Organizations Books

This ambitious book takes on the "big picture" questions about the recent wave of corporate scandals: the increase in risk taking, the complexity of the modern corporation, and the limitations on shareholder governance. It offers intelligent advice for regulators, and warns average investors about the most extraordinary risks.

In my judgment, this book is a must read for anyone who followed the recent scandals. Unlike many of the books written about the markets during the past few years, "Icarus" offers a fresh perspective on what happened and why. To mix a metaphor, I hope it catches fire.

Specifically, the book recounts how technological and financial innovation made it so much easier for the 1990s corporate manager to take greater risks and manipulate how investors understood the corporation's business. The book's description of the split between perception and reality will be jarring to any investor.

Professor Skeel's writing is accessible and pithy. He lucidly explicates the "Gordian knot of conflicts" in the modern financial enterprise, and even devotes important pages to derivatives and structured finance.

But the strongest part of the book is its historical perspective. Today's reportage on the markets frequently ignores important eras, products, or schemes, and rarely understands how financial history repeats itself, or morphs in new and interesting ways. In contrast, this book ties together nearly every financial scandal during the past several centuries: the South Sea Bubble, Cooke, Gould, the Money Trusts, the S&L scandals, Milken, and so on. Of particular interest is Samuel Insull - readers who are not familiar with his schemes will find the material on the "House of Insull" unforgetable.

"Icarus" is an important intellectual history, and a riveting read. If only every book on the markets could be this good.

as one of the students of D Skeel's basic corporation's class, this book is one of our reading assignments. Generally speaking, I hate reading assignment but I do like this book.

as a foreign LLM, I always find those JD peers "know" more than me about those names like "Jay Cookie", "Masha Steward","Enron case" or "Milken and takeover". Iracus actually helps me to catch up a little bit. It at least is a great book concerning the Amercian Corporate history. I perfer it to be a light reading before going to bed b/c it is short, easy to read for a foreigner and D S tends to amuze his readers rather than torture them.

As for the scandal part, I think the three prong conclusion is a great idea b/c it does fit the history lesson neatly.

I think it is a great book for both legal and non legal ppl who are interested in this book. Anyway, as DS says in his book, "nowadays, Corporation is us."

This book is a minor masterpiece of legal/business history. In slightly more than 200 pages, David Skeel tells the story of CEOs who took huge gambles with corporate assets in order to boost profits and share prices. Although the media and public idolize larger-than-life CEOs, Skeel shows how throwing the dice can often result in ruin for corporations and their employees and shareholders. His book ranges from 19th century railroad bankruptcies to the rise and fall of Enron, tying together economic history, financial theory, business law, and the politics of regulation. It's sophisticated but breezily written. I'd give it six stars if I could.

America loves risk-taking CEOs, but when such behavior crosses over to boardrooms it could have massive consequences because of the growing scale of businesses and society's greater dependence on equity markets. Icarus in the Boardroom: The Fundamental Flaws in Corporate America and Where They Came From, by David Skeel draws on Greek mythology to present a candid warning aimed at corporate directors and anyone concerned with our economic future.

Trapped in a labyrinth of his on construction, Dedalus made wings for himself and his son Icarus. He warned Icarus not to fly to close to the sun but Icarus got carried away, failed to heed the warning, and plunged to his death after the sun melted the wax that held his wings together. Similarly, the corporation is a powerful human innovation, but is dangerous if not used properly.

But this book isn't about businesses being "socially responsible," in the normal sense of health, peace, or global warming. Instead, Skeel is concerned with the impact that corporate failures can have on the economy as a whole. From that standpoint, Icarus in the Boardroom offers excellent advice on creating a sustainable business climate, getting to the source of problems instead of the symptoms.

He attributes several recessions and the Great Depressions to an "Icarus Effect," brought on by three factors:

Excessive and sometimes fraudulent risks
Competition (or, rather, tendencies toward monopoly)
Increasing size and complexity

The bulk of the book is devoted to a short history of the corporation followed by an excellent treatment of these three thematic factors and corporate failures though US history. He explains how government has responded to Icarus effects and how corporations have worked to first adapt, then often to circumvent or unravel government's attempt to save us from corporate excesses.

In general, "the lobbying might of corporate managers, and the power of their political contributions, is too great for even relatively minor reform to succeed," he notes. However, the wake of financial scandals provides an opportunity to "change the political calculus." We witnessed such changes after the 1929 crash when reforms like creating the Securities and Exchange Commission stopped short of federalizing corporate law.

More recently we enacted Sarbanes-Oxley to address the scandals of Enron, WorldCom and Tyco. Where did we stop short this time? Skeel advises that we partially addressed fraudulent risk but left the other Icarun factors largely untouched. Among Skeel's many recommendations:

Conflicts of interest. Having auditors selected by a committee made up of "independent" board members does little; they'll still be reluctant to choose an auditor who will rock the boat. Stock exchanges should assign and police auditors.
Securities analysts. "If exchanges were required to assign a securities analyst to every listed company - and pay the analysts from companies' listing fees - investors would know that there was at least one (unbiased) analyst covering every listed company."

SEC's proxy access proposal, which wasn't dead when Skeel wrote the book. Skeel favors it but warns that shareholder activism "often won't curb problematic behavior if the behavior in question is profitable to the corporation." As an example, he cites the fact that Tyco shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to move its domicile back to the US from Bermuda. Shareholders wanted to keep saving on taxes regardless of the negative impact on the larger society.

Special purpose entities (SPEs). Instead of treating them under "enterprise liability," as advocated by Adolph Berle in the post-New Deal era, Skeel takes a middle approach. Auditors and regulators should "focus on whether the spirit of the SPE status is being violated. SPEs that are not truly separate from the overall company should be denied separate treatment for accounting purposed."

"Ordinary Americans no longer see corporations as 'other,'" because more than half now own stock (directly or indirectly). As defined benefit plans dwindle and 401(k) participation increases, Americans have come to see their own stakes, however small, as tied to those of corporations. Skeel cites an important study by Dallas Federal Reserve Economists John Duca and Jason Saving that found "a direct correlation between stock ownership and the Republican vote in recent Congressional elections. As stock ownership goes up, so does the Republicans' share of the Congressional vote." It's no wonder President Bush keep pushing privatization of Social Security.

