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When Lorenzo de' Medici seized control of the Florentine Republic in 1512, he summarily fired the Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Signoria and set in motion a fundamental change in the way we think about politics. The person who held the aforementioned office with the tongue-twisting title was none other than Niccolò Machiavelli, who, suddenly finding himself out of a job after 14 years of patriotic service, followed the career trajectory of many modern politicians into punditry. Unable to become an on-air political analyst for a television network, he only wrote a book. But what a book The Prince is. Its essential contribution to modern political thought lies in Machiavelli's assertion of the then revolutionary idea that theological and moral imperatives have no place in the political arena. "It must be understood," Machiavelli avers, "that a prince ... cannot observe all of those virtues for which men are reputed good, because it is often necessary to act against mercy, against faith, against humanity, against frankness, against religion, in order to preserve the state." With just a little imagination, readers can discern parallels between a 16th-century principality and a 20th-century presidency. --Tim Hogan
Book Description
Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. Astonishing in its candor The Prince even today remains a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince . . . a king . . . a president. When, in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in his beloved Florence, he resolved to set down a treatise on leadership that was practical, not idealistic. In The Prince he envisioned would be unencumbered by ordinary ethical and moral values; his prince would be man and beast, fox and lion. Today, this small sixteenth-century masterpiece has become essential reading for every student of government, and is the ultimate book on power politics.
Download Description
Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. Astonishing in its candor The Prince even today remains a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince... a king... a president.
When, in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in his beloved Florence, he resolved to set down a treatise on leadership that was practical, not idealistic. In The Prince he envisioned what would be unencumbered by ordinary ethical and moral values; his prince would be man and beast, fox and lion. Today, this small sixteenth-century masterpiece has become essential reading for every student of government, and is the ultimate book on power politics.
Customer Reviews:
How one can rule them all with power........2007-10-14
Published in 1532, dedicated to Lorenzo de' Medici, The Prince by Machiavelli is an advanced political science treatise in defence of civilization against barbarianism by way of a single specially disciplined sovereign ruler, a prince.
The Prince by Machiavelli is a brief but complex political management system designed to be run by a prince administered using a series of protocols for any given situation based on Machiavelli's interpretation of the history of the rise and fall of world governments with an emphasis on the Roman Empire and current trends in 16th century monarchy rule.
Machiavelli's analysis of the historical record paved the way for princes to develop awareness of the problem of emergent barbarianism both internal and external. Machiavelli highlighted the need for a prince to always remain liked but indicated that being wanted did not necessarily mean being kind and showed how a cruel prince could also be beneficial to the state which would function, sometimes better, under ruthlessness depending on certain conditions.
Machiavelli was able to successfully understand the different types of principalities and how princes come to power and how they could retain that power tactically. He often cited historical sources to prove his points. The Prince teaches how to acquire cities and how they should be ruled especially after being annexed. In this respect it is also a war treatise although it deals with gain by means other than war. However this is not unusual for a warfare discourse. There are methods of determining strength and calculating a response and so The Prince is a strategic book that has its bases in game theory. The different types of soldiers and how they behave is given a considerable amount of coverage and how a prince should treat them.
The character of a prince becomes a central theme especially concerning how a prince is to be perceived by others. Religion is dealt with and for its time The Prince surprisingly declared Popes potential enemies that could, and would, undermine a monarchy if it was to their advantage. Machiavelli was able to show how a fortress is important for defence but that attack can, and does, come from within. He also had a system to increase a prince's popularity and noted areas in which a prince could socially falter. The book rounds up with a directive to implement these ideas when fortune should arise and to be always on guard against barbarianism which can come from within.
The Prince remains a classic essential in the development of game theory. There are many parallels between this work and the Art of War by Sun Tzu. In fact Machiavelli wrote another book using that very same title. Machiavelli sees power brought into the grasp of one hand by adapting military tactics internally within government operations as opposed to outwardly using them to defeat the enemy. This work is all about controlling what has been gained.
The Prince and its author Machiavelli are often condemned for not only tolerating mistreating people but for advising it in a lot of circumstances especially to prove authority and to take any possible threatening might away from the people. Proponents argue that without a rule of law with stiff penalties people would become barbaric and the system would deteriorate into even more unbearable situations. It is completely open about dealing out harsh measures to guarantee the survival of the state by any means necessary. However The Prince does contain methodologies that incorporate and use control based on kindness but these methods are few and far between.
Overall this book's influence on politics and business cannot be underestimated. Ultimately it is a must read being a very powerful book about being very powerful.
Good information.......2007-10-10
Many of Macchavelli's principal relate to both the Political world and the business world. It should be in every library.
This could be quite hard for those who lack the concentration, it can a valuable book for those who want to obtain a leadership position.
Accomadation.......2007-10-02
The first item was lost in the mail. I contacted Amazon and they sent me another one right away.
A Truely Overrated Book.......2007-09-19
"The Prince" is essentially a "how-to" guide for royalty durring the 1400's in Italy. I'm not going to make this review very long... a short review for a short book. It gets one star. Why? It's a very out dated classic. The advice and philosophical ramblings handed out in this book is quite specific to its time and place, and unlike, say The Communist Manefesto, for example, are no long relevant to us. In fact, it would probably be downright criminal today to run your country in the way Machiavelli suggests you do. This book would be a good read if you are interested in the history of Italian principalities durring this time period. Other than that, there is really no reason to read it. The morality of the book is actually very objectionable, and on top of that... its REALLLLLY borring.
It's probably considered to be a classic work of literature because it is just old. That's all. If I wrote some crap right now about the mythical underpants gnomes, and it survived for 600 years, people in 2600 BC would probably be saying "FIVE STARS for the Underpants Gnome Chronicals. This a great relic from the year 2007! Such insight into their ideology and beliefs...."
Awesome book.......2007-09-06
This book is for serious philosophical readers.
Machiavelli broke down a raw and ruthless political idea. I read the Art of War before this book, and they are similar. However, Machiavelli is much more aggressive. If you're reading this book for entertainment, it can be dry at times. Nonetheless, the information in this book is timeless, and should be an enjoyment for interested readers only.
