With Optimizing the Power of Action Learning, Michael Marquardt continues his

management literature series in the field of learning and development in organizations. The book can be understood as a guideline on how to apply action learning within organizational practice, as it says in the subtitle: ‘solving problems and building leaders in real time’. Hence the main target group can be seen as practitioners intending to apply such team-oriented learning and problem-solving methodology as action learning. Unlike many other management books, the methodology presented is largely theoretically reflected. The author refers to a considerable amount of theories from various fields such as educational science, organization or management studies. Nevertheless, it remains a ‘guidebook ’ based on the conviction that action learning is a powerful tool for learning and development in practice. A scholarly oriented reader may miss critical reflection in the methodology itself. The book is easy to read as the result of a comprehensible and detailed structure combined with clear language. Conceptual aspects are well explained, without going into the depths of specific theoretic terminology. Furthermore,