Enterprise Books

I like this book quite a bit because although it's not a huge doorstop of a tome in terms of length, it's quite complete and thorough. Some data quality books cover management aspects, some the technical aspects, and some take other angles. This book takes a look at all of the different angles on data quality and sums them up into a very nice package.

One of the things I liked about it is the section on social aspects of data quality, since so many technical people I work with have a great idea but aren't able to implement it for lack of understanding of the social aspects of working on data quality projects. Another is a part where Redman goes through the process of how data quality is tracked over time, to see if things are improving, and the way that he draws a distinction between records that are "perfect", and records that are "usable", which points out some differences that are important. There is even a very relevant section on data quality problems in the US elections of 2000.

The nice thing about this field guide is that it should have everything an organization needs to do some serious data quality work (including even middle management roles and responsibilities). I think it's a very solid book that would be a great addition to data manager's and other tech manager's libraries.

Have actually improved performance results by implementing many of the techniques found in the Field Guide (tips have helped me in a number of places and ways). An easy read. Practical, applicable and actionable.

Comments from using the electronic version of the book at books24x7.com.

I read the entire book for use on a capstone project I'm working on. This book hammered home many of the exact concepts I believed were present, but couldn't prove. I work in IT for a multi-billion / year company. Many of the issues Tom describes are the exact issues we've either gone through or are currently struggling with.

Key concepts for me:
1) IT cannot be responsible for data quality, but they are definately involved.
2) Data quality is a multi-facted management issue.
3) Quality has to be defined by the each organization. (i.e. what's good enough for company A may be substandard for company B.)

I also noticed the website address listed in the book is obsolete and has been replaced with this:
http://books.elsevier.com/companions/1555582516/?country=United+States

This is an excellent everyday guide to data quality. Easy to read and filled with tips and techniques for starting and improving a data quality program. The field guide format makes it a great reference book.

Good practical advice for improving data quality. Covers the most common data quality problems. Well written. Some other sources to look at online:


http://www.dmreview.com
http://www.datalever.com

This book, especially the last 3 chapters, may just possibly be one of the most important non-fiction works every written. When claptrap like Marx's "Das Kapital" and Keyne's "The General Theory" eventually find their way into the dustbin of history, Benson's brilliant, understated work will give freedom-loving individuals much to dwell upon concerning the uselessness of the forced monopoly of force we euphemistically call "govern"ment. Goes way beyond even Murray Rothbard's outstanding "Power and Market."

Every one with an interest in toppling this socialist status quo, from laissez-faire economists and philosophers to activists in the liberatian political and militia movement should study this outstanding work. Mr. Benson lays down the framework for a true capitalist system as Adam Smith, Ayn Rand and Milon Friedman envisioned. I support radical reform but when it happens, what do we replace it with? This book is a good start.

Despite the impression one might draw from the other reviews here, this is not an overtly political tract. But some background on the author would be in order.

Benson is an economics professor at Florida State. Generally, his research interests involve law enforcement, the drug war, private security alternatives, arbitration, and the history of arbitration and privately-produced commercial law (the law merchant). I have never seen a writing by him in which he explains all of his personal views and opinions, but he's obviously a pretty serious libertarian and he's had some involvement with the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. Amazon discourages linking websites in reviews, but those interested could easily find his academic webpage by doing a google search for "Dr. Bruce L. Benson."

Benson is probably every bit the political extremist that I am, but this book doesn't really argue politics (mostly). It has a very fascinating history of the evolution of law in England, which forms the basis of modern American law, also. The presentation is mostly dry and academic, but the subject matter is completely fascinating, and Benson does a better job than any other writer in tying it all together to show the reader a picture of the historical origins of law, and the relationship between law and the state.

We have all been taught that the administration of law and justice is one of the purposes of government. Benson shows that this bit of conventional wisdom just doesn't fit the history. Courts and laws originated from communities and their customs, not from any governmental body. Benson shows that, historically, legal institutions precede the state, but monarchs eventually usurped most of the functions of privately-created law in order to raise revenue and concentrate power in the crown. Eventually, law becomes a government monopoly, and all throughout the process, the government has a strong tendency to corrupt the law into something other than a tool of justice.

