The Book Nook

The Book Nook is a monthly column courtesy of Handley Regional Library System that shares reading recommendations on business topics, career advice, leadership, and more to help drive your business – and career – forward.

The three titles selected here are available as an eBook or audiobook on Hoopla, a free streaming platform for the community, with your library card. Learn more and start reading and listening at www.handleyregional.org/hoopla.

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in the Good Times and Bad

Austin Kleon, NY Times Bestselling Author eBook Keep Going gives the reader life-changing, illustrated advice and encouragement on how to stay creative, focused, and true to yourself in the face of personal burnout or external distractions. Keep working. Keep playing. Keep searching. Keep giving. Keep living. Keep Going. It’s exactly the message all of us need, at exactly the right time.

The Millennial Whisperer

Chris Tuff, USA Today National Best Seller eBook Written by a leader for leaders, Tuff puts into context the ways Millennials differ from previous generations and shares practical steps companies and leaders can take to immediately boost productivity. Tuff provides practical ways for leaders to build a corporate culture in which Millennials can thrive, establish effective rewards systems at lower cost, address disciplinary methods effectively, and more!

Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work for: A Guide for New Leaders William Gentry Audiobook

We all have mental scripts that tell us how the world works. Gentry supports and coaches you to flip your script. He offers actionable, practical, evidence-based advice and examples drawn from his research, his work with leaders, and his own failures and triumphs of becoming a new leader.

A Brief History of Manufacturing: Past to Modern Day

By: Ashley Miller, Top of Virginia Regional Chamber

Manufacturing has a long history in the United States. Prior to the late 1700 and early 1800s, manufacturing was drastically different than how we think of it today. If you’ve ever seen living history, you’ll recall craftsmen and women talking about their specific trades. Household and individual manufacturing efforts began during these times, but it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that key innovators emerged. Oliver Evans introduced the automatic flour mill in 1785, while in 1792 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. Ships, flour mills, printing presses and sawmills were able to power their devices when Oliver Evans introduced a high-powered steam engine for multiple uses.

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Carbon racks at Winchester Metals. Car manufacturing began in the U.S with the Ford Motor Company producing the first Model T on their assembly lines. Following World War II, women entered the workforce as part of the war effort, bringing change the manufacturing industry. Much of the property experienced by the United States after the second World War can be tied to a booming sector. In 1981, the first computer was introduced to the public by IBM, leading the way for future technological projects. In the 2000s, 3-D printing became advanced enough that companies around the world incorporated it into their daily operations and the U.S. Manufacturing Enterprise Integration Act was enacted, which allows for development of Smart Manufacturing Infrastructure.