Business Books - Page 4

Crazy Bosses: Fully Revised and Updated

Stanley Bing

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Since the latter part of the century just past, Stanley Bing has been exploring the relationship between authority and madness. In one bestselling book after another, reporting from his hot-seat as an insider in a world-renowned multinational corporation, he has tried to understand the inner workings of those who lead us and to inquire why they seem to be powered, much of the time, by demons that make them obnoxious and dangerous, even to themselves.

In What Would Machiavelli Do?, Bing looked at the issue of why mean people do better than nice people, and found that in their particular form of insanity lay incredible power. In Throwing the Elephant: Zen and the Art of Managing Up, he offered a spiritual path toward managing the unruly executive beast. And in Sun Tzu Was a Sissy, he taught us how to become one of them, and wage war on the playing field that ends in a dream home in Cabo. Now he returns to his roots to offer the last word on the entity that shapes our lives and stomps through—and on—our dreams: The Crazy Boss.

Students of Bing—and there are many, secreted inside tortured organizations, yearning for blunt instruments with which to fight—will note that he has walked this ground before, looking for answers. In 1992, he published the first edition of Crazy Bosses, which was fine, as far as it went. Now, some 15 years and several dozen insane bosses later, he has updated and rethought much of the work. Back in the last century, Bing was a small, trembling creature, looking up at those who made his life miserable and analyzing the mental illness that gave them their power. Today, while still trembling much of the time, he is in fact one of those people his prior work has warned us against. His own hard-won wisdom and now institutionalized dementia make this new edition completely fresh and indispensable to anyone who works for somebody else or lives with somebody else, or would like to.

In short, Bing is back on his home turf in this funny, true, and essential book, peering with his keen and frosty eye at the crazy boss in all his guises: the Bully, the Paranoid, the Narcissist, the Wimp, and the self-destructive Disaster Hunter. If you loved the original, classic Crazy Bosses, you'll be thrilled to plunge back into the new, refurbished pool. If you are new to the book, strap yourself in: it's going to be a crazy ride.

Executricks: Or How to Retire While You're Still Working

Stanley Bing

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

People in the high flush of a successful but sometimes frenetic business career often look with envy at those who have entered their golden years. Ah! they think. To be retired! Free to wake when you wish, to have the time to reflect on the deeper things in life, play golf or quoits, or just go fishin' in the middle of the day. The stressed-out mind boggles at the prospect, and the lip cannot help but tremble and drool.

At the same time, you may not be emotionally–or financially–ready to hang it all up. Which is why, whether you're a withered graybeard or a teeny young future hotshot in leather jodhpurs, you need Stanley Bing's global positioning system for a sane and pleasantly successful life: Executricks, or How to Retire While You're Still Working.

Bing is the ultimate corporate insider, one who has attained nosebleed altitude and worked long and hard enough to lose his desire to work long and hard enough. Over time, he has watched the power players who have made their jobs into a waking festival of indolence and fun, and gleaned a vast range of executricks they have developed over the years, based around several core concepts:

• Delegation, or getting other people to do the stuff you don't want to
• Absence, or the ability to get "work" done while not being physically on the scene
• Abuse of status
• Acting visionary when confused
• Intense engagement (used only in crisis)

A wellspring of executricks flow from these simple precepts, including:

• The use of the cell phone and BlackBerry to establish a permanent state of simultaneous Omniscience and Not-Presence
• Roping off mealtimes as zones of defensible entitlement
• Travel as an alternative to work
• The art of the nap
• Golf–the ultimate dodge
• Philanthropy and social activism, a pleasant parallel universe

Executricks is the most precious of resources for those who work hard but would rather be hardly working: a secret handbook that lays bare the stratagems of those who have already ascended to the pinnacles of power. No office, home, or backpack should be without a dog-eared copy. Early adopters earn extra points.

Cubicle Warfare: 101 Office Traps and Pranks

John Austin

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Get revenge on all your annoying coworkers with this guide to 101 awesome office pranks

Are your eyes beginning to glaze over from the fluorescent lights in your tiny cubicle? Have you had one too many burnt cups of coffee? Does the guy in the cube next to you insist on pencil-drumming while cranking "Hells Bells" and five-finger discounting your paper clips? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then you're in need of some Cubicle Warfare.

