Nature, Landscape, and Building for Sustainability

This collection of essays explores the often complex relationships between nature, landscape and sustaining design. The key component that many of the authors focus on is the human element. These essays recognize a human rift with nature, attempts to understand this conflict, and to identify and move toward a resolution. Essays are organized around two main themes. In the first section, authors evaluate the way that humans view and think about nature. In the second section, chapters discuss how nature is used and abused in the design and building processes, and propose greener and more sustainable ways of integrating the human-built world with the natural one.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Nature, Landscape, and Building for Sustainability
ed. by William S. Saunders
SB 472.45 .N38 2008

Rapt

Gallagher asserts that the quality of your life is largely dependent on what you choose to pay attention to. She argues that your world is constructed primarily from your thoughts and feelings, and that as you direct your attention to new things, it changes the way you experience life. Drawing on research in neuroscience and psychology, she explores both the science and behavior of "paying attention," including learning, memory, thinking and emotions, work, play, and relationship with others. She explains that the brain has limited processing power, so the choice of how you choose to use it is an important one. She focuses on the positive effects of paying attention--shaping inner experiences, changing behaviors, and literally change the way you think and feel about life.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life
Winifred Gallagher
BF 321 .G25 2009

Lean Thinking

Womack and Jones assert that Lean thinking is not a new trend in business management. Rather, they believe that it takes business back to their basics by asking what their customer really perceives as valuable. They explain that once value-creating activities have been identified, the next step is to organize these steps along a value stream. At the same time, steps that do not add value should be eliminated. The result of this leaning and streamlining process is to create a flow which generates products as a result of the pull of the customer rather than the push of the producer. This book demonstrates that simple changes can produce dramatic results and create major changes in companies and organizations.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation
Rev. and updated
James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones
HD 58.9 .W659 2003