General Books

First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

Curt Coffman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 262 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In "First, Break All The Rules," Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization present the remarkable findings of their massive in-depth study of great managers across a wide variety of situations. Some were in leadership positions. Others were front-line supervisors. Some were in Fortune 500 companies; others were key players in small, entrepreneurial companies. Whatever their situations, the managers who ultimately became the focus of Gallup's research were invariably those who excelled at turning each employee's talent into performance. In today's tight labor markets, companies compete to find and keep the best employees, using pay, benefits, promotions, and training. But these well-intentioned efforts often miss the mark. The front-line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees. No matter how generous its pay or how renowned its training, the company that lacks great front-line managers will suffer. Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations for him or her -- they define the right outcomes rather than the right steps; how they motivate people -- they build on each person's unique strengths rather than trying to fix his weaknesses; and, finally, how great managers develop people -- they find the right fit for each person, not the next rung on the ladder. This audiobook is the first to present this essential measuring stick and to prove the link between employee opinions and productivity, profit, customer satisfaction, and the rate of turnover. There are vital performance and career lessons here for managers at every level, and, bestof all, the audiobook shows you how to apply them to your own situation.

Getting to Yes : How to Negotiate Agreement Without Giving in (AUDIO CASSETTE)

Roger Fisher

List Price: $12.00 By: Sound Ideas Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $5.75

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Negotiating

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 152 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Getting To Yes - An Education In Negotiating Effectively 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

There are many books, articles and seminars on effective negotiation. "Getting To Yes" is an easy read that lends itself to practical application in any form of negotiation. For the price of this book there is no better value for learning effective negotiating skills.

Getting to yes 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Required reading in most negotiation classes I am told by my professor at UNH. I think it's an excellent book, we use two, this and "Bargaining for Advantage" by Richard Shell. I personally like the shell book better as it's more methodical which my brain processes more easily. Having said that, this book is also very good.

More pie 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book does a great job of helping the reader understand that rather than just focusing on getting the biggest piece of the pie, we should find ways to make the pie bigger.

Boring but Potentially Helpful Guide to Basic Negotiating 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you are uncomfortable with your current negotiation technique and strategy and seek to improve it, this book will offer you great help. It is comprehensive and easy to read with lots of great examples. On the other hand, if you are comfortable with your current negotiation ability this book will seem repetitive and obvious. The authors make it clear that career negotiators who have read the book agree that it teaches them what they already know, but the negotiators also admonish the authors for outlining clearly and in laymen's terms "The Method" as they refer to it, even as a refresher. Note that this is not a sales strategy book that will help you get your way by any means, it is a book advocating healthy, relationship friendly negotiation.

Editorial Review:

This internationally bestselling "bible for negotiators" tells listeners how to negotiate without giving in and without turning an honest disagreement into a test of wills.

Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises (Wiley Investment Classics)

Charles P. Kindleberger, Robert Aliber

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $11.13

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Relevant but hard to read 3 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I am no economist and just an interested general reader. I expected to read narratives about past financial crises and how they played out. But this book is not organized that way. It doesn't tell any story from start to finish. Instead it references lots of different crises in a kind of shorthand way, without giving the background or the overall narrative.

Many of the references are pretty darn obscure, at least to me. So fine, if he's talking about how a certain phenomenon works and he says, "as in 1932," or "as in the S&L crisis," I'm with him. But when he says, "just as in the 1762 case in Belgium" (made up example)--well, my eyes start to glaze over, because he hasn't told me the story of 1762 Belgium, but referenced it as if it should be as familiar to me as the Great Depression in the US.

I also think there's something wrong with the writing style. He seems not to start out with topic sentences that show us where he's going, or to end with a summing up of the significance of what he's just said. Certain details recur within a few pages of each other. The effect is pretty scatter-shot, as if it was not carefully edited and made to flow.

There is plenty of raw material here for anyone watching our current economic crisis and wondering how it happened, but you have to work for it. What I get from it is that in certain circumstances, if everyone does what seems best to him or her in the market, the end result will be disaster for all. It's not really irrational to buy when prices are increasing by the day, because huge profits can indeed be made. But the more people that make that individually rational choice, the more irrational the whole thing becomes.

Maybe I could compare it to a stampede to an exit door in a fire. Each person's individual best choice is to get out as quickly as possible. But if you allow that psychological reality to play out, you might have people trampled to death at the door who then block everyone else from escaping.

Reading this was like listening to a rather elderly professor of history who is intimately familiar with many obscure incidents, but doesn't provide the context for his young students to follow his train of thought.

Editorial Review:

Manias, Panics, and Crashes, Fifth Edition is an engaging and entertaining account of the way that mismanagement of money and credit has led to financial explosions over the centuries. Covering such topics as the history and anatomy of crises, speculative manias, and the lender of last resort, this book puts the turbulence of the financial world in perspective. The updated fifth edition expands upon each chapter, and includes two new chapters focusing on significant financial crises of the last fifteen years.

