Industrial Books

I've only read the first few chapters so far. I've been a horse person all my life but never known a mule. So far i've learned a lot about these animals and had a few good chuckles as well. A variety of authors give their experiences and insights along with great photography. It could be a coffee-table book or an important addition to your library.

Read it all the way through and then gave two copies to friends! Well researched and really interesting!!

John Hauer is a hero of mine and this book is one of the best ideas (and as I understand this man history) one of hundreds that really works well. It is a collection of anecdotes, historical facts and wonderful photographs and prints. It's also a monument to the great American Mule Culture that mule owners around the world have come to admire and respect. My only criticism is that the brief to each of those contributing could have been specific, and then their contribution proof read to weasel out the repetition about mule reproduction etc. But all in all a nodal piece of modern mule related literature.

A wonderful "coffee table" book.. I enjoyed reading it, but did
find some statements comical, my seven mules aren't near as good as
the ones in this book.. Course, I still love them!

I love this book!!! It is a unique collection of personal stories, essays and historical articles in celebration of the unique characteristics and qualities of the mule. It describes in detail there intelligence, sure-footedness, agility, strength, endurance, disposition and natural cautioness. The one trait that I loved the most about mules was there "Endearance". Actually there is no such word but the book says there should be. It is a descriptive of the way in which many people react to mules: they often want to hug and even kiss them. I found that term to be more than true! Mule Lovers will be captivated by this book and horse lovers...well...they may be converted.

I was actually shocked when I received the book. For once someone has taken Tesla's notes, interpreted them, and put forth a true scientific understanding and explanation of his work complete with appropriate mathematical calculations. The book is hard bound and printed on the highest quality of paper and the photographs are simply superb. It is truly a book for the REAL researcher, scientist, and/or Tesla fan!

Excellent work Tesla Museum! This is a must have tome for any true Tesla-phile. It will be the envy of my collection!

Tesla's time at Colorado Springs is THE critical period in his life. In his Notebook, we have Tesla in his own words, shifting effortlessly between startlingly original technical suppositions and his characteristic cosmic imaginings. His occasional lapses into reverie, particularly in regards to the fantastic lightning displays in Colorado-both man-made and naturally occurring, hint at the visionary's relationship with electricity on a level far beyond the technical. An inventor by trade, Tesla reveals a passionate fixation with his medium that makes his work personal. In his autobiography, Tesla mentions that as a child he was tortured by continuous lightning-like, prismatic displays whenever he closed his eyes. Later in life, Tesla would raise the shades in his Manhattan office only during lightning storms, at which point he would ask any others to leave, recline on a couch and, according to his trusted secretary, discourse out loud with himself. Perhaps his project was a Proustian one, relishing the real world display of what was once his childhood affliction. In any case, the Colorado Notebooks hint at much and reveal little. Simply, the man was a mystery and he will ever remain so.

This was not the development period of his now secret work. For the ten years prior to Pike's peak Tesla lived in NY and while trying to prove Hertz's claims Tesla accidentally discovered 'radiant energy' in a different form. This (after 10 years) led him to learn how to stimulate energy by an 'electro-static event." Later his focus was on understanding how to capture the energy from the electro-static event and then convert it back into normal electricity. It was in Pike's peak (the period this book covers) that he develops new hardware for the already understood event that he wished to reproduce, just on a massive scale. Pike's peak was the preamble to the famous tower and first working prototype of it.

This is an excellent resource for those who wish to study about Tesla's experiments. The notes are highly detailed, and clearly show his attempts at transmitting electricity without wires by means of his magnifying transmitter. I also find it a very good insight into the inventor's mind.

For those studying Tesla and his methods, the technical notes are very rewarding, although the casual reader might have some difficulty with the text.

The quality of this book from the OUTSIDE looks great. The inside, however, has much to be fixed.

This NEVER should have been released to the public with such errors, and sloppy "fixing" by pasting small pieces of paper saying "this should be on page 41" and the like. Some information is missiong that SHOULD be in the book somewhere. If it is, I cant find it. Not everything is translated, and messy handwritten notes, while interesting, add nothing to the book other than nostalgia because they arent translated.

I'd love to see a book published in a dual-page format that isn't a mess like this one. I'd be willing to pay much more.

I feel I was cheated because of the price of this book.

I bought my first copy of this essential text in 1976, and have never found a better reference source on the principles of grounding and shielding. Few engineers seem to understand the action of screened cables, especially, and chapter 2 gives an excellent introduction

If you take the course then you get the book too. And, since Ott is a good lecturer, you will likely learn a lot more than trying to read the book.

