economics-schools

This book is fine for people looking to get into a US school. If you are also considering a European or Asian school, spend your money on the Economist (EIU) review.

Feels good with the information that was discerned with an initial review ...

The information is up to date and useful for potential applicants

This book is an excellent source for new managers who need to understand the dynamic situation that is called "project management". Most important are the collection of techniques to manage yourself, stress and work with others, which this book emphasizes--"what they don't teach you in project management school". I found the book to lend an entirely new perspective to the behavioral aspects of project management. After taking a course taught by the author, I am even more impressed he was able to condense a lot of useful material in a usable text. A text you will have on your shelf for a while!

This book is well written, and a good book for those people who are beginners in project management. Steve writes at an easy to read level and makes it interesting. Many books are written at to high a level for people to really grasp concepts. This book is easy and fun to read with many good concepts that work not only at the office, but also in other areas of your life, such as home, church, etc. Good solid information on how to manage time, de-stress yourself, and other valuable information. This is an excellent book.

Management can be a challenging field in and of itself; one does not have to be managing a project to appreciate the useful information found in this book. As a manager in a corporate enviornment, I found this book to have a wealth of information that should serve anyone in a suporvisory position well in their day to day activities. Based on the techniques found in this book, I'm confident that I could take on any assigments/projects that may come my way. Very well done.

The 1999 edition that I read is a collection of 34 Harvard Business Review articles, class discussion papers and case studies written by the four authors (all business school professors) and a few others over the 1980s and 90s.

The chapters written by the four professors have a strong academic/pedagogic orientation. Dealing with basic issues in extreme analytic detail, they frequently belabor the obvious and often come across as though they have all the answers (chapters written by Sahlman were especially bad for this). The book does, however, provide some thought-provoking discussion and a reasonable introduction to the issues of assessing viability, planning and managing a new business, and of attracting resources. Some of the chapters not written by the professors provide a good "textbook" reference for subjects such as patent law, raising venture capital, and management technique in checklist style.

I give the book three stars for its rigorous analysis but not five because of its presumptuous tone and the fact that too many of the chapters lean toward the hypothetical. It lacks the genuine, practitioner-based input this subject deserves.

Sahlman provides a very comprehensive volume on the current stage of knowledge of entrepreneurship as a field. In the articles, which are mainly written by a limited number of professors, all important topics related to entrepreneurship are addressed, such as finance, personality, marketing, strategy, culture, and many more. From an academic perspective, it is a 10.

However, I often felt that it was missing more on the practical side. For example, there are a few case studies, but only on certain topics. It was missing more of the "been there, done that" perspective. Definitely there were stories, but in those there was more of a strategic analysis rather than visionary or inspirational.

Overall, this is a very good book to use as reference to certain topics, especially in an academic environment.

As an MBA student at Harvard six years ago, I had the opportunity to learn under Professor Sahlman. His class and his books are worth their weight in gold if you intend to either start companies or invest in them. This book brings together some of the best ideas from his colleagues.

I bought this book for a friend of mine as a congratulations gift on her acceptance to the Harvard Business School class of 2005. Knowing I'm a voracious reader, she asked me to preview it for her. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed.

To be sure, Mr. Callahan has a difficult task - to shape several hundred biographies into a coherent work in 320 pages. It is difficult enough to write one compelling biography! Unfortunately, Mr. Callahan was not able to pull out enough personalities, interesting trivia, or intersecting events to weave an interesting tapestry, instead writing about those experiences virtually everyone has shared -- drinking and reminiscing at old reunions, talking about how we went our own way and returned older and wiser, and in this case, how the collected group rose the corporate ladder. The book lacks the space to give more than a cursory examination to any single business leader, and it does not bother to illuminate us at to what experiences at Harvard tied directly to the success of the class, or exactly what common values they shared (other than some trite yet vigorous finger shaking at the fact that nearly the entire class participated in WWII). However, there are some eye-rolling and oft-repeated lines about how some members of the class suffered the hardship of working their way through their undergraduate years, as if tens of thousands of college students don't do that today (in fact Mr. Callahan alludes that they do not.) As a result, the book reads more like a long resuscitation of facts than as a compelling narrative.

