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featured books
The Grief Recovery Handbook : The Action Program for Moving Beyond Death Divorce, and Other Losses
by John James and Russell Friedman
One of the observations in the book is that we all try to “help” those around us by getting them to quickly and heroically resolve their grief—“you’ll get over it soon” and “don’t feel bad, you can just get another [dog, spouse, father, job, leg, etc.].”
Obviously this does not help the natural grieving process.
Another observation is that people are uncomfortable around others’ emotions. So they cheerfully
intellectualize, “_____ was a wonderful [dog, spouse, father, job, leg, etc.]” but this only stops the natural grief resolution process when the person grieving really needs to feel sorrow, loss, and pain to move through it. Just quiet listening seems to be one of the most powerful ways we can help grievers.
Navigating the Dark Side of Wealth
by Thayer Cheatham Willis
Thayer
Willis comes from a wealthy family herself so she deeply and
personally understands the issues involved. That along with her
graduate-level training as a clinical social worker and years of
focused experience can translate into a reading experience worth
your time invested.
However, I am a little turned off by the biblical and faith-based quotes
she intersperses. The other more grounded, sensible, and
useful observations and stories could have stood solidly on their
own.
"A favorite fantasy for those who aren't wealthy is what
their lives would be like if they were. Certainly, it's not hard to see
that being able to pay the bills and beyond that, being able to afford all of
one's material desires would seem an incredibly freeing situation. The Catch-22,
however, is that there is much more to being wealthy than attaining financial
ease, and this "much more" bears its own price. For some, that price
is deceptively huge."
Why
Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes-And
How to Correct Them: Lessons from the
New Science of Behavioral Economics,
by
Gary Belsky, Thomas Gilovich
This book could return its cost many times over your
life even if you only learn a couple of things
from it.
Caution: May produce "Ah Ha" moments in the
reader.
"A close cousin to decision paralysis is resistance to change. That is,
people are almost preternaturally predisposed to the familiar, to keeping those
things much as they have been. Behavioral economists call this the "status
quo bias," and it has been demonstrated numerous times. One of the most
compelling of these demonstrations was a series of studies conducted by William
Samuelson of Boston University and Richard Zeckhauser of Harvard University. In
one experiment, individuals with a working knowledge of economics and finance
were presented with a problem much like the following..."
Squandering
Aimlessly: My Adventures in the American Marketplace, David Brancaccio,
2000, Simon & Schuster
O.K., so we had to include this in the list because David
included interviews with Eric in a couple of
sections.
The host of NPR's Marketplace program
shares stories of how people deal with money, some
with a lot, some with a little--each in their
own way.
(click on image to purchase from Simple
Living Network)
The
Affluenza Video Collection
Affluenza & Escape From Affluenza
Author: John de Graaf, Producer,
1998, VHS Videos, Publisher: Bullfrog Films
Af-flu-en-za n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. 4. A
video that could change your life.
Affluenza is a one-hour television special that explores the high social and environmental costs of materialism and
over-consumption.
Escape picks up where Affluenza left off by profiling people and organizations that are reducing consumption and waste, choosing work that reflects their values and working to live in better balance with the
environment and society.
Jews, Money & Social Responsibility: A "Torah of Money"..., Lawrence Bush, 1993, Shefa Fund.
Socially responsible shopping, investment and philanthropy from an American Jewish perspective.
This book can serve to challenge and motivate American Jews
towards promoting social justice. Reinforces and informs
positive Jewish identity into action.
Honest
Business, Michael Phillips and Salli Raspberry, orig. 1981, 1996, Shambhala
Strategies for starting and managing your own
business based on the study of 450 successful business using an open and
honest management style.
Eric read the first edition before
starting his financial planning practice.
Tending
Your Money Garden,
Bob Dreizler, Robert Armstrong (Illustrator)
Easy-to-read concise and humorous. Educational but not
technical.
The author and Eric, colleagues, are each Professional
Members of First Affirmative Financial
Network.
Seven
Stages of Money Maturity : Understanding
the Spirit and Value of Money in Your
Life
by
George Kinder
Read this book if you want to get at the heart of what
personal money issues are all about on a very deep
level.
Eric has taken workshops from George and found the
concepts applicable in numerous client
consultations.
Move through the "Money Maturity" themes of Innocence,
Pain, Adulthood, Knowledge, Understanding, Vigor, and finally,
Aloha!
If you've ever worried about your relationship with
money matters, but never understood very clearly
why, try this book.
"When we enter this world at birth, money has no meaning.
As newborns, we live in a world defined by simple physical needs for food,
warmth, and touch. We exist in a blessed unknowing that creates a special
freshness and wonder. All of us know this Innocent state of being, replete with
honesty, directness, and wisdom that draw us to small children and their
uncorrupted ways. Yet at some point this primal state breaks down, not because
it is wrong or the world flawed, but because life draws us down its path. As we
grow, we learn--and one of the realities we must learn about is money...
"...Aloha cools the mind and calms one's whole essence. It
delivers the gift of an end to suffering, an acceptance of feelings coupled with
a blessing. And it can be as simple as a smile, a gesture, a look given by
someone who knows beyond words that what we are going through and accepts both
it and us, with unconditional positive regard."
If you have any corrections or additions, please contact
us. We go through this list periodically and remove publications that
are out of print or out of date. We would like to hear from authors when there is a new book on the
subject! Permission to forward this page in whole (with credit for source) is hereby
granted and encouraged.
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