Review of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win (Hardcover)

It's often hard to tell, when reading a book like this one, whether the authors have really hit on an important insight grounded in solid evidence and research, or instead invented a marketable idea and cherry-picked instances and examples that "prove" their point. Although perhaps the passage of time is the only way to tell for sure, I argue "Mavericks at Work" really has seized on something important. That makes this a valuable read, not only for current and wannabe-future business leaders, but for anyone who ... well ... works for a living.

William Taylor and Polly LaBarre argue that the real head-to-head competition in business today isn't process versus process, or even idea versus idea, but rather "values system versus values system." The business leaders who inspire them and who, they argue, are leading the way into the future, are the ones who have rethought the very idea of business, the market, and both internal and external collaboration. A big part of their book applies the model of open-source software and technology-development to the business, and describes how various corporations have harnessed technology and the world's intellectual resources to solve business problems.

But the technological angle is only part of what makes someone a "maverick at work." Another major focus of the book is on companies that have created an energetic and innovative corporate culture that truly inspires employees and delights customers. Herb Kelleher's Southwest Airlines is always the darling of this sort of analysis, but Taylor and LaBarre also introduce us to Commerce Bank in New York, Anthropologie, the GSD&M advertising agency, and others. These places, the authors argue, are changing what "work" means, and so creating not only customer and employee loyalty, but also (and therefore) business success.

The word *maverick* derives from Texan rancher and politician Sam Maverick, who allowed his unbranded cattle to roam semi-wild instead of branding them and penning them in fenced-in ranges. That sort of independent spirit describes the companies and business leaders profiled in this book. It remains to be seen whether theirs is the way of the future, but Taylor and LaBarre have made a solid (and energizing!) case that it is.



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Review of People Get Screwed All the Time: Protecting Yourself From Scams, Fraud, Identity Theft, Fine Print, and More (Hardcover)

Robert Massi is a fixture on FoxNews, appearing often as a "legal analyst". I'm not a lawyer, but Massi's explanations have left me scratching my head more than once. Often it seems Massi is just filling time without much regard for what he's saying - and not much thought either. He's not dumb - he just seems way to willing to express an opinion on legal matters without thorough consideration of the facts.

In "Peopld Get Screwed All The Time", Massi writes of "real people" who run afoul in one way or another of the law. They also seem to be quite a collection of losers who could qualify for leading roles if Woody Allen ever does a remake of "Broadway Danny Rose", a movie about an agent who represents really weird performers.

Ostensibly, Massi is writing about "Potecting Yourself from Scams, Fraud, Identity Theft, Fine Print, and More". In truth, it seems Massi is simply trying to exploit his minimal fame as a television talking head.

The people, allegedly real, are apparently dumber than bricks. For example, we have one individual who doesn't do anything when fraudulent charges start showing up on his credit card account. For another man, Massi says "[t]he easiest lesson to learn from Milton's story is not to cheat on your wife", after the guy's wife left him and the new girlfriend also left him broke with a massive pile of debt. Of course, Milton didn't bother looking at his credit card bills and "would not have been surprised by Rachel's excessive spending - over $50,000 worth - or that she had failed to pay the monthly bills". In other words, Milton like all of Massi's other subjects is a jerk who put himself in his own misery.

Massi ends each chapter with a "How I would have counseled" the person. It's really bland stuff. Say, Milton, don't cheat on your wife and get her angry enough to leave you and don't be too quick to give the honey you just met full access to all your credit cards and not look at the bills.

On the whole this is a silly book. Massi describes a bunch of not very bright people who get ensnared in the kinds of situations not very bright people find themselves in. It is highly unlikely that such people are going to buy this book before they get themselves into trouble - and nothing in this book will help them out of their troubles.

On the whole, save your money and don't bother with this title.

Jerry







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Review of The Big Payoff: 8 Steps Couples Can Take to Make the Most of Their Money--and Live Richly Ever After (Hardcover)

I'm not married with children and planning for their college savings or a well-off magazine editor engaged to an equally-fabulous investment banker, but I can still benefit from the financial lessons in The Big Payoff: 8 Steps Couple Can Take to Make The Most of Their Money - and Live Richly Ever After, the first book written by CNBC personal finance correspondent Sharon Epperson.

The Big Payoff is billed as a resource for middle-class couples, but as a single, young professional, I found the information in the book relevant to my life and circumstances. I viewed the book as a way to prepare for my future as it gave me advice and real steps I could take to build a solid financial base to support me now and for years to come.

Epperson wrote an easy-to-understand book that's broken down into eight action steps any individual or couple can follow. The steps are divided into chapters that cover topics such as buying a house, emergency planning, college savings and estate planning. The Big Payoff can benefit all people too - from the working poor trying to learn ways to maximize their dollars and build a legacy of financial literacy to pass down to their children, to the middle-class trying to stretch their earnings and provide a comfortable lifestyle for their families. Everyone needs to know about savings plans, budgeting and saving for college and retirement.