The quotes on the jacket cover promised, "A time when values had meaning, with lessons we can learn", and included the engaging hook "They stormed the beaches of Normandy and the islands of the South Pacific, but the exceptional generation of Americans that won World War II also produced the greatest group of business leaders of the post-war era", but Callahan seems to give up his thesis of common experiences forging common values from the first pages, revealing that several graduates of the esteemed class of '49 have been investigated variously for insider trading by the SEC, by the Justice Department for bribery, or by the FBI for mafia connections. In fact, several of the alums he writes extensively about have extremely questionable business backgrounds. Additionally, it would be hard to differentiate between today's top business school graduates and those of the middle-last century, who went to find job stability and make money, "although millions, not billions as some leaders today." To paraphrase Mr. Dickens, in short, the period was so like the present period, that one of its nosiest authorities insists on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

This isn't to say that there isn't a fascinating story to tell in the graduates of Harvard Business School, or the class of '49. In my opinion, it just hasn't been told here.

At this point I'll share that this is a qualified review -- I stopped reading about halfway into the book, which is rare for me. It is entirely possible that Mr. Callahan successfully ties the book together and presents its lessons in the final pages. I'll never know. I've since moved on to purchase "Pinstipes and Pearls: The Women of the Harvard Law Class of '64..." which thus far is much more personal and compelling.

As I read this book I became aware of just how much times have changed since 1949. Nowadays no Harvard Business School MBA student learns this style of business. Now they teach students how to line their own pockets while dismantling successful American businesses and putting all the employees out on the street. They also teach that this is simply good business.

The example of the Harvard 49ers is inspirational, and their adventures in business make for an exciting story.

As a firm believer in educational reform, the need for standards, and the virtues of choice, I eagerly awaited this book. Unfortunately, it is a disappointment. While Kearns and Harvey cover the basic ground, their work lacks detail, rigor, and true insight. The book should have covered less and covered it better. The strength of the book is its diagnosis of the current situation.

If you're interested in a better education reform book, I would recommend Hirsch's "The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them" or Harvey's "It Takes a City."

I'd like to be more positive, but the book is mediocre at best.

I'm the mother of 2 young children about to enter school age years and I am concerned about what's happening in our public schools today. Like more and more parents, I've begun saving money to pay for the inevitable, private schooling. So many of us today have become resigned about the difference we can make if we became committed to altering the public school system. After reading this book, I have a better understanding of the breakdown that's occuring right in my own neighborhood. The authors so clearly outlined what's happening, what's not, and what we can do about it. I'm hopeful again that there is something that can be done. The book is poignant yet heartfelt. If you or someone you know has children, you should read this book.

Most books about American education are either unreadable or fail to tell the truth. What a pleasure to read one that is clear, well-written, and above all, truthful. The authors pull no punches, insisting from the outset that "American urban education is a national disgrace." From there, the book is cogently argued, challenging the many shibboleths that distort the school reform debate and refusing to be boxed in by the conventional reform wisdom. See, for example the discussion on "hardwiring innovation" in Chapter 11. Best of all, the analysis carries the debate about public education in America to the next level, i.e., what we can actually change now to starting making things better. Overall, "Legacy" is both perceptive and engagingly written. This book, if widely enough read and heeded, can do what most books on education reform only dream about--make a difference.

This book should have been titled "You're Certifiable....Job Opportunities IF YOU LIVE IN CALIFORNIA". I thought it was a fabulous book, but truly, it's not much use if you don't live on the West Coast.

Ok, so this book wasn't a life changer; but it did in providing me with useful information. The book begins by warning you that it can be easily dated, because programs come and go. I think as long as you maintain that reference, a lot of information can be gathered.