Book Description
Financial Markets and Institutions, offers a unique analysis of the risks faced by investors and savers interacting through financial institutions and financial markets, as well as strategies that can be adopted for controlling and managing risks. The third edition further strengthens the book's risk management approach with expanded discussions of ethics, new technology integration, and much more!
Customer Reviews:
Not a good intro book.......2007-06-16
If anything, this book is only good for learning about financial institutions not covered in other intro finance books--extensive information on mortgage markets, the federal reserve, commercial banks, etc.
The authors' explanations of financial calculations are obscure (obsessive use of subscripts and acronyms). Paragraphs are often wordy.
For financial math, I would recommend:
Brealey, Myers, and Marcus for corporate finance principles
Bodie, Kane, and Marcus (not as good as Brealey, but still good) for investment principles
Madura for foreign exchange principles
Horrible Book.......2006-12-10
Our school told us to buy this book because supposedly it is a solid text. I'm warning everyone not to buy this book. This book is riddled with errors, and the answer key given is often wrong as well. Poor quality editing, for example, sometimes the book tells you to refer to something, but its the wrong table, or they add a certain element to a practice problem, but they refer to the wrong one. NOT worth 150 bucks.
Average customer rating:
- Great Material
- Inside Texas Medical Center...
- You may laugh or may cry, but you won't put this book down
- Very Will Written
- Life or Death
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First, Do No Harm
Lisa Belkin
Manufacturer: Fawcett
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ASIN: 044922290X
Release Date: 1994-03-02 |
Book Description
"A powerful, true story of life and death in a major metropolitan hospital...Harrowing... An important book."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
What is life worth? And what is a life worth living? At a time when America faces vital choices about the future of its health care, former NEW YORK TIMES correspondent Lisa Belkin takes a powerful and poignant look at the inner workings of Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, telling the remarkable, real-life stories of the doctors, patients, families, and hospital administrators who must ask--and ultimately answer--the most profound and heart-rendng questions about life and death.
Customer Reviews:
Great Material.......2007-03-02
This book will keep you wanting to turn the page and make it hard to put down the book. This is a great explanation of real life situations that patients and hospitals face everyday. Some of the situations that are hard for some people to understand why hospitals are concerned with matters like money and certain treatments of patients can be explained.
Inside Texas Medical Center..........2007-01-31
Lisa Belkin has created an amazing book here - she definitely did her research. The book consists of a few case studies of patients who pose ethical dilemas. Belkin takes you inside meetings of the ethics committee at the hospital, she takes you to the patient's bedside to see what the patient actually wants. Some of the patients she follows are a young kid who has been hospitalized for 15 years with a terminal condition, beating all odds by staying alive that long, several premature babies, and a man who was paralyzed almost completely after getting shot in the spine. It's a great look at medical ethics - Lisa Belkin's book asks all the right questions.
The book is in a very easy-to-read format - the stories of the patients she follows are all intertwined throughout the book. For example, you'll read about Patrick for 30-or-so pages, and then she'll switch over to update you on Taylor's story. She does this because you are reading the stories in "real time" as they happened; all of this took place in a certain time span in the hospital. It's exciting and fast-paced non-fiction - I read it in two days and didn't put it down.
It will break your heart, because often the ethics committee has to bring money into the discussion, as much as they would like to treat every patient as if money was not an issue. This book is SO worth reading, for anyone who is interested in medicine and healthcare at all.
You may laugh or may cry, but you won't put this book down.......2006-11-30
Despite the major advances in knowledge, skills, and technology in the field of medicine, this book shows that ultimately life and death fall back on the human touch. Following the workings of an Ethics Committee in a major urban hospital over several months, Belkin clearly shows that medicine continues to be as much an art as a science and in many cases there are no "right" answers, even when decisions can affect whether a patient lives or dies.
This is not a dry, mechanical review of how ethical decisions are made. Quite the opposite, the book captures your full attention from the very first page. You become fully involved in the heart-wrenching lives of actual hospital patients, as well as the no-win situations health care professionals and family members find themselves in when struggling with decisions that literally have life or death consequences.
For example, when she describes the process in which the life support devices are withdrawn from a young patient you feel you are there in the room witnessing the tragedy. Some readers might scream within their minds not to do it - perhaps there is something else can be done? Others may feel a sense of loving compassion over the ending of someone's suffering. Both types will feel incredible compassion for those who had to make the actual decision and hopefully will never have to make such a choice in their own lives.
Very Will Written .......2006-04-28
The dilemmas in this book are extraordinarily touching.
Ms.Belkin keeps your mind involved as she shifts between situations. It is hard to read the book without thinking what would you do if you were to make a decision such as those mentioned. You will enjoy reading this book especially if you are a deep thinker. I will gladly purchase her other books.
Life or Death.......2006-03-19
Want to know what it is like to have the power to say if someone lives or dies? How would you feel if it was your job to say "pull the plug"on a babies life? Great book! Makes you think.All hospitals should have a Ethics Committee.
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- greatest miracle in the world
- The Greatest Book Ever Written By Man.
- Brilliance
- Greatest Miracle in the World
- You've Got To Read This Book!
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The Greatest Miracle in the World
Og Mandino
Manufacturer: Bantam
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The Greatest Salesman in the World
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The Choice
ASIN: 0553279726
Release Date: 1983-01-01 |
Book Description
A work that will lift the mind and heart of every reader. --Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
Customer Reviews:
greatest miracle in the world.......2007-09-17
awesome, excellent book ...words are inadequate. can't wait to read the other two books I also purchased from the same author. will send chills up your spine .. .
The Greatest Book Ever Written By Man........2007-03-10
This has to be the best book ever written by man. If you don't get it after reading this book, you never will.
Brilliance .......2006-07-22
I have read everyone of Og Mandinos Books and all I can say is that he writes with brilliance, clarity, enthusiasm, and spirit. You can never go wrong with any of his books. He points out the path to success and motivates the spirit within to achieve all that we as human beings are capable. He helped me to tap into my innate genuis and create a life of prosperity and creativity. If you havent raed his books, start now and your journey of the spirit will begin. He was a born writer and even after his passing continues to have a great influence on many people old and young. He truly lived a purposeful and divine life. Go buy all his books and enjoy the growth and enlightenment. After that Buy my Book " Your daily Walk with the Great Minds of the Past and Present". Enjoy and rememeber you are capable of great things in your life.
