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Business & Finance

Warning: business books for bold readers only

Review by bookpagedev

This column doesn’t usually come with a warning label, but this month be prepared for rough language, intergenerational squabbling, insulting work habits and advice on how to finance your sex life. If you are bold, daring and ready for the randy, slightly naughty (but also completely serious) business books we’ve uncovered this month, then read on.

Watch your language Let’s get the bad language out of the way first. F’d Companies: Spectacular Dot-Com Flameouts (Simon &and Schuster, $18, 224 pages, ISBN 0743228626) by Philip J. Kaplan is a compilation of some of the most idiotic web businesses ever invented. Written by the founder of one of the web’s most popular sites (we can’t print the name of the site here, but you should be able to figure it out!), this book transports the web meltdown into hindsight with 20/20 hilarity. It highlights some of the web’s most hare-brained schemes and the silly investors who sank billions to finance them. One of my favorites is Flooz.com. “Flooz was an alternative currency,” Kaplan says. “The idea was that people would buy Flooz and then use Flooz to buy stuff rather than using credit cards or cash . . . why trust the U.S. Treasury to back your money when there’s Flooz?” Flooz filed for bankruptcy protection on August 31, 2001. Another great one: Wwwrrr.com. Kaplan says, “Okay, the first issue we have to discuss here is the issue of their name. Wwwrrr.com. Pronounced “whir.” Stands for Ôreading, Ôriting and ‘rithmetic. That’s just wrong. On so many levels.” Tell it to the investors who put up $15 million for this venture that failed early last year. Hundreds of other equally funny examples explain with biting accuracy why so many dot-com wannabes fuddled their way into ignominy.

The generation gap When Generations Collide (HarperBusiness, $25.95, 240 pages, ISBN 0066621062) by Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman is a completely serious but creatively written treatise on understanding and coming to terms with age-related conflicts in the workplace. Lancaster and Stillman, a Boomer and a GenXer respectively, recognized that much of workplace conflict wasn’t about your Meyers-Briggs type or the “color” of your personality, but actually resulted from intergenerational differences. Our age defines how and what we think about, both for the workplace and ourselves. GenXers seem to think the workplace should be fun. Traditionalists and Boomers view the office with a little more reverence. Conflict is bound to result when new hires think they can wear cutoffs in a place where older employees previously wore ties and suits. Whether you’re a Boomer, a Traditionalist or one of those Preppy In-betweens, this is a must-read book for understanding the stuffy old boss or the flippant youngster.

They want me to do what? Work 2.0: Rewriting the Contract by Bill Jensen is the new guide to working with a younger generation. Jensen says work is changing. Employees choose a workplace and a career and then get on board to work hard and long. But these same employees expect their loyalty, time and talent to be repaid. This is a hard-edged, get-with-the-program book that says today’s talent doesn’t just want work-life balance; they will have it or will find new employers. Work 2.0 faces the crucial fact that September 11 re-emphasized what most Americans already believed their time is only on loan, not for sale, to an employer.

And in the city . . . How do those beautiful women in HBO’s Sex and the City afford the wine, the clubs, the shoes? Well, Juliette Fairley, author of Cash in the City: Affording Manolos, Martinis, and Manicures on a Working Girl’s Salary can tell you how. In this funny and surprisingly practical book, Fairley lays out the financial rules for 20 and 30-something women of the city. Far from focusing on the martini side of her title, Farley details the pitfalls of debt, erases some common money myths and just plain brings girls of a certain age back to their senses about their love affair with the almighty dollar. Sharon Secor is a business writer in Minnesota.

This column doesn’t usually come with a warning label, but this month be prepared for rough language, intergenerational squabbling, insulting work habits and advice on how to finance your sex life. If you are bold, daring and ready for the randy, slightly naughty (but also completely serious) business books we’ve uncovered this month, then read […]
NonfictionSelf-HelpLifestyles

Inspiration to make a difference

Review by Linda Leaming

Regina Brett, author of the New York Times bestseller God Never Blinks, now has a wonderful new collection of short essays, Be the Miracle. There’s a wealth of inspirational stories here with titles like “Dream Big,” “What You Think About You Dream About,” “Believe in Abundance” and “Carry as You Climb.” There’s a sprinkling of the spiritual, a bit of Dale Carnegie and some very practical advice on how to function more compassionately and be a bit of a miracle yourself.