There are a couple of different forms of private legal institutions that are important in this book. The earliest Benson explains are the customary English legal practices and the community institutions that made them work. These early legal institutions originated concepts and practices that are still echoed in today's modern courts, about 1000 years later. But this early approach to justice didn't really survive the constant encroachment by kings. Another source of private law has been the law merchant (lex mercatoria), a set of medieval laws that developed among purely private, profit-oriented traders. Like community-based law, the law merchant was a phenomenon that lacked a central authority or lawmaking body, and developed to protect people, in contrast to the king's courts which were created to concentrate power. The law merchant system developed as a private alternative to state law, and was successful because in comparison to state courts, it was fairer, faster, and better able to cope with the transnational nature of some of the disputes. Ultimately English common law courts ended up having to adopt most of the key features of the law merchant, because they risked being superseded and deprived of revenue and influence. An echo of the medieval law merchant lives on in the modern arbitration industry, which is actually extremely popular in America today, especially in the commercial world.

Not all of Benson's history focuses on England - the most entertaining part of the book concerns incidents in America in which citizens had to overthrow crooked lawmen and take justice into their own hands. (Most of these stories come from the old West.) This includes a very fascinating episode in San Francisco in which the entire law enforcement body was supplanted by vigilante justice. The result was a dramatic sustained drop in the murder rate, and an end to the corruption and abuse of the authorities. The reader will be surprised to find that, contrary to Hollywood, the "vigilante" groups were often moderate, judicious, and almost eager to relinquish power, in order to restore peace.

The book is not just about history. Benson makes a careful and convincing defense of the benefits of privately produced law and justice. He engages the arguments of some of the most important legal thinkers of our time, and picks their arguments apart. The decentralized, private justice of the past is not just a curiosity of history; it's a human achievement that lives on in some form today, and is considerably more fair and effective than the government monopoly we're subjected to.

If think today's legal system system is slow, inaccessible, expensive to work with, and unfair, read this book to find out why, and what the alternatives are.

I don't give 5 stars lightly. Yes, this book really is that good, and that important.

Do we need the State to produce law?

There are libertarians aplenty who believe we do. Some of them have actually thought carefully about the issue, and some of them are merely Objectivists who have accepted Ayn Rand's oracular dismissal of anarchocapitalism in her (thoroughly statist) essay on "The Nature of Government." Both of these groups will benefit from a reading of Bruce Benson's fine volume.

Benson picks up the argument where Murray Rothbard and David Friedman left it, and carries it forward by several miles. Here he provides a short history of market-based law, from its rise to its near-demise at the hands of "authoritarian" law; a public-choice analysis of the political market for law; an overview of recent trends toward reliance on private sources of law and justice; rebuttals of common arguments for the necessity of State law; and a short summary of what a private, non-State system of law might look like.

There are treats throughout. Some of my favorites are Benson's replies to Landes and Posner -- e.g. their argument that "private" law is parasitic on legal standards developed in the public sector, and their claim that such "private" law would be less efficient than public law. (In general I am of the opinion that Richard Posner is one of the most overrated legal thinkers of the past century or two.)

Benson is also exceptional among libertarian writers in his familiarity with the relevant legal literature. One of the other exceptions -- the altogether brilliant Randy Barnett (whose book _The Structure of Liberty_ belongs on your shelf next to this one) -- is credited by Benson for drawing the latter's attention to such literature and making some specific recommendations. The result, however achieved, is something all but unheard of in the libertarian world: a volume on liberty that actually acknowledges the existence of such legal theorists as Lon Fuller.

That's a nice feature in a book on law. I would like to see Benson's book (and its excellent sequel, _To Serve and Protect_) read by both libertarians and lawyers, and I'm happy he's written a book that the latter group won't toss away in disgust at the childish ignorance of the author. We have enough of those books already (and I think Rand wrote or influenced most of them).

In general, the more people that read this book, the better. If nothing else, this book will shake an assumption that badly needs shaking: that there must be a State in order for there to be law.

(By the way, you'll find Benson referring occasionally to George H. Smith's fine essay, "Justice Entrepreneurship in a Free Market." Originally published in the _Journal of Libertarian Studies_, that essay is reprinted in _Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies_.)