Greatest Miracle in the World.......2006-03-10
Did not care for this book, kind of sorry I bought it. Was outdated.....probably will not buy another one of Mr Mandino's books
You've Got To Read This Book!.......2005-08-10
I'v read it before and getting ready to listen to the audio version (again). I was amazed at how Og captured my heart and kept me glued to the story.
You've just got to read this book! I went through the program in the book and it just totally changed my life. Og had a special gift. As his mother told him. She said "Not only will he be a writer but a Great writer" Indeed how right she was!
I have told many people about Og. He's my hero because he has shown me the love of God in a special way. Get the book. You won't be sorry. It can change your life as it has mine and sooooooo many others.
dale
Book Description
The banking industry affects the welfare of every other industry and the economy. Banks are the leaders of the financial-services industry as a whole, however, financial-service competitors are now challenging them more than ever before. Bank Management and Financial Services is designed to help students master established management principles and to confront the perplexing issues of risk, regulation, technology, and competition that bankers and other financial-service managers see as their greatest challenges for the future.
Average customer rating:
- Practical ways to become better at human relations
- Why they do this?
- Product Description Was Inadequate
- This book helped me tremendously
- You'd do better to get the 2 books this book was extracted from
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How To Enjoy Your Life And Your Job
Dale Carnegie
Manufacturer: Pocket
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ASIN: 0671708260 |
Book Description
UNCOVER YOUR HIDDEN ASSETS -- YOU CAN FILL EACH DAY WITH EXCITEMENT AND A SENSE OF SATISFACTION!
Even if you love your work, you probably have days when almost nothing goes right. Bestselling author Dale Carnegie shows you how to make every day more exciting and rewarding -- how you can get more done, and have more fun doing it. Dale Carnegie's time-tested advice will help you to:
- Make other people feel important -- and do it sincerely
- Avoid unnecessary tension -- save your energy for important duties
- Get people to say yes -- immediately
- Turn routine tasks into stimulating opportunities
- Spot a sure-fire way of making enemies -- and avoid it
- Smile in the face of criticism -- you've done your very best!
How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job will help you create a new approach to life and people and discover talents you never knew you had. Dale Carnegie can help you get the most out of yourself -- all the time. Start developing your innate strengths and abilities -- start enriching your life TODAY!
Customer Reviews:
Practical ways to become better at human relations.......2007-09-16
This book merely takes excerpts from Dale Carnegie's two earlier books: (1) How to stop worrying and start living and (2) How to win friends and influence people.
Rules excerpted from How to Stop Worrying and Start Living include
1. Be yourself, do not imitate others.
2. Work habits:
(a) keep your desk clean except for material related to the current problem at hand
(b) work on more important problems first
(c) when you encounter a problem, solve it right away if you have the necessary information rather than leave it lingering
(d) delegate effectively, you're still responsible for the results
3. Relax
4. Be enthusiastic
5. Count you blessings, not your troubles.
6. Remember that unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment.
7. Put in your best effort; don't let others' criticisms get to you
Rules from How to Win Friends and Influence People include
1. Don't criticize, complain
2. Give honest, sincere appreciation
3. Arouse enthusiasm through appreciation and encouragement.
4. Consider and articulate benefits to the other party in pursuing the proposed action
5. Become genuinely interested in other people
6. Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.
7. Show respect for the other person's opinion.
8. Begin in a friendly way.
9. Get the other person to say successive "yes", "yes" immediately.
10. Let the other person take credit for the idea.
11. Appeal to the nobler motives.
12. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
13. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
14. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
15. Let the other man save his face.
The habits are easy to understand and eminently practical. Reading the book will help you become better at human relations.
Why they do this?.......2007-06-29
Why did they rehash old stuff into a new book? This book is really two books - How to win friends... and stop worrying, start living. I didn't know and I actually read both books already and I got suckered into buying this. You may say I should've read the fine print, but whatever, it's stupid.
Product Description Was Inadequate.......2007-05-13
Dale Carnegie is an amazing author and the wisdom in this book is life-changing.
The real problem with this book is that the product description failed to mention that it is a **COMPILATION** of excerpts from 2 other books:
"How to Stop Worrying and Start Living", and
"How to Win Friends and Influence People".
I already had those two books and, so, wasted my money by buying this book.
This book helped me tremendously.......2005-12-31
I realize that this book is simply an abridged compilation of HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE and one of Dale Carnegie's other famous books, the title of which eludes me for the moment. However, HOW TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE AND YOUR JOB is still a very important book on its own simply because it allows the reader the opportunity to learn these valuable lessons while concentrating on one central theme, not to mention a theme which is almost always on everone's mind with waking and sleeping: the workplace.
This book was easy to read and offered deep insight on how to work better and smarter. It's not a 12-step program or some kind of money-made-easy scheme. All the techniques in the book require practice, hard work, and a lot of patience. But by doing the best I can to employ these techniques in my workplace, I've become not only more proficient but also more relaxed, and more able to enjoy the job, even to the point at which it's no longer a drudge to have to go to work in the morning.
I highly recommend HOW TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE AND YOUR JOB.
You'd do better to get the 2 books this book was extracted from.......2005-08-14
"How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job" was created by taking excerpts from "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" - both excellent books. Buy those books separately or buy "Dale Carnegies Lifetime Plan for Success : The Great Bestselling Works Complete In One Volume" (ISBN: 1578660394) which contains both complete books. This way you get Carnegie's work in its complete form. I consider Carnegie to be one of the best self-help authors of all time, and that is reflected in these writings. Carnegie's work will help you improve your attitude, relationships, choices, and the results you achieve in life if you are willing to put his advice into practice. I only gave this book 3 stars because it is just a rehash of Carnegie's other books, with material cut out.
