Research Books

There are few books printed with such contrarian views and Our Brave New World is worth a read just to give the brain a work out on a very different line of reasoning.

I would not go so far as to say that the US deficit no longer matters, but Gavekal, along with a few other thinkers out there, raise a key concept that it is more important to focus on higher long term returns generated by key companies (the platform companies which produce nowhere and sell everywhere as opposed to the older MNCs which produce everywhere) driving the US and developed world economies.

If the Chinese economy wants to produce goods below or just about at their economic cost, then let them, because it will be developed countries that reap the quality of life improvements.

The real gains, from my perspective as a transport analyst, are generated in the supply chain. And the supply chain is made up of global organizations which increase the value of the goods as they head to their destinations, designed, packaged and distributed the way western consumers want the goods.

But this also begs the question how long this value creation imbalance can persist? Aren't Chinese and Asians some of the smartest people around? Isn't this stage of production a stepping stone somewhat modeled on Japan's industrialization? When will they catch on that the part of the industrial and capitalist process they have chosen to dominate doesn't provide the same returns as controlling the product further down the supply chain? Shouldn't this competitive advantage get whittled away over time? When?

Perhaps Gavekal can work on this topic next? Instead of telling us the current situation, please get on to the next book or project, and get on with the investigation of where to look next. Another method to use while conducting the search is to alternate between the macro top down approach, which Gavekal excel at, and the bottom up micro approach. Time to focus on Asia company analysis and identifying companies and organizations seeking to generate excess returns.

I keep coming across people who deplore that sad state of America, people who pine for the good old days when America was the industrial capital of the world. They might as well pine for sailing ships and the horse and buggy. They really need to read "Our Brave New World," a clear and concise explanation of how the new Knowledge Revolution works. It explains why so many of the old metrics no longer apply. There is a wonderful comparison between the accounting view and the economic view of an international transaction such as the design, manufacture and sale of a PC.

After reading this book, you might want to also read their follow-up, "The End Is Not Nigh"

Gotta read it. This book is an eye opener..none of Bonner's dismal thinking here.

You will know GaveKal's analysis is correct when China becomes the USA's most valued, outspoken and supportive ally. (I wrote this review before I had a chance to visit China on business so that observation was influenced by the sheer volume of trade that China does w/ America and hence naive). The reality on the ground is much more nuanced. While it is possible for Chinese and American business relationships to be cordial and mutually beneficial, the governments of both countries have calcified attitudes toward each other. Cf. "Marketing Dictatorship: Propaganda and Thought Work in Contemporary China" by Anne-Marie Brady. In it she summarizes the guidelines that the Chinese government uses to direct opinion, one of which is to "Demonize the United States." So even if the opening sentence never comes to pass (or takes a lot longer than I originally thought) that takes nothing away from the original thinking contained in Our Brave New World. You can hear GavKal in the thoughts and opinions of Tom Friedman, Fareed Zakaria, et al. Our Brave New World is short but dense so it's worth reading more than once.
And Louis-Vincent Gave's "Roadmap For Troubling Times" is great also...
Both represent original thinking backed up by solid on-the-ground research from GaveKal-Dragonomics, and both are highly recommended.

When it comes to economics, there are two kinds of books : the thick and heavy ones, boring as hell, who most usually repeat the same kind of stuff one of your teachers tried to pour onto your head - without success, needless to say. And there are small books whose authors have seen something new. Something so simple that no-one had dared to see it before. So simple that anyone, with a minimum amount of curiosity, will read it from head to toe... and much more: one will get it and remember it.

It is one of the most enlightening description of the new economics society we are entering into. The authors - who by the way are so good that they can afford to be really funny - are screening the information revolution, analyse what is changing, why the things are different indeed from ten years ago; the irruption of China (and tomorrow India, Brazil, Russia), the explosion of free trade... all of this have consequences: on our life, on our future, on our money.
Whether you are willing to learn more, you want to invest wisely, read it, and you'll never regret nor look back.
My only regret: this reading should be compulsory for every government and central bankers worldwide.

This book has gems on every page. Lots of practical tips and tools that can be put to immediate use. Plus it's a great, quick read. Light, tight, bright, and useful; full of great examples. Traverso sure knows her stuff.

