Audiobooks Books - Page 3

Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Audio Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $8.92

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Professionals & Academics -> Business
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 223 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

It was wonderful to be young and working on Wall Street in the 1980s: never had so many twenty-four-year-olds made so much money in so little time.

In this shrewd and wickedly funny audiobook, Michael Lewis describes an astonishing era and his own rake’s progress through a powerful investment bank. From an unlikely beginning (art history at Princeton?) he rose in two short years from Salomon Brothers trainee to Geek (the lowest form of life on the trading floor) to Big Swinging Dick–a bond salesman who could turn over millions of dollars’ worth of doubtful bonds with just one call.

A born storyteller, Michael Lewis shows us how things really worked on Wall Street. The bond traders, wearing greed and ambition as badges of honor, might well have swaggered straight from the pages of Bonfire of the Vanities. But for all their outrageous behavior, they were in fact presiding over enormous changes in the world economy. Lewis’s job was to transfer money, in the form of bonds, from those outside American who saved to those inside America who consumed. In doing so, he generated tens of millions of dollars for Salomon Brothers, and earned for himself a ringside seat on the greatest financial spectacle of the decade: the leveraging of America.

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Amazon Price: $13.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $11.69

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have joined tribes, be they religious, ethnic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). It’s our nature. Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helping existing tribes get bigger and enabling new tribes to be born—groups of ten or ten million who care about a political campaign, or a new way to fight global warming.

Who is going to lead all these tribes? The Web can do amazing things, but it can’t provide leadership. That still has to come from individuals—people just like you who have passion about something. Anyone who wants to make a difference now has the tools at their fingertips.

If you think leadership is for other people, think again—leaders come in surprising packages. Ignore an opportunity to lead and you risk turning into a “sheepwalker”—someone who fights to protect the status quo at all costs, never asking if obedience is doing you (or your organization) any good. Sheepwalkers don’t do very well these days.

Tribes will make you think (really think) about the opportunities for leading your fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, readers. . . . It's not easy, but it's easier than you probably imagine.

Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life

Amazon Price: $17.79 List Price: $26.95 Not yet published By: HighBridge Company

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Business Life -> Ethics
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Business Life -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Business Life -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

For a critical element of American society, including many of its wealthiest and most powerful, there seems to be no limit today on what "enough" entails.

The excesses are most starkly visible in the continuing crisis in banking and investment, and even in the two enormous government-sponsored (but publicly owned) mortgage lenders, to say nothing of the billion-dollar-plus annual paychecks that top hedge-fund managers draw down and the excessive compensation paid to CEOs, regardless of  performance.

Throughout his legendary career, John Bogle—founder of the Vanguard mutual fund group, and creator of the first index mutual fund—has helped investors build wealth the right way and led a tireless campaign to restore common sense to the investment world. Along the way, he’s seen how destructive an obsession with financial success can be. Now, with Enough, he puts this dilemma in perspective.

Bogle offers his unparalleled insights on money, on the values we should emulate in our business and professional callings, and on what we should consider as the true treasures in our lives. By explaining what "enough" truly is, he demonstrates how close everyone can be to having it.

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

Paul Krugman

Amazon Price: $21.09 List Price: $31.95 Not yet published By: Random House Audio

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Editorial Review:

Nobel Prize® winning economist Paul Krugman shows how today's crisis parallels the events that caused the Great Depression - and explains what it will take to avoid catastrophe. In 1999, Paul surveyed the economic crisis that had swept across Asia and Latin America, and warned that those crises were a warning for all of us: like diseases that have become resistant to antibiotics, the economic maladies that caused the Great Depression were making a comeback. In the years that followed, as Wall Street boomed and financial wheeler-dealers made vast profits, the international crises of the 1990s faded from memory. But now depression economics has come to America: when the great housing bubble of the mid-2000s burst, the U.S. financial system proved as vulnerable as those of developing countries caught up in earlier crises - and a replay of the 1930s seems all too possible.
In this new, greatly updated edition of The Return of Depression Economics, Paul shows how the failure of regulation to keep pace with an increasingly out-of-control financial system set the United States, and the world as a whole, up for the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. He also lays out the steps that must be taken to contain the crisis, and turn around a world economy sliding into a deep recession. Brilliantly crafted in Paul's trademark style - lucid, lively and supremely informed - this new edition of The Return of Depression Economics will become an instant cornerstone of the debate over how to respond to the crisis.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Audio Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $15.56

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Decision-Making & Problem Solving
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 224 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great lessons woven into a short story 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I really enjoyed listening to this on the CD edition. The author makes the plot interesting without too much unnecessary fluff. Almost everything in the story has some bearing on the lesson point being conveyed.