I bought this book for the 21 year old daughter of a friend. She had dropped out of college, complaining that nothing there really interested her. I discovered this book while browsing amazon.com, ordered it, and decided it was perfect for her. After she looked through it, she decided to apply for a school that taught animal massage (she's been crazy about animals since she was a child). She completed the program and is now happily working at a local kennel offering massages to companion animals.

The book lists about 700 other alternative career programs, covering 10 other areas ranging from crafts, arts, outdoors interests, healing, etc. The programs are described succinctly and information is provided on how to follow up. In the beginning of the book, the authors provide a nice introduction to the whole concept of alternative careers (how to find what interests someone, etc.)

Really, it would be a worthwile gift for someone who is looking for a way to make a living that is a little "different", but personally gratifying.

First, let me say that I value the expression of anger in this book. The author is clear that:"the wrongs of the world are not chance injustices but part of a system that is profoundly wrong" p.2 and that there is "no inevitable happy ending". p.6

The author understands that the beginning of our rejection of capitalism is not thoughtful or analytical but rather emotional:

"We start from negation, from dissonance. The dissonance can take many shapes. An inarticulate mumble of discontent, tears of frustration, a scream of rage, a confident roar. An unease, a confusion, a longing, a critical vibration.

Our dissonance comes from our experience, but that experience varies. Sometimes it is the direct experience of exploitation in the factory, or of oppression in the home, of stress in the office, of hunger and poverty, or of state violence or discrimination. Sometimes it is the less direct experience through television, newspapers or books that moves us to rage." P.1

This anger is recognised as dangerous:

"Often the No is violent or barbaric (vandalism,hooliganism,terrorism): the depravations of capitalism are so intense that they provoke a scream-against, a No which is almost completely devoid of emancipatory potential, a No so bare that it merely reproduces that which is screamed against.....And yet that is the starting-point: not the considered rejection of capitalism as a mode of organisation, not the militant construction of alternatives to capitalism. They come later (or may do). The starting point is the scream, the dangerous, often barbaric No."

The author also recognises that for various reasons this dissonance and rejection might be suppressed because of peer pressure to "fit in" or the promise of material benefit or fear of sanction. When this happens we become our own internal censors:

"In order to protect our jobs, our visas, our profits, our chances of receiving good grades, our sanity, we pretend not to see, we sanitise our own perception, filtering out the pain" p.9

So far, so good. Then the author moves onto more debatable ground. The main assertion is that: "The world cannot be changed through the state. Both theoretical reflection and a whole century of bad experience tell us so." P.19

The reasoning behind the assertion is that the State is so tied-in to the economic relations of capitalism that it cannot be used as an instrument for change: "the constitutional view isolates the state from its social environment: it attributes to the state an authority of action that it just does not have. In reality, what the state does is limited and shaped by the fact that it exists as just one node in a web of social relations. Crucially, this web of social relations centres on the way in which work is organised. The fact that work is organised on a capitalist basis means that what the stated does and can do is limited and shaped by the need to maintain the system of capitalist organisation of which it is a part."p.13

Of course this is an implicit criticism of Marxist (and particularly Leninist theory). Later the author makes this criticism explicit:

"The difficulty which revolutionary governments have experienced in wielding the state in the interests of the working class suggests that the embedding of the state in the web of capitalist social relations is far stronger and more subtle than the notion of instrumentality would suggest. The mistake of Marxist revolutionary movements has been, not to deny the capitalist nature of the state, but to misunderstand the degree of integration of the state into the network of capitalist social relations." P.14

Let's look at what Marxists actually say about the State when before we consider whether they "misunderstand the level of integration between the state and Capitalism". In "The Communist Manifesto" Marx and Engels say: "...the bourgeoisie, has at last, since the establishment of Modern Industry and of the world market, conquered for itself, in the modern representative State, exclusive political sway. The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie." Engels put his views on the State forward in his work: "The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State". The State in a capitalist society is less obviously coercive, Engels argues, than in a feudal one. Still however power resides with the ruling capitalist class. No government can ignore the economic power of that class.

