.  In the end it all goes back to one thing, be intentional, thoughtful and be prepared to give in some as we are often clouded by our own position and our belief that we are right without thinking about the other.  As in Stephen Covey’s highly touted Seven Habits, seek to understand then to be understood.  Anyone dealing with others would benefit from doing at least a skim of the tenets as it is pretty redundant once you get the concept.  The examples are helpful in putting into practice the concepts.  A quick read!

Contact

Just started meeting with the newly hired RAs for 2014-15 and finished my first book from the group called Contact by Carl Sagan.  Yes, it is time to enter the world of sci-fi, a very popular read when it was published in 1985.  Set in the late twentieth century, prior to the millennium, Ellie Arroway’s story begins when in elementary school where she is noted to have a strong aptitude for science.  After the death of her supportive father, her mother remarries a man (John Straughton) who is not fond of Ellie’s strong ties to science.  The “external” negative influence of family only propels Ellie to persevere and excel, first at Harvard for undergraduate and then to Caltech where she meets her faculty mentor, David Drumlin, an expert radio astronomer.  To his surprise after she finishes her degree, Ellie is hired to be in charge of "Project Argus," a telescope system that is focused on communication and detection of extra-terrestrial intelligence around the atmosphere (the program is called “SETI”).  All things begin to get really interesting when communication is heard from space… it is revealed that the message appears to be a re-transmission from Adolf Hitler’s opening speech of the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin! To make things more complicated, there is a repeating series of 26 Prime numbers coming from the 25 light years away re-transmission in space.  Could it be associated with pi – 3.14…?  With 30,000 pages to decode and limited time, Ellie needs assistance.  The President of the US and other noted international astronomers get involved in the mystery.  Ellie gets involved with religious leaders and also an international debate between US and Russia (was the big story in the Cold War days) on how to move forward and whether we should make “contact” by going into space with the help of building a machine that would bring humans to “space life.”  Of course there is a love triangle, family drama with Ellie and her ailing mother and creepy step-father.  Eventually Ellie and a few other colleagues get to make “contact” or do they?  With all good sci-fi stories there is a race to the finish and identifying the mystery.  I won’t reveal what happens as to not ruin the ending.  There is more intrigue than the extra-terrestrial messages.  The intrigue is there, the characters are interesting, and the story moves quickly.  I never warmed up to Ellie too much or her lack of “soft-side” as she unravels mystery.  Reads quick, so sci-fi lovers may enjoy.  For me, it was ok, but didn’t hold me at the edge of my seat.        

Americanah

When people ask me the type of books RAs read, this is one that fits into a distinct category: an immigrant coming to America and managing to succeed and live an Americana Dream.  This particular book (Americanah) is the journey of a young Nigerian woman, written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which has significant correlations to the author’s own journey.  The two main characters in the story are Ifemelu and Obinze, who are first introduced as young teenagers in Nigeria and fall in love growing up in their homeland.  Ifemelu decides to leave her country to study in the United States, which leads to their breakup.  The remaining storyline follows the separate journeys of the two characters Ifemelu and her challenges in the US, lack of money, dealing with racial bias, finding how immigrants start at the low rung of the employment ladder (care-giver/nanny) to finally making it.  Ifemelu has her big break after she begins to “blog” about the racial divide in the US between African and Caucasian people, which leads her to be hired as a consultant/speaker on topics related to diversity.  Ifemelu’s journey into adulthood is captured through her relationships with men and how society (and her family) responds (first with a white man and later with an African-American – which is very different than from a native African).  Simultaneously, the story shares Obinze’s decision to leave Nigeria and after many attempts goes to the UK to follow his path for success (monetary), which he eventually achieves. The book presents significant reminders to the challenges and disturbing racial intolerances that immigrants face when leaving their homeland.  The book concludes where it began, the two coming face to face at a meeting later in life back in Nigeria, where it all began, and see if after the two journeys the former young lovers can be brought back together again, though one of the characters is now married with a child.  The story is uniquely told through the voice of the character.  This is a beautifully written and engaging book.  The depth of story and intricacies of the characters are well developed.  The story flows nicely.  I would highly recommend this one and yes, dreams can come true with hard work and resilience. Good read for those who really enjoy the journey stories.