Book Description
Money and Capital Markets 9/e by Peter Rose and Milton Marquis provides a thorough and comprehensive view of the whole financial system. All the major types of financial institutions and financial instruments present today are discussed, along with how and why the system of money and capital markets is changing. Money and Capital Markets also provides a descriptive explanation of how interest rates and security values are determined. It discusses the current and future trends of the globalization of financial markets, the ongoing consolidation of the financial institutions’ sector, and recent efforts to protect consumer privacy in the financial services field.
Customer Reviews:
Lila.......2007-05-16
This book was ordered for my son. He is in the process of reading it.
Thank you for sending it so quickly!!
Creates a useful framework for thinking about one's life.......2007-01-18
Like Persig's earlier book 'Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance' this book uses the same technique as Plato's dialogues to discuss philosophical ideas.
The basic idea in all three works is to use an actual event (like fixing a motorcycle) as an example to discuss a general principle of philosophy. I always found Plato strange because he argued that specific cases should be deduced from abstract principles, not the other way around (idealism) but used the opposite technique (nominalism) in his writings. At least Persig uses nominalist techniques to argue for a nominalist position. I interpret one of the previous reviews as saying that Persig should have used idealist techniques..............
'Zen...' asked deep questions, and sometimes said there was no definite answer. Seventeen years later, Persig thinks he has some new answers. I agree. I often find myself using the ideas he taught me, to understand myself and the world. What more could I ask?
Problems.......2006-07-25
I had a number of problems with this book. To begin with, those of you who are familiar with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance are probably aware that the main premise of this book contradicts the moral he drew from his last one. He takes an indescribable and undividable conception of quality, and proceeds to describe and divide it. To make matters worse, he makes the same mistake as philosophers throughout history by failing to realize that pure abstractions like dynamic and static quality are obscure and fail to describe reality as we experience it.
These, however, are minor criticisms compared to this: Almost all of the ideas in this book have already been written by the process philosophers. In particular, Pirsig rips off Henri Bergson to an astounding degree and Bergson is much more clear about his ideas. Basically, my recomendation would be to avoid this book entirely and pick up 'The Creative Mind: An Introduction to Metaphysics' by Henri Bergson instead and see for yourself what I've been trying to say.
Commitment Phobia.......2006-07-04
After ten years or so, all that stayed with me was the main character barely being able to wait for Lila to leave, then once she does, he fantasizes about the wonderful life they would have had together, and how he could have "helped" her. This is a perfect example of what is popularly referred to as "commitment phobia."
Also the name "Lila Blewitt" sounded like something out of a Thomas Pynchon novel. She had potential but she blew it?
Hot & Cold, Excellent & Awful.......2006-06-23
Several instances during my reading of this book I put it down for good. At times, it was so awful I couldn't waste another minute of my life on it. It would sit on the table for a few days, then I would be compelled to pick it up again. Eventually the book rose out of these doldrums and grew into a book of decent quality. Towards then end, it picked up so much steam I made it my primary book, as opposed to a book I read when I had the chance. Overall, the book is a 3 star read for me, based on the fact that half of it is absolutely awful and half of it is quite entertaining.
The parts of the book I found most indigestible were his introductory series of philosophical thought in what I suppose is an attempt to properly set up his further philosophical arguments later on. For me, this doesn't work. Too often he fuses the insecurities of his own life into the narrative instead of properly setting up later discussion. His passages are often rantings of a proverbial madman, unfocused and bent on addressing various incidents he has endured since the writing of his first work, the brilliant Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
While reading these initial chapters I found myself thinking this book could only hinder the legacy of Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It's like a baseball player hitting a grand slam on the first at bat of his career, only to strike out every time he comes to the plate after that. As the narrative wears on, he stops striking out. But it becomes apparent he will never again hit the long ball, instead producing more like a singles and doubles hitter.
Later in the book, when we have gotten past the long-winded philosophical setups, the baggage from his life, and the absolutely awful story, Pirsig ventures into various philosophical discussions I started to find fascinating. By the end of the book, I was hoping Pirsig had more books I could pick up. Sadly, this is it. At this point in time it seems unlikely he will produce anything else. So we're left to distill what we can out of this and his first offering.
I can't claim Pirsig is a modern day philosophical genius. He is no such thing. What he is, ironically, is someone who can convey his philosophical ideas to the common reader in a clear and concise manner...sometimes. Try reading Hume or Kant, and soon you'll find yourself asleep in the middle of the day. Pirsig, while assuredly not concise enough for modern philosophical inquiry, is nonetheless easy to read. More importantly, he speaks to a real reader, not someone who needs to be steeped in classical philosophy. I found these qualities more prevalent as we approach the end of the book.
This doesn't mean I find the book outstanding, or worthy of the apparent online community that exists for this work - not at all. In fact, I still find this work solidly mediocre when taken as a whole. It's certainly worth the read as long as you're willing to push your way through the first 150 pages or more. Assuming you can get that far, the book is rich and rewarding at times. However, if you're looking for a brilliant sequel to Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, this isn't going to cut the mustard.
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- Personal advice to help seekers
- Thought-Provoking, Artfully Written
- Sent as a gift
- Good concept, never follows through
- Stories of idealistic elitists
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What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question
Po Bronson
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0345485920
Release Date: 2005-11-29 |
Amazon.com
In What Should I Do with My Life? Po Bronson manages to create a career book that is a page-turner. His 50 vivid profiles of people searching for "their soft spot--their true calling" will engage readers because Bronson is asking himself the same question. He explores his premise, that "nothing is braver than people facing up to their own identity," as an anthropologist and autobiographer. He tackles thorny, nuanced issues about self-determination. Among them: paradoxes of money and meaning, authorship and destiny, brain candy and novelty versus soul food. Bronson's stories, limited to professional people and complete with photos, are gems. They include a Los Angeles lawyer who became a priest, a Harvard MBA catfish farmer turned biotech executive, and a Silicon Valley real estate agent who opened a leather crafts factory in Costa Rica.