Epperson's book makes complex topics palatable and helps people introduce financial literacy into their every day lives and practices. I'm living, breathing proof that the Big Payoff works. One of the best features of the book is the exercises and worksheets that accompany most of the chapters. One of the first things I did after reading the Big Payoff was to write out my short- and long-term financial goals. Then, I drafted a personal budget. The budgeting process is probably one of the hardest, most honest exercises a person or couple must face. It makes you accountable for yourself and your spending habits. Even harder than that, is sticking to your budget. I'll admit, even after a week, there were a couple times when I just didn't feel like keeping track of my receipts. But, I did. Now, I am able to put into perspective my actual needs versus my wants and I've been able to save more money and feel good about the prospects for my future. Sure, I'm at the baby-step phase in this process, but it's a personal triumph for me to at least have taken steps to do something about planning for my future.

The Big Payoff is a plan to help people of all ages get their financial lives back on track or help others take the right path from the beginning.



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Review of Retire Early? Make the SMART Choices (Hardcover)

This is a crisply-written book of useful information that helps people ponder a variety of really important questions about retirement. Some retirement books are unclear, but this one is written with absolute clarity. It is an excellent guide for people carefully stepping toward retirement.



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Review of Don't Look Twice: A Novel (Hardcover)

This novel was a fun page turner that kept me guessing most of the way through. The plot has some depth and the story was interesting even though the characters were quite stereotypical of thrillers involving detectives, murder, gambling, crooked government and the requisite love interest. Along the way is the building body count, and the reader learns quickly that it's dangerous to trust anyone involved in the case.

This was the second book in a series featuring Lt. Ty Hauck and I did not read the former, The Dark Tide, so am basing my analysis of the character on this novel only. He's the typical man without a family - estranged from an ex -- and his current love interest is lukewarm, so he's the solitary voice of truth and justice fighting against the rich and powerful. This type of character has become a cliché of detective novels - probably because it works. It would be hard for a man with any type of family or home life to rarely sleep, eat or interact with anyone but those involved in the case. He has a daughter, brother and father and those all make brief appearances in the story but his relationships are never fully fleshed out. The reader doesn't really get to know Ty although he certainly seems to have a conscience even as he displays a lapse or two in judgment that almost compromises the investigation.

All in all -- an entertaining, if somewhat convoluted, tale of murder, greed, and corruption. I will most likely read another installment in this series in the future.



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Review of Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Hardcover)

Steven Levitt, an economist at U Chicago, is less interested in numbers and more interested in why people turn out the way they do. He examines the influence of incentive, heredity, the neighborhood you grew up in, etc.

Some of his conclusions are less than earth-shattering. For example, African-American names (DeShawn, Latanya) don't influence African-American test performance. As a second example, Levitt compiled data regarding online dating websites and concluded that bald men and overweight women fared badly. Not rocket science.

However, Levitt livens up the book with some controversial discussions. He believes that the dramatic drop in crime in the 1990s can be traced to Roe v. Wade. He thinks that the children who would have committed crimes (due to being brought up by impoverished, teenage, single mothers) are simply not being born as often.

He also writes about the man who more or less singlehandedly contributed to the KKK's demise by infiltrating their group and leaking their secret passwords and rituals to the people behind the Superman comic book (Superman needed a new enemy).

Interestingly, he also discusses how overbearing parents don't contribute to a child's success. For example, having a lot of books in the house has a positive influence on children's test scores, but reading to a child a lot has no effect. Highly educated parents are also a plus, while limiting children's television time is irrelevant. Similarly, political candidates who have a lot of money to finance their campaigns are still out of luck if no one likes them.

In the chapter entitled "Why Drug Dealers Live With Their Mothers," Levitt explores the economics of drug dealing. An Indian, Harvard-affiliated scholar decided to get up close and personal with crack gangs and got some notebooks documenting their finances. Levitt concludes that drug dealers' empires are a lot like McDonald's or the publishing industry in Manhattan - only the people on the very top of the pyramid do well financially, while the burger flippers, editorial assistants, and low-level drug runners don't (indeed, some of them work for free, or in return for protection!)

Overall, this is a lively read, with some obvious conclusions and some not so obvious.



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Review of All the Dead Voices (Hardcover)

This well told tale casting light on the dark side of Dublin both startles and intrigues.All the Dead Voices rings with tough authenticity; it is Irish crime fiction at its best.After some 20 yearsin the theater as both director and playwright Hughes turned to fiction and created Dublin based thrillers, which brought him not only a host of readers but a Shamus Award as well.

Private investigator Ed Loy is one of his most absorbing creations.Loy is, as he sees himself in All The Dead Voices, a man with "dead eyes telling me that my race was run, that there was nothing new under the sun except the next job of work, the next faithless woman, the next empty glass."

Well, his next job of work is rife with complexities and challenges.He's approached by a woman, Anne Fogarty, to find her father's real killer - a murder that was committed 15 years ago.She believes the police found the wrong man guilty.Steve Owen who was having an affair with Anne's mother was sent to prison and then released following an appeal.Anne has her own trio of suspects.

At the same time Loy is investigating the death of a soccer star, Paul Delaney, who may or may not have been selling heroin.As it turns out Delaney may also have been connected to one of the men Anne suspects of killing her father.It's quite one thing to solve a recent killing but another when one must dig into the past for answers.

Once again Declan Hughes has penned a compelling, plot and character driven narrative that's hard to put down.

- Gail Cooke



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