With Cubicle Warfare, you'll never be bored at the office again. Make your coworkers jump, squeal, and run for cover with hilarious pranks such as the Paper Clip Chain, Bottomless Box, and the Sticky Note Office, as well as the more advanced Freezer Bomb, Chair Chaos, and Textless Keyboard. Even if you're not a prankster yourself, you can still use this riotous guide to recognize the warning signs and defend your desk from conniving coworkers. Bad days at the office will be a thing of the past.

The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming

Jeannie Ralston

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Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“I couldn’t help but question how I’d gotten to this strange spot in my life, so far from what I’d expected for myself. Yes, there had been a heady romance a few years back. Then a slew of subsequent decisions, fueled by love and yearnings I didn’t even know I had. But I never, ever would have suspected that this was where the sum total of them would bring me. That afternoon a new doubt dripped into my mind. When do you know, I wondered, whether the choices you’ve made were the right ones?”

In 1990, Jeannie Ralston was a successful magazine writer and bona fide city girl—the type of woman who couldn't imagine living on soil not shaded by skyscrapers. By 1994, she had called off an engagement, married Robb, a National Geographic photographer, and was living in Blanco Texas, population 1600.

The Unlikely Lavender Queen is the intimate story of a woman who gives up a lot for the man she loves – her beloved blue state, bagels and all-night bodegas—only to have to wonder: Was it too much? Ralston offers a lively chronicle of her life as a wife, new mother and an urban settler in rural Texas. As she labors to convert a dilapidated barn into a livable home, deal with scorpions and unbearably hot summers, raise two young children while Robb is frequently away on assignment, she realizes her ultimate struggle is to reconcile her life plans and goals with her husband’s without coming out the proverbial loser. And just when it seems like she might be losing that fight--and herself-- a little purple bloom changes her life.

For centuries lavender has been a mystical herb, so valuable to ancient Romans that a bushel would cost nearly a month’s wages. But when Robb returns from a trip to Provence with a plan for growing lavender on their land, Ralston is not convinced—in fact the last thing she needed or wanted was to take up farming on top of everything else. Then, much to her surprise, she slowly but surely falls in love with lavender, and in the course of growing and selling blooms, hosting the public at the farm, and creating lavender products, she discovers a new side of herself. A few short years later, Ralston had built Hill Country Lavender, a thriving commercial enterprise that transforms both her little corner of Texas and her life.

The Unlikely Lavender Queen will resonate with all women who have faced the tough choices that come with “having it all” and secretly (or not so secretly) hoped for great adventure to come along and surprise them. Ralston’s honest, funny, and poignant memoir is a testament to the fact that such adventures await us around every bend in life.

Dishing Hollywood: The Real Scoop on Tinseltown's Most Notorious Scandals

Laurie Jacobson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Whatta Dish! A Collection of Hollywood Scandals Du Jour 5 out of 5 stars.
29 of 34 people found this review helpful.

I fortuitously fell into this little gem the day after xmas.....a belated "BEST" present to myself.
While I already own Jacobson's two other books and hold her in high regard, this book proves that she is only getting better as a film historian and writer.
She assumes a slick, quasi-cinema noir persona in her narrative and mixes in a Sandra Lee-like easy 'recipe' that takes a not too subtle slam at each of the scandals/stories she relates. The vanity of the 'dish' (aka scandal/tragedy/hard luck story) only enhances the general readability of this book. This is a novel approach that makes an already interesting product even more appealing. I kept thinking that the author did a terrific job with the material she was presenting.
Aside from the kidding around, this book is really rather fair and factual. The author knows her stuff and relies on knowledgeable sources to substantiate or refute claims made in the book.
My only criticism of this book is that I wish it had been longer and had covered some other stories that I find interesting and want to know more about. Hopefully there will be a follow-up to this book which will do that.
Anyway, this is a very good read and worth the $ and time spent reading it.