At one stage in my education as a libertarian I had come to believe that most human needs (including for instance streets, education, and even fire protection) could be satisfied best by private companies. But I still thought that probably law must be provided by the government. It was hard for me to imagine how justice could be provided without the state.

Then I read this book. With compelling historical evidence it shatters the myth that government must have a monopoly in administering law.

Well written. Clear. Thorough.

I'm a big fan of the Dummies series and never thought I'd find anything to compete with it except for the Idiot's Guides. I was wrong. I found this book covers the topic much better than the Dummies and Idiot's guides. The author writes in my kind of language - plain and simple so the average guy can understand. And the indepth coverage of the industry is a bonus. I really like the author's down to earth style of writing. This is a buy.

I am currently working in Silicon Valley and found this book to be extremely helpful for me to understand networking and communicate with my clients here in the Valley. Mr. Keogh clearly explains the fundamentals of networking so that the reader can follow the how networking works and have confidence in discussing networking with others. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Keogh's books.

I'm a college instructor. During the summer I was asked to teach a basic network course for the fall term designed for students who are beginning their networking studies. Books I used for my other networking courses were MCSE books that were too detailed for my students. Then I came across this book, which is perfect for my class. The material is detailed enough so students come away with a good understanding of the concepts, yet not too detailed to overwhlem them. This is a perfect blend - and the companion website to this book offers slides and test questions free. I highly recommend this book to any instructor - or any student.

Keogh keeps an excellent balance between material for "complete idiots" and material for engineers. He uses simple metaphors (lots of highway traffic comparisons) to explain the "why" and "how" of networks, and anticipates reader's questions fairly well. The book is up to date, and covers just about any subject you need to be familiar with if you want to talk to engineers using their vernacular. The industry overview, covering major players, was particularly useful. There is one flaw, whose importance depends on your own reading habits: the writing style is atrocious, and it looks as if the book never went through an editor at Prentice Hall. While the conversational style makes the material easier to absorb, there is a good number of spots that would be marked in red all over if this was an English 101 paper. Still worth it, though.

I always found computer networking mystifying in the way it can transport my words around the world in a fraction of a second. I've read a lot of books on the subject, but this is the only one I found that clearly explains this process. The book is full of networking jargon, but that shouldn't scare you because each is explained in a way anyone can understand. He uses the highway metaphor, so if you understand how cars travel the highway then you'll easily relate to how words and pictures travel on a network. I recommend this book hands down.

The late Gordon Cain was a legend in the chemical industry, first as a successful engineer and manager for various multi-national petrochemical and fertilizer firms and then as a very successful LBO architect and entrepreneur. Mr. Cain bought unwanted plants and divisions from chemical giants such as Dupont, Conoco, and Monsanto, and made them stand alone success stories. His strategy was simple, buy at the bottom of the cycle, find unwanted but well run plants, eliminate corporate overhead, and make sure that everyone shares in the gains.

Mr. Cain wrote this book to let everyone, especially his grandchildren, know that one does not need to be a ruthless raider like the boys at Apollo or Drexel to succeed in business and there is nothing inherently wrong with debt or leverage. Some deals even require subordinated debt, unfortunately called junk bonds. Mr. Cain's deals were all successful, mostly because of his keen sense of the cycles of the industry, and all participants went home happy. His biggest problem was managing the success, dealing with issues like whether an LBO should be re-leveraged or go to IPO in order to get liquidity for the participants.

An interesting lesson for Mr. Cain was that it is easier to do a large deal than a small one, since in the large deal, one can negotiate directly with a motivated and empowered seller. A key point for us is that Mr. Cain never became an owner until he was in his 70's. An early attempt at entrepreneurship in his 30's failed miserably, mostly because he went into it for the wrong reasons. Cain in his 80's continued to look for new business opportunities, stretching into airlines and biotechnology.

As a chemical industry veteran myself, I know some of these plants and people, but wanted to hear Cain's story from the man himself. While some of these companies have not done well in the last 10 years, there are plenty of people who paid their mortgages and sent kids to college with Cain's help. Mr. Cain is no longer with us, but has made an impact on our business and has done much good with his charitable work, especially at his alma mater LSU.