Bronson is a gifted intuitive writer, the bestselling author of The Nudist on the Late Shift, whose thoughtful, vulnerable voice emerges as the book's greatest strength and challenge. He describes his subject's lives along with the ways they annoy, puzzle, and worry him. He frets about meddling with his questions, yet once, memorably and appropriately, he offers a talented man a top post in his publishing company. While this creates the juiciness of his portraits, it also can make Bronson the book's most memorable character and the only one whose story is not resolved. Even so, this remarkable career chronicle sets the gold standard for the worth of the examined life. --Barbara Mackoff
Book Description
In What Should I Do with My Life? Po Bronson tells the inspirational true stories of people who have found the most meaningful answers to that great question. With humor, empathy, and insight, Bronson writes of remarkable individuals—from young to old, from those just starting out to those in a second career—who have overcome fear and confusion to find a larger truth about their lives and, in doing so, have been transformed by the experience. What Should I Do with My Life? struck a powerful, resonant chord on publication, causing a multitude of people to rethink their vocations and priorities and start on the path to finding their true place in the world. For this edition, Bronson has added nine new profiles, to further reflect the range and diversity of those who broke away from the chorus to learn the sound of their own voice.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Download Description
What should I do with my life?
It's a question many of us have pondered with frequency. Author Po Bronson was asking himself that very question when he decided to write this book -- an inspiring exploration of how people transform their lives and a template for how we can answer this question for ourselves.
Bronson traveled the country in search of individuals who have struggled to find their calling, their true nature -- people who made mistakes before getting it right. He encountered people of all ages and all professions -- a total of fifty-five fascinating individuals trying to answer questions such as: Is a career supposed to feel like a destiny? How do I tell the difference between a curiosity and a passion? Should I make money first, to fund my dream? If I have a child, will my frustration over my work go away? Should I accept my lot, make peace with my ambition, and stop stressing out? Why do I feel guilty for thinking about this?
From their efforts to answer these questions, the universal truths in this book emerge. Each story in these pages informs the next, and the result is a journey that unfolds with cumulative power. Here are the stories of people who found meaningful answers by daring to be honest with themselves. Among them:
- The Pittsburgh lawyer who decided to become a trucker so he could savor the moment and be closer to his son.
- The toner-cartridge queen of Chicago, who realized that her relationships with men kept sabotaging her career choices.
- The Cuban immigrant who overcame the strong disapproval of her parents and quit her high-paying job to pursue social-service work in Miami.
- The chemistry professor who realized, quite late in life, that he would rather practice law.
- The mother torn between an Olympic career and her adolescent daughter.
- The seventeen-year-old boy who received a letter from the Dalai Lama and was called to a life of spiritual leadership.
- The creator of St. Elmo's Fire, who wasn't sure he could quit his successful Hollywood life for the deeper artistic life he had always wanted to pursue.
- The author himself. Po Bronson has worked as a bus-boy, cook, janitor,sports-medicine intern, bus-lift assembly-line technician, aerobics instructor, litigation consultant, greeting-card designer, bond salesman, political-newsletter editor, high school teacher, author, and book publisher.
Reading this book is like listening in on an intimate conversation among people you care about and admire. Even if you know what you should do with your life, you will find wisdom and guidance in these stories.
"Brimming with stories of sacrifice, courage, commitment and, sometimes, failure, the book will support anyone pondering a major life choice or risk without force-feeding them pat solutions."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Good Morning America "Read This!" Book Club Pick
Customer Reviews:
Personal advice to help seekers.......2007-10-18
This isn't your typical job book.
You won't find any quizzes to help you choose your career path, and you won't get any step-by-step advice on how to find the best job for you.
What you will find are personal stories from people just like you. You'll discover people who had an easy route to career success, as well as people who had a longer journey.
I personally found this book very helpful during a particularly rough patch. I wasn't sure I wanted to stay in my field, and I had a lot of questions about what to do with my life. I was depressed, unhappy, desperate, even angry.
Reading other people's stories helped me feel less alone.
The book also helped me priorotize what is important in my life. Turns out I'm OK with making less money as long as the tradeoff is living in a place I love and working for people I respect.
I have a new job as a result of this book, and I'm very happy with my place in the world.
Thought-Provoking, Artfully Written.......2007-09-24
I've heard it said that you can tell by how someone writes whether they genuinely like people. Po Bronson clearly likes people, and it shines through in this book. I highly recommend it for anyone seeking to set foot in others' shoes, whether you are in the midst of self-examination (and shouldn't that be a constant for all of us, really?) or not.
Sent as a gift.......2007-09-22
I sent this as a gift to my daughter who is very pleased with the book
Good concept, never follows through.......2007-09-13
The idea for a book addressing the question "what should I do with my life?" is a good one. It's something everyone faces at some point, and many struggle with. So I was looking forward to reading this book.
Unofortunately, all it amounts to is a series of vignets or snapshots of different individuals interviewed by Bronson and the choices they made in their careers and lives, without any other real deeper insight or conclusions offered. It's interesting to read people's different stories, and the pool Bronson drew from is certainly varied/diverse. Yet Bronson sounds just as confused as the reader when addressing these stories, and just as unsetted about that basic question. And by the end of the book, Bronson AND the reader is left no further off then where we started. If anything, this book leaves you feeling more confused and conflicted then when you started reading.
I kept hoping Bronson would get at some overarching theme that ties the stories together, or offer up some reasonable conclusions, however broad by the end of the book, but he doesn't. It's as if he interviewed these folks, wrote down their stories and just left it at that. I think it's intended to be thought provoking for the reader, and it is on some levels. But if you're picking this book up, chances are you've already been pondering this question, and don't need to be reminded to think about it.
This book had potential, and it's a good concept, but Bronson just never follows through. While interesting in parts, it leaves you hanging and is ultimately unfulfilling. I was hoping this book would inspire some insight, and it just doesn't. Disappointingly shallow.
Stories of idealistic elitists.......2007-08-25
I wanted to love this book, I really did. I work a little in career counseling, have changed careers, and believe the career search and finding what we enjoy is one of the most challenging, demanding and rewarding journeys in life. Bronson's idea for the book was outstanding; his choice of people to feature was narrow.
Before reading this book I read the reveiws here and was surpised at some of the anger. After reading the book, now I understand it. By page 200 (or earlier) I was already tired of the words, "Stanford," "Yale," "stock broker," "venture capitalist," and "Hollywood," (he has two stories of disgruntled Hollywood scriptwriters, who go back to la-la land).