For packaging engineers like myself, this book is not worth the money. You would be better off buying Blackwell's "The Electronic Packaging Handbook" which has an excellent chapter covering all important aspects of EMC. For Electrical Engineers I suspect what you have in your "High Speed Digital Design" (Johnson and Graham) will be more than adequate.

The real issue is simply too much information. I agree with Ott that some understanding of antennas is needed to understand EMC but not nearly the amount covered in this book. I think that Ott's ham radio hobby has caused him to overdo that material in this book.

I highly recommend taking the course but I suspect if you buy the book you won't finish reading it.

There is a specific topic in this book that I have not seem covered in any of the 25+ book that I have on electromagnetic phenomena. The topic is the shield cut-off frequency of a coaxial cable. Common-mode currents at low frequencies (below a few hundred hertz) cause noise problems with coaxial cables, but signals above tens of kilohertz do not. This is vital data which is apparently not explained in many text books. For me, this topic justifies the cost of the text. Having said that, I am annoyed because the book is quite expensive relative to other books of its size and age. The point is that you have to buy it, but it is expensive to do so.

Even an advanced designer will benefit from this book, although you, like me, won't necessarily want to read all of it. It is sufficient to pick and choose areas of particular interest. The less advanced designer would clearly benefit more and the book would therefore represent better value for them. Given a choice between this one and Morrison's Grounding and Shielding Techniques in Instrumentation, pick this one. This one is more technically accurate and useful.

I build EEG sensors, and I started reading this book, expecting something like The Art of Electronics, except more detailed and covering only noise techniques. Instead, I got much, much more. The diagrams made *much* more sense than Horowitz and Hill's AOE, and the explanations were clear and consise. I was able to read it cover to cover in a weekend without getting bored from too much detail, and it had many many real measurements of noise in systems that made the information much more quantitative.

For instance, instead of saying "in order to get the most noise reduction, you need to use a shielded cable only grounded on one end", he says "a shielded cable grounded on one end has 84dB of attenuation to magnetic noise and much more for electric, while if the shield is grounded at both ends the attenuation is more like 36dB".

Those numbers are critical if you're trying to balance signal quality with cost.

One of the best textbooks I've ever purchased.

I greatly appreciate the practicality of this book. If you can't attend one of his seminars, my recommendation is to buy this book, it will help. It's one of those that I plan to keep in the EMC lab and not just on the shelf. -doug

I've been trading for over twenty years, including a period as a floor trader on the Chicago Board of Trade. Even with that experience there are tips and tricks in this book I found useful to the point where I employ them daily. To be complete as a reviewer I will say there is a lot of pretty basic stuff from my point of view, but still well worth reviewing since some of it I had forgotten.

Well written, easy reading, well organized

Online Investing Hacks is an excellent introduction to the world of investment. Though the title does contain the word 'Online', I would say that the general information the book provides on investing is not limited to the online realm.

Overall, I was very happy with the book, and found it incredibly useful. Though I do have several investments (401K, some stock, mutual funds etc) I would hardly consider myself an authority on the subject. This book provided very detailed explanations and tips on various forms of investment, from CD's to Index funds, and everything in between. While the experienced investor might not glean much from reading this book, anyone just getting started will find it an excellent reference, and resource.

The format of the book is similar to the other books in the 100 * Hacks series published by O'Reilly. There are exactly 100 hacks, or topics, which are spread across 9 chapters. Each one is an individual entity and can be read and understood without reliance on any of the other hacks.

One minor annoyance I had with the book is that it is geared toward those of you who, for some reason or another, run Microsoft's Windows OS, or have access to Microsoft Excel. Luckily, of the Excel examples that I played with, Open Office's Calc program handled them with minimal tweaking.

I can easily recommend this book to anyone who wants to invest, but is unsure of what to invest in, or needs some tips on making the most of preexisting investments. Those of you who enjoy research and building your own stats and graphs will also find parts of this book rather intriguing, as it covers data acquisition and manipulation with Excel in great detail. It will make an excellent addition to my reference shelf, and I have a feeling it will be well thumbed through in a very short time.

It seems like everyone is involved in investing in some form or another. While I always felt like I should be investing too, it was never clear to me how to begin this process. After all, it's my money. How can I be sure I'm investing in something that will provide some sort of reasonable return? This book is an excellent resource in answering some of those questions and putting the new investor on the right track.

This book is written in the same format as the other "hacks" series by O'Reilly. This format is very easy to read, and the format makes it very easy to find answers. Rather then having to read the book from cover to cover, the reader can pick out topics they are dealing with, read the answer, and move on. Since many of the people interesting in a book of this nature will likely have little time, the book's format works to its advantage.

