The first book to reveal how thinking like a designer can help solve the greatest challenges we face in business, society, and our daily lives. What can we learn from the ways great designers think--and how can it improve our world? In this highly original book by journalist Warren Berger, in collaboration with celebrated designer Bruce Mau, ten groundbreaking principles of design are shown in action--addressing business, social, and personal challenges and improving the way we think, work, and live. "Glimmer" takes readers on a journey through today's fascinating world of design, where the formerly distinct disciplines of graphic, product, and social design are undergoing "smart recombinations." In the cutting-edge studios of Mau and other visionaries, everything is ripe for reinvention--including the ways businesses function, children learn, and communities thrive. Designers are solving problems at an unprecedented pace today by using improved technology and the highly practical design principles described in this book, such as "Ask stupid questions," "Make hope visible," "Work the metaphor," "Embrace constraints," and "Begin anywhere." "Glimmer" inspires readers to apply these same principles to their own life challenges. While celebrated designers work on re-creating the world, Berger reveals the growing grassroots "glimmer movement" in which everyday people are emerging as designers and problem solvers. Readers will be fascinated by how "transformation design" is reinventing companies and addressing thorny social problems. Berger shares stories of how burned fingers, wrenched backs, and mixed-up pills all led to ingenious new product designs. In a time of anxiety and retrenchment, this hopeful yet hardheaded book illuminates "the glimmer of possibility and potential--that first spark of an innovative idea or a life-changing plan." According to Berger, "This faint light is all around us and also within us, if we can learn to recognize and nurture it." The best designers already know how to transform that glimmer of possibility into the steady glow of creation and innovation --and with the inspiration of "Glimmer," we're now all able to do the same.

    Drawing on a wide range of insightful, global real-life case studies to capture the imagination, the topics covered include critical systems thinking, philosophies of leadership, group dynamics, authority, ethics, personal character and the psychology of leadership.

    It is heartfelt and smart. This book describes how health care should be: honest, straightforward, accessible, affordable, uncomplicated and based on a relationship of mutual trust and respect. And most of all for me, this book gives us an idea of the magnitude of suffering acupuncture can relieve when it's affordable. It should be required reading for first year acupuncture students. -Ann Mongeau, L. Ac., Dipl. OM, RN, MaOM, MaN, FNP

    Alvar Aalto, Buckminster Fuller, Rudolph Schindler, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, Eileen Gray, Charles and Ray Eames, Charles Gwathmey, Carlo Scarpa, Herzog & de Meuron: most great architects of the past hundred years have begun or catalyzed their careers with an iconic house.The introduction looks at the historical and social motivations behind epoch-making residential architecture, showing in sidebars twenty of the most important early examples. Then eighty houses—sixty of which have been specially photographed—are presented chronologically. The text describes the all-important relationship between architecture and client, the physical context in which the house is set, and the pivotal role the house played in the development of the architect’s career and architecture in general.Concise architect biographies and a list of key buildings accompany each house, while photographs and easy-to-read plans bring the words to life.

    But recent ecological theory shows that the nature of these fragments is not nearly as important for conservation as is the nature of the matrix of agriculture that surrounds them. Local extinctions from conservation fragments are inevitable and must be balanced by migrations if massive extinction is to be avoided. High migration rates only occur in what the authors refer to as 'high quality' matrices, which are created by alternative agroecological techniques, as opposed to the industrial monocultural model of agriculture. The authors argue that the only way to promote such high quality matrices is to work with rural social movements. Their ideas are at odds with the major trends of some of the large conservation organizations that emphasize targeted land purchases of protected areas. They argue that recent advances in ecological research make such a general approach anachronistic and call, rather, for solidarity with the small farmers around the world who are currently struggling to attain food sovereignty.Nature's Matrix proposes a radically new approach to the conservation of biodiversity based on recent advances in the science of ecology plus political realities, particularly in the world's tropical regions.

    A handbook, a resource guide, a call to action, and an inspiration, it offers 330 concrete, direct ideas for making a difference—all of which have nothing to do with the size of your checkbook and everything to do with using the hidden assets that are already a part of your life. Whether you’re shopping, working, exercising, or surfing the Web, there are hundreds of ways to slip small but deeply meaningful acts of philanthropy into your life, using 330 of the most innovative and effective charitable organizations around. Have an old pair of sneakers lying around the house? Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program will recycle them into safe playground surfaces. getting rid of that old cell phone? Call to Protect will refurbish it as an emergency lifeline for abused women. Racking up frequent-flier miles? Donate them to an ill child so they can travel and get the care they need. Like to knit? Knit hats for cancer patients. Start a petition, sign a petition, send out an awareness e-mail, and network with like-minded givers and doers at Care2.com. There are ideas for giving things you might never have thought of—your hair, old prom dress, breast milk for African AIDS orphans. Ideas for using your hobbies, talents, time, trash, technology, and more. Each suggestion can be accomplished in the course of a day, most within an hour. In tough times it’s more important than ever that people and communities pull together— How To Be An Everyday Philanthropist makes it easier than ever before.

