In the West, and in America particularly, we have deep-seated beliefs in 1. Evolution the idea that all things are constantly evolving in the right direction; 2. Progress the idea that whatever is newer is better, whether it is a theory or a technological tool; and 3. Consensus the idea that the more people who adopt a new idea or a new fashion in clothes or cars, the greater the likelihood that they are right. So we go from a new fashion to the next new fashion. We believe that change is ...

This book is about how the world we live in is more often made by others’ intentions than our own. That is because we fail to act upon our own good or better intentions. Our modern predators (like commercial marketing) make the world we live in according to their own interests. We apparently don’t care where we’re headed as a civilization. Our predators do. So we passively adapt to the destiny they are making for us. Our technologies don’t care where we end up, and apparently, we don’t car...

"This is a book about how we invent ourselves and our cultures by how we explain things. We invent our explanations, and then they invent us. It is a book about how we create our virtual worlds – the habitat of our minds – by how we explain things. It is a book about how our explanations get embedded in the stories we tell and ingest – from gossip to advertising to the pernicious “social media.” It is a book about how everything we say or do or have is an explanation. Whatever we say or do...

If the greatest gains in human health and longevity came not from medical science but from sanitation and hygiene, why might this not also not be the case with our waning mental health and longevity? That is the question this notable scholar of the human condition takes on and then answers in this provocative book. In the last years of the nineteenth century, when human life was in constant jeopardy from pestilence and desperate living conditions in crowded cities, it was changes in human ...

This book is about all of the kinds of relationships people can have. It is a very insightful book about how relationships emerge. But it is also about how indispensable they are to our ongoing sense of being who we are in the worlds we inhabit. We have relationships with various people. But we also have relationships with our possessions, with our pets, and with our pens and car keys. We have relationships with the foods we eat, the places we go, and the diversions we take. We have relati...

There have been many thousands of books and seminars on the subject of leaders and leadership over the past few decades. Most make no effort to explain that leadership is amoral. It is a power over others that can be used for good or for ill. People are subjected to all kinds of abuse by their leaders organizationally or politically, and as children, they are being poorly led by their parents and teachers. The original concept of leadership was that it would be used for good purposesthat t...

"People create and sustain myths to explain what they cannot or do not comprehend. They sometimes create myths to make simple what would otherwise strike them as being too complex to bear in mind. Thus we have our ancient gods and our contemporary celebrities, and the fairy tales that explain them. But there is never one cause for what happens no matter how much we might treasure our formulaic myths. Anything that happens has many seen and unseen causes. Leadership is an ideal example. We ...

"This splendid little “pocket” book will tell all of you leaders (“oracle”-style) what you need to know about communication to enhance your everyday performance and thus enable your success. In 53 succinct chapters, this pocket oracle sets forth the basic issues you absolutely need to understand from a highly pragmatic point of view. It is not derived from theories but from the author’s 45+ years as a CEO coach and consultant. What the author shares with you is what he has learned over all...

Travel where you will in todays America, and youre likely to be drawn into a conversation about mistreatment by one or more of todays organizations. Someone ordered something. But when the order came it wasnt what they ordered. That was two years ago and still ongoing. Or Your call is very important to us. Thats why youre number 19 in the queue. Doctors and hospitals make mistakes. Only a few are really fatal. But they have insurance for that. Will you get what you want from an organizatio...

This book is not about communication as it is generally understood, or as you may understand it. It is about how communication ought to be understood according to how it actually occurs. The popular understanding of communication is simply not consistent with the facts. If your concept of communication is faulty, you will frequently be perplexed, frustrated, and even angered. Our communication problems are not engendered by the world outside of us. They are engendered mainly because our co...

This book, the first in a series by the internationally-known and scholar Lee Thayer, addresses the centrality of relevance in peoples health and lives. It is not about what is relevant to us, but to whom or to what we are relevant. Loss of relevance leads to the degeneration of mental and then physical health. Those who do not feel relevant to their world are the people who do violence to other people, or to themselves. How and why this feeling of relevance to others and to the world affe...

The Unlatched Door, first published in 1920, marks the first appearance of detective Peter Clancy. During her long career, author Emma Redington Lee Thayer (1874-1973) published 60 novels, all but one featuring Clancy, who begins his career with the police; later books have Clancy working as a private detective. Clancy is also later joined by his trusty valet Wiggars, who first appears in the tenth book of the series: Dead Man's Shoes (1929).