Even the catfish farmer is an Ivy Leaguer/Wall Street guy who goes back to the big business world. So many dislikeable people, like the "Phi Betta Slacker" who bemoans a $1,500 a day runway model job; one Hollywood scriptwriter (Stanford or Ivy League alum, of course) who can't believe that going into the medical field requires having to deal with sick people, and that very ill people are actually in hospitals. Horrified, she runs back to Hollywood. Guess that high-priced education didn't pay off. And then there's the guy from Oregon living in the bay area who thinks he's just a goofball who got lucky making $160,000 a year, and is somewhat upset about it.
Please.
This book does not cross all economic levels, it's about elitists who just don't seem happy making those six figures. For someone not from that stratosphere, it's maddening to read time after time. I was hoping I'd hit a chapter where a middle or lower class person actually changed careers and liked it. Of course Bronson himself is a Stanford alum, high finance guy, so this is the prism in which he views life.
On the bright side, there are some good insights in this book on how people make changes and take leaps of faith. But when I hit a guy with $9 million in the bank (and oddly sharing a small two-bedroom apartment) and Bronson tells us, "not to feel sorry for him" and then we hear how this guy's life isn't fulfilling. Of course he goes back to where? Stanford.
I'm sure the Stanford and Ivy League alumni chapters love this book, but it's really not for the common man.
Book Description
The Disposable American is an eye-opening account of layoffs in America—their questionable necessity, their overuse, and their devastating impact on individuals at all income levels. Yet despite all this, they are accelerating.
The award-winning New York Times economics writer Louis Uchitelle explains how, in the mid-1970s, the first major layoffs, initiated as a limited response to the inroads of foreign competition, spread and multiplied, in time destroying the notion of job security and the dignity of work. We see how the barriers to layoffs tumbled, and how by the late 1990s the acquiescence was all but complete.
In a compelling narrative, the author traces the rise of job security in the United States to its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, and then the panicky U-turn. He describes the unraveling through the experiences of both executives and workers: three CEOs who ran the Stanley Works, the tool manufacturer, from 1968 through 2003, who gradually became more willing to engage in layoffs; highly skilled aircraft mechanics in Indianapolis discarded as United Airlines shut down a state-of-the-art maintenance facility, damaging the city as well as the workers; a human resources director at Citigroup, declared nonessential despite excellent performance; a banker in Connecticut lucky to find a lower-paying job in a state tourist office.
Uchitelle makes clear the ways in which layoffs are counterproductive, rarely promoting efficiency or profitability in the long term. He explains how our acquiescence encourages wasteful mergers, outsourcing, the shifting of production abroad, the loss of union protection, and wage stagnation. He argues against our ongoing public policy—inaugurated by Ronald Reagan and embraced by every president since—of subsidizing retraining for jobs that, in fact, do not exist. He breaks new ground in documenting the failure of these policies and in describing the significant psychological damage that the trauma of a layoff invariably inflicts, even on those soon reemployed. It is damage that, multiplied over millions of layoffs, is silently undermining the nation’s mental health.
While recognizing that in today’s global economy some layoffs must occur, the author passionately argues that government must step in with policies that encourage companies to restrict layoffs and must generate jobs to supplement the present shortfall.There are specific recommendations for achieving these goals and persuasive arguments that workers, business, and the nation will benefit as a result.
An urgent, essential book that tells for the first time the story of our long and gradual surrender to layoffs—from a writer who has covered the unwinding for nearly twenty years and who now bears witness.
Customer Reviews:
Mildly Socialist.......2007-10-16
While the book is well written and contains a number of stories that are worth reading, the only slightly hidden socialist leanings of the author ruin it for me. The key failure that Uchitelle makes is to assume that constancy is a plausible choice.
This is important - Just because it would be NICE for things to always stay the same as they were a decade ago, that doesn't make it feasible. And no amount of assumptions or nostalgia will make it come true. The world is going to change, competitors are going to make doing things the same way for a decade unfeasible, and using expensive labor to compete with cheap labor is going to get very hard to pull off.
Uchitelle bemoans CEOs who use downsizing, restructuring, outsourcing, and layoffs to "Pad the bottom line" when really they're keeping their companies afloat. At the end of the first chapter, he includes a very Scrooge-like framing of the CEO of Stanley works - who brought the firm from floundering against cheaper Asian imports back to profitability - because he talks about the results he achieved in improving net income and earnings for the company (which is, by the way, his job). Uchitelle would like the reader to view this rapacious capitalist as some evil tyrant who lined his own pockets at the expense of those he fired. However, he neglects to consider the alternative scenario.
Would Stanley works REALLY have kept all those fired workers employed into 2006? NO! Stanley would be bankrupt, and EVERYONE would be out of a job. The CEO Uchitelle decries has saved the jobs he could, saved millions in investor capital (Some of which came from the very workers Uchitelle claims to defend through things like 401k), brought jobs and opportunities to developing countries, rescued a brand, and in general saved a company.
It's very easy to demonize corporate leaders by simply assuming they have the option to do nothing, and we'll all live happily ever after. Unfortunately, change happens, capitalism requires a helmet, and we don't live in the magical world of puppy dogs and lollipops where everyone can work the same job forever without facing outside competition. Out here in the real world, the options are (A) - Fire a few people and keep the company profitable, or (B) Fire everyone and close up shop. Do I think that these are the only two choices available every time? No. I also think layoffs are often done poorly, but this book takes a very naive world view to draw child-like conclusions that reak of "layoffs are bad because they make daddy unhappy".
We Are Contractors.......2007-08-01
"The Disposable American" appropriately touches on many areas outside of, but directly related to lay-offs: sociology, culture, media, politics, public policy, and the psychological condition of those involved.
