economics-times

Inside, I'm a small, very neat and tidy person. Outside, I'm a large, messy, and disorganized person who has trouble keeping things clean -- let alone neat! Checklists For Life has helped me with my New Year's Resolution of cleaning up my act. I didn't think I needed help doing laundry, but I actually learned a lot from that list. I also got some help grocery shopping so there is something besides Twinkies and Little Debbies in my kitchen cupboards. And now that I've incorporated the shortcuts for housecleaning in "From Pigsty to Presentable in Six Steps," my friends won't be afraid to eat at my apartment anymore.

Although I am a somewhat compulsive list-maker (inherited from a military family), my husband is completely anti-list. He somehow believes that making a list is giving in and admitting that he can't remember everything (which he can't, but why be logical?). I bought this for him as a starter, so he could see that someone besides his wife believes in lists, enough to publish a whole book about them! He is now warming up to the idea of lists, thanks to this book, and I am also thrilled because it had some lists that even I had never thought of.

I think this is a great gift for anyone starting out (in life, or just in getting organized) -- I've already given two copies away.

I bought this book years ago and still enjoy referencing it for the occasions that I had yet to encounter. The author's style is simple and concise, yet friendly. No one book, without being incredibly bulky, will cover every possible checklist, but this one proves itself to be extremely helpful.

I think most people understand the importance of "speed" in the marketplace. The problem lies in "how" to incorporate this element into their daily business before they or their companies had been eaten by someone else. I am sorry that the author had not done a good job in this respect. He said a lot about the advantages of being speedy, but not practical methods of pushing it through bureaucracy, redtape, human resistance to change, the long term committment of top management......... Perhaps I had demanded too much from such a small book. However, I really believe the author is capable of giving us more, judged by his smooth and intelligent writing skills and choice of words.

Below please find some copy and paste for your reference.

Speed, merely for the sake of moving fast, without a destination inmind, is haste. Eventually, out of control, speed will land you in big trouble. But imagine how many more races you would win if you had a big head start. Think about the advantage you would have if you knew what the future was going to look like and were able to spot trends before the competition. Consider the power of being able to think about things quickly and accurately, tackling in minutes the same big issues and questions the competition would be processing for weeks. pg 9

Question everything...all the time. If you want to hone your anticipatory skills, accept nothing. Question everything. Ask how and why of everything that's presented to you. pg 19

A fund manager's best year will likely be his or her first. He or she is without a need to defend the previous year's choices and is able to ruthlessly assess the viability and potential performance of holdings in the fund. Dr. Richard Geist, professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. pg 101

It's not the strongest nor most intelligent of the species that survive; it is the one most adaptable to change. Charles Darwin pg 111

When you refuse to abandon, bad things always seem to happen.

p.s. The main book title is very interesting. I think if the author did add one more word "idiot" in the end, the impact will be even bigger.

Lots of good stuff. Some you'll have read in other books, but that's not a negative if such info is presented in a new way, as it is here. I do think the choices of AOL and Hotmail as fast company examples were dumb choices, since Hotmail never actually turned a profit, it just grew to become an enticing buy for Microsoft, which is when the owners cashed in. AOL's troubled history is famous enough I need not repeat it here. But the other companies chosen (Charles Schwab, Clear Channel, among others) as examples are "legitimate" companies, aiming for profit and succeeding while growing quickly. And it's because of those examples I recommend this book.

This book is the best one I have read to date on helping a company accelerate its ability to move ahead of the competition by being better at sensing the environment and reacting to it. Those who are interested in checking their organizations for stalled thinking in this regard will find a useful list of areas to investigate and improve.

"Do more with less and do it faster." That's the mantra that the authors have investigated through their case histories of Charles Schwab, Clear Channel Communications, America On Line, H&M (clothing stores), Hotmail, Telepizza (European home delivery pizza chain), and Lend Lease (Australian company).

The book is organized into four sections: Fast thinking; fast decisions; get to market faster; and sustaining speed. Each one contains a number of key points, with subpoint details to further elaborate.

Here's how Fast Thinking is organized:

"Speed . . . without a destination in mind, is haste." The focus of this section is on creating improvements in your business model or new business models.

The key sections under the heading are to anticipate; spot trends; put ideas through a thorough testing process to probe for their downside weaknesses; and being sure that the best idea wins by changing the company environment. Each of these sections is illustrated with examples from the companies that were studied and more detail on the key elements.

In this example, you should see the potential weakness of the book. It correctly points you toward spotting trends, but cannot possibly teach you what you need to know in just a few pages. So you will want to expand on the points here by reading other books that deal with these areas in more depth. In essence, the book then is an outline of the business processes you need for innovation in business models, choosing the right ones, getting them implemented well, and staying agile.