"The increasing identification between ordinary Americans and corporate America is perfectly understandable, but beneath it lurks a terrible irony: at the same time as our passion for real reform has declined, the risks have radically increased," writes Skeel. In the past, investing in stocks was an activity largely limited to the rich who could afford to speculate. Now stocks have become the investment of choice for "life" savings and retirement.

With so many of us now dependent on corporate performance, let's hope it doesn't take another Great Depression before American's wake up to the need for reforms of the type outlined by David Skeel.

University of Pennsylvania law professor David Skeel's Icarus in the Boardroom: The Fundamental Flaws in Corporate America and Where They Came From presents an analysis of corporate scandals and catastrophic failures from the rise of the modern corporation through the present day.

Skeel begins by analyzing the underlying causes of what he terms "Icarus Effect" failures, named for the mythological Greek Icarus whose hubris in flying too close to the sun caused his downfall.

In Skeel's analysis, Icarus Effect failures occur as a result of three factors -- corporate executives willing to take excessive or fraudulent risks, the pressures of corporate competition, and the increasing size and complexity of the corporation. While not all corporate failures fit this definition, Skeel finds that the Icarus Effect underlies many of the most catastrophic and damaging failures in American business history.

Skeel's investigation of corporate malfeasance and business failure covers a wide historical scope, from the birth of the corporation during the 17th century voyages of trade through the exploits of recent figures such as Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, and Dennis Kozlowski. Along the way, we meet a number colorful historical characters such as Jay Cooke -- the Philadelphia banker whose scheme for selling government debt helped to finance the Civil War and the growth of the U.S. railroads until his increasing risk-taking caused the collapse of this financial empire in 1873 -- and Samuel Insull -- who established a utilities empire with a complex web of corporate ownership until his overextended, debt-laden empire was brought down during the Depression.

The most fascinating aspects of Skeel's historical analysis are the frequent parallels between the catastrophic failures of the past and those in recent headlines. Jay Cooke's dinners with President Grant are reminiscent of the friendly relationship between Present Bush and Enron's Ken Lay. And Samuel Insull's elaborate corporate structuring of his utilities holdings in the first decades of the 20th century are eerily echoed in the complex "off balance sheet" holdings of Enron in the final decade of the century.

In the closing sections of Icarus in the Boardroom, Skeel provides a critique of recent attempts to curb corporate misbehavior such as Sarbannes-Oxley, and finds little that he believes is likely to retard the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between legal curbs on corporate behavior and clever techniques for evading them. In the final chapter, Skeel offers a number of his own recommendations for how America can strengthen oversight of corporate behavior.

Icarus in the Boardroom is fascinating for both its historical perspective on corporate malfeasance and its analysis of recent headline events.

The late John Meyendorff wrote perhaps the best general history of late Christian antiquity in "Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions." Reading it will help readers to understand the present Christian world, and dispel the myth that the Christian church was a unified institution, or that the union of church and state was solely the work of Constantine.

The title of the book implies Meyendorff's themes quite well. He talks about imperial unity and Christian divisions. The imperial unity he explores is the idea, present in Christian thought at least since the 2nd century, that the Roman empire had a providential role in the spread of Christianity. "Jesus was born during the reign of Augustus, the one who reduced to uniformity, so to speak, the many kingdoms on earth so that he had a single empire. It would have hindered Jesus' teaching from being spread through the whole world if there had been many kingdoms...everyone would have been compelled to fight in defense of their own country."(Origen- Contra Celsum) In other words, before Constantine's conversion, the emperor was regarded as the providential manager of earthly affairs. After Constantine's conversion, the Roman emperor was looked on as bringing the kingdom of God about. The bishops were then granted imperial posts, and the church in general started to develop a structure mirroring that of the imperial government. The church in general was granted privileged status until Theodosius banned Pagan cults; Justinian stamped out the last vestiges of Paganism in the Roman empire.

The Christian divisions were many. Meyendorff explores the many doctrinal disputes that took place in late antiquity, and in particular those of Eastern Christendom, an area that until his work had largely been neglected in church histories written in English. The sects included arians, monophysites, monothelites, apolloninarian, etc. He details these groups as well as the numerous schisms that took place. The divisiveness was particularly striking in the "three chapters" controversy. Justinian, in order to heal the schism with the monophysites and unite the empire, asked Pope Vigilius to condemn the works of 3 theologians. When he did so, virtually the entire west protested; the North African church excommunicated him, and even the Roman deacons refused to concelebrate with him. So Vigilius retracted his condemnation, and Justinian convoked the Second Council of Constantinople, which excommunicated Vigilius, who then changed his mind again. Justinian then repressed dissent against the council by force, and Constantinople II was not widely recognized as a council in the west until the Middle Ages. Two lessons can be learned from this: many sects claimed to represent true Christology, and no one had the foggiest idea of who was right and who was wrong; the only way that the unity of the empire could be maintained was through the emperor's force.

Another interesting aspect of this book is the history of the development of the papacy. Briefly, the papacy in late antiquity was not what the Vatican (and modern Catholic apologists like Steve Ray) says it was. The popes did not exercise any kind of jurisdiction outside of the Italian suburban dioceses, and even then it was largely to confirm episcopal elections. The turning point was in the 7th and 8th centuries, which in addition to the Islamic invasions in the middle east, saw the iconoclastic controversy in the Byzantine empire and the Lombard invasion of Italy. The Byzantine empire, its hands full with the iconoclast controversy, refused to help Rome against the Lombards. The Pope looked for a new protector, and found one in Charlemagne. "He was now called to save the See of Peter abandoned by its legitimate protectors in Constantinople. But in doing so, he also gradually assumed the imperial legacy itself, in opposition to Byzantium, with the pope becoming a crucial factor in this new version of Romanitas. None of the main actors of this fundamental change of political geography realized the future consequence for the fate of Christendom: the religious and cultural polarization between East and West." (p. 327)

History of Church Dogma
To write a record of these schismatic and tiring years of the Church, when thousands of Egyptians and Syrians paid their life in defense of their miaphysite belief of the hypostatic union of Christ's incarnate nature, the ecclesiastic history writer needs to master Christology. Fr. john, revised and published his other gem "Christ in Eastern Christian Thought", qualifies what he wrote about Christological developments during these centuries.

