Subj: Re: Books for a mediation library
Date: 8/12/1998 12:23:17 PM Central Daylight Time
From: geconnor@concentric.net (GE Connor)
To: Ethesis@aol.com
CC: dispute-res@listserv.law.cornell.edu
Hi Stephen,
I have been working on a reading list for intermediate-level mediators. For
me, intermediate-level mediators should have 2 goals when reading: (1)
improving skills and (2) broadening their thinking about mediation and how
it fits into the ADR universe.
Let me make explicit something inherent in Goal 2. When I recommend a book,
I do not always agree with the author's thesis, or with specific points
which the author makes. Nonetheless I believe that the book is important to
read. Reading the book will push the reader to think more fully about
mediation. And of course, the reader may agree with the author, even if I do
not.
I have the following recommendations for your web-library.
TITLE: Art of Negotiating
AUTHOR(S): Gerard I. Nierenberg
PUBLISHER: International Center for Creative Thinking; DATE: 1990
SOURCE: Amazon.com
ISBN: 0924967005
TITLE: The Complete Negotiator
AUTHOR(S): Gerard I. Nierenberg
PUBLISHER: Nierenberg & Zeif Publishers New York; DATE: 1986
SOURCE: Not known. I got my copy at the local library.
ISBN: Not known.
TITLE: The Evolution of Cooperation
AUTHOR(S): Robert Axelrod
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins Publishers (1984) Basic Books (1985); DATE:
1985
SOURCE: Amazon.com
ISBN: 0465021212
TITLE: Mediation Advocacy
AUTHOR(S): John W. Cooley
PUBLISHER: National Institute for Trial Advocacy; DATE: 1996
SOURCE: NITA
ISBN: 1-55681-503-4
TITLE: Meta-Talk, Guide to Hidden Meanings in Conversation
AUTHOR(S): Gerard I. Nierenberg; Henry Calero
PUBLISHER: Trident Press New York; DATE: 1973
SOURCE: Out of Print; Amazon.com Catalog No. 0671271156; I got
my copy at the local library.
ISBN: Not known.
TITLE: Model Standards of Conduct For Mediators
AUTHOR(S): AAA, ABA, SPIDR
SOURCE: AAA, ABA, SPIDR
TITLE: Negotiation and Evil: The Sources of Religious and Moral
Resistance to the Settlement of Conflicts
AUTHOR(S): Robert Benjamin
SOURCE: Robert D. Benjamin, P.C.: 8000 Bonhomme, Suite 201, St.
Louis, MO 63105; 314 721-4333; 314 721-6845 FAX
TITLE: The Promise of Mediation
AUTHOR(S): Robert A. Baruch Bush, Joseph P. Floger
PUBLISHER: Jossey-Bass Publishers San Francisco; DATE: 1994
SOURCE: Amazon.com; Jossey-Bass (www.josseybass.com)
ISBN: 0787900273
I am now looking at books on systems design. Systems design is an advanced
specialty, and few mediators will do it. Nonetheless, many mediators are
going to deal professionally with an ADR system, either existing or being
formed. I want to find a primer which will give mediators a framework for
thinking about systems design and thus ADR systems generally.
I am aware of:
TITLE: Designing Conflict Management Systems: A Guide to
Creating Productive and Healthy Organizations
AUTHOR(S): Cathy A. Costantino; Christina Sickles Merchant
PUBLISHER: Jossey-Bass Publisher; DATE: 1995
SOURCE: Amazon.com; Jossey-Bass (www.josseybass.com)
ISBN: 0787901628
TITLE: Getting Disputes Resolved: Designing Systems to Cut the
Costs of Conflict
AUTHOR(S): William L. Ury; Jeanne M. Brett; Stephen B. Goldberg
PUBLISHER: Jossey-Bass Publishers; DATE: 1988
SOURCE: Amazon.com; Jossey-Bass (www.josseybass.com)
ISBN: 1555421253
I have not read them. Do you or anyone else know if either of them is a
good primer on systems design? Can you or anyone else suggest another book
which would be a good primer?
There are areas where mediators can specialize. These include, for example,
domestic relations, employment disputes, health care disputes, securities
law disputes or student-based programs. It is my impression that dabbling
is not common. A mediator either does a lot of work in an area or avoids
it. Thus, in developing my general reading list for intermediate-level
mediators I have intentionally not included books in these and other
specialized areas.
I recognize that the preceding paragraph opens up the whole issue of process
skills v. subject matter knowledge. In my view whatever conclusions we as
mediators reach are largely irrelevant. In my experience *purchasers* of
mediation services seek out mediators with both process skills *and* subject
matter knowledge. Thus even if we conclude that a general practice mediator
can handle, for example, an occasional securities law dispute, the
purchasers of those services are unlikely to hire the general practice mediator.
For those who read Axelrod's "The Evolution of Cooperation", and desire to
put his ideas in a broader philosophical context, I strongly recommend "The
Future of Man" by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Harper & Row 1964).
I will be monitoring dispute-res@listserv.law.cornell.edu for responses to
your inquiry. If you get private responses I would appreciate your posting
a summary of the comments (respecting the author's privacy, of course) so we
can all learn.
Thank you for raising such an interesting issue. It reminded me to make one
of my periodic visits to your web site, and I learned of three books which I
plan to read.
Gerry Connor
At 11:59 PM 8/7/1998 EDT, Ethesis@aol.com wrote:
>I'm slowly putting part of my library up in reviews at http://adrr.com/pub/
>I'm curious to hear what books people would recommend be included and which
>books one would exclude. Part of the project is that it is forcing me to
>reread books I've read before and to rethink what I thought of them before.
>
>Regards,
>
>Stephen R. Marsh
----------------------- Headers --------------------------------
Return-Path:
Received: from relay28.mx.aol.com (relay28.mail.aol.com [172.31.109.28]) by air15.mail.aol.com (v47.2) with SMTP; Wed, 12 Aug 1998 13:23:17 -0400
Received: from uhura.concentric.net (uhura.concentric.net [206.173.115.93])
by relay28.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0)
with ESMTP id NAA25766 for ;
Wed, 12 Aug 1998 13:23:16 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from marconi.concentric.net (marconi [206.173.115.71])
by uhura.concentric.net (8.8.8/(98/08/04 5.11))
id NAA10410; Wed, 12 Aug 1998 13:23:07 -0400 (EDT)
[1-800-745-2747 The Concentric Network]
Errors-To:
Received: from Default (ts002d08.tuc-az.concentric.net [206.173.160.68])
by marconi.concentric.net (8.8.8)
id NAA26233; Wed, 12 Aug 1998 13:23:06 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 13:23:06 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <199808121723.NAA26233@marconi.concentric.net>
X-Sender: geconnor@pop3.concentric.net
X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.1.2
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
To: Ethesis@aol.com
From: GE Connor
Subject: Re: Books for a mediation library
Cc: dispute-res@listserv.law.cornell.edu