Gordon Cain tells his impressive story in a modest and matter of fact way. This book paints the broad strokes of his life. He shows some detailed financial data for his transactions but doesn't delve too much into the story. I think the book is most useful when combined with some additional research, you need to spend the time looking up information about the individuals and companies he references.

I had the pleasure and blessing financially to work for two all two short years for Gordon Cain, back in the 1980s. The man was both a gentleman and a genius. The title of the book sums up how he lived his fascinating life. As Gordon gracefully recounts his story, he leaves the business reader with wisdom of great value. His precepts are simple: Manage rationally with a human hand, make everyone an owner and a potential winner, engineer your product and processes to meet customer needs that are more important than your own, leave office politics behind. This stuff really worked, as deal after deal recounted in this book showed. It is a great mystery to this reviewer why american business rarely follows these precepts; since they always work. Post note to the book: Gordon shared the financial benefits with thousands of people and gave all his money away to build rural hospitals before he died.

Further the book is well written in Gordon's plain style of speaking. It shows how one man took the cards he was dealt with in life and played them not only well, but with dignity over the course of a long and interesting life.

Gordon Cain led a fascinating and exemplary life. This book is well written and comprehensive. Well worth reading.

We need more business leaders and managers who embrace and practice Mr. Cain's brand of business and general living. very pragmatic, down-to-earth, no-frills, seeing things for what they are -- Very ZEN.

Mr. Cain is a hero, not so much for the wealth he created for himself and many others, but the way he lived his life when he did not have alot of money.

Involved in a number of his transactions from the banker's role, Mr. Cain has set an example for all of us who call ourselves capitalists. Unfortunately, the corporate scandals of the day get the headlines whereas the true successes that create value for everyone, including the employees get little or no attention.

Integrity, Accountibility and Maximizing Long-Term share-holder Value -- not going for the quick buck at the expense of others is what is all about -- it allows us to discover, explore, educate, entertain and enjoy the life before us -- society progresses as a result. Everyone Wins.

High recommend this read to everyone -- whether or not you have an interest in business becasue it is the true story of one man's journey who just happened to become a successful businessman through a series of "happy accidents.

An excellent book for anyone interested in using solar power. It's especially useful for anyone planning to build a new house. But anyone wanting the basics of solar (passive) heating and solar electricity will benefit.

Paul gives an honest step-by-step account of his own building experiences, including the mistakes and what it took to correct them. I found the entire story very worthwhile and useful.

If you want a solid overview of how to prep any house for alternative electrical power, you should read this book. If you're looking for practical info in the best use of passive solar heating, you can't beat this book.

Jim, Montana
[...]

This fun book taught me how to think in terms of independent living. One of the best on my shelf.

As a Biologist, I have been looking for a book that would give a clear and concise introduction to solar energy and photovoltaics. Paul Fowler's book does just that. It is written for the person who has an interest in solar power, but who does not have the technical background to immediately delve into more detailed texts. It's story format is engaging, yet also very informative. I highly recommend this book.

Found this book very interesting and easy to read. The book shows the 'human' side of this technology and the enduring spirit of a man who wanted to live independant of the utilities. A man who dared to live the simplier life and enjoyed the hard work to get there.

If only there were 240+ million more like him.

In my quest to utilize this techology, I was delighted to encounter a volume that felt like it emerged from personal experience and not simply a rote tech survey. While I am not a particularly technical person, I found the information and presentation clear and direct. There is an undercurrent of personal charm I found engaging and added to my a sence of confidence in being able to do this. My wife and I are delighted with the results of what we learned and applied based on Mr Fowlers' book. Our second home in the woods was enhanced for it.

I bought Excel Hacks a couple of years ago. Loved it so much that when I saw that this one also included Excel 2007 I had to have it. This book shows you how to do things that you didn't know Excel could do. I have looked through these books about 6 times and every time I find something else I can use. I have even changed the code in some of them to meet my need. This book will also work for beginners as long as you type the code in exactly the way it is in the book.

I have the version which did not have the new added tips, so do not ask me how the newer edition is.
But the "old" edition is very, very good. It gave me many, many tips for solving problems I had with excel. And it helped me become the excel expert at my previous employer.