Editorial Review:

"Dishing Hollywood is a delightful romp through sonic of the biggest scandals that have rocked Hollywood. The stories either appear here for the first time or the author has found a surprising new twist to them. The "dish" includes more than the scoop, for she also includes the corals or favorite dishes that are part of the story, such as: - "Inger Stevens: C'mon, who kills herself while in the middle of snaking her favorite sandwich, a BLT with avocado?- "Janis, Joplin: She should have stayed at Barney's Bcanery where she drank two screwdrivers. But no, she went back to her hotel and shot up. She died.- "Mama Cass: That damn sandwich! She didn't choke on it but suffered a heart attack while eating it.- "Natalie Wood: Her life was one scandal after another. Her last meal was a lot of wine and champagne with a little fish at El Galleon on Catalina Island.- "Lupe Velez: She may or may not have had a Mexican feast topped with barbiturates that landed her headfirst in the crapper.

Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America

Steve Almond

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 96 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Read with Caution! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Caution: This book resulted in a several pound gain caused by a Twin Bings, a few Idaho Spuds, and a box of Old Faithfuls (wonderful!). All in all, a very expensive and hazardous book!

Editorial Review:

A self-professed candyfreak, Steve Almond set out in search of a much-loved candy from his childhood and found himself on a tour of the small candy companies that are persevering in a marketplace where big corporations dominate.

From the Twin Bing to the Idaho Spud, the Valomilk to the Abba-Zaba, and discontinued bars such as the Caravelle, Marathon, and Choco-Lite, Almond uncovers a trove of singular candy bars made by unsung heroes working in old-fashioned factories to produce something they love. And in true candyfreak fashion, Almond lusciously describes the rich tastes that he has loved since childhood and continues to crave today. Steve Almond has written a comic but ultimately bittersweet story of how he grew up on candy-and how, for better and worse, the candy industry has grown up, too.

Candyfreak is the delicious story of one man's lifelong obsession with candy and his quest to discover its origins in America.

Med School in a Box: All the Prestige for a Fraction of the Price (Mental Floss Presents)

Mental Floss, mental_floss

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Didn't meet my expectations... 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I'm a huge fan of Mental Floss and most of its products. However, I was a little disappointed by Medical School in a Box. Yes, it's just supposed to be for fun, but it's not actually informative at all. It just has a few cards with random, boring facts on them. I'd go with the Mental Floss Genius Instruction Manual instead :-)

Editorial Review:

So you're thinking about med school but you're not ready to devote the next ten years to grad school. Or perhaps you're already a medical doctor and just want a quick refresher course. Either way, the brilliant minds at Mental_Floss magazine are happy to help. Med School in a Box offers instruction in anatomy, physiology, neurosurgery, and other impressive-sounding subjects for the wildly low price of $14.95. Your program includes:
Med School in 96 Pages: Your Comprehensive Textbook
10 Heroes of Medicine Trading Cards
10 Extra-Credit Study Cards
A devilishly complicated medical trivia board exam
A rolled diploma with real Latin words

It's the perfect gift for doctors and would-be doctors of all ages, from the highest-ranked boxed medical school in the country!

Right Ho, Jeeves (Audio Editions)

P.G. Wodehouse

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Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Very good, sir. 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

It is rare that I derive such pleasure from a book, but Right Ho, Jeeves, gave me a delightful surprise. Not only does Wodehouse make an art of the satirical novel, but in the process wraps the reader up in the witty speech of Bertram Wooster and his strange arrangement of friends, family, and butler. Bertram, or "Bertie," as he is commonly known, stumbles through the entire novel with the idea that he alone must bear the weight of being the sole aid to his friends' problems. Despite several attempts at a kind reprimand from Jeeves, his personal servant, ("I beg your pardon sir... What I intended to say, since you press me, was that the action which you propose does seem to be somewhat injudicious."); Bertie continues to give it his best. Among other things, Wooster implements the best intentions while attempting a match between old friends, but with little success: "All he had to do was propose." "Yes, sir." "Well, didn't he?" "No, sir." "Then what the dickens did he talk about?" "Newts, sir."

Despite the playful banter, colorful characters (such as a sensitive French cook), an inept yet lovable narrative voice found in Wooster, and of course, Jeeves, behind all is an incredibly clever satire on the "upper crust," so to speak. Although, admittedly, many readers cannot associate directly with the early-middle twentieth century, one cannot help but feel the idle, privileged and somewhat clueless lives of the English aristocracy seep from the pages of Jeeves. Wodehouse does a wonderful job of capturing the lives of people who have nothing better to do then dabble about ridiculously in the lives of one another.