From this it seems pretty clear that the founding fathers of Marxism had a very clear idea of the way in which the State and Capitalism intertwine. Marxist structuralists such as Nicos Poulantzas have developed this further.

Despite this understanding Lenin saw the State as a means of crushing the capitalists referring to the "special apparatus for coercion called the state" (The State and The Revolution, August-September 1917). He never said it would be easy - in fact he argued it would need a revolution!

I waited in vain for an alternative proposal from John Holloway:

"How then do we change the world without taking power? At the end of the book, as at the beginning, we do not know. The Leninists know, or used to know. We do not. Revolutionary change is more desperately urgent than ever, but we do not know any more what revolution means." P215

What a cop-out! My advice? Read this book only alongside those of Vladimir Il'ich.

Bookchin Archive Biography Bibliography Collected Works Commentary Graphics

This article appears in Anarchy Archives with the permission of the author and New Politics.
The Communist Manifesto: Insights and Problems
Murray Bookchin
[from New Politics, vol. 6, no. 4 (new series), whole no. 24, Winter 1998]
" By contrast, The Manifesto of the Communist Party made a dramatic leap, unequalled by any contemporary socialistic document. It showed that communism was not merely an ethical desideratum for social justice but a compelling historical necessity, flowing out of the very development of capitalism itself. This leap was reined in by its ten-point minimum program, largely the work of Engels. With its moderate demands, it seems to have been designed for the German workers' movement, which was still allied with the middle classes against the aristocracy. Hence even the most socialistic of the ten demands, the seventh, prudently called for the "extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state" rather than the collectivization of the economy (p. 505). In a long-range perspective, part II of The Manifesto projected the concentration of all productive facilities, including the land, in the "hands of a vast association of the whole nation" (p. 505). Actually, this last phrase, "a vast association of the whole nation," was specific to the English translation; the original German spoke of "associated individuals," a somewhat Proudhonist formulation that would have made the document more acceptable in Germany at the time.

After classes disappear and property has become socialized, The Manifesto says, the "public power will lose its political character," that is, its statist form:

Political power [the state], properly so called, is merely the organised power of one class for oppressing another. If the proletariat in its contest with the bourgeoisie is compelled, by force of circumstances, to organise itself as a class, if, by means of a revolution it makes itself the ruling class, and, as such, sweeps away the old conditions of production by force, then it will, along with these conditions, have swept away the conditions for the existence of class antagonisms and of class generally and will thereby have abolished its own supremacy as a class.
In place of the old bourgeois society with its class and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all. (pp. 505-6) "

indeed the communist manifesto says is. marxism doenst imply having to take over the bourgoise state in order to change society. the state must be brought down and a new non statist odering of society must come about.

like rosa luxembourg said. Marxism or leninism?

For masochists who can only learn from their own mistakes, this book provides the best way to teach them. Roger Schank's methods create temporary results that can help people react well in a situation but can limit a persons ability to think ahead avoid problems and communicate issues and solutions appropriately.

Schank's "Sink or Swim" approach of leading the learner to failure encourages educators to be clever and sneaky about the way they craft their training. He warns against telegraphing your punches to the learner. His methods manipulate peoples fears to get them to do what he wants them to do. The golden rule of education is to respect the pupil and Schank unfortunately treats learners with more contempt than he claims traditional methods produce.

The good news is there is plenty of useful insight and examples that aren't covered in other books that I know of. I have mixed feelings because I like so much of what he points out that is wrong with most training and education today. I am also in agreement on how he stresses the importance of good stories and examples and I'm in the car with him right up until he locks the doors, floors the gas and steers the car off a cliff.