Do not use this book as a study guide, because it is not that. It contains hacks for several different types of problems.

Excel Hacks is extremely useful for anyone who works with MS Excel frequently. From the moment you open the book, or just page through it, you can pick up on so many useful tips that may not be apparent even in formal classes or after years of use. Having had both formal classes and spent years creating spreadsheets used in production environments, Excel Hacks has helped me improve my spreadsheet knowledge.

I've been preparing financial and statistical models in Excel for about 13 years, and I found the Hawley's book to be well written and organized. Unlike 2004's Excel Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools, this book covers how you can use Excel 2007 more effectively.

Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of Excel 2007 and its new layout and shortcuts, but this book is more useful than anything I've come across.

Users of the Excel program who want to move from beginning to intermediate levels without hours of study will find this handbook of over a hundred 'hacks' invaluable, offering tools and resources perfect for handling information, worksheets, and data analysis tasks. Hack formulas and functions show how to use macros and other shortcuts to maximum effectiveness, making this a fine reference for not only college-level libraries strong in Excel resources, but for general interest lending collections where patrons use computers for business purposes.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This truly is one of the very few books that covers almost anything a start-up business person would need. My one complaint is that there is not really a "one-of-a-kind" chapter focusing on working with individual clients, but if you're looking for an outline on EVERYTHING to cover before diving headfirst into the fashion business, look no further. Two thumbs up.

Francis Harder covers so much information, its hard to pick out what was the most informative. A definite must read if you have started your business already or are getting ready to.

If you are looking for tons of information involved in the world of fashion business, this is a great book. It's kind of long, but for the most part it gets to the point of things and it offers great suggestions and a way of doing things. I found the charts and diagrams and spreadsheets in the book to be most helpful. The help you get a leg up on things so that you don't have to create your own. It's worth the read if your thinking about starting your own fashion business!

I got this book today and I am delighted. the book tells you exactly how to set up your own line and how to sell it in details. this book is just exactly what I need. I also have some other books for starting fashion business but I'd say this book is the best and it is more focussed on the business side of fashion.

This book is a life saver! If you have ANY questions about starting your own line...BUY THIS BOOK! It covers everything from A to Z but with precise detail. The appendixes show great examples of different forms and documents that you would need in order to be successful. Most of the other fashion books are too basic and lacking in detail, but this book definitely delivers. It beats all my other fashion books hands down. (This is my first Amazon review- I normally read 'em but never write 'em but this book is worth it!)

12. Solar/Hydrogen/fission: These three elements combine in patterns in the trend toward energy conservationism. All three elements cost more than conventional energy production methods. I think the author missed the energy paradigm and should have listed coal, wind power and geothermal as emerge sources of energy.
13. Time Taxes: The process requires Senior citizens to go to schools in their area and do various jobs, in exchange they are paid by have their property tax reduces allowing them to keep their homes. High property taxes against the Seniors demonstrates a stronger trend towards socialized redistribution of wealth and threatens their constitutional rights of life, liberty, and property.
14. The buffalo commons: Frank and Deborah Popper predicts "large chunks of the rural west will be abandoned and eventually drift into public or quasi-public holdings." The land will be accumulated and returned to its natural state; the Buffalo commons is a pattern shift in the agricultural community as hundreds of thousands of Buffalo thundering across the plains.
15. Education K through competence: Many of the graduating high school students can to read, write, or compute. The value of their high school diploma, in real world competition is zero. The K-competence movement attempts to reverse the trend by measuring student performance levels and retaining students until they achieve the competence level desired. I think the trend seems less jobs for graduating high school seniors and more outsourcing too third world countries with higher K scores.
16. Magical, mystical polymers: Plastics that carry electricity better than electricity (IBM polymer-nanotechnology-lithograph technology for circuit design); arranged molecules in parallel orientation (Paul Smith - plastics ten times the strength of steel); build bridges, buildings, and cars out of plastic. I think the most exciting idea the author suggests is using polymers as a material coating for chips to make electrical connections between the transistors.
17. Nature's wisdom: animals may know what plants to eat to cure certain diseases. Animal intelligence is more than language skills.
18. Negawatts: Amory Lovins began in paradigm shift back into the 1970s. Lovins started with the assumption that in the United States electrical energy consumption could be reduced by 70 percent with no less quality of life. Lovins points out fact about energy savings through energy efficiency by improvements in lighting systems and efficient motors.
19. New building materials: The problem: Too many people are living homeless or in structures that don't get adequate shelter. Robert Gross, former NASA engineer has designed a machine that can make adobe block from a mixture of mud and machine to squeeze out the water using a high-pressure hydraulic ram. Each block is twelve by ten by four inches and weights about thirty pounds. The cost is about 1/20th of any other building material on the market today. Wolf Hilbertz discovered how to grow structures beneath the sea using steel mesh and low levels of electricity. The resulting material is like limestone and can withstand more than four thousand pounds of pressure per inch and does not weaken when dried.
20. Gaia (The earth is alive and her name is Gaia) Robert Loveland found himself asking questions about the earth like "What are the key measures one could take that would prove, irrefutably, that there was life on earth". Loveland discovered many indicators of life, such as: the chemical imbalance of the atmosphere and an extremely stable level of temperature; the richness of life at every level; a mechanism that seemed to create an ideal condition for life (oxygen production systems, CO2 absorbing systems, and salt capturing systems). Loveland concluded that all living organism where collective integrated into a larger organism called the biosphere.

