Books Books Books...
The Google Story
Social phenomena happen, and the historians follow. So it goes with Google, the latest star shooting through the universe of trend-setting businesses. This company has even entered our popular lexicon: as many note, "Google" has moved beyond noun to verb, becoming an action which most tech-savvy citizens at the turn of the twenty-first century recognize and in fact do, on a daily basis...
Icon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business
Alan Sklar's skills as an actor and professional narrator rescue Young and Simon's glossy tribute to Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers. While the doting praise heaped on the entrepreneur is excessive, the book is an entertaining, nostalgic review of the pre-Internet computer industry and provides a great insight into one of the industries great thinkers and leaders....
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
Wired editor Anderson declares the death of "common culture"—and insists that it's for the best. Why don't we all watch the same TV shows, like we used to? Because not long ago, "we had fewer alternatives to compete for our screen attention". Smash hits have existed largely because of scarcity: with a finite number of bookstore shelves and theaters and Wal-Mart CD racks, "it's only sensible to fill them with the titles that will sell best."
The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
While it purports to look at the business world of Silicon Valley through the lens of one man, that one man, Jim Clark, is so domineering that the book is essentially about Clark. No matter: Clark is as successful and interesting an example of Homo siliconus as any writer is likely to find. Lewis (Liar's Poker) has created an absorbing and extremely literate profile of one of America's most successful entrepreneurs...
Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story
Enron was a $100-billion-a-year company in October 2001--America's seventh-largest. The Houston-based energy firm enjoyed warm ties with newly installed President George W. Bush. Earnings were up 26 percent from the previous quarter, while Fortune magazine had named Enron the country's most innovative company six years in a row. Less than two months later, Enron filed for bankruptcy in the biggest corporate failure in history...
The Perfect Store: Inside eBay
In the short but wild history of the Internet, few companies have developed such an ideal approach to utilizing the uniqueness of the medium for business as eBay--hence the title of Adam Cohen's colorful and insightful corporate biography The Perfect Store. Cohen, chief technology writer for Time magazine before joining The New York Times', is the only journalist to receive complete cooperation from the company for such a project...
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change was a groundbreaker when it was first published in 1990, and it continues to be a business bestseller with more than 10 million copies sold. Stephen Covey, an internationally respected leadership authority, realizes that true success encompasses a balance of personal and professional effectiveness, so this book is a manual for performing better in both arenas.
Recollections of a Bleeding Heart
Don Watson, speech writer for former pig farmer and prime minister Paul Keating, kept a diary. It was from these notes and observations that the 750 odd pages of this "bleeding" book emerged. The book is, as its subtitle informs us, "A Portrait of Paul Keating PM".
Inside Yahoo!: Reinvention and the Road Ahead
An intriguing look at an Internet pioneer and global powerhouse.
Reaching sixty percent of all Net users, Yahoo! is one of the most popular Internet portals and one of the most successful companies in the world today. Inside Yahoo! takes readers on a fascinating journey through the thoughts and motivations behind the company.
Understanding Your Management Style: Beyond the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicators
This book applies Myers-Briggs type theory and much more to the way managers operate. I found most interesting the distinction between type preferences, which are essentially given, and needs, which are formed by interaction with the environment. Needs are independent of type. For example, a Thinker can have high nurturance needs - the need to help and be affectionate towards others.
The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century
Although it may be catchy, the title of New York Times columnist Friedman's latest book needs explaining. "Flat" here means "level," as in the level playing field on which virtually any nation can now compete, thanks to the explosion of global telecommunications, including the Internet as well as the transfer of information from First World to Third--and back...
A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder - How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices and On-The-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place
Is your workspace a complex but personal jumble of information, data, and stuff? Is your home a comfortable space that has some black holes of organization? Then you may be on the track to greater productivity, creativity, and happiness, according to the authors. The authors reveal such details as the possibility that the discovery of penicillin would not have occurred if the lab had not been a mess...