Rowan's Future of Choice

A prescription

A dear reader sent this along.

When in danger,
when in doubt,
run in circles,
scream and shout.

Ivan Doig,  "MountainTime"

Read the first chapter

Using Images to Enhance...Decision-Making

The authors of a book I blogged about on February 18 are interviewed by Dr. Moira Gunn for a new ITConversations. Check it out.

My earlier post is here.
ITConversations download is here.

Decision science?

Malcolm Gladwell talks with Dr. Moira Gunn about his new book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, at IT Conversations.

See What To Do

An interesting new book re-energizes the saying, A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words. It's called, Going Visual : Using Images to Enhance Productivity, Decision-Making and Profits.

From Amazon.com review:

Today's technology makes it possible to use—in everyday practical business circumstances—visual tools that capture the full richness of the information you wish to convey, enabling you to communicate more completely, more efficiently, in greater detail, and with greater power of conviction than through words alone.

The book's cover is dominated by words, and one rather cryptic graphic of blue sky and clouds. Hmmmm......

Thanks for alerting me to this in your blog, Alan Reiter.

Blogging is creating new energy sources to manage

I just took a break from reading the excellent book, You Are Not the Target, by Laura Archera Huxley. (Link at Amazon).

"...practical wisdom on how a human being in a chaotic world can cope with stress, anxiety, competition, and the uncertainty of the times without going to pieces mentally or physically."

During my break, Bloglines pinged me that Robert Scoble had posted, to announce he is taking some time off from blogging:

"I've gotta be honest. I'm burnt out and I'm just overwhelmed lately with what's going on. I have 700 emails waiting for me with new ones coming every minute or so...."

Mrs. Huxley's approach to the heightened blog juice that many are experiencing might be to re-direct some of that energy elsewhere in the community. I think this is what Robert is suggesting when he asks us to find some new feeds. Great idea. Thanks, and get balanced.

Too much

Interesting book: The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Rapid cognition

From Malcolm Gladwell's Q&A about his new book, Blink:

It's a book about rapid cognition, about the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions.

I really wonder how useful those first seconds are in making quality decisions about complex problems or issues. Also, how do we learn in such instances?