This new paradim is forcing biologists and geologist to fundamentally readdress perceptions of the planet.
21. Loans to the third world power: The poor of the world are credit ready. The loans are small and periodic. Some loans involve more than one person and rely on peer pressure to achieve the 99 percent repayment on the loan.
22. Fractals and Chaos Mathematics: A new form of mathematics. The author incorrectly identified the new math as fractals and chaos. Stephan Wolfram, the inventor of Mathematica and it based on discovers from a programming technique called cellular automation. Wolfram published a book called "A new Kind of Science", some two decades in the making, and claims to be redefining the foundations of virtually every branch of science. Wolfram noticed pattern in the cellular automation and started to wonder if nature follow rules that created similar recognizable patterns. Wolfram advocates that instead of looking for a complex equation that explains everything, they instead should be looking for a cellular automation that corresponds to what they are observing.
23. Personalized production: A move to deliver customer satisfaction by personal production.
24. Masters and patrons: Bill Weimer abstracted from European history seeing two groups to learn from masters and patrons. The masters of the modern age are the works, engineers, scientist, and salespeople. Good patrons optimize the output of the masters. The masters and patrons are form a coequal partnership. Patrons get the Masters the resources from which the masterpieces are created.

Actually, this book is a sort of brief update of the author's earlier book, entitled Discovering the Business of Paradigms, & published in the mid-80s.

Drawing essentially from the pioneering work of Thomas Kuhn, who wrote the classic, The Theory of Scientific Revolutions, in the 70's, this author has very artfully expounded the concept of paradigm shift & pliancy in the world of business, in contrast to the world of science. From a strategic exploration viewpoint, this is an excellent guide book.

Understanding and mastering your paradigms is one important thing for making progress in life and in business, but I personaly feel that the real essence of this book is succinctly captured by the author in the five strategic exploration tools outlined in the book. They are the real gems of the book. [Bear in mind that the author is a process futurist, unlike most other futurists who write books & who are primarily content futurists. The five specific tools mentioned in the book are the exact process tools to aid & enhance your strategic exploration. Do not get carried away by the content part of the book pertaining to some perceived trends illustrated by the author.]

In addition, the author defines the concept of paradigm very well & also elaborates at length on its key characteristics & effects, with illuminating examples, as well as enlightening comparison/contrast of paradigm pliancy vs. paradigm paralysis.

He highlights the importance of paradigm shift, pliancy & anticipation. I particularly enjoyed exploring the two specific thought-provoking questions posed by the author:

(1) What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but, if it could be done, would fundamentally change my business?

(2) Who, outside my field, might be interested in my unsolved problems?

By thinking about & answering these two challenging questions on your own, & against your own background, you will begin to understand & appreciate the essence of the author's proposition. This will be the beginning of your own paradigm shift, as it has happened in my own life design for the second half.

