Continuum Top Shelf is a list of books for personal and professional development. These books are ones that the Continuum professionals have personally found to be valuable and ones that we recommend on a regular basis. We have included a brief commentary with each title to help you select the books that will be most valuable to you. Sometimes valuable book are out of print; we will indicate an out of print book with (OP). We won’t recommend an out of print book unless copies are available at the Lincoln City Libraries and used copies are readily available through the common online sources. For a printable list click here.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t, Jim Collins Collins interprets the findings of the five year Good to Great study. The book discusses ways organizations can produce great sustained results.
Go Put Your Strengths to Work: Six Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance, Marcus Buckingham Buckingham’s lasted strengths-based book. As part of the books program you may take the online Strengths Engagement Track, use specific exercises to apply the book’s lessons, and even download the first two segments of the film Trombone Player Wanted.
Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fools Guide to Surviving With Grace, Gordon MacKenzie MacKenzie shows haw creative and passionate people can achieve an orbit where they can stay connected with a company’s mission and goals without getting tangled in the hairball of rules and systems. A fun and insightful book.
Talking From 9 to 5: Men and Women in the Workplace: Language, Sex and Power, Deborah Tannen, Ph.D. Tannen, an authority in gender-based communication, discusses how men and women communicate at work and how communication styles can determine who gets heard, who gets ahead and what gets done.
True Professionalism: The Courage to Care About Your People, Your Clients, and Your Career, David H. Maister Maister approaches the notion of true professionalism from the organizational stand point, from the management stand point and from the personal stand point.
After the Affair: Healing the Pain and Rebuilding Trust When a Partner has Been Unfaithful, Janis Abrahms Spring This book is a helpful resource for couples who are trying to move beyond an affair. It is a good book for both the person who was unfaithful and his or her partner.
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, Bruce Patton, Douglas Stone, Sheila Heen The book teaches a proven step-by-step approach to handling difficult conversations. The approach is based on work at the Harvard Negotiation Project.
Getting Sober: A Practical Guide to Making it Through the First 30 Days, Kelly Madigan Erlandson This book written by a very experienced licensed alcohol and drug counselor in Lincoln, NE has practical and usable information for anyone desiring to stop drinking. Kristin Davis, actress on “Sex and the City” states in her testimonial: “You want to stop drinking now—and you want to know a simple, effective way to do it. No nonsense. No blame. No shame. This book is just what you’re looking for”.
The Grief Recovery Handbook: A Step-by-Step Program for Moving Beyond Loss, John W. James, Frank Cherry Drawn from their own stories of loss, James and Cherry explain what grief is and discuss how it is possible to regain a sense of aliveness and spontaneity.
Making Divorce Easier on Your Child: 50 Effective Ways to Help Children Adjust, Rex L. Forehand, Nicholas James Long This book provides information for parents to help minimize the negative effects of divorce on children. It also present many practical ways for children to cope during and after this life changing event.
Mom’s House, Dad’s House: A Complete Guide for Parents Who Are Separated, Divorced or Remarried, Isolina Ricci Ricci looks at the needs of all involved in a separation or divorce and gives legal, emotional and practical advice fo creating two happy and stable homes for the children.
Rebuilding: When Your Relationship Ends, Rebuilding Books; for Divorce and Beyond, Bruce Fisher, Robert Alberti This book presents a supportive 19 step process for putting one’s life back together after divorce.
The Verbally Abusive Relationship: How to Recognize it and How to Respond, Patricia Evans This book provides women some insight into psychological repression which often precedes or accompanies physical abuse.
A Volcano in my Tummy: Helping Children to Handle Anger, Eliane Whitehouse, Warwick Pudney This book is a great resource for parents teacher and caregivers. It has age appropriate stories, games and exercises designed to help children ages 6 to 15 understand and deal with their anger.
Children and Teens (Y) Young Children, (PT) Pre-teen, (T) Teens
(Y) Dinosaurs Divorce!: A Guide for Changing Families, Laurene Krasny Brown, Marc Brown A reassuring picture book to help young children deal with the changes surrounding a divorce.
(Y) Don’t Pop Your Cork on Mondays: The Children’s Anti-Stress Book Adolph J. Moser One of Landmark Editions’ Emotional Impact Series. The Series deals with issues ranging from stress to anger management, divorce to self-esteem. Don’t Pop Your Cork…deals with cause and effect related to stress and techniques for dealing with day to day stress.
(PT) The Feelings Book Journal, Dr. Lynda Madison This book is a companion piece to Madison’s The Feelings book. The journal gives 8 to 12 year old girls the opportunity to use fun quizzes, fill-in-the-blanks and checklists to explore and learn how to handle their feelings.
(T) Healing a Teen’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas for Families, Friends and Caregivers, Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. One of the Healing Your Grieving Heart series.A compassionate resource for friends, parents, relatives, teachers, volunteers and caregivers that provides suggestions to help the grieving cope with the loss of a loved one. Age range: Teen to adult.
(Y) I Don’t Want to Talk About It, Jeanie Franz Ransom Appropriate for ages 4-8 the story helps children explore their feelings about their parents’ divorce. The book also contains an afterword for parents describing children’s common reactions to divorce and offer suggestion for helping children adjust.
(PT) (T) Mom’s House, Dad’s House For Kids: Feeling at Home in One Home or Two, Isolina Ricci This book is designed to appeal to readers 10-14 years old. Ricci addresses several sensitive issues related to separation and divorce from the child’s perspective.
(Y) (OP) What’s Heaven?, Maria Shriver This book tells the story of Kate, a girl whose great-grandmother has just died. It is a well written story to help explain death and loss to young children without frightening them. The book focuses on coming together as a family during times of grief and helping each other feel peace.
(Y) When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry…, Molly Bang This book gives parents the opportunity to talk about anger and how to handle it through Sophie’s story. The book is written for children 2-7 years old.
