Business & Investing Books - Page 11

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

Timothy Egan

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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> 20th Century -> Depression

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 190 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Timothy Egan has written a first-class book about the Great American Dust Bowl. The story documents how government and business--even with the best of intentions--can facilitate the destruction of an entire region. Using actual stories of hearty survivors who persevered dust storms, drought and depression, Egan accurately recounts historical events with flair and drama. He makes history come alive by managing a rare accomplishment; educating while entertaining the reader.

I had no clue 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

...since I was born in the late 60's yet here in 2008 I wanted to know about the folks that survived during that period of time, how they lived and why it had all happened. Timothy made this real and "touchable" for me. Your heart breaks for these people, it's a very moving tribute. I came away grateful for everything in my life.

Editorial Review:

The dust storms that terrorized America's High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since, and the stories of the people that held on have never been fully told. Pulitzer Prizea "winning New York Times journalist and author Timothy Egan follows a half-dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, going from sod huts to new framed houses to huddling in basements with the windows sealed by damp sheets in a futile effort to keep the dust out.

Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies

Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Corporate executives are struggling with a new trend: people using online social technologies (blogs, social networking sites, YouTube, podcasts) to discuss products and companies, write their own news, and find their own deals. This groundswell is global, it s unstoppable, it affects every industry and it s utterly foreign to the powerful companies running things now.

When consumers you ve never met are rating your company s products in public forums with which you have no experience or influence, your company is vulnerable. In Groundswell, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester, Inc. explain how to turn this threat into an opportunity.

Using tools and data straight from Forrester, you ll learn how to:



-Evaluate new social technologies as they emerge

-Determine how different groups of consumers are participating in social technology arenas

-Apply a four-step process for formulating your future strategy

-Build social technologies into your business including monitoring your brand value, talking with the groundswell through marketing and PR campaigns, and energizing your best customers to recruit their peers

Timely and insightful, this book is required reading for executives seeking to protect and strengthen their company s public image.

"Groundswell is jammed with big ideas, useful stories, and quotable stats. This is the new industrial revolution. Are you on board?"

-Seth Godin, author, Meatball Sundae

"This book will rock your world, if social technology hasn't rocked it already. It's a tsunami of unstoppable force. Amazon, Procter & Gamble, Facebook, Google, and Dell are profiting from the crest of the wave. Are you? Li and Bernoff are the apostles of the tsunami. This book will be your bible."

-Scott Cook, Founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit

Groundswell provides practical advice on how to stay nimble and flexible in an ever-morphing digital world. Enabling your company to respond to change quickly especially when talking to and supporting your consumers is essential for business success.

-Cathie Black, President, Hearst Magazines

"The first phase of the Internet was about getting everyone connected. In this next phase, which changes the way we work, live, play, and learn, we re starting to realize the value of those connections as well as the new communications and experiences those interactions lead to the human network. Groundswell effectively documents this shift and underscores the opportunities available to all from this major market transition."

-John T. Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco

"Heed the Groundswell! It's critical reading and helped us master the new dynamics of social media."

-Christina Norman, President, MTV

"Groundswell is a comprehensive look at the tidal wave of change engulfing marketers. Nobody should attempt to engage the newly empowered and emboldened consumer without first hearing what Li and Bernoff have to say on the subject."

-Clark Kokich, CEO, Avenue A | Razorfish

"Social technologies and the groundswell impact every business and organization worldwide. Li and Bernoff have written an insightful book that takes a refreshing research-driven approach to helping businesses transform themselves and successfully navigate this new dynamic landscape."

-Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President, Edelman Digital, and columnist for Advertising Age

Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World

James J. Cramer

Amazon Price: $10.88 List Price: $16.00 Not yet published By: Simon & Schuster

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 273 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

How do we find hot stocks without getting burned? How do we fatten our portfolios and stay financially healthy? Former hedge-fund manager and longtime Wall Street commentator Jim Cramer explains how to invest wisely in chaotic times, and he does so in plain English in a style that is as much fun as investing is -- or should be, when it's done right.

For starters, Cramer recommends devoting a portion of your assets to speculation. Everyone wants to find the big winners that can bring outsized gains, and Cramer explains how to allocate your portfolio so that you can afford to take this kind of risk wisely. He explains why "buy and hold" is a losing philosophy: For Cramer, it's "buy and homework." If you can't spend an hour a week researching each of your stocks, then you should hand off your portfolio to a mutual fund -- and Cramer identifies the very few mutual funds that he'd recommend.