Setup of the empire and Churches
A systematic account of Church-state developments are narrated masterfully in chapters I,II,and III. In chapters IV you will enjoy understanding the cultural variety of the Greek east and its founding Churches, and their robust theological traditions. Chapter V will give you a glimpse of the Latin west.

Chalcedony and its aftermath
chapter VI recounts in a relatively unbiased tone this critical time of the Church and Empire.The age of Justinian is a pleasure even if of a sour epoch, the modus operandi of Justinian and his ingenuous wife Theodora left their imprint, not only in Ravenna's St. Vitale glorious mosaic, but in the memory of Christianity.
chapter VII explains how Constans II tried to establish Ravenna as the center of Imperial Christianity.

Byzantine Emperor and Pope Gregory
Here you will see the first pontiff Maximus, the Byzantine Emperor striving to keep unity of an empire, in disintegration by applying a "Standard Orthodox" faith from the Henoticon to the three chapters, condemning writings of long parted Church thiologians and Chrismatics and the great 'monophysite Orthodox' contra the diophysite orthodox.

New Vocabulary, Ancient personalities?
Yes, indeed, entertaining and confusing. What about monothelites and Monoenergism, and all the other monos, theopaschites, akoimetai, hesycasts, iconoclasm, and all the other ism's.
Can you distinguish Severus of Antioch from that of Asmonien? Or,all the Al's; Al-Harith, Al-Mundhir,and Al-Noman ;Arab kings who influenced the Christian East?

400 pages of ecclesiastics
This is the most honest concise Eastern Church record that is available at hand, since 'History of Eastern Christianity by the late eminent coptologist Aziz Atiya is out of print. For this critical period, in the life of the Empire and the Orthodox Church doctrine. Meyendorff historical mastery with enlightening analysis of the Holy Church of the East as Neil calls it, its Emperial politics to keep its unity throug an enforced Doctrinal belief. .

Jean Meyendorff
Fr. john, of blessed memory, a master of patristic and dogmatic theology is qualified to give us a skillful tour through the maze of these schismatic centuries. A fellow of the Guggenheim Memorial foundation, Fr. John had an opportunity to perfect his in depth study on the history of the Church during its critical years 450-680.
Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan wrote "There are very few scholars in the East or the West who would be in a position to undertake this assignment. And that is, of course, precisely what John Meyendorff is."

History of Eastern Christianity
The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): Their History and Theology (Theology and Life Series 21)

Fr. John Meyendorff, professor of church history and patristics, has produced in Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions, the second volume in a series on church history published by the Seminary Press of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, a unique and sweeping view of the early development of the Christian church, which gives insight into the nature of later Christendom, as well as new perspectives on why our history of Christendom came to be so Western-Euro-centric, despite the fact that much of early Christendom was independent of (and in some ways opposed to) the western/Nicea/Romish orthodoxy that has dominated the church historically, politically, and theologically for the past thousand years.

Of course, early Christianity grew up in the Mediterranean basin, based on missionary activity out of Palestine through the Roman imperial world largely via trade routes. This part of history is well known, and it is no surprise to us -- the history of Christian development from Jerusalem to Rome to the rest of Western Europe is the best-documented and most-often-repeated form of history. And, as Rome was the centre of the 'civilised world' at the time of the New Testamentary developments, this makes sense from a political point of view. However, while people were heading toward Rome and other points west, there were simultaneous missionary and expeditionary activities to the north, east, and south.

Meyendorff recounts the early and continuing development of the church in Africa, Asia, and non-Roman Europe in addition to the developments within the Roman Empire. Additionally, Meyendorff recounts in great detail the lesser-studied divisions within the Roman Empire, the struggles for dominance between senior sees (Rome struggling for dominance; Constantinople arising as a power when the political centre of gravity shifts to the East; Alexandria striving to maintain at least second priority worldwide and unhappy at being relegated minority status). The impact of geography, the dissemination of theology, hymnody, and scripture along trade routes, the development of independent structures of the church outside the Roman/Byzantine Empires -- these are parts of the grand diversity of Christian history which is often neglected by both Catholic and Protestant historians, who, due to language barriers (few scholars read Syriac, Coptic, etc., today, languages required for careful study and understanding of these other Christian branches; even fewer scholars knew these prior to the last few generations of researchers), the unavailability of texts, and simple cultural and geographical ignorance, were unaware of the foundation and continuation of Christian communities beyond the Roman imperial borders. Also, in the intellectual prejudice against the East, all non-Roman Catholic or Protestant groups in Africa, Asia, and Northern Europe were lumped together as 'Orthodox' or 'Eastern Orthodox', as if this were one uniform, monolithic group for whom this description would be adequate.

This is a part of history that is of vital importance for study today, as it helps clarify the issues that were at the heart of so many things taken for granted today, but which beg further study and understanding. Early creedal understanding cannot be gained unless the controversies, many of them Eastern in origin (both intellectually and geographically), are understood in the context in which they arose, and not simply in the polemical exposition laid out by the more-victorious Western scholars. Canonical development likewise cannot be understood without an examination of the world in which the canon was formed, and without an understanding of what was left out of the canon. (I would argue, as I did in a previous review, that what was left out of the canon is important to study to help put the canonical scriptures in greater perspective.)

Meyendorff writes with care toward developing a comprehensive view of the church universal. Despite claims to universality given by creeds of Western churches, or mandates and charges given to particular sees or scriptures, there is in fact no universality of Christianity without the inclusion of the study of these divers and unique forms of Christian worship and belief. In conjunction with Meyendorff's other writings, a broader view of the church can be gained than is generally available in most popular or scholarly texts on church history.

This is a fairly dense text. For long stretches of the narrative, new characters are introduced with each paragraph, and the narrative flow can become confusing without keeping the various missionaries, bishops, church-planters, emperors and kings straight. Likewise, the geography becomes very confusing, as the text introduces lands and polities generally unfamiliar to Western readers, and Meyendorff strives to maintain historically-contemporary consistency, which means, if a kingdom comes to have a new name during a new period, Meyendorff will then use the new name, but not always with a reference back to the old kingdom, etc.

Plan to read this book twice for true understanding, but much can be gained from one reading, too.

