Management Books

1. Are you familiar with self-help books of the genre 'How to Unlock Your Confidence' or 'Don’t Wait For Your Ship to Come In. . . Swim Out to Meet It'? Have you read any? Which were useful to you; which weren't? Did any of the books affect the way you go about your life? If so, in what way? Do you have any recommendations for a book or an author? 

2. Have you read any personal development books for managers? What titles do they typically have? Are they popular amongst managers in your country? Which authors specialise in this genre? Who is a typical self-help book author (both domestic and international)? Do you have any criticisms of this particular genre?

3. Read article here: Management Books Reading

4. Did your criticisms match those of the author of the article?

5. Below are some of the constants that management advice books have, and their actual outcomes (according to the author). Do you recognise any of them? Have you seen any examples of them in your industry?

a) Human behaviour is changeable. (Then why do we spend years receiving therapy?)

b) The manager will bring about change. (Company infrastructure outweighs any individual.)

c) Everybody in the company will benefit from the changes. (Outcomes are different for different workers.)

d) The new technique is universally effective. (Cultural or sectoral differences stop this.)

e) Positive case studies that prove the technique works. (Negative case studies are avoided.)

f) Managers are heroes. (Adoption of folk tales doesn't help.)

6. Why do you think that the market for management self-help books exists? Isn't it in the interests of companies to train their own managers and not rely on managers doing it themselves? Is there something missing from a manager's learning journey (leave university, get an entry-level job, then promotion)?

7. Modern authors sometimes borrow classical works and adapt them to modern business environments - I'm thinking of Lao Tzu's 'Art of War' - to arrive at something like 'Lao Tzu's Art of Accountancy'. What is the appeal of using texts from the past for the basis of a self-help book, do you think?

8. Could common sense replace a lot of the advice given in self-help books, or do you think that they contain real insights?

9. In what situation would you face 'myriad challenges'?

10. Does your language have an equivalent for 'herding cats'?

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Situation

The CEO of AndrewCorp (your teacher) wants to reduce the costs of the employee training programme: most employee training is done in-house by training contractors who teach IT, software programmes, and some foreign languages. His idea is to give each employee a small training budget which they should use for the purchase of books which are relevant to the employee's position in the company. 

You are the head of HR. Make your opinion known on the use of self-help books for employee training - in which areas will it be effective/non-effective? Make recommendations on the types of training you think will be needed.

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Discuss quotes

"Self-help books for women are part of a multibillion-dollar industry, sensitively attuned to our insecurities and our purses."

--- Harriet Lerner

"Self-help books are for the birds. Self-help groups are where it's at."

--- Janice Dickinson

“The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work.”

— Agha Hasan Abedi

“Make your top managers rich and they will make you rich.”

— Robert H. Johnson

Student Handout PDF: Management Books

Photo: Andrea Piacquadio

Books: Anatomy Of A Prizewinner

1. Name the authors of the last three fictional books you read.

2. Who were the protagonists? Male or female?

3. When browsing for books, what guides you? The title, the author's name, or the cover? Is it the same with non-fiction? 

4. Do you follow literary awards? Do their decisions influence your book buying?

5. Before reading the infographic, are the following statements true or false?

a) Female writers are more comprehensive in their ability to describe life.

b) Male writers only write about experiences that they can identify with.

c) The panels who decide on prizewinners are male dominated/biased towards a mostly male publishing industry.

d) It's easier to please male book buyers.

Read the infographic halfway down the page here: Anatomy Of A Prize Winner Reading

6. Have you read any of the books/authors from the infographic?

7. Do you think book buyers care about the gender of the author? Do women write books for women, but men write books for everybody?

8. What good reasons can you think of for not finishing a book?

9. Are there any books that you regret not finishing, or not starting?

10. Which authors from your country are most present in prize-giving lists? Is there a male/female divide?

11. If I wanted to appear well-read, which books from your language should I have read, or claim to have read? 

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Situation

You are the literary correspondent at the BBC. You are doing a radio interview with a host (your teacher) who is asking you about the best books of 2022. Give your recommendations for the best reads of the year (You can use any book that you have read in the past - we'll assume that it was published in 2022).

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Discuss quotes

1. ‘Classic – a book which people praise and don’t read.’

- Mark Twain

2. “The book trade invented literary prizes to stimulate sales, not to reward merit.”

― Michael Moorcock

3. ‘If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.’

--- Oscar Wilde 

4. ‘There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.’