Cramer reveals his Ten Commandments of Trading (Commandment #5: Tips are for waiters). He explains why he's not afraid to compare investing to gambling (and tells you which book on gambling you should read to become a better investor). He discloses his Twenty-Five Rules of Investing (Rule #4: Look for broken stocks, not broken companies).

Cramer shows how to compare stock prices in a way that you can understand, how to spot market tops and bottoms, how to know when to sell, how to rotate among cyclical stocks to catch the big moves, and much more. Jim Cramer's Real Money is filled with insider advice that really works, information that Cramer himself used to make millions during his fourteen-year career on Wall Street.

Written in Cramer's distinctive turbocharged style, this is every investor's guide to what you really must know to make big money in the stock market.

Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul

John Eldredge, Stasi Eldredge

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Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Christian Living -> Women's Issues

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 304 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

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

I just started reading this book and it's such a great book! I get the "warm fuzzies" whenever I read it. :)

My life is changing as a result of this book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have been through a lot in my 40 years of life. I always thought that I had to be strong and just carry my sadness with me like a backpack I would pick up every day--it just became a part of my routine to deal with the overwhelming pain and sadness.

A friend of mine suggested I read this book. I went into it skeptically because I have read so many Christian-based books that encouraged me, but never helped me to get "over that hump" of going back to dwelling on past hurts.

I am now getting this book for a few of my girlfriends for Christmas. I believe it will help them as it has helped me.

I read another review on this site that said the book did nothing for her. Well, to be honest, I believe that God reveals things to you when the timing is right. I have read books that I felt did nothing for me and then an event will take place in my life --and lo and behold the book I felt was useless did in fact prepare me for the event. So I don't limit God's teachings or Word. As the Bible states His Word does not go out void.

I suggest reading a chapter or two and really reflecting on what it's said, how it relates to you and then prayerfully asking for God to help you get a deeper understanding from the book.

I am still in the process of reading the book, but each chapter has brought me to a higher level. I no longer think the negative thoughts that once plagued my heart and soul. I no longer wake with dread of "what's going to happen to make me sad today." I am renewed, I am cleansed and I am free of picking up that backpack of sadness.

Editorial Review:

What Wild at Heart did for men, Captivating is doing for women. Setting their hearts free. This groundbreaking audiobook shows listeners the glorious design of women before the fall, describes how the feminine heart can be restored, and casts a vision for the power, freedom, and beauty of a woman released to be all she was meant to be. By revealing the core desires every woman shares-to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a grand adventure, and to unveil beauty-John and Stasi Eldredge invite women to recover their feminine hearts, created in the image of an intimate and passionate God. Further, they encourage men to discover the secret of a woman's soul and to delight in the beauty and strength women were created to offer.

Confessor (Sword of Truth) (Sword of Truth)

Terry Goodkind

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 251 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Confessor ( The Sword of Truth) 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 4 people found this review helpful.

My nephew read this book as soon as he got it and he enjoyed reading the book.

Preaching, smugness, and panic abound 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

You probably already know that Goodkind is preachy. I knew it going in and I can deal with that, even though it kills the feeling of the book. It does bother me that an author will go to great lengths to try and tell a story and wrap the reader into a different world, and then just totally bash the reader in the skull with childish monologues that go for pages where I guess we are supposed to believe that all other characters just patiently wait for the speaker to finish and reach their point. It doesn't matter how many people are present for these tirades, or what the circumstances are (like maybe a tense moment with tempers flaring). We are just supposed to stay wrapped up in this story as if it's plausible. Sorry Mr Goodkind but it isn't. You might as well have said Richard pulls out a gun and starts firing at people because THAT is how plausible your character tirades are. How can you create this rich world and not get something basic like how people interact?

So anyway, I can skip those and keep going. I don't mind that much as long as I can keep the story going. And it worked for much of this book like his other recent books. But what really killed it for me was the ending. It has to be the dumbest ending ever. I can only think that panic sent in with a due date looming so Goodkind just whipped up something to get it done. In a manner of two or three pages Goodkind explains the entire secret to all the magic being used as "one thing was wrong because it was after a key date" but "the correct thing was correct even though it was after the key date".

Why you ask? Well the first thing was wrong because it was illogical because how could it be part of the solution if the timeline was wrong. So how could the second thing be correct if the timeline was also wrong? Ahhh dear reader the answer is .... it was a trick. Yes folks, logic prevails until the author gets tired head and decides that logic won't work so we fall back on "it's a trick".

You know, that might work if there were some space between these revelations, like maybe a book or two or even a few 100 pages. But no, it all comes in a one or two page span.

Let that sink in a bit. It's the last 5 pages of the book dear readers. XZY was false because of a date, simple logic. But ABC is true even though it falls under the same date, because it's a trick.