The primary metaphor is to Wayne Gretzky, who was famous for his ability to anticipate where the puck would go next . . . and to aim for that spot. If you can determine what is "likely to occur in the next few months and the next few years [that] is enough to give you an edge . . . ."

While I have not studied all of these companies, what was said about the ones that I know well was certain accurate and full of insight. I assume the rest was done equally as well. Many of the conclusions are similar to my own work on irresistible forces.

Of the four sections, I thought that the first section on fast thinking had the most original material, and will be the most valuable for many companies. If you have problems with fast decisions and getting to market fast, you may find it hard to change very quickly. But if you are already in pretty good there, the first section can increase the flow of good new ideas for you to consider. Many CEOs tell me that this is a limitation for them.

I do have some concerns. If everyone organizes for speed, how sustainable will that be? Perhaps it would be better to organize to grasp advantages that then become unavailable to others.

Also, what is it going to be like to work for a company like this? What is your family life going to be like? For readers who are interested in these questions, I suggest you read Professor Robert Reich's new book, The Future of Success. It has many thought-provoking ideas on this subject.

After you have organized for maximum speed that makes sense for your business and the personal lives of those involved, I suggest that you consider how the experience can be made much less demanding on everyone. That's the area where the most innovation is needed.

May you make rapid progress towards worthwhile goals . . . and have time to smell the roses along the way!

I found this book a lot less helpful than her first book- Organizing from the Inside Out. That was a great book.
This book, however, was not that helpful to me. I read the whole thing in about one hour because I could skim most of the sections which repeated or paraphrased previous ideas. I think there were some excellent ideas in the book- maybe 8 key points that could have been summarized in an article or very short piece. She provided some questions that were helpful (such as "do you like to work on a tight deadline?"; "do you like to work with music on?"; do you prefer to work by yourself," but she left the reader hanging-did not help to use the answers to determine time management preferenecs. What are ways that one should manage time if you prefer working alone as opposed to working with others? Lots of questions went unanswered and information provided was mostly common sense. The book fell into the category of descriptive (providing the usual mantra) rather than instructive.

Ms. Morgenstern's first book, Organizing from the Inside Out, was tremendously helpful because of its ease with which I could apply the principles to my life. Her kindergarten model of organizing space -- to create activity zones -- totally resonated with me the first time I read OFIO, and her use of it again in relation to time management is so great!

She advocates a goal-oriented approach to scheduling time and actually helps her readers think through their goals. In the second part of the book, which I found particularly helpful, she brings the kindergarten model back and applies it to mapping out time. Morgenstern also provides specific instructions about how to zone your own calendar so that you can make really effective and informed decisions about your time.

The most appealing part of Morgenstern's approach -- and the part that separates her from other self-help authors -- is that she never IMPOSES anything on her readers; rather, she teaches us _how_ to discover what's going to work in our own lives. She gave me freedom to figure out what was going to work for me, rather than making me learn a new, complicated system to impose on myself.

I loved this book. It's extremely easy to read, and I found it had a fresh, new approach to truly making a daily planner system work! Her Time Map really got me thinking of what areas in my life I really want to spend my precious time on. I read the book in 2 days because I found it so interesting, and have plans on going through it again and applying her advice to my life. It is the best time management book I've ever read.

While this book does cover some business essentials, the real meat could have been covered in a 12 page booklet. A lot, as those of us who are actually in business know, is not covered.You can skip this one.

Coming from the business world this book is an overblown exercise in verbosity. This is not a concise edition of business fundamentals. Calling the information basic would be kind, but you would still really have to read between the lines.

This book covers all of the basics of small business accounting and will give you enough information to start things without having to hire an accountant. It also does a good job of letting you know your responsibilities to Uncle Sam and gives you some good advice on easing that blow.

It isn't exhaustive, though. You'll still need to do a lot of research on the local level. As Kamaroff points out, some localities are conducive to business and some are intensively regulated. This is where a lot of your problems are likely to happen. While I appreciate the size of the scope necessary, I would have liked to have seen a state-by-state list of resources, or hints for more local information.

Of course, being a New Yorker, that could have been a whole book in and of itself. (hint, hint)

Insanely Great takes a look at how the Macintosh evolved from a garage with two hippies and a soldering iron into a multi billion dollar company. Unlike what the title suggests this book does not spend a whole lot of time talking about Steve Jobs. Instead, this book focuses on a part of Apple's history that is really, as far as I have seen, not very well documented. It discusses in detail the evolution of the Macintosh from the inside, talks to people directly involved with the project and really shows this part of the computer revolution from the inside out. For those of you who are PC users this book will help you understand the Mac way of thinking. Levy is a true Mac person but writes in a fairly unbiased manner. This book is a great read for anybody who enjoys the history of how computers became what they are, as well as all Mac users.