The late Father John Meyendorff was a deeply knowledgeable historian of Christianity, who, unlike most of his peers was Orthodox, but also of the west. Church history has lost a major scholar and writer.
The material in this volume covers a period during which the Roman government at Constantinople sought to unify the church. Unfortunately, many regions (Egypt and Syria, as well as those areas which had never been part of the empire) were hostile to theological developments championed by by the government and to the position - second in the pentarchy of patriarchs, after the pope - that the councils decreed belonged to the Patriarch of Constantinople. This estrangement was a major factor in the spread of Islam.
There is also an excellent summary of Christianity in areas that had never been in the empire. (Persian, Caucassian, Armenian, etc.)
It is very unfortunate that volumes 2 and 4 are the only ones to appear of a projected six volume history.
I have been informed that a new editor has been hired and the first part of volume one is to be out in Fall, 2007, with the rest to follow (date not set). Also volumes two (this one) and four The Christian East and the Rise of the Papacy: The Church 1071-1453 A.D (Church History, Vol 4) are scheduled to be reprinted in Winter, 2007.

The late Father John Meyendorff was a deeply knowledgeable historian of Christianity, who, unlike most of his peers was Orthodox, but also of the west. Church history has lost a major scholar and writer.
The material in this volume covers a period during which the Roman government at Constantinople sought to unify the church. Unfortunately, many regions (Egypt and Syria, as well as those areas which had never been part of the empire) were hostile to theological developments championed by by the government and to the position - second in the pentarchy of patriarchs, after the pope - that the councils decreed. This estrangement was a major factor in the spread of Islam.
There is also an excellent summary of Christianity in areas that had never been in the empire. (Persian, Caucasian, Armenian, etc.)
This is volume 2 of a series of 6. Volume 1, part 1 Formation And Struggles: The Church Ad 33-450: the Birth of the Church Ad 33-200 (The Church in History) and volume 3, Greek East And Latin West: The Church AD 681-1071 (The Church in History) appeared in late 2007. Volume 4 The Christian East and the Rise of the Papacy: The Church 1071-1453 A.D (Church History, Vol 4) appeared earlier. Volumes 5 and 6 are yet to appear.

If you ever thought your child might have ADHD, or any other learning disability, you must read this. If you are a pediatrician, it's likely you've been pressured by schools into diagnosing patients with ADHD. Please read this before you do. Teachers/educational specialists can really learn from the masterpiece:"In Their Own Way". The brilliant author, Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D., inspires us to "respect the garden of childhood" and not slap a "flawed label" such "attention deficit hyperactivity" on kids. Many kids have been branded as "underachievers", "learning disabled", simply have a nontraditional style of learning, Armstrong says. Each child has his own unique combination of multiple intelligences in learning, which must be honored and nurtured." We should not be putting these kids in remedial groups or writing them off as underachievers. Instead, he suggests: "We should use better teaching strategies appropriate to the real needs of the kids, based on their multiple intelligences." Better yet, Dr. Armstrong gives concrete teaching strategy suggestions parents and teachers can follow. He also lists learning materials, books, games,internet sites, and computer software to foster the eight intelligences. If we believe Dr. Armstrong, nurturing kids is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Children rise to the highest level of our expectations. Parents and teachers can have hope. A generation of "ADHD labeled" kids or "learning disabled" kids need not be thought of as patients needing lifelong medication or remediation, but as potential Stephen Hawkings, just waiting to be nurtured properly. It is our responsibility to help these souls find their own way. It is our future.

I encourage anyone, everyone to read about these theories and apply them as best as they can to students, their own children, other children they may encounter, if you are stuck in that must-sit-still-and-listen traditional-mindset, you owe it to yourself and others to open up your mind to how kids learn differently. Would love to have this be enforced reading for certain teachers my children and I have encountered in the past.

I read this book while on a 3 hour bus ride to St Mary's City with my son's 4th grade class. I was so overjoyed to have found something that provided a glimmer of recognition for my son's abilities. He was labled ADD and after several years of fighting it I was finally starting to say "Well, he is very bright, BUT he has ADD." Well, now I will say he is a Kinesthetic, Spatial and partially linguistic learner. He is bright and capable and he just doesnt fit into the traditional teaching styles, along with another 80% of the population. There is nothing WRONG with him. This book can help so many people regain confidence in themselves, their children and loved ones. Confidence that our tradtional school sytem has systematically destroyed in hundreds of thousands of bright, wonderful children by trying to force them to learn in a way that is not only unatural for them, but also, many times, impossible. This book helped me to understand my son, myself,and even my husband. Now I have some of the tools that can help me reach them. ADD may exist, but 99% of it is in the eye of the beholder.

This is the kind of book you have to keep replacing because when you loan it out it won't come back!

The Education Products Information Exchange shockingly reported, 80% of the content in school textbooks was known by students before they studied. If the content was known then education meant time consumption and rising tides of mediocrity. A national education reaction was expressed in the book "Nation at Risk" providing the following recommendation: 1) rigorous grading 2) more standardized tests 3) better textbooks 4) and adherence to English, Math, Science, Social Sciences, and Computer Science. The core curriculum was designed for students to compete against other nations but considered boring by students.

What does 500 million standardize test mean? First, standardized implies keeping someone out. Standardize tests force sterilization of alleged defective individuals. In 1930, standardized tests were used to keep immigrants out of the U.S. One should be asking themselves, "Is formal testing the best way to determine competency?", "What do these tests measure?" and "Do these test encourage fault finding rather than discovery of strengthens?" Business maximums absolutely focus on strengthens rather than weakness to survive. Businesses manage weakness. What doesn't the educational system do likewise? Standardizing tests are faulty in their construction, represent poor subject selection, and faulty in research design. 500 million standardize tests means significant defect!

Learning Disability implies a specific neurological disorder. Interestingly, no biological neurological correlation has been proven indicating learning disorder students have a problem. So no biological proof exists that these student's brains are different. Diagnostics do not access the students learning style. Instead, the learning disability diagnostics are used to pick and pry for weakness administered by certified qualified experts. These qualified experts do not have comparable academic qualifications such as Phds in professional psychiatry or psychology. Yet the experts are making professional assessments about the student education capabilities. Experts diagnose to the following disabilities: dyslexia, hyperactivity, dysfunctional auditory, sequential memory, attention deficit, reading difficulty, math block, underachievement, and overachievement.