    It encompasses Gerda Lerner's theoretical writing and her organizational work in transforming the history profession and in establishing Women's History as a mainstream field.Six of the twelve essays are new, written especially for this volume; the others have previously appeared in small journals or were originally presented as talks, and have been revised for this book. Several essays discuss feminist teaching and the problems of interpretation of autobiography and memoir for the reader and the historian. Lerner's reflections on feminism as a worldview, on the meaning of history writing, and on problems of aging lend this book unusual range and depth. Together, the essays illuminate how thought and action connected in Lerner's life, how the life she led before she became an academic affected the questions she addressed as a historian, and how the social and political struggles in which she engaged informed her thinking. Written in lucid, accessible prose, the essays will appeal to the general reader as well as to students at all levels. Living with History / Making Social Change offers rare insight into the life work of one of the leading historians of the United States.

    It explains why sustainability is important in a crowded world, and how we can use basic ecological principles to live with, not against, nature."--Steven P. Christman, editor, Floridata.com  "Brings important environmentally friendly gardening information together in one comprehensive reference. Will be of interest to environmentally sensitive gardeners and homeowners, landscape architects, landscapers, nursery owners, wholesale and retail growers, land managers, park managers, and more."--Gil Nelson, author of Florida's Best Native Landscape Plants   Sustainable gardening is a broad topic that includes best practices in gardening, organic gardening, making the best use of local resources, growing your own vegetables, saving water, and doing the least amount of damage to the environment. In Sustainable Gardening for Florida, Ginny Stibolt presents easy money-saving projects that help to reduce Floridians' collective ecological footprint.   The state's unique features and climate provides both challenges and opportunities for gardeners. Stibolt provides detailed instructions for various projects that promote a successful gardening experience within the tropical climate. She includes interesting and doable projects and property management techniques that should have a significant beneficial effect on Florida's environment.   This wide range of techniques, which features a combination of eco-friendly landscape design and organic practices, offers new ideas and new ways of approaching common environmental subjects at a personal level and for community-wide action that will make a positive impact on the state, one yard at a time.

    The guru of Sixties radicals, Alinsky urged his followers to be flexible and opportunistic and say anything to get power, which they can then use to radically change existing social and economic institutions. In this insightful new booklet, Horowitz discusses Alinsky’s work in the 60s—and his advice to radicals to seize any weapon to advance their cause. This became the philosophy of Alinskyite organizations such as ACORN and influenced the future President who came up through the Chicago network created by Alinsky’s network. After analyzing Saul Alinsky’s work and pointing out that the godfather of “social organizing” created “ not salvation but chaos,” Horowitz then he asks the crucial question: “And presidential disciples of Alinsky, what will they create?”

    Originally published as a series of zines between 1995 and 2004, the works inside have served as a resource and as a challenge to all men who want a world that is free from oppression and war. Contributors include Sam Pullen, Donald Cavanaugh, Jeff Ott, Tony Switzer, Loolwa Khazzoom, Chris Dixon, Qwo-Li Driskill, Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhran, Cameron Bustamante, Todd Denny, Basil Shadid, billie rain, Chris Crass and Michael Flood.

    Making sense of the black American experience requires situating it within the larger cultural, political-economic, and ideological dynamics that shape American life. This volume moves away from privileging racial commonality as the fulcrum of inquiry and moves toward observing the quality of the accounts scholars have rendered of black American life. This book maps the changing conditions of black political practice and experience from Emancipation to Obama with excursions into the Jim Crow era, Black Power radicalism, and the Reagan revolt. Here are essays, classic and new, that define historically and conceptually discrete problems affecting black Americans as these problems have been shaped by both politics and scholarly fashion. A key goal of the book is to come to terms with the changing terrain of American life in view of major Civil Rights court decisions and legislation.

    Young Americans are responsive to effective outreach efforts, and this collection addresses how to best provide opportunities for enhancing civic learning and forming lasting civic identities.The thirteen original essays are based on research in schools and in settings beyond the schoolyard where civic life is experienced. One focus is on programs for those schools in poor communities that tend to overlook civic education. Another chapter reports on how two city governments--Hampton, Virginia, and San Francisco--have invited youth to participate on boards and in agencies. A cluster of chapters focuses on the civic education programs in Canada and Western Europe, where, as in the United States, immigration and income inequality raise challenges to civic life.

    Shick, Be the Change: Poems, Prayers and Meditations for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers, 2009. Thandeka, “Future Designs for Liberal Theology,” ...

