North Dakota State University
NDSU Extension Service

Communication -- Books

Communicator's Handbook: Tools, Techniques and Technology
Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE)
1996, 263-page Book
The Communicator's Handbook guides you through the fundamentals of crafting effective messages for print, radio, television, in speeches, and over satellite or the Internet. It helps your organization work with the media, cope with crisis, plan strategically, understand risk communications, conduct successful public information campaigns, and manage volunteers. With The Communicator's Handbook you learn how to position your organization and maximize the impact of your message over computer networks, through distance education, and with multimedia technology. The message you communicate is important to your business or organization.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Lynne Truss
2003, 204-page book
Lynne Truss has written a hilarious book about the importance of punctuation. The title is a perfect example of why writers must use punctuation, and in the right places. Here’s the story: A panda walks into a restaurant, orders a sandwich, eats it, and then draws a gun and fires two shots into the air. When the confused waiter wants to know why, the panda tosses him a badly punctuated wildlife manual. The manual describes a panda as a "black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

How to Use Power Phrases
Maryl Runion
248 Pages
This book was developed to help you learn a new language that will open up honest dialogue instantly. It will
also help you to resolve situations quickly and effectively and avoid being taken advantage of, ignored, passed
over or undervalued. It will help you learn to communicate your needs and desires and get the results you want.

Leadership and the Art of Conversation
Kim H. Krisco
1997, 195-page Book
Conversation is the most powerful and underutilized management tool at a manager's command. If you can change the way you talk to people, you can become a more effective manager virtually overnight. This book is a step-by-step guide with sample scripts and real-life examples.

Lifescripts
Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine
477 pages
Lifescripts provides you with an icebreaker opener, a “pitch”, and a flowchart of rejoinders to give you any
response, positive or negative. You’ll also find strategic pointers on attitude, timing, preparation and behavior.

Male and Female Realities: Understanding the Opposite Sex
Joe Tanenbaum
1989, 176-page Book
The author tells you how to remove the struggle from your personal and professional relationships, recognize the distinct male and female biologically triggered perceptions, manage the resulting gender behavior, improve communication and cooperation between the sexes.

People: Managing Your Most Important Asset
Harvard Business Review
1990, 145 Pages
16 Different Sections: Managing Your Boss, Pragmatic Approach to People Problems, Barriers and Gateways to Communication, How Do You Motivate Employees?, How to Deal with Resistance to Change, Skills of an Effective Administrator, Human Relations Skills Can Be Sharpened, Appraisal of What Performance?, The Human Dilemmas of Leadership, Management Communication and Grapevine, How to Build Employee Trust and Productivity, Listening to People, Praise Reappraised, Dealing with the Aging Work Force, Interpersonal Barriers to Decision Making, and "What Do You Mean You Don't Like My Style?".

People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts
Robert Bolton
1979, 295-page Book
People Skills is a communication skills handbook that can help you eliminate communication problems. The author describes the 12 most common communication barriers, showing how these roadblocks damage relationships by increasing defensiveness, aggressiveness, or dependency. He explains how to acquire the ability to listen, assert yourself, resolve conflicts, and work out problems with others. These are skills that will help you communicate calmly, even in stressful, emotionally charged situations.

The Perfect Memo
Patricia H. Westheimer
1988, 190-page Book
So you have to write a memo. It's up to you to communicate clearly, concisely, correctly. But you don't know where to begin. You struggle to find the right words to use. You worry about organization. You wrestle with proper punctuation and spelling. This book shows you that writing memos doesn't have to be a chore. It can be pleasant--even exciting. You'll learn how to express your message fully, organize your ideas effectively, and write your memos with confidence.

Presentation Skills Training: 30 High-Involvement Training Designs
Wendy Denham and Elizabeth Sansom
1997, 313-page Book (three-ring binder)
Sections on overview of presentation techniques, preparing the presentation, compiling the presentation, delivering the presentation and managing the audience.

The Silent Language
Edward Hall
217 Pages
In the everyday but unspoken give and take of human relationships, the "silent language" plays a vitally important role.  Here, a leading American anthropologist has analyzed the many ways in which people talk to one another without the use of words.

Signals: How to Use Body Language for Power, Success and Love
Allen Pease
1984, 229 Pages
It’s a scientific fact that people’s body gestures give away their true intentions. Some people send out signals whether they realize it or not. Through this book, you can learn the secrets of what the body language really means and you will find confidence in those judgmental situations.

Straight Talk: A New Way to Get Closer to Others by Saying What You Really Mean
Sherod Miller, Daniel Wackman, Elam Nunnally, and Carol Saline
1981, 290-page Book
If you can't find a way to say what you think, feel, and want, Straight Talk will show you how easy it is to master the vital twin arts of communication and closeness. Before you say another word you don't mean, you owe it to yourself and those around you to absorb and use the simple, straightforward, amazingly effective techniques in this guide for relating to people in an emotionally healthy way.

Take the Mystery Out of Media
Lorraine B. Kingdon
1994, 129-page Book
The author strips away attitudes and misinformation that get in the way of dealing with reporters.  She shows you how to play the media game successfully to gain the publicity you need -- even if you have no experience.

Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future
Margaret J. Wheatley
2002, 158 Pages
The purpose of this book is made to encourage and support you to begin conversations about things that are important to you.

Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English
Patricia T. O'Conner
1996, 218-page Book
Most of us don't know a gerund from a gerbil and don't care, but we like to speak and write as though we do. Pronouns, spelling, it's/its, quotation marks, whatever your boo-boo, Woe is I can help you fix it without a lot of technical jargon.

Your Public Best: The Complete Guide to Making Successful Public Appearances in the Meeting Room, on the Platform, and on TV
Lillian Brown
1989, 214-page Book
Success isn't just a question of working hard or even knowing somebody. People have to read you as a success -- and that means looking your best and getting the message across effectively each and every time you appear in public. In this book, the author offers individuals everywhere the same detailed, no-nonsense advice she gives to the pros on personal appearance, voice improvement, public speaking, handling the media, and appearing on television.

Books can be checked out for one month, audio and video tapes for two weeks. Contact the Distribution Center at NDSU.distributioncenter@ndsu.edu or 701 231-7882 to check out Staff Resource Library materials, or stop by Morrill 10 to browse the shelves.