What I find most satisfying about Levy's style is that he resisted the urge to indulge in hero worship. It's really difficult when dealing with the sort of people he's talking about.After all, this is the computer that's always been "better", stands to reason the people behind it would be interesting. So it's a real relief for me that Levy didn't focus on any one of the people involved (it wouldn't have been easy anyway since the Macintosh project involved so many people who left their mark).The book is quite entertaining, and attains just the right level of concentration required to mimic the frenzied work that went into the mac. When you come out of 'insanely great' you get the feeling that you know a lot of these people, and that you understand what they did. This is only true because Levy speaks of their faults as well as their amazing abilities. The book isn't a blow by blow account of the development of the mac. I got the sense that numerous little details had been kept out of my view so that the bigger picture could present itself. This was probably a good decision to make, since the book could have gone on endlessly. If you want to know how the germ of an interface that felt like home was born, how it took a group of people who believed it would change the world to make it a reality, to get some idea of what went on while the great texts of the Macintosh religion were being discovered and written, and if you want to hear some of the greatest corporate/computer metaphors you'd ever encounter, you need this book. Maybe, just maybe you'll come out of this with a real understanding of why 'real artists ship' and what it means to make a dent in the universe. If you've ever used a Mac and wondered why it felt so good, you should read Levy's book.

Once upon a time, a guy named Steve had a vision: to take IBM's place in the computer industry. Not by copying IBM's ideas as Michael Dell did. No. By innovating...
Steve Jobs, a charismatic and driven individual, who wears the same outfit so he doesn't have to waste his time deciding what to wear, and who once was exiled from his own company, came back. Although many critics always thought of Jobs as an opportunistic individual, more than creative and visionary, and labeled him as a "One Hit Wonder" was able to make a "Come Back." This book tells the story of the first Mac, the one that only a few people knew about, and then, it takes you through a journey of one of the greatest companies ever founded: Apple, Inc. The story that almost wasn't told. After years of mismanagements and senior executives not understanding what Apple Computers was all about, Steve Jobs returned not just to save the company, but also to redirect where the company was headed. As many people said, "Apple was off track," and it was, it really was. However, Jobs' return not only brought blood back to Apple, but also put them on the black ink once again.
Before picking up this book, ensure that you have enough time to read it all at once. You won't be able o put it down. If you are a Mac fan, or if you are just interested in knowing a bit more of what Apple has gone through, this book is for you.
Enjoy it!

In this book Mr. O'Shaughnessy takes four different (fictional) characters and shows them how to use his investing methods to beat the market based on his exhaustive study on what really beats the market. Basically this book takes his knowledge from What Works on Wall Street and makes up stories for these couples.

Mr. O'Shaughnessy thinks we should buy 50 stocks and rebalance those 50 stocks at the beginning of each year. In fact I am surprised that I haven't seen FolioFN giving away his books to their members since his methodology seems to be meant for those of us who have folios.

One of the major things that I didn't like about this book was in his descriptions of how these couples could retire rich he basically cut and paste each one and changed the ending result, in my opinion he made this book very boring and is a waste of paper. The only part of this book I liked was pages 139 and 140 these pages have various "doom and gloom" headlines from 1951-1997 and show that the market always has recovered.

Since now the strategies in this book are out in the public they probably won't even work right, so I would advise the majority of investors to put their money in an S&P 500 index fund since you'd be beating 80% of fund manages without having to do any research.

Reed Floren

I first read this book about 2 years ago and decided to put the Rational Runaways strategy to the test. After about three months, most of the stocks were up and the portfolio as a whole was up about 15%. Then, one by one, the majority of the stocks faded, then crashed. After a year, I was down about 15%. I decided to combine O'Shaugnessy's strategy with William O'Neill's, plus the considerable information available from Technical Analysis of Stock Trends, by Edwards and Magee. I pick stocks that meet O'Shaugnessy's criteria, that are also in solid uptrends. I sell them when they begin to trend down. Half of my stocks have gone up, half down. I've sold the losers for an average loss of 10%, the winners for an average gain of 25%. My average holding time is 3 months. I've been doing a bit better than 30% per year, and these are not net stocks or dot.coms. These are companies with real and growing earnings, reasonable pe ratios and low ps ratios. It's easy to mistake a bull market for genius, but so far, I believe I've found a strategy that will do well in any market environment.