Learning Disability is revolutionary in scope, 50% of the students are labeled with a certain degree of learning disability, including overachievers. Perhaps these students just learn differently and the mere suggestion that one model for learning applies to all students is irrational. For example, Norman Geschwind, observed those "dyslexic" students, "probably a mythical made-up term", have: unusual drawing and artistic skills, a strong mechanical aptitude, and above average special dimension capability. A learning diagnostic revolution has permeated the education system. Students are required to sit for long periods of time and decode long complicated instructions. Teachers talk too much, 1/5 of the day is spent in teacher explanations and instructions. Too much talking "at" and not "to" the student; too much money interest, $1.5 billion in textbook sales ensure that product is politically and culturally marketed and declarative statements help ensure students believe absolutely; too much task analysis, task analysis represents a fragmented approach to learning where each activity is broke in parts and performance measured against the parts. The end result is a current count of 2 million students labeled as having a learning disability. The percent increase of 21.5% in 1977 too 40.9% by 1983 suggests more students need special education services and these services need federal additional funding. Few of these educationally handicapped children ever make it back into mainstream education.

Contrarian's evidence builds up. Any contradictory evidence is viewed with skepticism and rejection, but gradually contrary evidence builds until such time it cannot be rejected. Teachers teach from their lesson plans. Lesson plan educational training ignores the multiple intelligence of the student. The huge number of "Home-Schooler's" and their movement suggests evidence that learning intelligence models have become an issue. The problem is not the system structure: public verse charter/private nor public verses home-school, but in the ignorance about learning intelligence.

Can the system really have so many learning disabled students? A new learning model must emerge. Many parents feel they need to motivate their children to learn. Perhaps learning starts by determine the type or combination of intelligence types, your child exhibits: linguistic learn best by saying, hearing, and seeing words; logical learn best by forming concepts and looking for abstract patterns and relationships; spatial learn through images, pictures, and color; kinesthetic learn by touching, manipulation, and movement; musical learn through rhythm and melody; interpersonal learn best by relating and cooperating; intrapersonal learn best when left too them selves. Learning how to get your c

An excellent collection of papers covering both short and long term performance of IPOs and their determinants with a strong focus on international evidence. An interesting reading for academics and practitioners.

Fabio Bertoni, PhD, CFA

This book really is true to its title. Broken down into four parts (Performance of IPOs, IPO Underpricing: International Evidence, Corporate Structure and IPO Evaluation and Bookbuilding, Listing and Underwriting) the reader will find international topics and also country-specific chapters for Taiwan, Turkey, Germany, Spain, France, Australia, USA and even Austria. In total there are 25 contributions from international academics and practitioners. There is no other book that describes the different aspects of IPOs in such detail and completeness. This highly recommended edited volume will serve as a reference text for professionals within the investment banking or private equity industry as well as for finance students.

Dieter G. Kaiser, Institutional Research, Benchmark Alternative Strategies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

While IPOs have attracted much academic research in the past, Prof. Gregoriou has still managed to collect a set of very interesting and insightful papers about corporate flotations. Much of what we know about IPO was confined to the Anglo-American countries, but this volume also details the IPO process of Continental European countries and of emerging economies. The collection also comprises some topics which did not receive much attention: e.g. earnings manipulation prior to a flotation, the creation of IPO indices, the special case of internet IPOs and so on. Therefore, the volume is highly informative. I recommend it to anyone interested in the process of bringing companies to the stock exchange.

Prof. Luc Renneboog, Tilburg University and European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

If you are looking for up-to-date information on some of the most interesting aspects of IPOs and appreciate solid quantitative analyses this is the book you will want to get. I found it useful to get a picture of the particularities of the European IPO market. The contributions in this book complement each other well, that is why this book gave me new impulses for my work.

Martin Brixner, scientific assistant, Munich University of Technology, Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS)

I ordered this book three weeks ago and was amazed at the originality of all the articles. This book deals with all the issues of IPO from performance to underwriting corporate structure, bookbuilding, listing and underwriting.

If you are on Wall Street or London and work in the IPO sector this provides the latest quantitative research in the area.

As an IT professional, I understand the need for quick and complete information, and this book gives it. The learners guide for beginners and the definitive guide for advanced users all in one package. Inovative, and thought inspiring, the theories in design and implimentaion are on the cutting edge of design concepts...

As an IT professional, I understand the need for quick and complete information, and this book gives it. The learners guide for beginners and the definitive guide for advanced users all in one package. Inovative, and thought inspiring, the theories in design and implimentaion are on the cutting edge of design concepts, even 6 moth after its release.

Although this book is rich with details, it is too terse to be considered comprehensive. The ideal audience, in my opinion, consists of (1) project managers who will be tasked with planning these systems, (2) development managers who need to organize their resources to produce systems that are rapidly evolving even before the first line of code is written, and (3) production support, which will be taking highly dynamic systems into production.

One thing stands out about this book - it begins with business requirements and makes them a central theme of the Internet Commerce Development Methodology (ICDM), which is the author's approach to e-commerce systems development. The ICDM is the heart of this book. It's a methodology that successfully marries business analysis and development, and also defines how the project should be organized. It's a top-down approach with feasibility analysis and strategy at the top. The next layer in ICDM is the process level, which is imperative for e-commerce initiatives, which will certainly change business processes. This layer also requires a feasibility analysis, as well as process change, reengineering and transformation steps. Next is the meta-development strategy that encompasses your component strategy, functional requirements, architecture, design and implementation. Each element requires a feasibility analysis. Stepping back and viewing the ICDM as a whole it looks a lot like a spiral life cycle approach. I am not sure that is the author's intent, but it can be construed as such, especially if you view the feasibility analyses checkpoints as risk assessments as well.

The entire process is evolutionary, and therefore the approach supports incremental delivery and implementation. In many respects it resembles the Rational Unified Process and could be easily aligned to a project that used that approach in e-commerce development. Even of you are locked into a different methodology I strongly recommend this book because it has some excellent practices and will give you ideas that can be seamlessly incorporated into your approach.

