Advanced reviews of Machines are the easy part; people are the hard part: Observations about making technology work in schools from people who ought to know better:
Every field should have a little book of wisdom to guide it. Doug Johnson’s Machines are the Easy Part delivers practical truths, and a welcome dose of humor, for ed tech leaders (we geeks long in need of affirmation and smiles). You’ll share these stories with your colleagues; you’ll refer to them when the funding fails and the network crashes. You’ll smile, you’ll nod, you’ll want to go out there and be a better leader. Bravo, Doug! Joyce Valenza, author of Power Research Tools.
Doug Johnson’s newest book proves the old adage that dynamite comes in small packages. Machines Are the Easy Part —packs powerful truths into simple examples, stimulating quotations, and humorous quips. Have a highlighter in hand because you’ll want to remember line after line. I laughed and shouted “Amen” as I simultaneously read it and thought about who needed to read it next! Debbie Silver author of Drumming to the Beat of a Different Marcher: Finding the Rhythm for Teaching a Differentiated Classroom.
Common sense, wit and sound advice are in short supply these days, but Doug Johnson ‘s little book is overflowing with all three. A tasty treat worth dropping on certain folks’ desk tops. Jamie McKenzie, author of the e-journal From Now On www.fno.org and book Planning Good Change.
Other comments:
Not only do I know about Doug Johnson’s new book—I just got a copy and readthe whole thing! It’s SO Doug—funny, cutting edge, witty, insightful, and practical. This isn’t a book that will solve all the technical technical problems
you have, but it will help you deal with them. I thought it was very clever—75 chunks of advice, one per page or two, filled with related stories to make you stop, think, identify, commiserate, and laugh. I was intending just to look it over and read it later but WHOOPS. I read the whole thing.
Whew—there is some wonderful and pithy and usable advice in here, kinda summing up Doug’s approach to not just technology, but teaching, education, libraries, supervision, and working with kids. It’s not a long book, but it made me
stop and think. And procrastinate. Which is good, sometimes.
Just wanted to let you know that our librarians are really enjoying Machines are the Easy Part … We are using it in our monthly staff development workshops, and believe it or not, they have really done some critical thinking about the issues you address, despite the tongue-in-cheek approach. We love your humorous, lively approach to what can be some rather troublesome issues.