A trick. Really Terry? Really?

So yes, I enjoyed the book even with the smug speeches and preaching. But I feel so ripped off because of the ending. I'm ashamed I read the book and gave Terry money.

Editorial Review:

Descending into darkness, about to be overwhelmed by evil, those people still free are powerless to stop the coming dawn of a savage new world, while Richard faces the guilt of knowing that he must let it happen. Alone, he must bear the weight of a sin he dare not confess to the one person he loves…and has lost.

Join Richard and Kahlan in the concluding novel of one of the most remarkable and memorable journeys ever written. It started with one rule and will end with the rule of all rules, the rule unwritten, the rule unspoken since the dawn of history.

When next the sun rises, the world will be forever changed.

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

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Total reviews: 233 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The book that shows how to get the job done and deliver results . . . whether you’re running an entire company or in your first management job

Larry Bossidy is one of the world’s most acclaimed CEOs, a man with few peers who has a track record for delivering results. Ram Charan is a legendary advisor to senior executives and boards of directors, a man with unparalleled insight into why some companies are successful and others are not. Together they’ve pooled their knowledge and experience into the one book on how to close the gap between results promised and results delivered that people in business need today.

After a long, stellar career with General Electric, Larry Bossidy transformed AlliedSignal into one of the world’s most admired companies and was named CEO of the year in 1998 by Chief Executive magazine. Accomplishments such as 31 consecutive quarters of earnings-per-share growth of 13 percent or more didn’t just happen; they resulted from the consistent practice of the discipline of execution: understanding how to link together people, strategy, and operations, the three core processes of every business.

Leading these processes is the real job of running a business, not formulating a “vision” and leaving the work of carrying it out to others. Bossidy and Charan show the importance of being deeply and passionately engaged in an organization and why robust dialogues about people, strategy, and operations result in a business based on intellectual honesty and realism.

The leader’s most important job—selecting and appraising people—is one that should never be delegated. As a CEO, Larry Bossidy personally makes the calls to check references for key hires. Why? With the right people in the right jobs, there’s a leadership gene pool that conceives and selects strategies that can be executed. People then work together to create a strategy building block by building block, a strategy in sync with the realities of the marketplace, the economy, and the competition. Once the right people and strategy are in place, they are then linked to an operating process that results in the implementation of specific programs and actions and that assigns accountability. This kind of effective operating process goes way beyond the typical budget exercise that looks into a rearview mirror to set its goals. It puts reality behind the numbers and is where the rubber meets the road.

Putting an execution culture in place is hard, but losing it is easy. In July 2001 Larry Bossidy was asked by the board of directors of Honeywell International (it had merged with AlliedSignal) to return and get the company back on track. He’s been putting the ideas he writes about in Execution to work in real time.


From the Hardcover edition.

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant

W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Decent concept, but too long & poor delivery 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I think the blue ocean concept is valid, but the best way to communicate it is in an HBR article or wikipedia. It's just not revolutionary enough to warrant reading such a long book in 2008. There's little I learned from this book that is not already well summarized on wikipedia, or the same author's Value Innovation article in HBR (1997). Additionally, I think the value innovation concept is touched on sufficiently well in modern b-school texts. (ie. Strategic Market Management by David Aaker)

However, the primary reason I'm giving this a low 2-star rating is the delivery. If I was writing this review attached to the book itself, I'd give it 3-4 stars for the content... but I'm writing this review attached to the CD edition. The reader has a monotone voice and he mispronounces so many words that the delivery interfered with my ability to extract value from the content. Every time he mis-pronounced a word it set me back a few seconds to think about what he tried to say rather than digesting the meaning of what he said.

Examples:
Crux was pronounced like crooks
Paradigm was pronounced pair-a-deem
Unveil was pronounced un-veal

These are admittedly little errors, but as other reviewers have pointed out, there are so many of them that it gets really annoying and interferes with the learning process.

In summary, I recommend you read the HBR value innovation article & wikipedia on this concept. The concept in the book is now >10 years old and it's time to be retired. If the author wants to continue reaping personal value from this concept he should 1. Release an edition relevant for 2008 & beyond, and 2. Get someone else to read it for the audio version.

Editorial Review:

Written by the business world's new gurus, "Blue Ocean Strategy" continues to challenge everything you thought you knew about competing in today's crowded market place. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred years and thirty industries, authors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne argue that lasting success comes from creating 'blue oceans': untapped new market spaces ripe from growth. And the business world has caught on - companies around the world are skipping the bloody red oceans of rivals and creating their very own blue oceans. With over one million copies sold world wide, "Blue Ocean Strategy" is quickly reaching "must read" status among smart business readers. Have you caught the wave?

Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)

Cliff Mason, James J. Cramer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Jim Cramer, bestselling author and host of CNBC's Mad Money, has written the ultimate guide to lifetime investing for readers of any age.

Whether you're a recent college grad trying to figure out how to start investing, a young parent struggling to decide where and how to put away money, or someone well into middle age and worried about whether you've saved enough for retirement, Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life has the answers. Cramer covers all the essentials: how to save, where to invest, which pitfalls to avoid. He offers valuable advice on everything from mortgages to college tuition. He explains what professional money managers do right that amateur investors do wrong. Because there is always a bull market somewhere, Cramer tells readers where to find the bull markets of the future, and for those willing to do the homework, he chooses twenty stocks that could be long-term moneymakers. For those who don't have the time or the temperament to invest in stocks, he identifies the mutual funds that are proven winners. He's investigated these funds by using his own twenty-five years' experience managing money for himself and dozens of America's wealthiest families. Throughout, in addition to his own enormously successful experience, Cramer draws on rigorous research to back up his advice.

Jim Cramer is America's #1 financial guru. Every day he advises investors on how to get ahead of the markets and stay ahead on his daily television show, Mad Money; in his online columns and commentary at TheStreet.com; in his popular "Bottom Line" column in New York magazine, and on television programs from early morning to late night. His books have all been national bestsellers and have helped educate hundreds of thousands of investors about the perils and promises of the financial markets. USA Today called him "the media's most electrifying market pundit"; and his legions of fans agree. Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life is the definitive money book, a practical, concrete, insightful book of invaluable financial advice that is a joy to read.

PMP Exam Prep

Rita Mulcahy

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 318 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent Methods for Preparing for the Exam 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Rita's book helped me prepare for, and pass, the exam by getting me into the mindset of the types of questions I would face on the exam. The book also goes well beyond what you would cover solely with the PMBOK and provides useful exercises to force you to understand the material. There are also dozens of useful 'nuggets' in the book that, not surprisingly, popped up on the exam for which I was prepared.
As has been noted by other reviews, the tone of the book can often be a little caustic and derogatory but I believe that that is the author's teaching style and it can be effective most times. However, reading the book more than once makes the style less abrasive ...
Overall, an excellent guide to getting ready and passing the exam on the first try.

Editorial Review:

PMP Exam Prep is a comprehensive guide to preparing to pass the Project Management Institute's PMP Exam. This book has explanations of the topics on the PMP Exam, exercizes to test your knowledge, practice exams and tips on what to study, how to study and how to take the exam.

The PMP Exam Prep is a compliment to the PMBOK Guide 2000 and is current with the 2002 PMP Exam.

The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence

Robert J. Samuelson

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

It’s a giant gap in our history. The Great Inflation, argues award-winning columnist Robert J. Samuelson in this provocative book, was the worst domestic policy blunder of the postwar era and played a crucial role in transforming American politics, economy, and everyday life–and yet its story is hardly remembered or appreciated. In these uncertain economic times, it is more imperative than ever that we understand what happened in the 1960s and 1970s, lest we be doomed to repeat our mistakes.

From 1960 to 1979, inflation rose from barely more than 1 percent to nearly 14 percent. It was the greatest peacetime inflationary spike in this nation’s history, and it had massive repercussions in every area of our lives. The direct consequences included Ronald Reagan’s election to the presidency in 1980, stagnation in living standards, and a growing belief–both in America and abroad–that the great-power status of the United States was ending. The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath traces the origins and rise of double-digit inflation and its fall in the brutal 1981-82 recession, engineered by the Federal Reserve under then-chairman Paul Volcker and with the staunch backing of Reagan.

But that is only half the story. The end of high inflation triggered economic and social changes that are still with us. The stock market and housing booms were both direct outcomes; American business became more productive–and also much less protective of workers; and globalization was encouraged.

We cannot understand today’s world, Samuelson contends, without understanding the Great Inflation and its aftermath. Nor can we prepare for the future unless we heed its lessons. This incisive and enlightening book will stand as the authoritative account of a watershed event of our times.

Praise for The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath
"Newsweek and Washington Post columnist Samuelson is one of the rare journalists who debates politics and economics with a healthy skepticism toward conventional wisdom. Politicians would do well to study [the errors] the past that teach that choosing quick fixes only delays and worsens the inevitable.”– Booklist

"If you want to understand the economic events of the last half century, you should read. . . Robert Samuelson's The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: --U.S News & World Report.