"Some entrepreneurs view their smallness as such a negative thing that they hardly make an effort to gain lucrative corporate clients. But even if yours is a one-employee home-based business, you can make it appear larger and give big firms confidence in your ability to do the job, according to (the author and this book). It's all a matter of image. . . (the book) is replete with instructions for self-assessment to determine your current business image and how to enlarge that image. . . . . In an easily read style, 'Outsmarting Goliath' is a complete guide to small business image development." --Carol Celeste, The Network Journal

"The author's amazing insight into the needs of independent merchants in this time of accelerating change in the market place is remarkable. Suggestions for achieving performance and a more competitive rivalry with mammoth companies are many and valuable. This is not just a good read, but a handbook for coping." --Harold E. Hicks, The Book Shop, Inc.

This book has many great ideas for the small business person that I wish I had before I started my business. For example, just how to pick a name for the company or how to look like a big company without spending a fortune. The book provides examples from people who have done it and adds credibility to the content. I recommend for all businesses but especially fo the smaller business and one person operations.

Debra Koontz Traverso presents a compilation of tips telling the entrepreneur or owner of a small business how to compete with established companies as well as other start-ups. Traverso includes a few personal examples, although this is mostly a how-to guidebook. Much of the advice may seem familiar to those who have read similar books or attended small business workshops, but Traverso does manage to throw in a few pointers that make you stop and think. For example: Stand up while you talk on the phone - it will increase your energy level. (Try it: It really works!) In addition, the book offers guidance on creating the right image, partnering with outsiders and family members, making the most out of mundane daily activities and marketing on a limited budget. Top executives may want to skim this to learn how start-ups and small businesses are striving to compete with them, but we [...] recommend this book primarily to entrepreneurs and small business owners who don't want to stay small forever.

Among the lighter and more overlooked sorrows of living in a post-terroristic era of conflict is all of the fun that could once be had, but no more, like - arguably - everything that takes place in this engrossing and extremely, extremely funny book, but one in particular: cleaning out one's refrigerator by mailing everything rotten (there's a way to do this with no postage, though you'll have to read this book to find out, and if you were to try it now, you'd have 10 SWAT teams on your doorstep in 36 hours or less) to everyone who might have ever annoyed you in some way.

Sigh...

Read this book, and I promise you'll never forget it.

-David Alston

This is the ultimate prankster handbook, an inspirational guide to mischief and mayhem. It is one of those books you can read bit by bit as there is a lot of material to absorb (not that you couldn't read it all at once, but it's like a rich cheesecake, you will want to savour each bite instead of gorging). The interviews are of varied allurement, some yielding more elation than others, but then you can't please everyone all of the time. Some of the stories told seem almost too wild to be real, until you see the accompanying photographs or news clippings and realize that some people have far better stories to tell than you or I ever will. And they aren't kidding, either.
Definitely makes my top 5 must-have "non-fiction or reference" books.

I lost my first copy of this in Nags Head in 1993. That's OK, it should be shared with as many people as possible because the pages are filled with shocking, playful, silly pranks from a host of prank 'generes.' A guy blows himself up at a high school reunion, another paints american flags on snails and on and on and. The books seems to capture a pre-PC time also: the 1980s.

What fun! This book is packed with great interviews with people who like to make trouble. All are amusing and all are inspiring. My personal favorites are the Henry Rollins and the Earth First! interviews. The Rollins interview makes me laugh just thinking about it, and the Earth First! interview is exciting to read. It makes me itch to go out and prank away. An excellent and informative read.

I love this book. I thought I was the only weirdo out there, but this book inspires me to be weirder. Great interviews with Dead Kennedy singer Jello Biafra, Abbie Hoffman and Henry Rollins. One of the few books I pick up weekly, even though I've read it from cover to cover many times. Still cracks me up.

This is an absolutely oustanding book - Richmond managed to recreate a world which ceased to exist at the onset of the Second World War, the world of Jews from the central Polish town of Konin. The book is touching both in descriptions of Richmond's quest for the missing shtetl which can be found only in the fading memories of Jews who somehow survived the Holocaust and in his recreation of the Jewish town that does not exist any more. An absolute must for all those who think that Holocaust was just another tragedy in the past on some distant continent. A perfect gift to people who have roots in Poland - some of my friends found their relatives described in the book. Maybe you or your friends will share this luck?

I found this book absolutely fascinating. My Grandmother came from Konin so for me it was a look into the world my Grandmother left behind.

There is little I can add to the existing reviews save yet another resounding confirmation of this book's brilliance. Konin is a superbly written, award-winning thing translated into Polish, Hebrew, German and Italian.

