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| CITIZENS FOR GLOBAL SOLUTIONS | What We Are Reading | ||
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What We're Reading
A United Nations Emergency Peace Service: To Prevent Genocide and Crimes
Against Humanity U.S. in the World: Talking Global Issues with Americans: A Practical Guide and Policy Matters: Educating Congress on Peace and Security Advocates of cooperative, pragmatic U.S. global engagement have two new nuts and bolts guides to help them communicate more effectively. U.S. in the World, co-published by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and The Aspen Institute, is a communications guide that supports the work of advocates by offering the latest communications research and insight from experts, showing the most effective ways to get facts and arguments across to non-expert American audiences. Policy Matters, published by the Security for a New Century project of the The Henry L. Stimson Center, aims to give informed citizens, community leaders, experts, and nongovernmental organizations the tools to shape the ongoing debates in Congress about today's most critical international security issues. Both guides are must-reads for the engaged citizen and the policy expert alike, and should be placed within easy reach of the advocate's desk for easy reference.
Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
The Wisdom of Crowds
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History
One World Democracy
The Opportunity: America's Moment to Alter History's Course
Career statesman Richard Haass, formerly Director of Policy Planning at the
State Department and currently Chair of the Council on Foreign Relations,
charges that the United States is at a point of unprecedented opportunity to
shape the course of world affairs. The combination of the unlikelihood of
conflict between major powers since the Cold War, common goals among
nations, and global challenges has created this opportunity for the U.S.,
but we must act quickly, having already squandered valuable time and
resources. Haass calls for the United States to adopt a foreign policy
doctrine of integration, with the understanding that we will not be able to
achieve all of our goals, to bring about a world in which countries work
together to meet challenges that no nation can solve alone.
State of the World 2005: Redefining Global Security
Since September 11, 2001, many governments have reasserted the centrality of
traditional, military-focused security. Yet the aftermath of the ensuing
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq underlines once more that lasting security is
not found in soldiers, bullets, and tanks. Security concerns are only in
part about violent conflict, a worst-case outcome that results from a broad
range of underlying vulnerabilities. Worldwatch offers a broader perspective
on these issues by reaffirming the importance of other, less-publicized
threats to global stability and security: the complex interactions between
environmental degradation, poverty, and inequity; growing human populations;
and the international proliferation of deadly weapons. Emphasizing the
opportunities for creating a less vulnerable, more secure world, State of
the World 2005 addresses a broad range of needed reforms, including those
related to governance, economics, ethics, and education. With easy-to-read
charts and tables, this volume presents a view of our changing world that
we, and our leaders, cannot afford to ignore. No One Can Ever Steal Your Rainbow
Winner of the best inspirational children’s book of the Bay Area
Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA), this charming children’s book
can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. This simple book teaches us that “no
matter what is stolen from you in this life, the joy of love and hope can
never be taken away for they are forever contained within your own heart.”
Like the rainbow that appears after a rainy day, this book reminds us that
hope and love are the strongest human emotions that give meaning to our
lives.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Yes, everyone’s reading Harry Potter…. but has anyone else noticed how much
the latest few books really seem like commentary on the “War on Terror?” A
rogue leader terrorizing civilians through a shadowy network of supporters?
Fear throughout the land? Government decrees restricting freedoms? Secret
detentions without charges? Innocents in Azkaban? Ministry of Magic posters
with useless tips on how to protect your family? Our office is abuzz with
speculation. Or are we just really, really big geeks here?
Plagues and Peoples
Guns, Germs and Steel and
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed In Guns, Germs and Steel and its sequel
Collapse, Jared Diamond tackles some of the most difficult questions
about human societies, how they have evolved, and what lies in store for
us. Trained as an evolutionary biologist, Diamond examines the links
between human, animal, plant, and natural geography for insight into
world history. Guns, Germs and Steel, which won the Pulitzer
Prize, takes the reader through the past 13,000 years to explain why
some societies achieved technological, economic, and military dominance
over others. Collapse, its highly awaited sequel, examines a
number of societies that have failed and succeeded in the face of
environmental crises and analyzes the implications for today’s world.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap...And Others Don't In this important study, Jim Collins looks at
management strategies and practices that move a company or organization
from good to great. Great leaders, according to the study, have the
discipline to stick to the simple goal with strong determination and are
able to shun opportunities that will not help to make them great. Collins
also looks at how a culture of discipline needs to be incorporated with
the ethic of entrepreneurship to allow an organization to break through
to great results. A defining characteristic of a great company is
its ability to “respond with thoughtfulness and creativity, driven by
a compulsion to turn unrealized potential into results; mediocre
companies react and lurch about, motivated by fear of being left behind."
Good to Great is meant for practical use, setting out key points
and offering relevant examples.
The Fifth Discipline The Fifth Discipline provides a blueprint for
organizations seeking to become ‘learning organizations' and achieve results. The book explores five disciplines that an
organization must master to become a learning organization, a group that
allows its people to expand their capacity and achieve desired
results, set their collective aspirations free, and learn how to learn
together. Senge believes that the organizations that will truly excel in
the future are those that can tap into their employees’ “commitment and
capacity to learn at all levels of an organization.” Senge explores the
five disciplines and weaves together a careful account of how to foster and
sustain each discipline to create a learning organization. The five disciplines incorporate all aspects of
management, from building a shared vision, to personal development, to
long-term
administrative solutions.
The Sovereignty Revolution
A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of
Genocide
High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them Rischard's easy-to-read and
provocative book proposes a new approach to solving the problems of the
21st century. Defining and offering a brief overview of what he
believes to be the 20 most pressing problems of the 21st century,
Rischard finds that they all have two things in common: they're
getting worse, not better, and the current strategies for dealing with
them are inadequate. Whether you agree with Rischard's proposed solutions -- global issues networks (closely related
to
Reinicke's global public policy networks) -- or not, his book is an
informative and thought-provoking read.
Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment James Speth's long and distinguished career in international
environmental leadership was enough to draw our attention to his new
book. After all, as the founder of the World Resources Institute,
co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, adviser to
Presidents Carter and Clinton, and former head of the United Nations
Development Programme, he certainly has the qualifications on the topic.
However, it is the book's timely call for
U.S. leadership in protecting the global environment that really drew us
in. Rethinking
World Government: A new Approach World Federalist Institute Book Links Read works discussed by Citizens for Global Solutions'
in-house think tank, the World Federalist Institute. |
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