The book begins with some basic introduction to the stock market and tips for selecting appropriate stocks or mutual funds. The whole middle section of the book deals with data analysis. The author discusses how to understand a company's balance sheet (e.g. what that P/E ratio means), how to spot companies in financial trouble, how to pick a good stock, and even how to trade. There is also a good discussion on minimizing the effect of taxes on your little return on investment.

The author even goes further and gets into a discussion on financial planning. In addition to discussing debt reduction, the author also talks about IRA plans and different strategies for saving for your child's education expenses. I think my favorite part of this book was the discussion on different education savings plans. The author discusses the ins and outs (as well as tax consequences) of each of the plans, and provides some examples illustrating the fact that it's better to start saving earlier than later.

This is an excellent book, not just for its investing advice, but also for its sound financial planning. This is a great book for anyone who is interested in increasing their wealth, saving for a rainy day, or simply saving for future financial goals.

Online Investing Hacks by Bonnie Biafore (O'Reilly) is one of those books that can pay for itself in short order, as well as over and over.

Chapter list: Screening Investments; Hacking Excel for Financial Analysis; Collecting Financial Data; Analyzing Company Fundamentals; Technical Analysis; Executing Trades; Investing in Mutual Funds; Managing Your Portfolio; Financial Planning; Index

I worked at Enron from 1998 through 2001, and spent plenty of time during that dot.com era following my stock portfolio. I watched my Enron stock value go from incredible value to a point where it cost more to sell the stock than it was worth. I won a few bets (face it, that's what they were) on a few dot.coms and lost many more. What could have been an incredible nest egg, isn't. This book would have been a lifesaver if I had read and paid attention to it a few years ago. Biafore shows you how you can analyze and invest wisely using a variety of tools available to everyone.

If you're an Excel user, you'll find it an invaluable tool for analysis. She'll show you how you can use it to create financial charts (#13), calculate compound annual rates of growth (#26), and use rational values to buy and sell wisely (#36). #39 - Spot Hanky Panky with Cash Flow Analysis (using Enron as an example) would have literally saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars had I known about it. Even if you don't care about the investing tips, the hack on downloading data via Excel web queries (#7) was something I didn't know how to do (or that you could even do it!). The book has a little something for everyone.

As with all Hacks titles, you probably won't be interested in every single item. Some may not be applicable to your situation or may be too complex for what you care to handle. But all it would take is one hack to work out and change your investing for this book to pay huge dividends. If you do your own investing, you owe it to yourself to get this book.

This is one of the most useful books on investing that I've seen.

The excellent chapter on fundamental analysis alone is worth the price of admission. Plus there are chapters on technical analysis, mutual funds, asset allocation, financial planning, investing in bonds etc, all equally well written.

Hope the author writes a sequel to this book covering topics not covered here (eg. topics related to options trading).

A required title in any serious investor's bookshelf.

If you are wondering why the Black woman in your section of your company doesn't seem to want to socialize with you or seems guarded around her White co-workers or why the White women in your organization get all riled up about sexism but are silent when it comes to racism this is the book for you. I recommend this book along with Divided Sisters for those who really want Black and White women to unite in the workplace. These two tomes will give you more than a clue. They'll give you guidelines as how to build a truly "diverse" workplace where everyone is welcomed AS THEY ARE and not as stereotypes others want them to play out. If you are a Black woman, you'll understand why you see your work status merely as a "job" and not as a career and why you feel so much like an outsider looking in at your organization.

The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that I wanted more in-depth analysis of how the White female managers confronted the idea of Black women as equals (and not just on the job), something I've experienced that White women have a difficult time doing in the workplace.

This book is a must for anyone who is interested in the career paths of women in the corporate world. That would include spouses of, grown children of, and parents of women. It is based upon Harvard research including in-depth case studies of both white and black women from childhood to the present day, career journeys one will find fascinating. When the reader returns to his/her workplace after completing this book, diversity will take on a more significant meaning. This book is also a useful tool in college career development classes. Rather than a dull read, it keeps the reader coming back for more.

GOOD BOOK. BUT I HAVE NEVER HAD AN INTERRACIAL FRIENDSHIP WITH A WHITE AMERICAN WOMAN. MY FRIENDS WERE EITHER EUROPEAN, ASIAN, AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN, SOUTH AMERICAN, OR BLACK. IM NOT EVEN INTERESTED IN CLOSING THE GAP WE'VE HAD BETWEEN EACH OTHER SINCE SLAVERY. AND EVEN IF WHITE WOMEN AND BLACK WOMEN ARE FRIENDS IN CORPORATE AMERICA, BLACK WOMEN STILL GET PAID LESS. ITS UNFAIR AND I DONT WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH SOMEONE WHO THINKS THE WORD WOMAN, FEMININE, OR LADY MEANS WHITE.