Practitioners and students have been waiting for a book such as this to come along. In reality there is very little in the way of methodological help guiding the development of information systems for conducting web commerce. This book doesn't disregard the lessons learned from the evolution of systems development but it introduces the key issues throughout the lifecycle that differentiate the complexities of web systems from their traditional counterparts.

This book provides the information needed to develop Web Systems in an organisational setting. It takes you through all the components of development with an innovative approach called ICDM. The methods have helped me greatly at work in my role as a Web developer.

Lest make things clear form the start, I am from a beautifully country (Chile) that have over 90% of students in voucher schools, some private, some municipal, the proportion in Municipal schools is going down year to year, parents are moving to private-held schools, and municipal students numbers goes down, from overt 75% some years ago to below 50% now, and continues to shrink. It looks like that parents, if they have the possibility; they move to better-performing schools.

The simple power behind the general success of U.S. is the ability (and liberty) of persons to walk-out and obtain the service elsewhere, it puzzled me that a so simple, and sensible, idea has a significant part of the educators against it. When people spoke of liberty, in general, is fine, when people spoke of liberty to choose school is bad.

This is why I bought this book; I like to understand the position of anti-vouchers, maybe I got convinced, but I don't, the book is a compelling list of thinks going bad in municipal school today, and shows a supposed path to improve things, by developing an action plan to have better municipal schools, the tool to convince of the necessity of change is fear, fear that if they don't improve the vouchers are coming!

The book is a starling list of things that make for underperforming municipal schools, from School boards managed by conflicting interest groups, to curricula reform (that that author suggests is not working)and a hope that this time they have a working plan to improve municipal schools, the necessity of making system changes, but the author also recognizes than this are the kind of changes more difficult to obtain. The chapter "Changing the system" start with along list of difficulties to change, including to assess than "Structural changes that is not supported by cultural changes will eventually overwhelmed by the culture" after such strong expression one a the right to think that Mr. Schlechty is on a vain trail, as cultural changes are the most difficult to do.

Well, they have plenty of time to try this path or another or another, in the mean time they will keep children chained to his local municipal school, simply, by negating the possibility that they move with is tax money elsewhere.

Inventing Better Schools provides a rare opportunity for school administrators to to 'look over the shoulder' of a successful practitioner of educational reform.

Schlechty (pronounced Schlek-ty) predicates the teaching program on the belief that it is the teachers' jobs to actually ENGAGE students in meaningful learning. A radical idea!

He states: "Viewing students as a customer places the the school in the position of accepting the proposition that the school's obligation is to invent work sufficiently attractive that the students engarge in it voluntarily. (Coercion may gain compliance, but it does not produce engagement and commitment.

It is the obligation of the school and the teacher to invent work that attracts the attention and compels the energy of students, for it is in inventing products that customers will buy that a customer- focused business creates the conditions of its own survival."

Across the world the public school system is under threat and Phil Schlechty provides the most practical scenario for its survival that I have read.

** We are starting a school administrators' reading group/ discussion forum in our district and this text is our starting point. Over 30 principals nominated to be in this program in two days.

First and foremost this book is so well organized it made it a pleasure to read. Schlechty clearly outlines and summarizes all 12 chapters in the Preface. Don't miss it! This book is not a light topic ~ so focusing the reader where the author was headed was greatly appreciated.

Schlechty claims that American public schools are in urgent need for dramatic improvement or they take the risk of becoming extinct. And the key to improving the schools is the quality of the work students are provided. Students need to be engaged in their learning and their work should reflect relevance to their needs to become socially and academically prepared for the next century. He says all students are entitled to a high quality of education. I couldn't agree more!

Here are two other aspects that I found powerful about this book (besides the organization style). 1) Schlechty clearly states what he perceives the problem is with American public schools and how he came to that conclusion and 2) he then provides the reader with an aggressive cookbook style solution to the problem (the action plan).

The author lives up to the title, Inventing Better Schools An Action Plan for Educational Reform.

I recommend this book to anyone who cares about our children's future: parents, students, educators, administrators, community leaders, superintendents, business leaders, etc. because it takes ALL of US to make the changes needed to Invent Better Schools and this book is a great starting point.

Inventing Better Schools, An Action Plan for Educational Reform, by Phillip C. Schlechty, is a must read for those interested in educational reform in the public schools including teachers, administrators, schools boards, and local educational leaders. Any district wishing to make systemic changes may wish to use this book to provide a common starting point for reform dialogue.

Schlechty presents his case as to the urgent need for public school reform and challenges educators to redefine what their role is in providing quality education for students. His two basic tenants for the urgent need for reform is the fear that public education could be lost to a voucher system and the increased need for people to have adaptive skills to be successful in an information based society.

The starting point for educational reform is the basic mission of schooling. Schlechty states, "The aim of schooling is an educated citizenry, but the core business of schooling is engaging students in work that results in their learning what they need to learn to be viewed as well educated in American society (page 31)." In his philosophy, if schools are looked at as a business, students are the primary customers.

Inventing Better Schools emphasizes that reform efforts in the past fail because the changes are not embodied by the whole organization and the culture that surrounds the schools. All stakeholders need to be involved in the reform process. To enable systemic change, four key questions need to be answered before by educational leaders:
1. Why is change needed?
2. What kind of change is needed and what will it mean for us when the change comes about?
3. Is what we are being asked to do really possible? Has it been done before? By whom? Can we see it in practice?
4. How do we do it? What skills do we need and how will they be developed (page 208)?
In the appendix, two districts provide examples of what goals and action plans they have by answering key questions like the ones above.

Take the time to read Inventing Better Schools, An Action Plan for Educational Reform before spending enormous amounts of energy on efforts that may only have limited lasting impact on education. Schlechty sums up his mission when he writes, "...great leaders are needed if real change is to occur. My hope is that this book will find such leaders and that they will find this book useful (page 185)."

Few authors have been able to write a more practical and informative guide to reforming the American educational system than Phillip Schlecthy. He explains both the postive and negative aspects of education today and provides strategies for redesigning schools to become focused on producing high quality, engaging work for students. Thought-provoking questions are included as tools to help districts transform as well as cases studies which exemplify effective educational reform. Inventing Better Schools is revolutionary, thorough and bound to make an impact on anyone who is serious about revitalizing American schools

This novel integrates several different tools, each individually useful in understanding personality, into a powerful way to evaluate and grow a corporate culture. The organization that I am involved with is currently using the tools described in this novel to great results.