The book is impeccable stylistically and intellectually, and the thorny issue of Polish-Jewish relations is penetrated with honesty and insight. The people interviewed and depicted in the book are -- well, simply, REAL.

Yes, this is another Holocaust archival work and yes, it is brilliantly researched and written. But Richmond's crowning achievement, I propose, is his ability to create a lengthy work as this, about people many readers could never know, without ever letting it lapse into sentimentality or a wearisome litany of names, faces and facts. And yes, I have tearfully walked the streets of Konin with those Shoah survivors who now live in England, the US, and Israel. Richmond has ensured that the Nazi attempt to relegate Jewish Konin to oblivion has been thwarted. And we are much the better for it. "For the dead and the living we must bear witness." Thank you Mr Richmond. You have witnessed for the murdered of Kazimierz forest and all the other killing fields of Nazi Europe.

My wife Urszula and I had decided to take a day out in London, some sight seeing and shopping. We passed the many book shops on Charing Cross rd, but a book in one shop window caught my eye, 'Konin, a quest'. My wife is Polish, from the town of Konin. But what could this book be about, we wonder? There is nothing in Konin. How wrong we were! The book amazed us. I have read many publications on the holocaust, but nothing moved me quite like this book. The research and the feeling, the hardwork put into this account of a community so thoroughly wiped out that my wife hadn't even been aware that a Jewish community had ever existed and yet she grew up on its streets. In fact, the school she went to, the Gymnasium was built by the jewish people prior to the war. But nothing was or is taught about the jewish people within its walls, no reminders, nothing. Until now. Theo Richmond's work is a priceless reminder of want was lost and what should never be forgotten. We look forward greatly to the day the book is published in polish, when everyone there has a chance to understand just what was lost. We met Theo recently, his powerful charater came across so well in his book, as it is such an honest account, that it felt as though we had known him for years. Buy It! It is the best book you will ever read on the Jewish people.

So maybe you've been thrust into the new E-whatever position in your company. You feel like a deer in the headlights when the E-consultants and E-agencies come in, start foaming at the mouth and spewing E-jargon. You wonder, what the heck are they talking about and what should I do? Get an agency that speaks English and read this book during the transition!

Laurie and Ken have compiled an impressive amount of quantitative and qualitative research on which to base "The Soul of The New Consumer". Far and away the most important statement to remember in this book is:

"In effect, the Web site experience becomes the primary vehicle for building and reinforcing brand identity and preferences."

Information architecture (the structure of a web site), Internet marketing and Internet branding converge in the mind of the consumer. They should be developed in tandem. The web site experience IS the brand experience; think about it, think about your own web usage experiences.

"The Soul Of The New Consumer" goes on to discuss issues of great concern to many web users. These include privacy, the (non?) existence of customer loyalty, traffic generation, conversion strategies, and perspectives of E-customers. The quantitative research in the book can be found anywhere, the analysis makes the book valuable and the moderated discussions with consumers add a touch of real world insight that is missing from many books.

Now that you've read this book, and have a new agency that speaks English, you'll have a better idea of how to communicate with them. You'll know more of the right questions to ask; the answers to look for and maybe even understand a little of the E-jargon should the conversation digress to that level. You might even feel comfortable enough to make up some of your own!

A must read for any business that wants to keep existing customers and attract new ones to their web sites. Their research on how people are using the internet and how they plan on using it in the future is very timely and a necessary concept to get to be successful in the dot com arena.

Great book and insight. Shows how to get into the consumers mind and what's there to use. A book that takes what is in this book and enables you to put it in a solid plan is Make Your Website Work For You, but that's another dollar.

This book gave me invaluable insight into the thoughts of today's Internet consumer. The information is timely and well explained so even those of us new to the Internet Economy can not just understand but apply this information. Worth taking what little time you have to read this book cover to cover. Laurie Windham really knows what she is talking about!

A must read book for all people in business. The Soul of the New Consumer gives valuable insight into today's consumers and how to capture new opportunities in the e-commerce business. I highly recommend this to all forward thinking companies and individuals.

Thin Ice by Mark Bowen is a great story, well told. The book captures the excitement of experimental climate science and the extremely hard work that it entails. Anyone who likes books about scientific endeavors will enjoy this book. After reading it I understood the arguments about climate change much better than I used to. Unfortunately, the bottom line is pretty grim. The author is both a scientist and an alpine climber. Climbers take the loss of the glaciers very personally, and this book, while not being weepy or overly political, imparts the message that humans urgently need to confront the issue of climate change.

