Holy cow, this was a short book! There's no doubt that Aubrey Daniels is an accomplished and knowledgeable expert in behavior analysis/OBM. This book also demonstrates what a fine science communicator he is.

There are a few nit-picky places I disagree with, specifically stating that NCR can induce psychoses and stress, and that the 'Nintendo generation' are somehow altered from everyone else. For the first, it seems like his reasoning is more about indiscriminable contingencies than noncontingent ones, unless he's referring to superstitious behavior. Perhaps I am misunderstanding his point. For the second, I had to roll my eyes quite a bit. It isn't Millennials that are skewed by growing up with vidya games. It is everyone adjusting their behavior as new contingencies are introduced. Again, I don't think it was meant that way, but it came off more as "Kids these days want instant gratification because of video games" more than (what I feel is a more accurate and reasonable) "People's behaviors and expectations are changing with changes in technology." Boomers are not immune at all. Lastly, I know there's a lot of pushback against the use of reinforcement. Daniels addresses this, discussing what is and is not reinforcement and that it isn't bribing people with tangibles and monetary rewards. I would have liked to see a more thorough take-down of the objection based on "intrinsic motivation," as folks who espouse it often fail to see that reinforcement IS intrinsic motivation.

But again, those are nitpicks, and I don't think they are big enough ones to lose starts over. The book is written with passion and clarity, with great examples. For those not in behavior analysis, its a good introduction to the science of learning and how using that science is an improvement over the fads and fumbling methods so often used. For those already in the field, its a great model for how to speak during training, workshops, and dissemination. ( )