I would recommend readers to buy and read this book jointly with Wayne Burkan's Wide-Angle Vision. Wayne Burkan has been a collaborator of Joel Barker, and he introduces some more new ideas to the paradigm phenomenon.

Better still, view also and learn more from the videos (in which both authors are the lead facilitators), The Paradigm Prism and The Implications Wheel, which bring the whole paradigm concept to life and which showcase some more real-world business examples.

If you want to explore your future, read this book! As the author puts it, before you can create your future, you must first explore it. You must create and shape your future, otherwise some one else will!

This is the author's first pioneering book, which he wrote after leaving the teaching world to embark on a career as a strategy consultant/process futurist in the early 80's. This was also one of the very first few books that propelled me into the world of strategic exploration.

Drawing essentially from the scholarly work of Thomas Kuhn, who wrote the classic, The Theory of Scientific Revolutions, in the 70's, this author has very artfully expounded the concept of paradigm shift & pliancy in the world of business, in contrast to the world of science. From a strategic exploration viewpoint, this is an excellent guide book.

Understanding and mastering your paradigms is one important thing for making progress in life and in business, but I personaly feel that the real essence of this book is succinctly captured by the author in the five strategic exploration tools outlined in the book. They are the real gems of the book. [Bear in mind that the author is a process futurist, unlike most other futurists who write books & who are primarily content futurists. The five specific tools mentioned in the book are the exact process tools to aid & enhance your strategic exploration. Do not get carried away by the content part of the book pertaining to some perceived trends illustrated by the author.]

In addition, the author defines the concept of paradigm very well & also elaborates at length on its key characteristics & effects, with illuminating examples, as well as enlightening comparison/contrast of paradigm pliancy vs> paradigm paralysis.

He highlights the importance of paradigm shift, pliancy & anticipation. I particularly enjoyed exploring the two specific thought-provoking questions posed by the author:

(1) What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but, if it could be done, would fundamentally change my business?

(2) Who, outside my field, might be interested in my unsolved problems?

By thinking about & answering these two challenging questions on your own, & against your own background, you will begin to understand the essence of the author's proposition. This will be the beginning of your own paradigm shift, as it has happened in my own life design for the second half.

I would recommend readers to buy and read this book jointly with Wayne Burkan's Wide-Angle Vision. Wayne Burkan has been a collaborator of Joel Barker, and he introduces some more new ideas to the paradigm phenomenon.

Better still, view also and learn more from the videos (in which both authors are the lead facilitators), The Paradigm Prism and The Implications Wheel, which bring the whole paradigm concept to life and which showcase some more real-world business examples.

If you want to explore your future, read this book! As the author puts it, before you can create your future, you must first explore it. You must create and shape your future, otherwise some one else will!

[The updated versions of this book include the hardcover 'Future Edge: Discovering the New Paradigms of Success,' & the paperback 'Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future.' Also, video versions are available from www.atsmedia.com.]

Have you ever had an unconscious thought that could possibly change the world? Well, this is one book you won't want to miss. Barker's knowledge about paradigms will definitely assist with transforming your, "big ideas" from thoughts to reality. "Future Edge" can take any organization through a successful reformation. For instance, being an administrator in a rather large urban school district with magnet schools being the "heart" of racial integration, paradigm shifts are an on-going necessity. Barker's book has truly answered the five "W's" of paradigms.
WHO: The "Paradigm Shifters" have the big idea, however, the "Paradigm Pioneers" are the individuals who have the courage, faith and "intuitive judgment" to ensure a successful paradigm shift. Segregated schools are simply not right, and as pioneers, integrating our school is a vision that is "not an act of the head, but an act of the heart."
WHAT: What "set of rules or boundaries," or simply stated by Barker, paradigms, are in need of a facelift in your organization? Federal mandates stated that busing can no longer be the means of integration, however, our schools must reflect our world today; diverse. This mandated created a sense of urgency (Kotter) in the change process.
WHERE: "To not quest for excellence might be considered sacrilege." Raising the expectation of what success is in your organization will inevitably create a need for a paradigm shift. Current enrollment is 92% African-American, 2% Hispanic, and 6% Caucasian. Yes, this is 130% better then years previous, yet it should not be considered as integrated. The where is most likely within your organization as well!
WHEN: "Paradigm Paralysis" is what an organization will face if there is no "paradigm pioneer" to lead the conscious thought to real life. "A leader is a person you would follow to a place you wouldn't go yourself."
WHY: In conclusion, if you read this review and are highly curious as to the paradigm shift that must take place to integrate the school that I work in, then Barker has definitely fulfilled his mission of taking an individual through the process of "Discovering the New Paradigms of Success."