If you are wondering why the Black woman in your section of your company doesn't seem to want to socialize with you or seems guarded around her White co-workers or why the White women in your organization get all riled up about sexism but are silent when it comes to racism this is the book for you. I recommend this book along with Divided Sisters for those who really want Black and White women to unite in the workplace. These two tomes will give you more than a clue. They'll give you guidelines as how to build a truly "diverse" workplace where everyone is welcomed AS THEY ARE and not as stereotypes others want them to play out. If you are a Black woman, you'll understand why you see your work status merely as a "job" and not as a career and why you feel so much like an outsider looking in at your organization.

The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that I wanted more in-depth analysis of how the White female managers confronted the idea of Black women as equals (and not just on the job), something I've experienced that White women have a difficult time doing in the workplace.

Bell and Nkomo dive straight to the heart of the matter. They base their findings on comprehensive personal interviews of African-American and white women working as managers or executives. Ultimately, the authors hit the reader over the head with the obvious: People from strikingly different backgrounds bring profound personal differences to the workplace. Too often, organizations stupidly attempt homogenizing everyone into minor variations on the existing (typically---older, white, and male) leadership theme. Unusually (Bell and Nkomo cited no such cases), organizations may wisely embrace the differences so that the organization and its people benefit from a more perceptive and inclusive world view.

Folks who need not spend their working hours "fitting in" contribute (A) more (B) less to the organization. Leaders who accept their people for who and what they are get (A) more (B) less from their subordinates. Guess where the authors suggest the readers take their outfits.

This book rocks! All real men need to get this book. Drew Conroy has written an excellent book. For those curious or just wanting to learn about oxen this is it. Also, you don't have much other choice, since there aren't many other books on how to train oxen.

The second edition of Oxen, A Teamster's Guide by Drew Conroy fulfilled my expectations for this informative and magical new edition of the classic American book on the care of oxen. My original edition is worn, torn, and marked due to loving usage. I expect soon this new edition will also have serious evidence of wear because the value of the book is in using it not merely reading it. That means sometimes it is in the field with me and the oxen and subject to the weather and whatever may happen when you take the oxen out for a stroll.

I treasure this new book. The beautiful color photographs that illustrate this new edition make the subjects in the photos nearly jump off the page. I like best the insertion of stories about the lives of men who work oxen in America today. He calls these stories "On the Farm" they are like an oral history of the lore of oxen in America today. I noticed several men I have had the pleasure of speaking to myself, Howard van Ord from Pennsylvania and Tim Huppe from Berrybrook Ox Supply in New Hampshire. These stories help the reader understand the depth of feeling of the oxen teamster about his animals and his relationship to them.

I am new to this business. I have driven oxen teams for only six years, so I value all the new information in Oxen, A Teamster's Guide more than most. This is almost an encyclopedia of knowledge on the subject of working cattle. Many of the drawings and black and white photographs from the first edition remain and that is good. I noticed many new drawings that help illustrate how to perform a particular function--the artist really captured the sense of what you have to do to make things work.

I say bravo to the author for this wonderful instructional book. Every oxen man or woman will want to have his or her own copy of this impressive new edition. Every time I open the book I will offer a silent thank you to Drew Conroy and his family for making the effort to put into words some of his oxen wisdom. This book is a gift to the world.

Philip Henderson, Head Oxen Teamster Orange County Centennial Farm in California

This is great book with a lot of valuable information about oxen, including the care of oxen. This is the best reference / guide on oxen out there. A++++

This book is absolutely the most important reference on oxen. If you are contemplating buying a team, training a team, researching animal traction, or are just curious about oxen; this book will satisfy you. Particularly if you do not live in New England and have to train your team on your own you should not be without this book. Mr. Conroy distills the great New England ox tradition and explains how simple and satisfying owning and working a team can be. My one complaint is the glossing over of the use of oxen in farm work. Although that is understandable as most oxen are kept for fairs and parades even in New England.

This book is absolutely the most important reference on oxen. If you are contemplating buying a team, training a team, researching animal traction, or are just curious about oxen; this book will satisfy you. Particularly if you do not live in New England and have to train your team on your own you should not be without this book. Mr. Conroy distills the great New England ox tradition and explains how simple and satisfying owning and working a team can be. My one complaint is the glossing over of the use of oxen in farm work. Although that is understandable as most oxen are kept for fairs and parades even in New England.

I found the book a terrific read. I think it is huge task for an developing country to grow out of the habits of being follower. It is not impossible, but the probablity is low, especially since most of these countries are not technologically savvy.

The book gives anyone from an emerging country some hope that they too can compete in this quickly advancing world.