The Richest Man in Babylon

George S. Clason

Amazon Price: $11.20 List Price: $14.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Penguin Books USA, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 120 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 409 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Intense wisdom delivered in a concise 144 pages 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Intense wisdom delivered in a concise 144 pages. Confession: For many years, I've known of this book but was not bothered to read it since I thought, well, it might just be another how to make a million dollar book. Then after some thoughts I figured, well, there's not much harm picking it up and have a look, if I'm not convinced, I can always put it back, with little loss of time. But in retrospect, my such reaction was analogous to that of Bill Gates's attitude towards Warren Buffett prior to 1991 :P (I'm not comparing myself with them, just the situation!) In case you don't know, Bill Gates had thought of Warren Buffett another your-friend-recommendation-of-smartest-guy, until his mother says Kay Graham of Washington Post was there, he went along, and the rest was history.

Lest you think I wrote all those just to boost word count, just two short comments on 'intense wisdom' and 'concise 144 pages': 'Intense wisdom' because there's no word wasted in the book, so read with full attention (and respect accorded to a prayer, if you will), better in a quiet library than in noisy subway; 'concise 144 pages', more so considering the fact that the book is smaller than A5 size! If you can practice the advice expounded in the book with fanatic devotion (I guess nothing less is satisfactory), you're on your way!

Editorial Review:

This book holds the secrets to acquiring money, keeping money, and making money earn more money.

How To Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, 3rd Edition

William J. O'Neil

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: McGraw-Hill Amazon Marketplace: 125 new & used starting at $2.39

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Investing -> Introduction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 216 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

THE BUSINESSWEEK, USA TODAY, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BUSINESS BESTSELLER!

The bestselling guide to buying stocks, from the founder of Investor's Business Daily­­now completely revised and updated

When it was first published, How to Make Money in Stocks hit the investing world like a jolt, providing readers with the first in-depth explanation of William J. O'Neil's innovative CAN SLIM investing method. Five years later, O'Neil, founder for the industry icon Investor's Business Daily, revised his classic text and provided readers with a newer glimpse on how the average investor can make money in the equities market.

This third edition of How to Make Money in Stocks has been revised and updated with new chapters designed to help investors increase their performance. New discussions include:

• Greater clarification of the key CAN SLIM investment strategy
• Expanded analysis of the general market from the top of year 2000 to the market bottom of 2001
• New models of the greatest stock market winners that provide more basis for the ongoing effectiveness and superior performance of the CAN SLIM strategy
• Fresh stock charts featured in two colors for easier analysis of trends
• And an invaluable guide on how to maximize both Investor's Business Daily and www.investors.com to find winning stocks

Like his international bestselling 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success, which stayed on international business bestseller lists for close to 6 months in 2000, How to Make Money in Stocks is the best reference for the individual investor in how to stay afloat and ahead in the rocky and volatile equities markets of the 21st century.

Personal Finance for Dummies

Eric Tyson

List Price: $19.99 By: For Dummies Amazon Marketplace: 198 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 121 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very informative and helpful; odd section on saving money 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is pretty informative and gives helps guide you on preparing your finances. It talks about a lot of pitfalls to watch out for, and gives you some straight opinions on employer retirement plans and debt management, as well as some thoughts on good debt vs. bad debt.

The only problem I have with it is the section on cutting costs. It is a little out of place and some of the recommendations on how to save money are a little bizarre and out there. Shaving your head to save money on hair supplies and taking naps at home for vacation instead of going away got a raised eyebrow from me, as did his belief that you have to be a small business or nonprofit to get a Costco membership. He also talks about giving up meat as a possible avenue for cost savings (because it costs a lot).

Like I said, the rest of the book seems to have sound financial guidance. The section on saving money?

Take it with a grain of salt.

Editorial Review:

Finally, an understandable guide to personal finance is available. In Personal Finance For Dummies, 2nd Edition, financial expert and syndicated columnist Eric Tyson shares his proven strategies for everything from getting yourself out of debt, reducing the amount you spend on taxes and loans, and saving for retirement, to buying and selling real estate profitably, determining an acceptable level of risk to guide your investment choices, and even paying for your children's college education. It also includes a chapter on strategies for dealing with lifestyle changes. No matter your assets -- or debts you can find the sensible advice you need in Personal Finance For Dummies, 2nd Edition.