Indeed, Wodehouse does much to reflect the over-privileged lives to which Bertie and company cling to so humorously. However, what might have become a novel filled to overflowing with hilarity and drama is brought back down to a more substantial level with the constant subtle humor and patronization brought in by Jeeves. "Jeeves, don't keep saying `Indeed, sir?' No doubt nothing is further from your mind than to convey such a suggestion, but you have a way of stressing the `in' and then coming down with a thud on the `deed' which makes it virtually tantamount to `Oh, yeah?' Correct this, Jeeves." The nature in which Bertie and the rest are virtually ignorant to Jeeves' little jibes such as this shows clearly the statement of Wodehouse, how the aristocracy is too self absorbed to notice even the slightest. In short, this is a wonderfully clever novel, which keeps the pages turning with quick wit and snappy humor. I highly suggest it.

Editorial Review:

When Jeeves suggests dreamy, soulful Gussie Fink-Nottle don scarlet tights and false beard to win over soppy Madeline Bassett, Bertie Wooster doubts this is the way to get his friend hitched. Meanwhile, Bertie's eccentric Aunt Dahlia asks him to hand out prizes at the Market Snodsbury Grammar School, which he's sure he would have to get drunk to do. Complicating maters, Madeline invites Gussie to stay at her friend's house in the country. The friend turns out to be Bertie's cousin Angela and the house — Aunt Dahlia's. Thinking things have definitely gotten out of hand, Bertie takes Jeeves off the case, acting on his own plan to bring Gussie and Madeline together. But when things go disastrously wrong, who can Bertie turn to but Jeeves? Acclaimed actor Ian Carmichael brings comic flair to this rollicking tale by the man The Times (London) called a "brilliantly funny writer."

Taking Shots: Tall Tales, Bizarre Battles, and the Incredible Truth About the NBA

Keith Glass

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Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

NBA agent Keith Glass shoots and scores in his hilarious look at the NBA behind the scenes, from a guy who has been in the middle of some of the NBA's most controversial stories. The NBA is in trouble. And as NBA agent Keith Glass describes it - he's part of the problem! If team owners are willing to throw millions of dollars his way for marginal players, why should he be the only one with the self-restraint to say "no"? In his insightful, funny, and often mind-numbingly bizarre tales of life in the NBA, Keith Glass lets it fly from half-court. Glass shatters the myth of NBA marketing: that everything about the game is great, that tickets are worth over $100 apiece, and that as long as the fans in the luxury boxes are happy and weighed down with jerseys and merchandise, all is well. But have no fear! Keith Glass will not preach about the evils of highlight film slam-dunks and gang star rap tattoos - he'll just have you falling down laughing as he flagrantly fouls the league that was once the home of Jordan, Magic, and Bird - not to mention Wilt, Russell, Kareem and all the greats in between.

The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men's Style

Nicholas Antongiavanni

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Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Clothes make the man."

Mark Twain never worked in today's fast-paced workplace, but his observation has never been keener: clothes do make the man. With The Suit, Nicholas Antongiavanni provides a masterly manual on what it takes to succeed: advice on how to dress with style, flair, and an eye toward gaining power. That's because "business casual" has proved itself a one-way ticket to a lifetime in the corporate dungeon. But if you apply the sartorial advice proffered in The Suit to your clothes, you will project elegance, bravado, and success.

Drawing inspiration from Machiavelli's The Prince, Antongiavanni has crafted an essential handbook for the ambitious man who recognizes that smart and stylish appearance is a lever to power. From neckties to footwear, belts to suspenders, lapels to handkerchiefs, The Suit leaves no garment or accessory untouched and will inject a dose of good taste into your closet. The debates over double-breasted vs. single, two-buttons vs. three, English vs. Italian, and many others are settled with wit by Antongiavanni's wealth of knowledge in the art of dress.

The Suit is much more than a simple how-to manual -- Antongiavanni packs these pages with insightful and sometimes stinging commentary on celebrities and the clothes they wear. Leading public figures from David Letterman to Donald Rumsfeld are picked apart at the seams. Antongiavanni uses powerful men in the public eye as entertaining examples of how to dress properly and what garish mistakes to avoid. Whether you are already a corporate Prince -- or if you are a Joe Cubicle aspiring to be something greater -- The Suit will teach you how to make your clothes work for you. No matter what your physical build or your status in the workplace, let Nicholas Antongiavanni be your fashion consultant.