Island of Excellence is an insightful book that explains corporate culture in a truly insightful way. Mark Bodnarczuk breaks the mold of corporate literature with this unique novel. While Island of Excellence succinctly explains corporate culture and ways to tap into its creative power, it also speaks to the individual. It has helped me greatly in my personal, as well as professional life. The lessons I've learned have helped me form a new understanding about my relationships at work along with a better understanding of how I fit into the culture of my workplace. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand corporate culture and thrive in their workplace.

Island Of Excellence: 3 Powerful Strategies For Building Creative Organizations is a must read for any business executive or manager looking to gain a competitive edge to drive their organization to higher levels of performance. The author, Mark Bodnarczuk, combines the solitude of scuba diving the spectacular reefs of Papua New Guinea to explore the corporate and personal lives of nine characters attending a life altering dive workshop. This "Teaching Novel" has provided me insight on how to set free the creative thinking within our organization and allow individuals to find meaning and significance in their work. An eye-opening book that I highly recommend!

Using Fictional Characters relating to Jungian and Enneagram models, Mark Bodnarczuk, takes the reader on a journey exploring the inner self. In a unique approach to the "Corporate Book" Mark invites the reader to identify with one of the characters and discover their own internal conflicts that prevent them from fully experiencing their potential for excellence and success. Mark's book takes us a step beyond just identifying leadership traits and obstacles, to recognizing, understanding, and overcoming those obstacles to unleash our full potential. I am on my third read of Mark's book and discover new insights each time. His principles have helped me achieve greater success not only as a CEO, but also in my personal life.

This book was one of the best books I've read in recent memory. The writer, Mark Bodnarczuk, uniquely used fictional characters to make a very complex subject enjoyable to read and easy to retain. His insights into how personalities affect work performance and teamwork were especially helpful. I've applied his principles in my organization and found them to improve teammwork, employee morale and organizational productivity. I would recommend this book to anyone who desires an understanding of human personalities, how people's personalities impact teamwork and how understanding personalities improves business performance.

this book covers many important aspects, and thouroughly discusses everything it has set out to. The chapters are broken down sensibly into meaningful sections, handy for speed reading. Not nearly as painful or dry as I had feared.

Great book, I needed it for class. It provided a lot of detail on the specific cases that have made the changes in special education through the years.

Excellent source book for both the novice or experienced pracitioner. Very helpful, concise and comprehensive

I bought it for one class and have used it for every class. I use it everyday and would not want to be without it.

This book is a must-have for educators. Since the push for inclusion means many students with disabilities are entering regular schools and classrooms with their peers, it is of great worth that the regular teacher as well as the special education teachers know the background of the laws that pertain to these students with diverse needs. It would be beneficial to both students, teachers, and parents to know and understand how the laws are applied in court, what an IEP is, what is expected of the teachers, and what can be expected of the students. I have the other major law books on disability laws, but this one is more geared toward other participants in the process besides lawyers. It is very readable and very understandable without having to go to law school to get a background in law first. I suggest this or rather recommend this to my friends and students who are interested in working with those with disabilities in regular school settings. Karen Sadler Science Education, University of Pittsburgh, klsst23@pitt.edu

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to buy the book for my doctoral class.

It must have been a hard book to find. Once I finally received it it was in great condtion. I have no complaints. I took off one star because it took so long.

This book is great! The authors did a fantastic job. I'm going to be buying a few more...

There have been a lot of books published concerning teams and how to form them over the past decade, but this book, Leading Organizations from the Inside Out, goes a few steps further by providing specific tools and processes on how to create and utilize Action-Learning Teams (ALTs). These ALTs (as the book calls them) are teams formed to address important persistent problems or organizational challenges that a company may face. ALTs are based on "learning characterized by reflection in action"; or simply stated, they are internal teams chartered to focus and hone down a specific problem or process gap and then fix it. ALTs can do what most of us rarely do in our day-to-day efforts at work. They can helicopter above the canopy of the company's forest and get a clear picture by looking from the outside in as to what's wrong and what corrective actions will work. Whereas management may have a hunch as to the problem, the ALT deftly puts a finger on it. In our, quick time-to-market, immediate gratification world the ALT capability is a potent tool.

The book starts off slow so you have to be patient, but once you get past Chapter One, this book contains a great nest of resources. It has several effective tools (with some bonus tools in the Supplement) which any manager or team leader can use, and it connects the reader to further research and information. It has the right amount of effective information to create and run an Action-Learning Team. And good news! The Clue Train Manifesto stopped here since later chapters include how to execute an ALT from cyberspace and how to further knowledge worker development.

From my 19 years of personal experience in the corporate world participating on ALT-like teams, sponsoring ALT-like teams, and just being in the company population receiving the benefits of an ALT-like team, I can tell you that they are by far the fastest and most effective way to achieving a "break through" on difficult, persistent problems which a company may face. Especially in a marketplace where world competition is becoming exceedingly tough........ Action-Learning Teams might just make a difference between success and failure.

LaRue, Childs, and Larson provide an easy to read, less than 200 page book, that skillfully weaves Action Learning Teams (ALT) into knowledge management, creating knowledge based action learning teams. This is truly a hands-on guidebook with real world examples that clearly describe the stages and processes of implementing organizational change using ALTs. ALTs can shorten the time needed to effectively implement change initiatives in an organization by helping the practitioner understand both the behavioral and operational aspects of organizational change. ALTs will help ensure that the knowledge of the team is translated into action that makes a real difference for an organization.

The forward by Marshall Goldsmith prepares the reader for what is in store by asking the question; "Who are knowledge workers", and how does one tell them what to do when they may know more than their manager does. The process of Action Learning Teams taps into that knowledge to take the organization to the next level. This book has been adopted as part of the curriculum at the University of Phoenix in their Doctorate of Management second year leadership class. Don't let that concern you though if you don't think that is the level you are looking for, as the book is easy to read and follow. Major General Robert Ivany, recently retired President of the U.S. Army War College also provides a chapter that describes how Action Learning Teams played a vital role in fundamentally transforming the U.S. Army. Experiences from other organizations provide real world examples that can be immediately put to use.

