Tag: books

What resonates with you?

I’ve been re-reading a book about engaging audiences called Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences, by Nancy Duarte. The full book is available to read online, but I also bought the print copy because I like to support people who provide free materials (that’s another topic!)

Resonate - Multimedia Book

The book is full of gems about connecting with people, presenting new ideas, and compelling others to question their own ideas and beliefs. As I leaf through the book, this time using a dog training lens, so many things are popping out at me! If you get a chance to browse through, do you see what could help you with your own practice? Here are questions I’ve jotted down so far:

  • What are some ways to make information meaningful?
  • How much of what you say to clients is about YOU? Your knowledge and experience? Your reasons for doing x? Your beliefs?
  • How much “noise” do you contribute to your classes?

So many books! Taking inventory

This weekend I was looking for my copy of Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. I pulled dog books off the shelf (leaving a zillion donkey and other books about caring for and training animals), I browsed through my Kindle, Kobo, and iBook libraries, I searched my online purchase histories — Amazon, Chapters, Audible… Where is it? It’s possible I bought it at a bookstore, or conference (APDT? Clicker Expo?) Or wait, do I own this book? Did I lend it to someone?

This prompted me to take inventory of dog-related books. I love having a big book collection, and have learned that print copy gets more attention. I have John Bradshaw’s Dog Sense in audio format, and like it so much I have listened to it more than once, but a print copy would allow me to flip through the chapters, or find information quickly using the index. I love the immediacy of online purchases, but after reading books on my iPad I tend to forget about them. I’ve even bought the same book more than once, on more than one occasion!

The mystery of the lost book and multiple purchases of the same book prompted me to put together an Excel spreadsheet: author, title, format, my “margin” notes, what I “underlined”, and, importantly, where is it. This will take awhile…

dog books