Cheers

Victor

This book is a surprise. Very fun to read, very insightful and plenty of new ideas for doing business from emerging economies.

I found the book a terrific read. I think it is huge task for an developing country to grow out of the habits of being follower. It is not impossible, but the probablity is low, especially since most of these countries are not technologically savvy.

The book gives anyone from an emerging country some hope that they too can compete in this quickly advancing world.

Cheers

Victor

This is a complex and multidimensional book on many levels. This book is not really about what governments can do to help their countries develop. In fact, the word "development" hardly appears. It is about the unproductive relationship between government and the private sector that wastes time and other valuable resources in emerging economies. The authors hold both parties responsible for moving on.

As stated on the first page, Simon Bolivar's epitaph reads, "Whomsoever has worked for a revolution has plowed the sea." Meant by Bolivar to convey despair and the heartbreak of failure, these words are transformed by the authors who have maintained a sense of optimism and good humor throughout their own experiences in the rugged world of transformation consulting. The Introduction, the book's first substantive chapter, is a cautionary tale of the Colombian flower industry, that prospered globally for decades, but later declined and has not yet recovered. Through this "case", seven patterns of firm behavior that inhibits economic agility are identified. The first seven chapters of the book elaborate on these patterns, wonderfully illustrated with other cases (Peru's fishmeal and Bolivia's soy industry, for example). The authors describe a sort of bratty adolescence that traps companies and industries in emerging economies. Chapters 8 and 9 are a fine application of micro principles around the theme of strategy, again focused on the firm. The authors advocate the old-fashion but culture shattering step of focusing on customers, costs and competitors in order to guide and inform decisions about strategy, positioning and productivity. They offer information and learning as a way for firms to experience a "coming of age" in the competitive sense. The role of government in promoting economic transformation is not touched until Chapter 10, two-thirds of the way through the book. Chapter 10-12 are probably where readers will find the book a bit frustrating and repetitive. Not enough time is spent defining what the authors mean by "steering mechanisms". This is undoubtedly because the book assumes the reader already knows alot. Chapter 10 mostly illustrates shifts in steering mechanisms using the case of a wall-bouncing Bolivian government. Chapter 11 is almost singular for business books - there is an actual discussion of research and the presentation of data. It is a practitioners discussion, however, not an academic one, so potential readers can relax.

B-school vets and other warriors will recognize alot here as an application of Michael Porter's "diamond model" from his Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990) and indeed, Porter writes the Foreword. The authors have extended the "diamond's" scope and reach, but their own model is not apparent until the end, Chapter 13. Their model for bringing about industry level change appears in the book's final four pages.

This book's protagonists are leaders in firms, industries and government, as well as their mindsets and actions. The word "leader" might be interpreted by some readers as "government" but this is not accurate. This book does do something extraordinary, however. On one hand, it is a blood and guts how-to on diagnosing and fixing the self-defeating decision making of firms in the emerging world. On the other hand, the conceptual framework within which political economics is practiced, debated, planned and evaluated is updated to reflect the fact that competitive advantage, not absolute or comparative advantage will increasingly referee the win/loss columns in the global economy. The context of political economics is addressed entirely without reference to ideology. This might strike some as soulless or arrogant. It might strike others as about time.

The writing in this book reflects a highly integrated understanding of business and economics, as well as intimate and affectionate knowledge of Latin American business and classical culture. Also apparent are the authors very fine liberal arts backgrounds, years on the road and a sense of mirth. Finally, these authors clearly know their work and thinking is culture altering and socially revolutionary. Their obvious goal is to realize the dream of Bolivar by capturing the minds of today's business, industry and government trend setters. While I would say their hearts are definitely not bleeding nor on their sleeves, their drive and focus are more uplifting than anything I have read or seen in a long time.

A very insightful book about how countries as a whole compete in the world economy. It presents several interesting ideas about relative competitive strengths & weaknesses of nations and the source of these competitive positions.

The book falls short on readability. The authors could have conveyed the same message in half the pages. Often, I found myself skipping entire paragraphs and sections to find the ideas burried in all the verbiage.

I still rate it a 4 because of the importance of the topic covered and the insights contained in the book.

Although this book was written in 1950, the text is still critical. I used the section on direct-contact heat exchangers to design a contact condenser back in 2002. The text is still relevant, the examples current and useful, and some calculation methods still not covered properly in more advanced text. I should point out that although some of the equations are old, they are simplier to use than newer text and require fewer inputs. Besides, when are you going to need calculations accurate to beyond 90%?

If this review was helpful, please add your vote -- Thanks.