Lay-offs are an important topic but the way it's presented seems too subtly poignant and explicitly tragic. Within the first couple pages of "The Disposable American" author Uchitelle sets the tone with a term for these millions of layed-off American workers: "victim." The word "victim" is used all-over the spectrum in modern-day America and frankly, it gets tiring. So, layed-off workers are victims? Quite a strong term. I wouldn't refer to them as this. (But I do believe working and middle-class blue and white-collar employees are no longer winners in today's society.) And conditions won't be changing for the better in the short and long-term future. Employees need to adapt and psychologically view themselves as contractors. Contractors, is what we were today. And it's not entirely negative. It can be positive. "You....are not your job." Your self-worth should not be associated with your job title nor tenure in today's work-world.
Economic reality + social engineering. This is they way things are because it's expedient for investors and it's *planned* to be that way. 37 states have At-Will employment laws. U.S. labor laws are the worst in the industrialized world.
One of the many examples in "The Disposable American" is IBM. IBM publicly stated in 1994 that workers who are efficient, loyal, and productive cannot be guaranteed job security at IBM. When thousands were layed-off from IBM they were rehired to work for....IBM....as contractors. The company concluded that workers who fear lay-offs can provide more "adequate" results (page 145). Employees that were retained (not let go) were "shell-shocked" and still afraid of losing their jobs afterward. Even though a Harvard Business School Study specifically concluded the wrong workers were layed-off and the ones retained often weren't (and still aren't today) trained to deal with the new responsibilities and additional workload (page 194).
Increasing immigration is also welcomed. Immigrants are less likely statistically to complain about conditions or labor codes, and provide employers with a large pool or workers at the low end of the pay scale.
Uchitelle's personal sob stories of working stiffs having to leave one mundane dead-end job for another is really nothing new. Staying in the same industry is Old School. Dinosaurs. Do Defined Benefit Pension Programs enslave employees and tie them to a company and industry? Are these workers too lazy or stupid to invest on their own for their future? 401Ks for most are a scam: limited investment choices that especially hurt older contributors and hidden fees that significantly eat into returns the longer a worker stays at the same company, and doesn't roll it over into their own IRA that often have lower expense ratios of their choosing. People don't stay in the same industry and/or with the same company for a long time, and those that do risk having to transition into new gigs unexpectedly in their twenties, 30s, 50s, and beyond.
In this book there are many individual and family stories of personal circumstances. Many personal stories using a person's first name, hometown, and former "career" are elucidated. Then descriptions of the financial and emotional difficulties faced by those who get layed-off/down-sized/riffed are noted. The politically correct corporate euphemism is "Involuntarily separated."
<---I like this one.
The Lay-Off Routine Is Well Refined:
Airplane mechanics are important. Their work assures planes fly safely. But their jobs can be contracted (outsourced) inside the U.S. When these mechanics were layed-off en masse they were invited to a hotel and given a seminar to be "counseled out." The speaker told them that credit card and mortgage companies gave "special consideration" to layed-off workers. The counselor held up a sample form letter to creditors, for all to see. The layed-off worker can request a reduction in monthly payments for these debts temporarily. They were instructed to ask for the reduction before they get "60 days behind on a debt." And they were also given the book "Who Moved My Cheese."
Lay-Off expansion and political opportunism of the 1990s:
In the mid-1990s lay-offs transcended from not only the blue collar industries but to the white collar and professional industries. At this time, more media attention was given not only to the lay-offs themselves but *how* people were being let go. CEOs were going public giving news conferences to publicize lay-offs in the hope that their company stock would go up. Political Translation: too many voters were losing their jobs and the Presidential, Congressional, and State elections were only months away in 1996. Pat Buchanan was very successful in tapping into voter anxiety and angst by his protectionist "save-the-jobs" policies.
Factual truths from this book:
1. Lay-offs and lack of job security will continue for several decades or longer.
2. If a layed-off worker gets more training and education they will maintain or increase their current market value. This is statistically false.
3. The savings of laying-off workers will help companies and in the long-run workers will be better off.
The solutions give the layed-off the right to sue, and Uchitelle even advocates taxing people with higher incomes. Like this money will be redirected to the layed-off or pay for retraining, and such? It won't be re-directed, and it should not be. Furthermore, it won't happen and it's not fair.
The index is large, and there are many book titles author Louis
Uchitelle cited and noted throughout the book. This book is about us. And it's also about you, even if you think you are safe.
AMERICAN DISPOSABLE .......2007-05-30
I have just finished re-reading David Halberstam's The Fifties as part of an attempt to better understand that period as the foundation of many social, political and economic and cultural post-war trends that continue, or have been expanded on, today. The book under review, to its credit, puts forth an analysis that undermines one critical part of the `myth' of the Fifties. That is the proposition that `a rising tide lifts all ships'. Given the tremendous advantage the American capitalist economy had after its World War II victory combined with certain ameliorative changes in corporate and labor culture there was a seeming feeling that things would keep getting better and better. That based, of course, on an assumption that one did not challenge the capitalist basis on which this system was built. Today, after the victory of that unchallenged assumption, the chickens have come home to roost. The classic case for what amounted to class collaboration was the `partnership' between the Walter Reuther-led United Auto Workers and Detroit's Big Three automakers in the immediate post-World War II period. The result was the closest that this country has ever come to a Europeon social-democratic arrangement between business and labor. The recent purchase of one of the Big Three, Chrysler, by a private equity company that will inevitably entail another massive round of layoffs in the already devastated American auto industry was greeted without a peep by the Auto Workers Union. Times have changed, and not for the better.
Thus, clearly those days of so-called `social contract' derived capitalism, whether illusionary at the time or not, are over and have been for a while. The most compelling data centers on the seemingly never-ending fact that while those who manage the capitalist empire has vastly increased their wealth and position the mass of Americans has either been spinning their wheels or going under. This book is an `up close and personal' look at those who did not make it for one reason or another but mainly because they were caught up in the vise of a dramatic changeover in corporate culture which can be paraphrased bluntly as the `survival of the fittest'. One thing that is clear from all the interviews, unfortunately, is that few working people, and this book is really about working people, have a political clue about what has happened to them and why. Or, moreover, what to do about it. The amount of self-doubt, personal guilt and bafflement expressed in the book shows more clearly than any current theoretical Marxist treatise that I have read why this runaway capitalist system is still in place. Still, if these interviews emphasize that the task to change things may be daunting it nevertheless needs to be done. While the author offers no particular remedy for this growing economic inequality he does perform a service by laying out the problem. It is our task to break the logjam. And given the dominant corporate culture and its ruthless workings the fight will not be pretty.