The book integrates both behavioral and operational dimensions of team development within four key phases of the change process: Awareness, Design, Deployment, and Integration. I have already used many of these concepts in my work on a Change Management team government organization. I even gave a copy of the book to my boss.

My name is Chris Gibbs (Chairman/CEO) of Diversified Investments & Development, LLC. of Knoxville, Tennessee. I consider myself a lifelong learner, as I am currently finishing a dissertation in relation to requirements for a Doctorate in Leadership from the University of Phoenix. I hold degrees in Finance, Masters of Business Administration, Masters in Banking, and Doctoral work in Economics from Lincoln Memorial University, East Tennessee State University, Louisiana State University, and Middle Tennessee State University, respectively.

My organization is involved in the food, lodging, and land development businesses. We had certain re-structuring goals to limit our involvement in day to day operations in the food and lodging businesses by using outside management and increase our land development inventory. Within only months of completing training with Bruce LaRue (one of the books Authors) and Richard Schuttler (Executive Coach and Consultant www.orgtroubleshooter.org) certain key organizational goals were reached early. With the material from this book and organizational training programs, my organization is thriving at a new profitability level, as well as employee and organizational value added systems continue to improve for all stakeholders.

Specific book comments:

1. How did you find out about the book? Through research in the area of Leading Organizations, I was attracted to this books content. Bruce LaRue, PhD is a colleague of Richard Schuttler, PhD, which is a professional Executive Coach that has consulted with me over the past couple of years. When I mentioned the book to Rich, he immediately reached out to Bruce and we entered into an agreement to utilize this book along with extensive works of Rich to transform my organization into a model of success that utilized its existing team and strengths. I will never forget the comment Rich made to me one day about the well known "corporate box," if you are thinking about thinking outside the box, you are still in the box. Therefore this book and training programs like Rich and Bruce present will allow the "Leader of the Future" to not confine their thought process to any box or obstacle."

2. The initial reading of the book presents the four basics to ALT (Action Learning Teams) and allows one to understand in the early reading of where their organization is today and what it will take to advance to a higher level of effectiveness and performance in the future.

3. A great suggestion is for the leader to play the role as coach and not BOSS. This is where Rich and Bruce developed the BUCKET concept that allowed everyone to assume responsibilities and each other member know who is responsible for what task within the organization. This supports the concept in the book on encouraging team members to focus on self improvement as they are accountable to the other team members in making sure their individual bucket is managed properly to benefit the overall organization. "This is like an old fire line where everyone is passing the buckets of water to put out a fire. If one person drops their bucket the fire can spread out of control. Therefore, proper management of the individual buckets maintains proper fire management without a fire ever arising, "Proactive Management." ALT's will make a difference if you understand how to make them work effectively.

4. An organizational leader and ALT "Coach" must truly commit to the Belief Model presented within the book. The advantage I had from the book material was the actual training program developed by Rich and Bruce, where I had to commit to making this reality before I could ever expect positive results. If the Coach cannot commit to taking a Belief to Potential to Action to Results than I question this leader's ability to be the Coach required for an effective ALT. I actually included all internal and external affiliate team leaders in the training process to make sure all areas and entities that affect my businesses were well informed of my organizations strategic plan and goals.

5. The PIP was completed at the end of the training and we found by our proactive implementation of this text material and consulting program that we were well on our way to achieving an organizational structure and performance level 1 year ahead of schedule.

6. Chapter 4 on Deployment should be arranged on a Cork Board in the Coaches office to read each morning, as a "Daily Devotional." Coaches/Leaders to often forget that by keeping there own skills focused and sharp, spill over to the actions and result of the ALT members.

7. The "Value Network" concept truly supported my personal philosophy of not deleting the most important life source of all organizations "PROFIT." An excellent Coach/Leader will be more effective with ALT teams and the process of strategic planning by honestly admitting we must make a profit, therefore their actions that support the material within this text will be more reality driven and not viewed as corporate fluff to keep morale at a moderate level of acceptance. Honesty is the first step in leading a successful organization.

8. Closing Comments: As we know and the book points out in Table format, today's business "Demands" are different from years past. This book is an excellent training tool for organizations at various levels including infancy, transitional businesses experiencing sales growth that could lead to dysfunctional performance without proper planning, and successful businesses that need to maintain and deal with everyday tumultuous situations. "A must read book for the true lifelong learner and concerned leader of the future." Also, follow-up with training to really experience the change and improvements you can experience through ALT implementation.

Don't let the title scare you mothers away. "Listen My Son: St. Benedict for Fathers" brings the reader through the Rule of Saint Benedict, (RSB), by way of a brief daily reading that explains each section as it would be applicable in any parent's life today. The entire RSB is read within one year's time.

It is often said that child birth comes without any instruction manual. "Listen My Son: St. Benedict for Fathers" can be that manual.

This would make an excellent gift for a new parent.

My mother gave this book to all her sons (including me) for Christmas a year ago. This was my first exposure to Saint Benedict and his Rule. At that time I had very little exposure to the monastic life. As I read this book I could really begin to appreciate the devout nature of Benedict and his followers. It is clear that these men who give up their lives for Christ, these monks, truely have a calling to this vocation.

I really liked the interpretation that went along after each rule by Dr. Longenecker. This was especially valuable as I had not been experienced these teachings before. I highly reccommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about the contemplative life.

Dr. Longenecker's meditations on the rule of St. Benedict are both inpirational and pragmatic. This book offer a useful re-tooling and reapplication of these essentially monastic directives for use in family life. It makes me want to work more dilligently at being a better father and person.

As a mother, I was intrigued by the title of this book, and now wish that I had read it long ago, when my children were younger. The advice is age-old and not just for fathers, rather, it is inspiring for all adults, but especially parents trying to keep a family together in these chaotic days.

As any who have read an ancient work in translation will tell you, any commentary that is included can be a blinding distraction, or the most illuminating aspect of the literature. In this case, Longenecker's accompanying prose is surely the latter. Benedict's Rule is related to the work of a father with practiced ease and grace. The work is profoundly instructive.
In fact, my only gripe is with the slightly unwieldy, slightly overlong introduction. Though it should by no means be skipped, I remember feeling a little anxious to get on to St. Benedict. Very high marks though, I thoroughly recommend this book to any father, or mother for that matter.