How to Earn a Living Selling Used Books Online by Joe Waynick (Small Business Press, 2011). Reviewed by Claude Whitmyer, 2011. INTERNET BOOKSELLING - The Website At first glance, when visiting Joe Waynick's InternetBookselling.Com site it looks somewhat like all those "get rich quick on the Internet" scams that are so prevalent these days. Don't let that first impression put you off. Click on the links and you'll find out just how good Joe is at delivering a detailed how-to manual for the American dream of meaningful, successful self-employment--this time as an Internet Bookseller. The website promises "A FREE step-by-step…

IN MY OWN WAY: An autobiography 1915-1965 by Alan Watts (New World Library, 2007, Second Edition, 385 pp. with index, ISBN:10-1-57731-584-7). Reviewed by Claude Whitmyer for AHP Perspectives. "The reason…I became a philosopher is that ever since I was a little boy I always felt that existence as such was weird! I mean, here we are. Isn’t that odd!" Alan Watts Alan Watts is, arguably, the most influential philosopher of the 20th century. When I make such a statement to my friends who contemplate these things, the question most frequently proffered in opposition is “What about Ken Wilber?” Granted, they…

SUCCESS WITHOUT COLLEGE: Why Your Child May Not Have to Go to College Right Now—and May Not Have to Go at All by Linda Lee. (Broadway Books, 2000).. Reviewed by Claude Whitmyer for AHP Perspective . College is a class issue. Think about it. What if your child decided not to go to college? How would that make you feel? What are your beliefs about life without a college degree? What would you say? “You won’t be able to get a decent job!” “People with a college degree earn more than those without.” “The more education you have the greater…

Purpose, Direction, Relevance, Dialogue, Fit, Relationship-building, Respect, Invention, Personal Acknowledgement, Challenge, Validation, Support, Development, Informality, Flexibility, Ownership, Equality, Oneness, Self-identity, Worth, Service By Tom Terez (Adams Media, 2000). Reviewed by Claude Whitmyer for AHP Perspective. What makes a space sacred? Is it the artifacts? The rituals performed there? Charismatic leaders? Followers with deep faith? Perhaps it can it be summed up as “meaning.” The “sacred,” after all, is deeply meaningful to those who see it as sacred. Most people equate sacred space with religious or spiritual practices, especially the practices surrounding human lifecycle transitions, such as birth, adolescence, marriage, and…

JOB SHIFT: How to Prosper in A Workplace Without Jobs. By William Bridges. (Addison-Wesley, 1994, 256 pp, bibliography, index, ISBN 0-201-48933-3). Reviewed by Claude Whitmyer for AHP Perspective. A slightly revised version of this review was published in the Journal of Management Consulting, Vol. 9, No. 3, May 1997.Here's a book to make you sit up and pay attention. The job as we know it is dead, and William Bridges makes a good case for why every one of us, whether worker or self-employed, should take note. As he quotes from Seneca, "The fates guide those who go willingly, those…

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE COOK: A Zen Master's Lessons in Living a Life that Matters, by Bernard Glassman & Rick Fields (Bell Tower/Crown, 1996). Reviewed by Claude Whitmyer for Shambhala Sun, April 1996.The Ch'an/Zen tradition has a long history of teaching stories that center on the cook. From the Taoist tale of Prince Wen Hui's cook in The Inner Chapters of Chuang Tsu to the koan about Guishan kicking over the water pitcher in the Wumenguan, the cook plays a central role in the practice life of the Zen community. It seems quite in keeping with that history for an American…

MERCHANTS OF VISION: People Bringing New Purpose and Values to Business. Edited by James E. Liebig. (Berrett-Koehler, 1994, 252pp, bibliography, index, ISBN 1-881052-42-7). Reviewed by Claude Whitmyer for AHP Perspective and the Journal of Management Consulting. Moving into the 21st century won't be easy, but the business pioneers of the last two decades have been paving the way. What they have discovered is an essentially different way of doing business, a kind of “paradigm shift” away from the so-called “modern” industrial ways of doing business to the radically different postmodern, postindustrial attitudes and tools used by the newer, more successful…

THE REPUBLIC OF TEA: Letters To A Young Zentrepreneur, by Mel Ziegler, Bill Rosenzweig, and Patricia Ziegler. (Currency Doubleday, 1992, 316 pp, ISBN 0-385-42056-0). Reviewed by Claude Whitmyer for Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Spring 1992.Traditionally, best-selling business books rely heavily on warfare metaphors. From The Business Secrets of Attila the Hun to Waging Business Warfare: Lessons from the Military Masters in Achieving Corporate Superiority, the message is clear: business is the moral equivalent of war. Language has a powerful effect on how we see the world and consequently on how we behave. As author Sam Keen points out in Fire…