I used this book at college, 30 years ago. Now i'm dealing with heat condensation and heat exchangers using the Kern system for design. I hope the publisher could update the tables and make from the examples a "system" like a calculation sheets. My rating: its a must in the library of any process engineer.

just right book for its subject, rare to find one.
explained everything in right content and language....simple
and easy...just amazing!

I used this book as a text book in 1982 and consider it one of the key courses in my career. The principles and methods presented by Kern are still un-matched. Today, as a design professional it is a great tool while dealing with process heat transfer. Excellent handling of condensation in the presence of non-condensibles.

Its one of those books that will be with me during my entire engineering career. One of the tuffest subject explained in such a neat way for easy comprehension. Hard to find book, mostly out of print. If you do find one, dont miss.

...it contains all the basics the beginner needs to start and offers enough of the advanced stuff to make you ready to work on any academic paper about MRI, MRS, DTI & fMRI after you have finished it.

Great book!

All review books,whether blue,yellow or green are good.The way I did it to prepare me for the MRI test: MIC course,any good cross sectional anatomy book & all the colorful review books you can find.

I used the first ed. of this book to study for my MR registry exam & found it most helpful in understanding pulse sequences & MRI physics. The author(s) answer the questions in concise, easy to understand jargon that won't confuse the student, yet is technical enough for experienced technologist's to benefit. The second ed. is a continuation of this tried & true method of teaching & I most certainly would recommend this book, especially for anyone that is just learning MRI or getting ready to sit for the registry exam.
Greg Wassenberg, MSRS, RT(R)(N)(MR)
MRI Technologist

Most excellent book. If you are looking for an easy MR book to read with a good format, this is the book for you. It contains many answer to MR questions you have and never dare asking. I went thru many MR books, this is by far my favorite, I use it all the time. Would highly recommend it.

A great resource for anyone working in MRI!!

In this important work, Khurana focuses the spotlight on the high-risk dynamics of CEO recruiting - particularly in cases where a company has not been doing well, and its former CEO has been disposed of. He demonstrates that this drama is being played out with increasing frequency in the large corporations which play a major role in our economy.

He finds that a pattern has begun repeating itself in such situations: Boards of directors don't usually take action until a company situation has been deteriorating for a while, so even when they begin the recruiting process, they are already under pressure to take bold and decisive action. This impels them to begin by rejecting any current inside candidates who are felt to be part of the problem, thus incapable of breathing new life into the organization. Underlying this "explanation" is the fear that the press, investors, and the media might not applaud a less-than-spectacular candidate such as any merely competent insider. Such lack of enthusiasm by all these onlookers might well lead to further erosion of stock which has probably already suffered. Thus the directors embark on a quest for some outside candidate who might possess the magic powers to provide salvation. The rejection of inside candidates and the quest for some superstar who can pull a rabbit from the hat are, Khurana asserts, the first steps down a slippery slope that frequently end in tragedy. The book describes the descent and how it has and will affect American business.

This is a fine book that presents a number of fresh insights about a critical issue in the world of large corporations. It is written cogently, with erudition, by an author who is rightfully passionate about his subject. Of the hundreds of management titles published in recent years, this description wouldn't apply to more than a handful.

It is interesting to compare Khurana's findings with those described in the book, "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. Collins reports on a number of companies that outperformed their competitors by huge orders of magnitude. According to Collins the CEOs of these spectacularly performing companies (a) were, with one exception, recruited from within and (b) were definitely non-charismatic leaders, selected for their capabilities with no expectation that they would perform miracles or provide instant cures. These findings certainly lend support to Khurana's assertions. The fact that one of Collins "Good to Great" companies, Gillette, ended up as a Khurana case when its CEO was forced out of his position in 2000 suggests that any generalizations in this field must take into account the rapid changes in the world.

In a final chapter, Khurana attempts a description of some possible solutions to the problems he has identified. His main prescriptions are that the CEO job market be opened up and that some more professional recruiting and evaluation processes be created for CEOs. These are rather weak palliatives for the seemingly intractable trends Khurana has described. The book's strengths lie in its portrayal of the way the CEO labor market is operating, the insights into why it is working that way and its portrayal of implications for the future of large American corporations if the trends continue.

Moreover his findings raise two fundamental issues which, though clearly beyond the scope of this book, must be dealt with in any quest for amelioration.

First issue: When things are going well, boards of directors play very stereotypical and structured roles that rarely include in-depth managerial initiatives. The chances that a board of directors, could, once it becomes evident that a company needs new leadership, mobilize itself into an effective working group and then put in the time and energy to (1) decide why the company is in trouble (2) sketch some of the remedial actions that are needed to cure it (3) set out a rational professional search and bring in new CEO in circumstances in which he or she might succeed and (4) have the patience to permit a new CEO to effect a transformation, is virtually zero. Thus a realistic conclusion from the book's findings is that the chances of success in such a venture are so slight as to be not worthy of the attempt. And if that is the inescapable conclusion, then some solutions more drastic than Khurana's may be called for. One example might be consultants who are dedicated to filling in some sort of CEO role during a transitional year or two in such situations, working with the board to evolve a strategy. I am not recommending such a step - merely suggesting that some new thinking is required.