Weekends at Bellevue

It’s time to start reading books again.  I invited the Resource Center Assistants (RCA) to meet with me after getting feedback from them that I should treat them like RAs.  Agreed.  So I have met with a number of the thirteen so far, and the first book I was suggested was Weekends at Bellevue by Dr. Julie Holland.  The book chronicles the real life experience of Dr. Holland during her nine years as a psych ER doctor from 1995-2004.  For anyone who may be reading this blog and not from NYC, Bellevue Hospital is the famous city hospital of NY, which means everyone is accepted, whether they have insurance or not.  This is the hospital where many of the homeless population, criminals, patients with schizophrenia, drug-overdoses, and other city dwellers are sent to receive hospital treatment.  Holland works every Saturday and Sunday night shift, guiding the young docs on the shift with her.  She provides guidance and leadership on the nights where the city is ALIVE and active.  As you may imagine, this collection of individuals brought to a hospital for mental health issues makes for a compelling job, and stories for our reading pleasure.  Interwoven within the bi-polar, suicidal, depressed, homicidal, and other category of mental-health patients is the story of her entry into graduate school, her relationships with colleagues (some good, some not so good), her various male “conquests” (include getting married), the birth of her two children, and the eventual decision to leave the ER.   Holland shares how she developed her “style” as a doctor and how her relationship with her father fueled much of her “coldness” in response to her patients.  We also learn about her vulnerabilities and the decision for her to enter a relationship with a counselor and how she worked through her challenges.  There are real life stories well documented within the book, such as the shooter at the Empire State Building (she worked with one of those who was shot), 9/11 response in the city, the suicide of her friend and writer Spalding Gray, and some other well-known deaths of NY residents.  The story is an interesting read, though Holland never really ingratiates herself as an overly sympathetic doctor, though I would imagine her edge was clearly developed through the type of people she engaged each weekend.  Interesting story of work that is necessary but really hard to think about doing on a regular basis.  Strange choice for a favorite book, but kept me glued throughout.

The Night Circus: RA Reviews

Last semester, a group of RAs met to discuss The Night Circus.  The following reviews were submitted by RAs.

Michael

Erin Morgenstern paints a picture of a magical circus known as Le Cirque des Rêves, or Circus of Dreams, that is unlike any other circus in the world. Draped only in black and white, the circus that appears in a new location overnight without warning and features mystical tents that can hold an entire garden made out of ice, carousel animals that breathe, and moving statues. The circus was to be the stage of two magicians who are pitted against each other in a mysterious challenge. The Night’s Circus delivered exactly what it had promised, a quick and enjoyable read to pass the time. Morgenstern does a beautiful job describing the circus in images so vivid that it makes the reader want to step into the book and enjoy the circus. That being said however, any analysis of the actual story will leave a person frustrated. The story had started off as an interesting premise but eventually devolved into simply another tale about star-crossed lovers. The constant time skips serve nothing more than to perplex the reader. Although the major qualm I have with this book is the ending. Throughout the novel there was plenty of build up towards a climax in which the challenge is explained, however it did not happen. Truthfully the ending felt like Morgenstern was running out of time and needed to come up with a conclusion quickly since it left the reader confused with more questions than answers. However, other parts of the ending were so cliché and predictable that the reader could guess what was going happen before part two of the book. I would recommend this book only if it were to be used as a time-killer say on a long plane ride or relaxing on the beach.

Sherry

The writing, plot, and execution of her story wasa lackluster to say the least.

I prefer imagery to complement a plot rather than substitute it.

The book dragged on and felt incredibly tiresome due to her never-ending descriptions.

I wouldn't even recommend it to someone looking for an "easy" read. It was just all so predictable.
I would write more about it but I've honestly tried to forget as much of it as I could in the last 3 months...

Anusha

The Night Circus was an enjoyable book with a slew of characters and luxurious settings. Personally, I did not feel that this was a book for a critical reader out for a tale that would engage his or her ideas about the world, but if one was looking for a light read filled with a mysterious romance, the Night Circus is a wonderful place. The characters are not quite believable, but a little more dreamlike in nature: the powerful Celia, the handsome Marcus, the marvelous Chandresh, and the dark Alexander. The settings and the description of the more physical details can carry the reader into a land of plush from the several extravagant rooms where the Midnight Dinners are held to the circus. The night circus with its never-ending paths, physically impossible tent contents, exuberant decorations, fantastical clock and mouth-watering delicacies is like a dream and found only at night. It leaves town and pops up in a new place without warning. The story and the whole experience of The Night Circus is perfect for those looking for an escape to a magical late 19^th century.

Becca

I really enjoyed reading Night Circus. While it wasn't a book with a lot of depth, it was a quick, easy read full of wonder and great description. The story was captivating and Erin Morgenstern created a place I could easily get lost in with the circus. That being said, many of the characters were overshadowed by the circus, and Morgenstern used a few odd writing techniques that did little to add to the story. Overall, I would recommend this book to pretty much anyone who's looking for a light, easy read. It's definitely a page-turner.

Nikki

I thought that The Night Circus was a very fun read. It was quick and easy, not a book that demanded too much from me. I thought that the characters could have been better developed, but then again, I also feel as though it wasn't the kind of book that was trying to win a Pulitzer or anything. Overall, I give it an A-.

Sam

Overall, I did not enjoy Night Circus. While it was a quick read, the characters were poorly developed and the author failed in her attempt to mimic an older writing style. Ridden with clichés and cheap imagery, the novel could rely only on plot for value. However, due to the lack of character development, I was uninvested in the characters, and so uninvested in the plot, which, I found, was predictable anyway. Furthermore, the author’s employment of multiple perspectives did not enhance the quality of her work, as such a tactic often does in other pieces of writing. Perhaps, overall, I was disillusioned because any author who tries to write about magic is competing with the genius of J.K. Rowling, and Stephanie Meyer has already covered a niche market of lovesick preteens who do not appreciate good literature.