The real charm of the stories in these pages is that they are alive with regular people who just happen to be amazing. They could be our parents, our neighbors or our co-workers. They include Terrence, the student who wouldn’t give up on his dream of being a neurosurgeon, even though he couldn’t attend high school; Edvarda, who fought insurmountable odds and dire poverty to send her children to college; and 17-year-old Chance Riley, who gave every penny of the prize money he got for his Grand Champion Pig to the victims of a steam engine accident because “it was the obvious thing to do. We’re all family.”

“Everyone is either your student or your teacher. Most people are both,” Brett concludes. Be the Miracle is a book that will give you a boost, teach you how to breathe and open your mind to the miracles happening all around you.

Regina Brett, author of the New York Times bestseller God Never Blinks, now has a wonderful new collection of short essays, Be the Miracle. There’s a wealth of inspirational stories here with titles like “Dream Big,” “What You Think About You Dream About,” “Believe in Abundance” and “Carry as You Climb.” There’s a sprinkling of […]
NonfictionBusiness & Finance

At peace with your pocketbook

Review by Heather Seggel

Despite writing more than 30 books of fiction and nonfiction, author Julia Cameron is best known for one: The Artist’s Way, the iconic bestseller that guided millions of readers to improved creativity. With The Prosperous Heart, Cameron brings some of the same techniques to bear on an area many people would rather leave unexamined: money. The book outlines a 12-week program that calls for honesty and strict accountability to develop a healthy relationship not just with your bank balance but with your life as a whole.

Some of the methods proposed here will be familiar to readers of Your Money or Your Life and the literature of Debtors Anonymous; tracking every cent in or out, refusing to take on more debt and keeping a personal inventory are hallmarks of the genre. But The Prosperous Heart distinguishes itself through the stories Cameron tells about her own life and times. Offered up with humor and humility, these examples support her central thesis: that “every person is creative, and can use their creativity to create a life of ‘enough.’ ” She adds, “I myself have worried about money—and found that having money does not end this worry.”

The exercises here, including the “morning pages” made famous in The Artist’s Way, can offer meaningful help. Pick up a pen and blank notebook and start working through the exercises, and it might just change your outlook. The program takes 12 weeks, but recognizing that you’re better off than you think is a result that pays long-term dividends in every area of your life. Cameron measures prosperity in terms of faith, not finances; this book should improve the way you think and feel about both.

Despite writing more than 30 books of fiction and nonfiction, author Julia Cameron is best known for one: The Artist’s Way, the iconic bestseller that guided millions of readers to improved creativity. With The Prosperous Heart, Cameron brings some of the same techniques to bear on an area many people would rather leave unexamined: money. […]
NonfictionMemoir

A lifeboat for marriages

Review by John T. Slania

David Finch knew his marriage needed saving. He just didn’t know why—or how. In The Journal of Best Practices, his thoughtful, well-written account of his battle with Asperger syndrome and his struggle to rescue his marriage, he deals with his fight to overcome his personal demons and rekindle his wife’s love, and he also offers instructive lessons for anyone in a meaningful relationship.

Asperger syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder typified by repetitive behaviors, obsession with objects or subjects and the inability to interact socially. Finch displayed all the characteristics, from needing to eat eggs and cereal for breakfast every morning, to circling the floor in a counter-clockwise pattern while repeatedly checking to make sure the doors were locked. Then there was the increasing lack of communication with his wife, Kristen. Frustrated and concerned about her dying marriage, Kristen leads her husband through a 200-question online quiz, which results in a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome, later confirmed by a doctor.

Finch isn’t really stunned by the discovery, as much as he is relieved. The revelation inspires him to manage his affliction while taking steps to mend his marriage. His simple chapter titles, such as “Be her friend, first and always” and “Just listen,” detail how Finch reconnects with his wife, and offer tips that any earnest reader can use to do a better job in his or her relationships. So while The Journal of Best Practices is about one quirky character, it really offers instructions on how we all can overcome our own quirks and habits to improve our relations with others.