Like many alchemists, Schank really believes in his methods to turn base metals into gold and is unyielding in his opinion that all other methods are worthless. He uses only the worst case examples of traditional training methods to reject the educational establishment while using the most idealistic examples to promote why he is the only one who can teach people anything. Thank god, he was there to help Enron communicate issues better to their employees. See the case study on page 44 "e-learning at Enron".

Schank's basic philosophy is that people can only learn from their own failures. He states, "Real thinking never starts until the learner fails." This is a serious flaw. Not many of us would survive if it were true. Learning from our own mistakes is how we keep from falling behind but learning from others mistakes is how we move ahead. And this is what traditional education methods can accomplish, if they are done correctly.

Schank states that "Small children are failure machines, failing hundreds of thousands of times before they learn." He seems to think this is okay and that's the way it should always work. But, most children don't need to be run over by a car to learn not to play in the street. Most children don't need to poke an eye out to learn not to run with scissors.

Schank continually refers to flight simulator training as the ultimate way to educate because pilots are immersed in a completely realistic three dimensional environment. But flight simulator training is just one part of a larger effort that pilots go through. If he would bother to follow up on this a little more, he would find that the FAA and the major airlines discovered a big problem, some time ago, with too much reliance on simulator training.

The problem is that people don't like being set up to fail. When this happens they begin to blame the computer training and don't take responsibility for the failure. The significant changes that have been made include providing more preparation of presentational information and guided practice before pilots enter the flight simulators.

Schank brags throughout the book about how people get through his training courses and graduate classes without learning anything new but that they know how to do something. Well, that just doesn't fly in most of the world. The reason you teach people a certain process and test for knowledge instead of just how to do something is because people tend to take short cuts that may seem productive in the short term but can get other people killed or in trouble. Schank's programs teach people to figure their own way to accomplish a goal. Who cares how they get there? Well sometimes, the Justice and Treasury Department care how you get there, often the news media care how you get there and usually your co-workers care. Ask the ex-employees of Enron whether they care.

Schank couldn't find any psychological research to support his theories, so he made up his own and refers to his own books for support. If you read a broader selection of books than what he recommends, you'll find that most research supports that people consider motivation to be a personal responsibility while they perceive de-motivation to be the responsibility of the system or person they work for or learn from. This means you can pump people up or scare them for a short period of time but ultimately people motivate themselves. However, they are quick to blame the system if you trip them up.

Schank's entire methodology is based on artificially imposing failure on people, to motivate them to learn. When you set someone up to fail, you may teach them not to repeat a mistake but they will become increasingly resistant to this form of training and will begin to blame the system for their failures.

Schank's psychology and methods are at odds with human nature but while Schank rejects all traditional methods of training and education, like multiple-choice tests and Instructional System Design (ISD), I can't reject all of his experience. Overall, he is too extreme and dangerous for me, but like all good agitators, he provides a unique perspective and makes some good points because he has so passionately pursued how to educate people.

Reading this book has been good for me if only to provide a backdrop and comparison to what I am currently doing. Writing this review has helped me deal with the snow storm that people like Schank stir up. There is actually a great deal of valuable information (knowledge) in this book on real corporate case studies, using stories, examples and gathering content that you won't find elsewhere. I just recommend being very careful how you apply it.

E-learning expert Roger C. Schank describes the secrets of a good e-learning program. He emphasizes using e-learning to train in-house employees, although his methods could work in any setting. Schank clearly establishes the basic principle that makes e-learning work: learning by doing. He outlines methods using scenarios and simulations that permit the learner to put new ideas into practice immediately. He's a little too fond of failing and trying over as a learning method, when one might learn just as well by studying others' failures and successes. However, he supports his approach with education-based examples that demonstrate how children learn, along with an inside look at IBM and GE programs. Visuals in the book show the computer screen in a teaching mode as displayed to the user, so you see how your e-learning material should look, whether on a Web site or on a local intranet. We from getAbstract recommend this solid hands-on instruction manual for training and development managers, and for those who are building e-learning experiences.