    In sharp contrast to earlier studies of the KKK, McVeigh treats the Klan as it saw itself-as a national organization concerned with national issues.

    Deepening poverty and accelerating ecological destruction challenge us to act with wisdom and maturity: How can we move toward a future where meaning, hope, and beauty can truly flourish? Drawing on insights from economics, psychology, science, and spirituality, The Tao of Liberation seeks wisdom leading to authentic liberation a path toward ever-greater communion, diversity, and creativity for the Earth community. It describes this wisdom using the Chinese word Tao both a way leading to harmony and the unfolding process of the cosmos itself.

    Nothing extraordinary about that, all empires so far have had life cycles, and the US Empire is no exception. In no way should that be confused with any fall of the USA; just to the contrary, the fall of the US Empire may lead to the blossoming of the US Republic. And in no way should the book be seen as "anti-American"; just to the contrary. Part I, The Present, explores the why, what, how, when and where of the present decline and fall of the US Empire, based on a theory used in 1980 to predict the fall of the Soviet empire. Part II, The Future, And Then What? explores the world as a whole with three global scenarios, successors, regionalization or globalization, mainly the latter, and the US Republic with two domestic scenarios, US fascism and US blossoming, mainly the latter. Part III, The Past, is dedicated to a study from 1979 comparing the Western Roman Empire processes with Western imperialism millennia later.

    Rebick argues that today's combination of environmental crisis, globalization, and rapid technological innovation is producing profound new ideas about social and political life, and that this groundswell is truly the vanguard of a global movement to change the way we live our lives, from the ground up.

    It responds to critical portrayals of this generation of "twenty-somethings" as being disengaged and apathetic about politics, social problems, and civic causes.Bringing together graduates of a women's leadership certificate program at Rutgers University's Institute for Women's Leadership, these essays provide a contrasting picture to assumptions about the current death of feminism, the rise of selfishness and individualism, and the disaffected Millennium Generation. Reflecting on a critical juncture in their livesùthe years during college and the beginning of careers or graduate studiesùthe contributors' voices demonstrate the ways that diverse, young, educated women in the United States are embodying and formulating new models of leadership, at the same time as they are finding their own professional paths, ways of being, and places in the world. They reflect on controversial issues such as gay marriage, gender, racial profiling, war, immigration, poverty, urban education, and health care reform in a post-9/11 era.Leading the Way introduces readers to young women who are being prepared and empowered to assume leadership roles with men in all public arenas, and to accept equal responsibility for making positive social change in the twenty-first century.

    To create lasting change we have to learn to work fluidly with two distinct, fundamental drives that are in tension: power—the single-minded desire to achieve one’s solitary purpose; and love—the drive towards unity.  They are seemingly contradictory but in fact complimentary. As Martin Luther King put it, “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.” Using revealing stories from complex situations he has been involved in all over the world—the Middle East, South Africa, Europe, India, Guatemala, the Philippines, Australia, Canada and the United States—Kahane reveals how to dynamically balance these two forces. Just as when we are toddlers we learn to shift from one foot to the other to move ourselves forward, so we can learn to shift back and forth between power and love in order to move society forward.

    The essential lifestyle guide for the millions of progressives on both coasts, The Nation Guide to The Nation will help left-of-center types find left-leaning shops, cultural institutions, and gathering places in their own hometowns and on the road.CULTURAL: Art collectives / activist documentaries / political circuses / film festivals / writers' colonies / left-brained bookstores / arts advocacy groups / indie book publishers / the 25 greatest political movies / detective stories for liberals SOCIAL: Organic and slow food restaurants / political saloons and bars / bookshop cafés and conversational coffeehouses / sexy singles meet-ups / reading clubs and discussion groups / camps for radical kids / parades and festivals / parks and preservesENVIRONMENTAL: Activist groups / monkey wrenchers and sea shepherds / eco-friendly products / favorite green markets / super co-ops / eco-tourism / farm communes / energy solutions ORGANIZATIONS: Peace and anti-nuclear / feminist / GLBT / economic policy / immigrant rights / labor issues / campaign finance reform / civil liberties / radical mouthpieces / liberal think tanks MEDIA: Left-talk radio / press watchdogs / anti-corporate media / regional and local papers / alternative weeklies / a guide to the blogosphereGOODS AND SERVICES: Natural food stores / no-sweat clothing / socially conscious mutual funds / political tours / eco-beers and hemp pretzels / funeral homes and cemeteries (for a green send-off!)

    Their ideas are founded on two premises: firstly, that transformative practice begins in the everyday stories that people tell about their lives and that practical theory generated from these narratives is the best way to inform both policy and practice. Secondly, that participatory practice is a tool for examining this knowledge that allows practitioners to examine the way they view the world and to situate their local practice within bigger social issues. The book will be of interest to both academics and community-based practitioners.