[Ailist] book recommendation

[Sue James]

Dear Raffi

A book I'd highly recommend is "The Power of Appreciative Inquiry" by 
Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom. Not only is it under 300 pages 
.. :-) .. but it is a wonderful introduction to AI. It covers both 
theoretical concepts and practical application/examples in a very clear 
and accessible way.

Another possible resource,  though as a much briefer (less than 100 
pages) introduction to AI, is "The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry" by 
Sue Annis Hammond.

The Thin Book was my very first introduction to AI (in 2002 I think), 
when I happened to pick it up in a bookshop here in Victoria, Australia. 
It was a great first taste for me of AI and reading it was my own first 
step towards becoming an AI practitioner. However, being brief, it left 
me 'thirsting for more' ..  :-) .... which led to the beginning of a 
huge collection of web links, much online reading, membership of the AI 
mailing list and contact with wonderful AI practitioners around the 
world.  The Power of Appreciative Inquiry was then another wonderful 
addition to my AI 'library' of books in 2003 when it was first 
published. I have recommended both to others many times as great 
introductory texts in relation to AI.

I believe there are already translations of both books into other 
languages, though I'm not sure if one of those languages is Russian. And 
I'm assuming you'd need to contact either the authors or the publishers 
for permission to translate and reprint?

You can contact The Corporation for Positive Change (re The Power of 
Appreciative Inquiry) at
Web: http://www.positivechange.org/index.html
Email: office at positivechange.org <mailto:office at positivechange.org>

For The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry:
Web: http://www.thinbook.com
Email: info at thinbook.com <mailto:info at thinbook.com>

Hope this helps!

Warmly
Sue


Sue James
Facilitator & Consultant
Ph: +613 9758 2528
BJ Seminars International
inspiring and connecting people
www.bjseminars.com.au 



Raffi Aftandelian wrote:
> Dear colleagues, 
>
> If you were to recommend one book on AI to someone unfamiliar with the approach, a book that would be a good introduction and give the necessary essentials to begin working within the Positive Change Paradigm, what book would it be?
>
> A few colleagues are looking at translating and publishing one of the AI books into Russian, and there seems to be lots of good books out there. We'd prefer a book under 300 pages, something that would not overwhelm the reader.
>
> Thanks much!
> Raffi Aftandelian
> San Diego, Calif. 
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