Check it out

As Valentine’s Day approaches, you may be interested in improving

relationships with friends, family, co-workers and significant others.

For the task, Newport libraries offer dozens of new books aimed at

getting along with people in your personal life and at work.

If you’re a parent of a 2- through 12-year-old, you can peer into your

child’s inner life with “Put Yourself in Their Shoes: Understanding How

Your Child Sees the World.” Filled with candid observations from kids

themselves, this guide to decoding puzzling behavior and knowing what to

ask and listen for offers valuable insight into developmental trouble

spots.

In any business, co-workers can be allies or enemies, and you may be able

to turn the latter into the former with help from “Working Relationships:

The Simple Truth About Getting Along with Friends and Foes at Work.”

Through exercises and case histories, psychologist Bob Wall provides tips

for forging healthier workplaces for employees and employers in his

treatise about getting along at work.

Relationship knots can be sources of frustration and failure in family

business. To untangle people who threaten to derail profits and

productivity, check out “Getting Along in Family Business,” a thoughtful

guide to developing what Edwin and Colette Hoover call relationship

intelligence.

Friends can make or break your health, happiness, family and career,

contends Florence Isaacs in “Toxic Friends True Friends.” Through

insights from experts and vivid anecdotes, she analyzes the interplay of

affection, obligation and competition in her manual about telling the

difference between real friends and those who are a waste of time -- or

worse.

After decades of working with hundreds of intelligent, accomplished women

and seeing them suffer through relationship disasters, psychotherapist

Suzanne Lopez concluded that women needed to learn to engage their heads

before losing their hearts. To help with the process, she developed Smart

Heart Partnering Process, a systematic way to design a dating strategy

that suits a woman’s personality needs and desires, outlined in “Get

Smart with Your Heart.”

If your relationship cache includes a significant other, read “Don’t

Sweat the Small Stuff in Love,” Richard Carlson’s newest addition to a

best-selling series that has helped millions of people reduce stress in

their everyday lives, careers and families. Now he and his wife, Kris,

explain how to apply this helpful philosophy to their relationships.

For those who would really like an operator’s manual for successful

relationships, there’s Cherie Carter-Scott’s “If Love Is a Game, These

Are the Rules: Ten Rules for Finding Love and Creating Long-lasting,

Authentic Relationships.” Aimed at anyone interested in creating a viable

romantic union, this delightful primer on love may help you and your

valentine celebrate a lifetime of happy days.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams, in collaboration with

Debbie Walker.