Review of The Mighty Niagara: One River-Two Frontiers (Hardcover)

The Mighty Niagara is an excellent book for anyone interested in the geography, history, economics, sociology and development of Canada's Niagara Region and New York's Niagara Frontier.
The two sides of the Niagara River share a common history from the fur trade through the War of 1812, the building of the Erie and Welland canals, the creation of hydro power and the boom in manufacturing in the 20th century. However Buffalo, the two Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Welland handled these changes in radically different ways.
In his book, John N. Jackson along with his two contributors presents more than 200 years of layers of development. With a well-written text backed up by photos, charts and maps, he takes the reader on journey through time and geography.
The Mighty Niagara is a "must read" for anyone trying to understand one of the busiest border points between Canada and the United States. The communities are similar but every different.



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Review of Corporate Crooks: How Rogue Executives Ripped Off Americans... and Congress Helped Them Do It! (Hardcover)

CORPORATE CROOKS: HOW ROGUE EXECUTIVES RIPPED OFF AMERICANS ... AND CONGRESS HELPED THEM DO IT isn't just another book about Enron: it considers the rise of corporate scandals as a whole, pinpointing an atmosphere of greed condoned by Congress itself. This doesn't come from a common citizen, either: author Greg Farrell is an investigative journalist for USA today and explains the links between Congressional actions and laws and the current conditions which condone and reward corporate wrong-doing. Eye-opening and timely reading given today's political climate and newspaper headlines.



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Review of The Geek Gap: Why Business And Technology Professionals Don't Understand Each Other And Why They Need Each Other to Survive (Hardcover)

There's no question that the authors of The Geek Gap have struck upon a widespread phenomenon: businesspeople and technologists frequently experience difficulty communicating. It's challenging to communicate across these domains, not only because "suits" and "geeks" speak different vocabularies, but also because they tend to think differently. The point of the book is basically to teach businesspeople how technologists think and technologists how businesspeople think. In a nutshell, the authors suggest taking genuine interest in how the other side works is the best way to overcome misunderstandings and to foster healthier business climates. They also offer a number of practical management tips to lessen the communicative dissonance, even recommending that "geeks" and "suits" temporarily switch jobs to get a sense of what the other side is actually doing.

I think the authors sometimes overplay the differences between "geeks" and "suits," thereby contributing to stereotypes which exist more in popular culture than contemporary business environments. Do most "suits" really disdain technology? The excellent coverage of technology in the Wall Street Journal suggests otherwise. Do most "geeks" really disregard the business purpose of their corporations? The rise of agile methodologies, which encourage closer and more frequent communication between developers and stakeholders, as well as Service Oriented Architecture, which offers a philosophy for reusable services both at the technological and the business level, also suggests that "geeks" have recognized that it's in their best interests as developers to close this gap.

The book is nicely written and an easy read. While the problems of communication described by the authors have already existed for a long time (although I'd dispute that it stretches back as far as Galileo, as the authors assert), the pervasiveness of information technology in the contemporary business world has made it more necessary than ever to acknowledge and start bridging this gap. Reading this book will not be the end of that process, but it could provide a helpful beginning.



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