A must read for anyone who cares about their financial future. The cloud of confusion that shrouds Wall Street has been blown away. Finally, a simple, easy to understand investment guide that gives actionable advice. Forget about the 5,000 mutual funds that consistently underperform the market. Forget about this year's genius or this year's hot fund. Follow a discipline and stick to it through thick or thin. Thanks, O'Shaughnessy. This book summarizes everything I've learned about investing over the years, but, of course, not yet acted upon. That will change. ----Three things to count in life: death, taxes, and dismal stock market returns without an invesment strategy!----

Okay, obviously some of the people writing reviews here are not the kind of people it was written for. ("why would I need a card to tell me when to change the kitty litter?) We all know that lots of people in the world cannot even imagine that some people struggle with the simple routines of life. They think that people with messy houses just don't care. Really, even those of us who struggle sometimes can't understand why we can't manage those things that seem so simple for other people. Well, if you are the kind of person who can't understand why someone would need a reminder to make up the bed, do laundry, etc. -- you just won't get this book. If you are the kind of person who hates living in chaos but can't figure out how to get out of it, you just might love this book. Also, I highly recommend Sink Reflections and The Messies Manual.

I thought I'd never laugh (or cry!) harder than I did when I read 'From Pigpen to Paradise' by the same authors- but this book is just wonderful! Pam Young and Peggy Jones have done it again! You get the feeling that they've been peeking in your windows, they're so connected with the chaos that's been going on in your life and home. They share helpful advice for those of us who weren't 'born organized' that will finally convince you that you, too, can have a warm, welcoming home that's a haven from the crazy world out there! The Sidetracked Sisters have been in our shoes and they've conquered the clutter. This book will assure you that you can, too! A 'must read' for anyone struggling with clutter and chaos!

I can't say enough about how great this book is. Not only is it very helpful, it is also the funniest book I have ever read. I will never forget reading it on the bus ride home one day and laughing so hard no sound would come out and tears streamed down my face (the other riders surely thought I was a lunatic). The stories of disorganized chaos really hit home. I got copies for friends and family members who all loved it as well. You gotta read it. I grew up in a similar household situation, where disorganization started in the genes and there wasn't enough strict parental disciplinarian action taken with my sisters and I to curb those impending procrastinational, chaotic habits I feared might be with me forever. Pam and Peggy pretty much sum it up when they say the other writers of regular "organizational" books often have no idea HOW bad it can get. This one is for those of us who are so disorganized to the extremes, it's hard to know where to start getting it together. It's so refreshing and inspiring to see two women who really came up with some great, creative techniques for organizing their lives, and I have definitely applied some of their methods which really work. Read it and you won't be sorry.

This is the latest edition of this popular book. Potential readers need to be clear what this book is and just as important, is not. This is not a systematic history of economic thought or an introduction to economics. This is a basic overview of the ideas of a number of important economic theorists and the backgrounds against which their ideas emerged. Heilbroner is a good writer with an eye for telling anecdotes. He has considerable mastery of source material and is even handed in discussing his subjects. A recurrent theme is the way in which each important thinkers' ideas reflected the experience of capitalism in his time. Some chapters are better than others. I liked particularly the chapter on Marx which does a nice job of discussing the strengths and weaknesses of Marx's analysis. I would personally prefer a more demanding and systematic book but as a very readable and entertaining introduction, this book can't be beat. An excellent volume for an intellectually curious high school student or undergraduate.

I'll say it... I'm a politics major who hates math, but needs to know economics. This book won't get you out of Macro 101, but it provides a refreshing, intelligent, well-written synopsis of major economic thinkers from Adam Smith to Joseph Schumpeter. It is excellent at placing these theories in their historical context. Heilbroner acknowledges what a dry subject economics can be, and seeks to engage the reader by providing ample information about the economists' personal lives (very entertaining, all). This book should be passed out, along with a copy of the Constitution, to every American citizen when they turn 18. It is by no means a comprehensive volume, but it doesn't try to be, and it provides a laundry list for more extensive reading. It's best used as a base reference and a guide to which economic thinkers you should be familiar with.
Heilbroner manages to make economics seem impressive and important... no small feat. The initial chapter on the history of economics and the chapters on Marx and Veblen are the best.
Highly recommended... very informative and an enjoyable read!

This book reminds me of Will Durant's marvelous The Story of Philosophy, with which it shares many positive qualities. The first similarity is that the writing is extremely lucid, explaining many complex ideas in a direct way, which only superior writing can achieve. And like Durant, Heilbroner has a contagious enthusiasm for his subject matter. He really makes the economists come alive, both because of their personalities and their thinking. Finally, like Durant's work, this book has really made me eager to read the works of the men that the author summarizes.

