First up is Jennifer Conlin‘s short piece on off-beat tourism books like Lonely Planet‘s THE BLUELIST, which guides prospective travelers on the most dangerous, war zone-like places to visit. Then there’s THE ROUGH GUIDE TO CLIMATE CHANGE, which provides a carbon calculator, a list of online links that can help readers learn not only how much carbon each activity in their life generates but also how that number compares to people in other countries. “I am planning to send the book to all the U.S. Senators,” said Mark Ellingham, the co-founder of the Rough Guides, adding that everyone needs to become much less casual about flying. He urged travelers to make fewer trips and to stay longer.
Meanwhile, Sunday Styles ran Stephanie Rosenbloom‘s article on books, seminars and classes that tackle the tough question of how to deal with “difficult” people. Nan Harrison, the vice president of training resources and publication sales for CareerTrack, which every month presents more than 50 public “difficult people” seminars across the country, attributes the increased popularity of such workshops to a desire to improve workplace skills in a time of corporate downsizing and a more competitive job market. “I think the stakes have gotten higher for everyone,” she said. Then again, maybe the problem isn’t them, it’s you. “There’s a good quote from the Talmud,” said Bruce Elvin, an associate dean and the director of the Career and Professional Development Center at Duke Law School. “‘We do not see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.’ That really in my view sums this topic up.”