To its credit, ten years after this book was first published, it remains a commendable work of business futurism. One significant exception to this assessment comes from the poor record of Barker's identification of existing and coming trends for the 1990s. By now, we can see the weakness of "gambling instead of taxes", "national health care" (surely the result of Barker himself falling into a paradigm trap), "solar, hydrogen, fission" (at least ten years too early), "time taxes", "virtual reality", and others that didn't make it very far. Barker, however, is not a prophet but a guide to a more expansive way of thinking about the present and the future. Barker brings philosopher Thomas Kuhn's work on paradigms into focus with clear applications to business and any form of strategic thinking. Definitely merits a quick read by anyone interested in thinking more effectively about the future.

Future Prospect provides immense insights on the shape of the future of e-business that will be of great value to technologists and business leaders seeking to understand and take advantage of the mega strategies taking place in the market space. Books like Future Prospect come along too infrequently, but when they do, the power of human creation is unleashed, transforming our business landscape. Future Prospect is the most talked about book in the current era.

Future Prospect raises the bar for any professional involved in business performance and development. This book clearly explains the core concepts and strategies underlying in any business and advances the business activities and processes to world-class level. And it provides how-here-and-now you can make enormous impact on your business results.

The first book to explore the impact of ebusiness in any business for any one aspiring to reach world-class status by guiding the readers to the changes that are taking place now, and an intriguing look into the future of business.

Future Prospect has served us as an irreplaceable map to chart our ebusiness visions and strategies and to drive our company to be number one.

Penetrating through the swirling mist of high-tech business scenarios with vision and simplicity, Future Prospect offers the vital tools to configure your business for tomorrow's prospects. It offers executives and analysts with a roadmap and agenda they need to advance their carriers.

I received a copy of this book as a gift last year and it came with high recommendations from the giver. I found it to be written in a style that's easy to read and engages the reader. Each chapter contains several valuable lessons backed up with real-world examples from successful entrepreneurs. I found the success stories to be particularly intriguing and motivating since the author uses each entrepreneur's own words to keep the experience very personal. As an entrepreneur who has built a $60 million company from nothing in 4 years, I can say that that I have found the lessons taught in this book to be accurate and valuable. I highly recommend it as a good source of inspiration and information.

This book enjoys a permanent place on my nightstand. I recently started my own small contracting firm, and have allowed the book to: 1. Entertain me with real world success stories. 2. Educate me with real world advice and methodology from those that have "been there-done that" 3. Comfort me in the knowledge that I can. 4. Excite my imagination. 5. Empower me with that exitement. Read it folks......it will help.

Neverf before seen a better researched book on this topic that offers such diversity of thinking. Excellent for anyone interested in making a business of any kind work.

First the disclaimer: I haven't finished reading this book yet. Of course, I only got it yesterday. I am in the middle of an unplanned career adjustment (can you spell "downsized"?), having thoughts of striking out on my own, and not knowing quite how to do it. This book is a Godsend!! It is helping me focus on the important things (all laid out neatly for my inventory) and evaluate my current situation vs. where I want to be. It is also providing the material for me to draw my own roadmap to get there. It will not replace hard work, desire, and the ability to recognize the sound of an opportunity knocking, but it sure helps you figure out what to do with the raw materials of success that are all around us! Don't get this book if your idea of a lucky break looks like six numbers in a lottery. If you think that hard work and good fortune are related, this book can bring it together for you. Will it make me a millionaire? Don't know yet, but I know how to find out! Gotta go now, I want to finish that book.

I read this book for the first time in December, and couldn't put it down. I re-read it in January and it still radiated the same amount of zeal! Michael Glauser is brilliant! His ideas are sound and his thoughts concise. This book ranks right up there with "The Greatest Salesman in the World" and "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People!" No one--self-employed or not--should be without this marvelous book.