The characters are very contemporary - one uses his laptop during meetings, another is very judgmental, another one too quiet, etc. The protaganist, Kathryn is a team building leader - very reflective and results oriented. She knows she needs to do the leg work to make a team before the real results start tallying up. This is more important than her trying to be just one more product expert or financial wizard. She gets pressure from the board of directors, her direct reports and other sources. She is not perfect but she is terrific. Great model of how an executive should be.

The team goes through the usual roller coaster ride of present day corporate life - opportunities to acquire competitors, opportunities to be acquired, pressing sales calls that could theoretically change the whole game, employee distractions, etc.

My favorite lesson from the book is the cascading messages. Meetings are usually about decisions, but those decisions are not firm enough until the message to communicate the decision is concrete. This usually invokes more debate since it crystalizes the decision in a way that the team must agree upon since they will deliver it. This one thing would substantially improve many of the meetings I attend. And I intend to start using it.

There is a good summary of the five dysfunctions given as regular discourse, outside the story, at the end of the book.

This book is new generation business management writing at its best.

Editorial Review:

After her first two weeks observing the problems at DecisionTech, Kathryn Petersen, its new CEO, had more than a few moments when she wondered if she should have taken the job. But Kathryn knew there was little chance she would have turned it down. After all, retirement made her antsy, and nothing excited her more than a challenge. What she could not have known when she accepted the job, however, was just how dysfunctional her team was, and how team members would challenge her in ways no one ever had before.

In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two bestselling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams.

The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future

T. Boone Pickens

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Audio Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $15.48

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

With a Plan for Reducing U.S. Oil Dependency

It’s never too late to top your personal best.

Now eighty years old, T. Boone Pickens is a legendary figure in the business world. Known as the “Oracle of Oil” because of his uncanny ability to predict the direction of fuel prices, he built Mesa Petroleum, one of the largest independent oil companies in the United States, from a $2,500 investment. In the 1980s, Pickens became a household name when he executed a series of unsolicited buyout bids for undervalued oil companies, in the process reinventing the notion of shareholders’ rights. Even his failures were successful in that they forced risk-averse managers to reconsider the way they did business.

When Pickens left Mesa at age sixty-eight after a spectacular downward spiral in the company’s profits, many counted him out. Indeed, what followed for him was a painful divorce, clinical depression, a temporary inability to predict the movement of energy prices, and the loss of 90 percent of his investing capital. But Pickens was far from out.

From that personal and professional nadir, Pickens staged one of the most impressive comebacks in the industry, turning his investment fund’s remaining $3 million into $8 billion in profit in just a few years. That made him, at age seventy-seven, the world’s second-highest-paid hedge fund manager. But he wasn’t done yet. Today, Pickens is making some of the world’s most colossal energy bets. If he has his way, most of America’s cars will eventually run on natural gas, and vast swaths of the nation’s prairie land will become places where wind can be harnessed for power generation. Currently no less bold than he was decades ago when he single-handedly transformed America’s oil industry, Pickens is staking billions on the conviction that he knows what’s coming. In this book, he spells out that future in detail, not only presenting a comprehensive plan for American energy independence but also providing a fascinating glimpse into key resources such as water—yet another area where he is putting billions on the line.

From a businessman who is extraordinarily humble yet is considered one of the world’s most visionary, The First Billion Is the Hardest is both a riveting account of a life spent pulling off improbable triumphs and a report back from the front of the global energy and natural-resource wars—of vital interest to anyone who has a stake in America’s future.


From the Hardcover edition.

Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy

Martin Lindstrom

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Marketing & Sales -> Advertising
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Marketing & Sales -> Consumer Behavior
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Marketing & Sales -> Marketing -> Research

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 50 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Based on the single largest neuromarketing study ever conducted, Buyology reveals surprising truths about what attracts our attention and captures our dollars. Among the long-held assumptions and myths Buyology confronts:

• Sex doesn’t sell - people in skimpy clothing and provocative poses don’t persuade us to buy products.

• Despite government bans, subliminal advertising is ubiquitous — from bars to supermarkets to highway billboards.

• Color can be so iconic that the sight of the robin’s egg blue of a certain famous jewelry brand significantly raises women’s heart rates.

• Companies shamelessly borrow from religion and ritual — like the ritual, made up by a bored American bartender, of drinking a Corona with a lime — to seduce our interest.

• “Cool” brands, like iPods, trigger our mating instincts.

The fact is, so much of what we thought we knew about why we buy is wrong. Drawing on a three-year, 7 million dollar, cutting-edge brain scan study of over 2000 people from around the world, marketing guru Martin Lindstrom’s revelations will captivate anyone who’s been seduced —or turned off— by marketers relentless efforts to win our loyalty, our money and our minds.

Packed with entertaining stories about how we respond to such well-known products and companies as Marlboro, Calvin Klein, Ford, and American Idol, Buyology is a fascinating tour into the mind of today’s consumer.

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

Kerry Patterson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 137 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Common sense isn't really all that common 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I like this book a lot. Developed for business communication it has applications for many areas of life. I found it clear, instructive, insightful and relatively free of new-age doublespeak. I work in an ER and I communicate with angry people (sometimes including myself) in emotionally-charged situations on a daily basis. I find the techniques presented in this book quite practical.

For comparison I read a few of the negative reviews. Several of them dismiss this book as "common sense." I think they miss the point that common sense is not really all that common.

Best book ever 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have given this book to a number of people. It truly is a good read. Very helpful. For those of us that can be a bit timid....buy this book.

Crucial Conversations 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

As an Executive Coach, I highly recommend Crucial Conversations. Many of my clients face the challenge of talking with their peers and/or direct reports on a daily basis. Most people don't handle those difficult conversations very well. This book gives great steps and info on how to go about treading through the difficult waters. I have purchased several copies of this book as gifts for clients. I am currently re-reading it in order to grasp and absorb the rich content.

Editorial Review:

This book gives people the tools to handle life's most difficult and important conversations.

Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: BBC Audiobooks America Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $15.49

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Personal Finance -> Budgeting & Money Management
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Are you getting deeper and deeper into debt while they make bigger and bigger profits? Not after you read...Debt Cure$ "They" Don't Want You To Know About!

In this new book, Kevin Trudeau blows the lid off the banking and credit card industries, exposing the greatest rip off of our citizens in this nation's history. The credit card industry is one of the most profitable industries in this country, but they don't want you to know it. You can fight back! You can apply Kevin's solutions to your debt problems, and keep more money in your pocket today. You can learn how to use credit to build wealth! Read Debt Cure$ and cure your debt forever.

You will learn:
- How the credit lending business is rigged against you!
- How the financial industry wants to keep you in debt!
- How the banks and credit card companies are making obscene profits off of you and how you can change that!
- How to reduce or possible totally eliminate your debt!
- How you could cut your payments in half!
- How to correct your credit with two magic words!
- How to improve your credit virtually overnight!
- How to get free money that you never have to pay back!
- Find out why the financial industry wants to keep you in debt.
- Turn bad debt into good credit.
- Create wealth through financial health.

Who Moved My Cheese : An Amazing Way To Deal With Change In Your Work And In Your Life

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster Audio Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $4.49

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Job Hunting & Careers -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1458 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Who Moved My Cheese? Is a simple parable that reveals profound truths about change. It is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a "Maze" and look for "Cheese" to nourish them and make them happy.

"Cheese" is a metaphor for what you want to have in life -- whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health, or spiritual peace of mind. And "The Maze" is where you look for what you want -- the organization you work in, or the family or community you live in.

The characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the maze walls.

When you come to see "The Handwriting on the Wall," you can discover for yourself how to deal with change, so that you can enjoy less stress and more success (however you define it) in your work and in your life.

Written for all ages, the story takes a little over an hour to listen to, but its unique insights can last a lifetime.