--- Joseph Brodsky 

5. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”

---  George R.R. Martin

Student Handout PDF: Anatomy

Audiobook Voices

 

1. Who is your favourite voice in your language/English? What do you like about their voice? 

2. Do you listen to audiobooks? Why/why not? Which have been your favourites/least liked? What advantages do they have over traditional reading?

3. Are there some types of text that don't lend themselves to audio versions?

4. Are there any voice actors that have cornered the audiobook market for literature in your country? Do you know of any famous audiobook readers for anglophone literature? 

5. Have you ever taken part in a spoken event/recorded your own voice? What was it for? 

6. Did you ever read aloud while you were at school? Did you enjoy it or dread it? Does reading aloud enhance understanding or does it hinder it?

Read the article here: Audiobook Reading

7. What surprised you most about the work of an audiobook narrator? Is it something you would consider doing yourself?

8.From the three following steps, which would you find the hardest to do?

a) Read the book in a short space of time.

b) Visualisation of characters and events.

c) Spending 4 to 6 hours per day in a recording booth.

9. If you could choose a novel to narrate, which one would it be? Would it be your favourite book of all time, or would you worry that the recording process might make you resent your favourite work? What makes a text easy to read? What authors would you avoid reading?

10. Look at the following sentences describing voices; in your own words, describe how these voices sound.

a) I could hear Brian’s booming voice drawing ever closer.

b) ' I’ve got something for you,’ he said in his low husky voice.

c) She put on a squeaky voice and did an impression of Michael Jackson.

d) “I’ll look after you”, she said in a sweet voice.

e) She delivered her dialogue in a monotone voice.

11. What types of voice would you expect in the narration of a thriller, a children's story, or a classic tale?

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Situation

You work for a large translation company that specialises in translating classics from your language into English audiobooks. You are recruiting a native-English speaker for your latest project (your choice of book).

At the interview, inform the candidate (your teacher) of your project requirements - including your policy on dress code, voice type, soundproofing requirements, hours worked, 'transparency' etc. 

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Discuss quotes

“Dad used to read aloud to us from Dickens and Kipling. My tastes were omnivorous. I read anything I could lay my hands on, but the memory that stays with me is that of my father reading the Jungle Books to us when we were young. Beautiful stories!”

― A. B. Guthrie, Jr.

"Books are mute as far as sound is concerned. It follows that reading aloud is a combination of two distinct operations, of two 'languages.' It is something far more complex than speaking and reading taken separately by themselves."

--- Maria Montessori

"It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear."

--- Italo Calvino

“Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.”

― Lisa See

"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of reading it."

--- P. J. O'Rourke

Student Handout PDF: Audiobook

Photo: Karolina Grabowska

Literature As Communication

 

1. Is literature still a popular subject choice for university-level students in your country? If there has been a decline in the uptake of literature studies, what would you attribute it to?

Read article here: Literature As Communication

2. Were you surprised that today's students are 40% less empathetic than previous generations, and that this fall in empathy correlates to the drop in numbers of those studying literature?

3. Can you think of any book-reading friends? Do they seem more empathetic than non-book-reading friends?

4. What is the stereotypical image of someone who can be classed as a 'bookworm'? Does 'empathetic' fit their description?

5. The article makes use of an MRI study that showed increased blood flow to the brain while reading literature - it's unlikely that you can feel the increased blood flow, but have you noticed any tangible effects while reading? Improved mood, increased equanimity? What were you reading at the time?

6. Which of these two statements do you agree with most?

a) Literature describes human experience, and it is this which stimulates empathy.

b) Literature demands close reading, and it is this which stimulates empathy. I could close-read a supermarket catalogue and get increased empathy.

7. Could the findings of the study lead to any 'downstream' treatments, do you think? Could psychiatrists/doctors prescribe a reading list to patients who are mildly depressed? Could close reading be used in treating brain injury?

8. Could/should universities make use of this research in promoting humanities courses? Could it lead to a renaissance in literature studies?

9. What books should world leaders have read before becoming eligible for power?

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Situation

You are an admissions officer for the English department at your local university. You are talking to the parent of a potential student, who is looking to enrol his son at the best-choice university. He thinks that engineering would be the best choice for his son. Convince him of the benefits of taking literature as a subject.

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Discuss quotes

“When we read great literature, something changes in us that stays changed.  Literature remembered becomes material to think with.”

--- Donald Hall

“In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read. . . .

 It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.”

--- S. I. Hayakaw

“We read to know we are not alone.”

---- C. S. Lewis

Student Handout PDF: Literature As Reading

Photo: Cottonbro