When I became interested in economics, this book was recommended to me as the first one I should read. I'm truly glad I did.

I highly recommend this book. -Mykal Banta

When I saw the cover of this book, with Ben Stein and his co-author lounging by the pool, bags of gold coins and gold ingots at their side, I thought it would be a send-up of investing books. Oops.

In spite of the kicky title and irreverent writing style, this is a genuine attempt to educate investors. It's full of rather conservative, long-term advice. Look for undervalued stocks. Don't jump in and out of the market. Diversify. When Stein and DeMuth talk about Market Timing, it is not a reference to day trading, rather to buying stocks when they are cheap. Buy low, in other words.

Their thinking on dollar cost averaging is refreshingly sensible. Instead of the Bob Brinker style of investing a fixed amount every month (or year or whatever) regardless of cost per unit, you should wait until the stock is cheap, then buy as much as you can. This assumes the investor has a brain, and enough discipline not to mess it up, which seems to be Brinker's fear.

Anyway, there isn't much new here. It's solid investing advice, breezily presented, so if you need a refresher, or are new to investing, this isn't a bad book to start with.

Stein and DeMuth succeed impressively in their primary aim, which is to prove that there are better times than others to invest in the stock market, and that a market timer who pays attention to the signals they describe can achieve significantly higher returns than a steady investor who buys in regardless of price. To determine whether the market is over- or under-priced, they rely upon valuation methods that will please the heart of a classically trained economist or business school student: price, P/E ratio, dividend rate, and price-to-book, comparing today's figures to the 15-year moving average. Examining the performance of the S&P 500 over the past century, they convincingly prove that a strategy of doubling up investments in "buy" (under-valued) years and avoiding investing in over-valued years delivers superior performance to a buy-and-hold (or dollar cost averaging) strategy.

Although what Stein and DeMuth have proven seems like common sense from one angle (buy heavily when prices are low), it is not what most of Wall Street and the financial press urges investors to do. Nor is it emotionally easy to follow this advice, since it means buying at times such as the middle of the Great Depression, when the popularity of stock market investing is at its lowest ebb, and it means avoiding buying when the market is zooming to the moon, and it seems as though every neighbor of yours is making a fortune in Internet and telecom stocks (the late Nineties). Stein and DeMuth do a great job describing these situations, to provide the internal fortitude needed to follow a buy low strategy.

The debate over this book arises over how applicable it is to the average individual investor (its target audience). All the research conducted by Stein and DeMuth concerns the S&P 500, and they freely admit that the conclusions they draw do not necessarily apply to other indices, markets, or individual stocks. Furthermore, they look at 20-year results, so the final verdicts for the last 20 years (including the bull market of the '90s) are not in yet.

However, Stein and DeMuth cite many others studies that are aligned with their general strategy of buying under-valued stocks, and summarize the superior results that these other studies report. Because of this, and the book's sharp wit and hard-hitting style, this book is a great introduction to value investing and the fundamental methods of valuing stocks. The boom and bust of the late Nineties and early 2000s prove that far too many investors (and professionals) don't pay enough attention to stock market valuation.

This book won't tell you how to make a quick fortune. It won't tell you how to identify the next Microsoft or Dell Computer. But it does tell you how to identify better times to invest in stocks, and can help you avoid huge losses from investing in bubbles. Because of the strength of the book's advice, which recent history proves is so often ignored, and the fact that it is a short and entertaining read, I highly recommend it.

Finally, at last, a book about the financial market that combines great advice with true wit and common sense. I've bought it for everyone I know. (Including my three year old son... A must for every Mom who'se thought about entering the market, but has never quite felt able to trust it before. With these chaps you're in safe, informative, entertaining hands. Alison Larkin

For those who are looking to get started on eBay and need some direction this one is for you. It will give you plenty of solid information that can help you map out your personal approach to selling on eBay.

While most people considering buying this book are not looking to sell on ebay full time, the book still has plenty of value to them as the title indicates.

I know of people who use ebay to raise some extra cash or to hold virtual garage sales to sell some of their stuff.

In both cases they are using ebay to make an extra few hundred dollars when they need the money.

While its great being able to make that extra money I think those people would be able to make more from their auctions if they used some of the advice given in the Truth about ebay.

I think if they wrote a college course on selling on ebay they should use this book as a reference.

Go straight from the pages into eBay and start running better auctions with what you will learn. If you want to make some extra money on eBay make sure you read this from cover to cover.