The second issue -- again assuming that the risks in CEO recruiting will continue to be unacceptably high -- concerns a board's responsibility for making certain that they are never forced to undertake the impossible search. Instead of focusing on what boards have to do to improve their techniques for replacing the CEO, it might be more useful to ask whether it shouldn't be a responsibility of boards to ensure this doesn't happen. What mechanisms need to be built in for boards to assess managerial performance on an ongoing basis and to take prompt action when performance is not satisfactory.

While these are important issues that need to be dealt with, I do not criticize Khurana for not dealing with them in his very fine book. He has done yeoman service in identifying the issues and, in that respect, has hit a bull's eye.

A brutally honest look at what is wrong with how CEOs are chosen in America today. I read an advance copy of this book and could not believe it was allowed to go to press. Dr. Khurana certainly has put his professional aspirations on the line to be so bold, but this is the kind of book that makes a difference in the world.

This book presents what I considered some amazing and enlightening information not normally available to ordinary people. We can read about the stupefying emoluments, titanic disasters, and spectacular firings of CEOs in the popular press, but it is hard to find out the inner workings of how these people got into these positions of influence to begin with. Many of the academic treatises on management I have read seem like distant observations from an ivory tower. Refreshingly, parts of this book sounded to me like the information came from furtive phone calls late at night.

Of course, part of the problem is that the foxes are already in charge of the chicken coop. I, too, would recommend this book to members of corporate boards responsible for the performance of top executives. There are plenty of brilliant executives who should be promoted based upon sound character and true leadership ability. Everyone knows that in many cases this is not happening, but Dr. Khurana has identified the defective process that underlies the problem. It is up to boards of directors to learn about and correct their mistakes.

The final page of the book uses an analogy from the Wizard of Oz about drawing back the curtain to shed light on the inner workings of power, and Dr. Khurana has done a good job of this. His book is to CEO succession as Sinclair Lewis' "The Jungle" was to the meat packing industry--it will turn your stomach and make you cry out for change if you read it.

The selection of a new CEO can be as mysterious as the election of a new Pope, the opacity raising questions about the efficiency and legitimacy of the decisions reached. Because external CEO searches are generally undertaken by companies in the throes of a real or perceived crisis, stakeholders hope the outside CEO will be their savior. Because single-handedly saving a troubled corporation is no ordinary job, boards bent on finding a corporate messiah are not interested in ordinary qualifications but a person who is thought to possess charisma. Enron's Skilling offers a dramatic and instructive illustration of the perils of charismatic corporate ladership. Corporations would do well to reconsider their models of leadership and ways of choosing leaders.

In the decade following McCoy's appointment as CEO, Chicago's Bank One Corporation acquired over 100 banks, moved from 37th largest bank to fourth, and stock increased 500%. In 1999 Bank One began to falter, the stock fell, integrating First Chicago was more difficult than expected, the conservative style clashed with the entrepreneurial culture and McCoy's management style, which was included in the Harvard Business School's required general management course, was seen to be a liability rather than an asset. A revolt gathered steam and a generous separation agreement was negotiated. Stock jumped 11% on the announcement but became volatile with media coverage of the high-profile search for the best person in the US to lead Bank One back to the top with the leadership as the overriding principle guiding the search. Dimon was top of the short list. "In late February, Dimon flew into Chicago to deliver a two-hour presentation to the Bank One search committee. By this time, he had decided he wanted the job. Dimon's presentation seemed to leave his audience breathless. He talked about his philosophy of management, covering such topics as his leadership style and the importance of clearly articulating to people their roles and responsibilities. He also spoke about the importance of instituting a more extensive stock-option plan to better align the incentives of the executives with those of the shareholders. Dimon's bluntness and self-confidence impressed the committee." He wasn't afraid to lead, he said all the right things, he had a plan, he was prepared to make the tough decisions that others wouldn't make. In one brief appearance that Dimon himself largely orchestrated he met Bank One's high standards of leadership. Dimon was appointed over insider Istock and stock soared 30%.