Do not expect some key information about Harvard, Wharton or NYU. This book just lists about 200 MBA with a quick overview (2 pages) on each. If you want to apply to an MBA in Australia or in China, this book can give you all the basic information you need to know.

This book is a godsend to anyone contemplating one of the many top-notch MBA programs outside of the US. Bickerstaffe doesn't attempt to "rank" the schools, which seems to be the only way anymore that the US programs are described in the guidebooks. Instead, he provides factual information often difficult to locate anywhere else. I was surprised to find a book like this existed. Great find.

The best book I have seen in one year searching and investigating about MBAs,GMAT, European vs American programs,etc. If you are planning to buy this book, wait for the 2001 edition which should have recent data.

Don't waste your time looking up for another book, this is THE MBA BOOK.

An interesting book, perhaps worth more than a single star, but, please, how silly are people according to great economists? The premise of the market failures of the book is the inability of writing complex contracts. A smoking at home paradox disappears if you can contract with the insirance company about fires from smoking. A race-to-the-bottom collective action problem between lessors and lessees disappears if the lessee can be induced to use specific types of care--type of paint when refinishing or type of fertilizer when planting, for example.

Joseph Stiglitz makes a powerful argument that neither capitalism nor socialism can achieve the economically efficient outcome suggested by the neo-classical model. Neither markets nor central planners can optimally direct resources to their most productive uses. The information required to do so is simply not available.

The neo-classical model suggests that the forces of supply and demand result in equilibrium, market clearing prices - a single price for each commodity. We see all around us evidence that real world processes to not achieve this optimal end. The same items sell for different prices at different stores; it is possible for significant numbers of workers to remain unemployed for long periods of time. Stiglitz explains that this outcome reflects informational imperfections in market generated prices. It is costly for shoppers to compare prices in every store before they make purchases. Employers may pay employees higher than market clearing wages to increase worker productivity, resulting in prolonged unemployment. If market generated prices and wages were as informationally efficient as the neo-classical model suggests, Stiglitz argues that market socialism could be just as efficient as free market capitalism. Markets could be permitted to function to the degree necessary to generate prices, which central planners could use to direct the economy. Stiglitz further argues that the most critical information planners need, to plan large scale investments, are not generated by markets anyway, because the appropriate futures markets (where investors could insure against bad investments) can not exist.

Stiglitz's explanation of how the neo-classical model of constrained optimization cannot describe real world phenomena is compelling, as is his argument that both market socialism and market capitalism face problems of information and incentives. Where Stiglitz is weakest is when he casually asserts, as he often does in this book, that government intervention could resolve some of these problems under either system. He routinely asserts that government intervention could address, for instance, problems of externalities through the application of Pigouvian taxes. He does not, however, discuss how government might determine the proper tax,(in the absence of a market in the externality), or how it might insure its application in the face of special interest political pressure. In his calls for government intervention, government is treated as benevolent, omnipotent and omniscient.

Stiglitz presents a coherent argument of why market socialism failed in the real world, and further, why market capitalism, as we see it practiced around us, does not live up to the promise of the neo-classical model.

Stiglitz shows how much things can change, when you drop assumtions like costless information, zero transaction costs etc. According to the general equilibrium theories he crizices, a central planner could archive an outcome that is at least as efficient or better than the market, by imitating perfect competition (Lange-Lerner-Taylor Theorem). Stiglitz shows that by dropping unrealistic assumptions both real markets and market socialism aren't that efficient as the perfect competition paradigma predicts. What is needed is competition and some state regulation. He makes a good case for a third way between neoliberalism and central planning.

There is no math in the book, so it can be read at many levels. It covers a broad range: Competition policy, privatization theory, forms of competion and much more. After reading it, I had a much better understanding of real world problems economies face.

On a side note: Nicholas review is simply wrong. Stiglitz employs almost only rational choice models. Problems occur because information is costly, not because people are dumb.