Masterful, Thought-Provoking View of Downsizing.......2007-05-07
Louis Uchitelle has penned a masterful and thought-provoking look at the history of layoffs in the U.S. economy over the past 60 years, including their hidden costs. This book deserves to be read by all who have been laid off, who fear they might be, or who are interested in the future of the American workforce.
Uchitelle challenges the conventional wisdom that mass layoffs are an effective way to preserve American competitiveness. He provides a survey of how the employment paradigm has changed over the past 60 years-- from a belief that jobs should be preserved and that downsizings should be used as a last resort, to the current belief that periodic layoffs are required to maintain America's competitive posture. Uchitelle's thesis is that most workers do not recover readily from a layoff. Relatively few find employment at their previous salary levels and the layoff typically exacts a debilitating psychological toll. Even worse, America's continued endorsement of global free trade has allowed other nations unfettered entry into the American economy while eliminating American jobs. Uchitelle provides estimates that NAFTA-- sold to the American public as a job creation tool-- has in fact created net American job losses estimated at 450,000- 1,000,000 positions.
Think you're safe by virtue of education, high pay, or length of tenure in the workplace? Uchitelle offers case studies that indicate that layoffs are increasingly affecting all socioeconomic levels, including senior executives and the holders of Ivy League college and graduate degrees. In short, job insecurity is becoming pervasive throughout the U.S. economy.
Sadly, the reality of job insecurity is generally unacknowledged. Uchitelle reports that the political consensus has retreated to that of the early decades of the 20th century: that employability is the sole responsibility of the employee and that the employer can and should hire and fire at will. Sadly, the unions have acquiesced to this trend and white collar employees have been slow to recognize their vulnerability. As a result, there has been little pressure to address the matter of layoffs through government policy.
Free market enthusiasts will no doubt believe that Uchitelle's narrative reflects an efficient market response to globalization: goods are being produced where labor costs are cheapest. But the fabric of American society is being torn by growing employment insecurity. Perhaps it is time to re-examine the responsibility of both business and government in creating and maintaining employment and American competitiveness. While I did not agree with many of Uchitelle's policy prescriptions, I fully endorse his conclusion that it is high time to re-address current thinking on this subject.
Too much sympathy.......2007-02-21
There is a good section on the history of the workforce industry and decent research, but I didn't care for the author's slant and the solutions chapter. Solutions just weren't realistic, inviting more government regulations and policies which rarely trickle down to the people in the event of a mass layoff. I was waiting for workable solutions for the financially devastated family with the college educated bread-winner in the $45K-$70K/year range. You know, the ones that keep getting caught in the major layoffs every 4-6 years with little pension in their 401K's, while getting heavily taxed for dipping into their own money to make it through the unemployment period, or the ones fending off debt from credit card companies. Don't kid yourself. None of the current government agencies will help this group in any manner. And credit card companies are indifferent to understanding a moment of financial crisis, despite what the author suggests in one scant paragraph. Some raise your interest rates, others will go straight to your credit agency on the first late payment. Most are in the business of making money off the high risk group. The author gave no real solutions for the worker in the event of a layoff.
The author spent too much time on the emotional sympathy factor, even contriving that one man, who's wife is an attorney making more than the average income, is in the dumps, but doesn't know it. The author and the man's wife are going to help him. Maybe he's perfectly happy being a house daddy with a wife with more earning power? They obviously weren't hurting too badly. They bought a second house while he was unemployed. The author also followed a few workers over the years some of who had a larger income and/or nice retirement packages ($1 mil). I had trouble sympathizing with those folks as well. How about those many folks from American Airlines who had tenure but were forced to leave without their pension packages - a little policy written by American allowed them to not offer it. Right now, some of them too young to retire and too old to ever see that kind of pay again. It's no surprise that the psychology professionals won't publish a paper of the mental health hazards of being laid off. Most of those they deal with can afford to still see a psychiatrist and their "devastation" is more self-inflicted than financial. I just can't agree with the author's emphasis on the sympathy approach.
Simple solution: Make corporate raiding illegal or make companies accountable to show a detailed report that mass layoffs are in the best interest of all involved. Since when can and does government actually make real workable solutions for those who most need it? Most of the time the paperwork and qualifications are so cumbersome; most people in the college level average income don't even qualify for benefits to supplement during a real hardship; or there are so many loopholes only a few lower end income people qualify.
Bottom line is that government won't do much to change the situation so it's best to have solutions for the workers. The author didn't address those solutions. He wrote this book mostly for policy makers. Most people are aware of mass corporate take-overs, then the lay-offs, and what it means for job security. We lost faith in corporate security years ago and accept the current trend. What can we do? We need to feed our families. Also, people need to understand that although statistics show that a college education might yield one a better job and better pay, that isn't always the case. I know plenty of college educated people not working in their field and struggling to move up the ladder in another unrelated field of work while paying unforgivable college debts. Being college educated can also make it difficult to find another job when too many of the same are vying for the same position(s). It's become a game of who's the youngest and will take the least amount of money. Again, the average American is on his own. Make the best of it.
Right now, statistics show there are plenty of jobs, in spite of mass corporate lay offs, so we should be happy, right? Let's see our policymakers, government officials, and CEO's live on those jobs.
Books:
- The Reading Coach: A How-to Manual for Success
- Training to See: A Value Stream Mapping Workshop: A Value Stream Mapping Workshop (Lean Enterprise Institute)
- Understanding American and German Business Cultures
- Understanding Business
- What Would You Do? (American Girl Library)
- Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
- Working With You is Killing Me: Freeing Yourself from Emotional Traps at Work
- Workplace Spirituality: A Complete Guide for Business Leaders
- A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
- An Introduction to Genetic Analysis (INTRODUCTION TO GENETIC ANALYSIS (GRIFFITHS))
Books Index
Books Home
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The Art of War (Shambhala Classics)
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The Art of War: (Miniature book)