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

Peter L. Bernstein

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley Amazon Marketplace: 118 new & used starting at $4.85

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 155 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A Business Week, New York Times Business, and USA Today Bestseller

"Ambitious and readable . . . an engaging introduction to the oddsmakers, whom Bernstein regards as true humanists helping to release mankind from the choke holds of superstition and fatalism." -The New York Times

"An extraordinarily entertaining and informative book." -The Wall Street Journal

"A lively panoramic book . . . Against the Gods sets up an ambitious premise and then delivers on it." -Business Week

"Deserves to be, and surely will be, widely read." -The Economist

"[A] challenging book, one that may change forever the way people think about the world." -Worth

"No one else could have written a book of such central importance with so much charm and excitement." -Robert Heilbroner author, The Worldly Philosophers

"With his wonderful knowledge of the history and current manifestations of risk, Peter Bernstein brings us Against the Gods. Nothing like it will come out of the financial world this year or ever. I speak carefully: no one should miss it." -John Kenneth Galbraith Professor of Economics Emeritus, Harvard University

In this unique exploration of the role of risk in our society, Peter Bernstein argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguishes modern times from the distant past. Against the Gods chronicles the remarkable intellectual adventure that liberated humanity from oracles and soothsayers by means of the powerful tools of risk management that are available to us today.

"An extremely readable history of risk." -Barron's

"Fascinating . . . this challenging volume will help you understand the uncertainties that every investor must face." -Money

"A singular achievement." -Times Literary Supplement

"There's a growing market for savants who can render the recondite intelligibly-witness Stephen Jay Gould (natural history), Oliver Sacks (disease), Richard Dawkins (heredity), James Gleick (physics), Paul Krugman (economics)-and Bernstein would mingle well in their company." -The Australian

Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Time Warner Books Amazon Marketplace: 234 new & used starting at $1.95

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Investing -> Introduction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 196 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Personal finance author and lecturer Robert T. Kiyosaki developed his unique economic perspective from two very different influences - two fathers. One father (Robert's real father) was a highly educated man but fiscally poor. The other was the father of Robert's best friend - that dad was a college drop-out who became a self-made multi-millionaire. In this follow-up to the bestselling "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", he reveals the secret of how the wealthiest people become wealthier by presenting some simple investing secrets and explaining how anyone can enjoy cash benefits merely by knowing where and how best to invest their money. The author's nuts-and-bolts approach to personal finance and understanding the real earning power of money has gained him a huge following, particularly as he knows all he describes from first-hand experience. Once so cash poor that he and his wife were forced to sleep in their car, today the Kiyosakis are multi-millionaires and highly sophisticated and experienced investment experts.

Financial Peace Revisited

Dave Ramsey

Amazon Price: $16.29 List Price: $23.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Viking Adult Amazon Marketplace: 93 new & used starting at $8.95

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Total reviews: 69 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Dave Ramsey knows what it's like to have it all. By age twenty-six, he had established a four-million-dollar real estate portfolio, only to lose it by age thirty. He has since rebuilt his financial life and, through his workshops and his New York Times business bestsellers Financial Peace and More than Enough, he has helped hundreds of thousands of people to understand the forces behind their financial distress and how to set things right-financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

In this new edition of Financial Peace, Ramsey has updated his tactics and philosophy to show even more readers:

€ how to get out of debt and stay out
€ the KISS rule of investing-"Keep It Simple, Stupid"
€ how to use the principle of contentment to guide financial decision making
€ how the flow of money can revolutionize relationships

With practical and easy to follow methods and personal anecdotes, Financial Peace is the road map to personal control, financial security, a new, vital family dynamic, and lifetime peace.

Smart Women Finish Rich

David Bach

List Price: $25.00 By: Broadway Amazon Marketplace: 91 new & used starting at $0.01

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Total reviews: 139 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Many women, whether they've managed million-dollar budgets at work or managed kids, bills, and car payments at home, feel at a loss when it comes to figuring out their financial futures. Often, they leave the "big" money matters to the men in their lives, or they put off making important financial decisions that could affect their lifestyles down the road.

Now, in Smart Women Finish Rich, David Bach finally gives women the tools and the program they need to create rich futures. A renowned financial advisor who has coached thousands of people looking for financial security, Bach has developed a proven system for women that can make them better financial planners than men.

Bach has found that women tend to be naturally great investors when they learn to tap into their values. He has discovered that while men tend to focus on earning money for "things"--cars, boats, golf gear, etc.--and frequently switch stocks in their portfolios, women who prioritize their "values"--security, freedom, and education--are able to commit easily to a long-term savings and investment plan to build futures they really want.

Whether you're working with a few dollars a week, a significant inheritance, or a savings account that's been earning just 3 percent, the Smart Women Finish Rich approach toward saving and investing can provide a huge payoff.  Secure your financial future and achieve your dreams by following these seven steps:

1. Learn the facts and myths about your money.
2. Put your money where your values are.
3. Figure out where you stand financially... and where you want to go.
4. Use the power of the latté factor to create massive wealth on just a few dollars a week.
5. Practice Grandma's three-basket approach to financial security.
6. Learn the nine biggest mistakes investors make and how to avoid them.
7. Follow the twelve commandments of attracting greater wealth.

These seven easy steps will transform your relationship with money, and Smart Women Finish Rich will put you in control of your finances and your future.