The books featured here are hard to formally classify but there is often learning to be gained from them.
Towards improved social intervention
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Score:  9/10
This is one of these pop science books that have sold in their millions.

The premise is fairly simple, the book explores how minor social trends explode into major social
movements. It covers a range of subjects from psychology to politics. Much of the findings are a
little pat and Gladwell's three archetypes involved in the broadcast of new trends don't suffer
too much examination but it remains an interesting read nonetheless.

The thinking here is perhaps useful for those trying to produce change in wider groupings than
just one on one client work and in this it is interesting to look at vulnerable people as products
of a given environment.











7/10
This is one of these pop science books that have sold in their millions. The premise is fairly
simple, the book explores how minor social trends explode into major social movements. It
covers a range of subjects from psychology to politics. Much of the findings are a little pat and
Gladwell's three archetypes involved in the broadcast of new trends don't suffer too much
examination but it remains an interesting read nonetheless. The thinking here is perhaps useful
for those trying to produce change in wider groupings than just one on one client work and in
this it is interesting to look at vulnerable people as products of a given environment.

Score:  9/10
A recommendation from fellow trainer Harvey Guest. He recommends it for its clear detailing of
the impact of others' emotional states (and their expression) on our own psychology. For
application to work practice, Harvey feels the book leads to a wider consideration of the
unspoken and unrecognised impact that workers' presentation has on clients.   











8/10
A recommendation from fellow trainer Harvey Guest. He recommends it for its clear detailing of
the impact of others' emotional states (and their expression) on our own psychology. For
application to work practice, Harvey feels the book leads to a wider consideration of the
unspoken and unrecognised impact that workers' presentation has on clients.   

Score:  9/10
Steven Rose's status as radio pundit on Radio 4's the moral maze means his books are
packaged to fit the lucrative pop science market. Nothing about the cover of this book would
lead an unsuspecting reader to realise that between the shiny front and back page blurb is one
of the most complex, ambitious and erudite books on the functioning of the brain yet written. It
is a hard read and there are entire sections on microbiology that are impossible to take in
without specialist knowledge (I've read a review by a psychiatrist in which he held that there
were sections that were beyond him). Yet it is an excellent book and a must read if you have a
background understanding of psychology. Rose is particularly scathing about the wilder claims
of Darwinian psychology, which he dismisses as being based on two conceptual errors: 'the
misunderstanding of the relationship between enabling and causal mechanisms, and the
attempt to privilege distal over proximal causes.' This book will aid your engagement skills in no
way whatsoever but it is superb and will stretch any reader.













10/10
One of the cheapest books available, but it isn't worth buying new.

It has a very 'therapeutic' feel (in a strangely prejorative sense) about it and is bulked out with
case studies which are not massively illuminating. Most of the author's patient's seem certainly
to have troubles but are rarely as chaotic and demanding as the patients/clients most
professionals fear working with.

It is precisely this high-chaos, hard-to-reach and limited insight genre of client that workers
professionals need guidance on working with - but this is guidance they won't find here.
Steven Rose's status as radio pundit on Radio 4's the moral maze means his books are
packaged to fit the lucrative pop science market. Nothing about the cover of this book would
lead an unsuspecting reader to realise that between the shiny front and back page blurb is one
of the most complex, ambitious and erudite books on the functioning of the brain yet written. It
is a hard read and there are entire sections on microbiology that are impossible to take in
without specialist knowledge (I've read a review by a psychiatrist in which he held that there
were sections that were beyond him). Yet it is an excellent book and a must read if you have a
background understanding of psychology. Rose is particularly scathing about the wilder claims
of Darwinian psychology, which he dismisses as being based on two conceptual errors: 'the
misunderstanding of the relationship between enabling and causal mechanisms, and the
attempt to privilege distal over proximal causes.' This book will aid your engagement skills in no
way whatsoever but it is superb and will stretch any reader.
Miscellaneous book