David Finch knew his marriage needed saving. He just didn’t know why—or how. In The Journal of Best Practices, his thoughtful, well-written account of his battle with Asperger syndrome and his struggle to rescue his marriage, he deals with his fight to overcome his personal demons and rekindle his wife’s love, and he also offers […]
NonfictionPolitics

Starting a much-needed conversation

Review by Marianne Peters

“What happened to the America I knew?” writes Tom Brokaw in his new book, The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation About America. According to Brokaw, our nation is challenged by political partisanship, environmental degradation and, thanks to technology, rapid-fire and sometimes shallow social connections. Rather than a lament, however, Brokaw has written a hopeful volume, providing insightful analysis as well as a call to action. “What follows,” he writes in the preface, “are the observations, hopes, memories, and suggestions of a child of the twentieth century . . . with some observations on how we might realize the great promise of a future that would benefit us all.”

In The Time of Our Lives, Brokaw dissects such issues as education, public service, the 2008 recession and the Internet explosion. Along with his own analysis, Brokaw weaves in memories of his South Dakota childhood and his experiences covering major events of the last half of the 20th century. He’s not a policy wonk, but a seasoned journalist who still respects the values of hard work, integrity, thrift and generosity demonstrated by his Midwestern parents and grandparents. He asks, as America’s place in the world shifts and our society changes, will we still retain the character necessary to be a great nation?

Brokaw tells his own story, but he also tells the stories of the Americans he has met in his travels across the country. Some of these stories are heartbreaking, others inspiring. They all illustrate both the problems and the solutions citizens are grappling with as they navigate difficult economic times. By putting human faces on these issues, Brokaw reminds us that statistics about unemployment, foreclosures and failing schools represent real people.

“Do we have the will to restore a sense of national purpose that unites us rather than divides us?” he inquires. “Shouldn’t we take a realistic inventory of our strengths, needs, objectives, and challenges as we head into a new century in a changed world?” Tom Brokaw hopes his new book will start that discussion.

“What happened to the America I knew?” writes Tom Brokaw in his new book, The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation About America. According to Brokaw, our nation is challenged by political partisanship, environmental degradation and, thanks to technology, rapid-fire and sometimes shallow social connections. Rather than a lament, however, Brokaw has written a hopeful […]
NonfictionBiography

Inside the doors of Buckingham Palace

Review by Anne Bartlett

In the midst of Britain’s phone-hacking scandal, well-known biographer Sally Bedell Smith’s solidly traditional new life story of Queen Elizabeth II is a great pleasure. Smith approaches the Royals the right way, with hundreds of interviews with friends and associates, personal observation and thorough research into the historical record. The effort has produced in Elizabeth the Queen a book that ably blends a chronological account of the 85-year-old queen’s life with an inside look at her household, personality and private interests.

One theme emerges with great clarity: Elizabeth Windsor was thrust willy-nilly into her full-time job when she inherited the throne, but her true passion is horse breeding and racing. Corgis aside, she has always spent as much time as possible, given her circumstances, at stable and horse track, with considerable success. If you want to break through the queen’s reserve, ask her about yesterday’s most exciting race at Ascot.

More seriously, Smith convincingly describes a remarkable woman—not flawless, certainly, but with the discipline, intelligence, emotional balance and physical stamina to shine at a dauntingly tough job. Whatever their preconceptions about the monarchy, every one of her 12 prime ministers, from Churchill to Cameron, has come to admire her brains, knowledge and sound counsel.

Elizabeth’s record as matriarch of her own family is, of course, more checkered, and Smith doesn’t whitewash it—though her view of the queen’s various predicaments is sympathetic. Elizabeth accepted bad advice about her sister Princess Margaret’s romance with Peter Townsend. To some extent, she neglected her children to focus on her job and her husband (who emerges in the book as a more interesting person than one might have realized). And from beginning to end, she mishandled Princess Diana. But she was capable of learning along the way, and seems to be a more successful royal grandmother than she was a royal mother.

As Elizabeth approaches her Diamond Jubilee—60 years on the throne in 2012—Smith is able to make an overall judgment about this second Elizabethan Age, and her assessment is positive. Elizabeth has weathered the storms; the monarchy is as popular among the British as it has ever been. And that, says Smith, can be credited to the queen’s “steadfast determination and clarity of purpose.”

In the midst of Britain’s phone-hacking scandal, well-known biographer Sally Bedell Smith’s solidly traditional new life story of Queen Elizabeth II is a great pleasure. Smith approaches the Royals the right way, with hundreds of interviews with friends and associates, personal observation and thorough research into the historical record. The effort has produced in Elizabeth […]

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