Bank One's CEO succession process followed a familiar script with little emphasis on the company's strategic position and whether the candidate's background was appropriate. If the new CEO is unable to deliver quickly, the wisdom of the selection is questioned. This is the first thread of irrational behavior in what should be a carefully considered process. The leadership school believes that CEOs play a critical role in a firm's performance, while the constraint school believes that internal and external constraints limit the CEO's ability to affect performance. A third school suggests that the pertinent question to answer is 'When does leadership matter?' rather than 'Does leadership matter?' as the leader's impact is highly case-sensitive. "As the Bank One story illustrates, however, it is not only the criteria directors use in choosing a new CEO that calls into question the efficiency and overall rationality of the external CEO market. So do many other features of the search itself." Not only was the initial boost to the stock price short lived, but the board was questioned on its control over the CEO after five directors, including the internal candidate for CEO, "volunteered" to retire from the board after five months. Whether the benefits would be worth the price agreed by the board would remain an open question for an unforeseeable length of time.

"How are we to account for these remarkable, ultimately disquieting features of the external CEO search: the overestimation of the CEO's role and the fixation on charisma; the somewhat Byzantine nature of the search process itself, simultaneously closed to many presumably qualified candidates and open to the influence of many external actors; and the questionable outcomes that this process often produces? This book is an attempt to answer this very question." Boards seriously underestimate the damage that outside succession entails and if the firm is already in trouble, hiring an outside CEO might threaten the survival of the organization itself. A remarkable feature of the Bank One search was that the board passed up an experienced, highly qualified executive who knew the company and its business well. The airplane interview technique in which the incumbent CEO conducts a surprise interview with successor candidates individually and asks who should lead the company assuming both are killed provides very interesting information about the chemistry of the group. Repeating the process three months later when candidates are better prepared but only the incumbent CEO is killed, provides further valuable information. All information is shared with those involved in the final decision. If the process is initiated early enough, the shortlisted candidates can be moved into testing situations that may help the final decision.

Kurana, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Harvard Business School wrote this book based on a study of hiring and firing of CEOs at over 850 of America's largest companies. Anyone who is involved in the selection process of a CEO would be wise to study his findings.

I really enjoyed parts of this book, but the broader points he was trying to make fell flat. The thesis, that we should be wary of charisma and value competency more, is welcome to most people-perhaps everyone sufficiently detached-and his anecdotes provide interesting and powerful support.

For example, as a former banker I appreciated the point he made that big NYC bankers tend to be investment bankers, which is different than commercial banking, which is different than retail banking. It may seem like inside baseball to outsiders, but that's exactly the point: if you don't know the difference, you shouldn't be a bank director. Thus my conclusion would be that instead of telling current board members to be less foolish, it would be more practical to focus on reforming the way board members are chosen. In my experience, most bank board members were absolutely incapable of judging competence on the essential technical issues to sound banking (eg, how credit quality, spread, and volume are related), and choosing board members based on some objective criteria would seem to advance the search for a good CEO better than telling the current board members to not fall for the next empty suit.

But more broadly, is the flawed method of picking a CEO worse than before? Khurana's own data suggests that new CEOs don't matter much, which mean they aren't worse either. And the issue of arbitrariness is somewhat overstated, compared to a platonic ideal that has never existed. Picking any manager, such as a head of IT, raises the same example of cliquish, suboptimal groupthink. The same could be said for how collectives choose politicians, pundits or professors. In the words of Flaubert, "our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times. People have always been like this."

Lastly, he relies a lot on outdated sociological treatises (C Wright Mills, Weber, Whyte), and the idea of a WASP closed society. For example, at one point he mentions that in 1950 most CEOs where white, male, and Protestant, and the same is true today. But as pointed out it in Brook's Bobos in Paradise, you would be remiss not to mention the dramatic change over the past 50 years. For example, back then the Kennedy family were considered outside the establishment. Jews are now around 20% of Harvard's undergrad, and 13% of the Fortune 500 CEOs, even though 3% of the US population. The WASP elite have given way to a much more meritocratic elite, and the fact that it extends to the boardroom is partially a result of the new process for choosing CEOs. In predictable sociological fashion his straw man argument is the dopey institution-free economist, that conventional wisdom that Keynes and Galbraith effectively invoked, but which is now a tired parody of current economic thinking. In the end, there is nothing really deep here, just a fun book highlighting the current foibles of specific group of people trying to deal with incomplete information and coalition building.

Charisma and reputation have replaced management experience and industry expertise in the corner office. Certainly that's not news to anyone who has read the business press at any time in the past decade, but the trend is certainly important enough to warrant the comprehensive examination provided by Rakesh Kurana. Starting with an analysis of the increasing power of activist institutional investors, Kurana traces the process through which boards of directors have forsaken mature managers for media darlings in their CEO searches. In light of the spate of embarrassing and enraging CEO scandals, we from getAbstract recommend this book to all readers.