My son recommended and bought this book for me. At university studying environmental science he started as a sceptic on anthropogenic climate change. He read widely. This book inspired him by clearly portraying the excitement of scientific discovery. Written by a physicist it describes the career of Lonnie Thomson an ice-core specialist and his research group. He had to fight bureaucracy to get to collect and analyse ice cores from the world's tropical ice fields. They have spent more time above 22,000 feet than any others. In parts it reads like a mountaineering epic such as Annapurna. But all the heroics are clearly determined by scientific goals. It is a story of team work and the excitement of discovery. They made the connection between ancient climate change and rise and fall of civilisations from ice cores dated to a single year or even a season of a single year. This is complementary to a more detailed account of rise and fall of civilisations Collapse by Jared Dimond. Bowen, being a physicist, provides a simple clear explanation of carbon dioxide rise and its connection to climate change. This book concentrates on the science and pre-dates but underpins the latest IPCC reports on the seriousness of anthropogenic climate change. My son has converted to believer and is vigorously pursing a research career after being inspired by this book. It is a well written and gripping account of modern day science which should be widely read. Thoroughly recommended.

This is an excellent book on climate change, and in particular the less seldom discussed evidence for climate change in the tropics. It will give readers a first hand account of not only the process of scientific thought but also some of the personalities and egos that are involved in cutting edge research. Lonnie Thompson is the rare scientist dedicated to a quest for the truth who is not driven by his resume. His unique mode of operation is one many scientists could learn from. The book is also full of high adventure and documents the sacrifices that are made in search of scientific data. A true adventure story. The writing style with long sentences takes some getting used to but it is still clearly written.

This is one of the best books I've picked up in years. Mark Bowen has produced a landmark piece of work. It's both extremely informative as well as being very readable.

The story centers on ice cores pulled up over the last 25+ years from the fast-disappearing glaciers on the tops of the world's highest mountains -- a grand adventure in itself -- with the results being put in the context of the current science of the greenhouse effect and global warming, the possible environmental collapse of numerous ancient civilizations (since the ice core records go back many thousands of years), with just enough on the politics of controlling carbon dioxide emissions and the way scientific research is done to keep things interesting and real.

As someone who tries to keep up with scientific developments -- as difficult as that is with the major news media being myopically focused on sensationalism and celebrity (right now it's the JonBenet Ramsey rerun...) -- I felt like I was being caught up on all the many important details and various threads of a story that I already sorta knew the larger outline and implications of.

If I had one complaint it was that the book seemed to need many more graphs than the single one it contains. Some of the subject matter is just technical enough that this would have been much better than the several paragraphs of carefully constructed words needed to convey the same idea. I suppose publishers think that it'll scare off too many customers if they see graphs in a book.

Highly recommended and deserving of much more attention than it's received (based partly on the paltry number of reviews here). Buy a copy for yourself and an additional one to give to a friend or colleague.

This is travelogue, musings, science, story-telling, and a gentle (non-polemic) argument about a critical present-day issue. The previous reviewers (especially the first two) and Bill McKibben's dust-jacket comment are good guides. Some of the author's descriptions of mountain scenery are quite beautiful. Although I always have been concerned about climate change based on the "precautionary principle" and "responsibility to future generations" ideas, this book helped me put some meat on the thin bones of my understanding. It also reached me at an emotional level, since the reader spends so much time with the scientists and get a close-up view of how they arrive at their understandings.

The book does not simply follow a chronological narrative, but branches off for visits to related topics. I found this style of organization effective and fun. (Like a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon where you frequently stop for a day to explore side canyons.)

There are 24 pages of notes and 21 pages of (about 400-500) references.

the most detailed read on so many artists&there impact on the charts.it covers Artists from A-Z&everything else in between.a very fun kind of read for folks like myself that just love Music.and also great to understand the changes with Charting&also how songs got as far they did&whatnot.a Great Read.

In recent years, the RIAA and its member record companies have bemoaned the decline of music sales, blaming digital music piracy and other hobgoblins. One look through this informative tome will tell you the real problem - the industry has destroyed its entree for the fans to new and talented artists - the hit single!! At $$$ a pop, not too many buyers are willing to try new or unfamiliar music, but at $-$, if an artist or group has several "hit" singles (established by radio air play), the subsequent investment in an album seems less risky. The music industry, in it's zeal to maximize profit by selling full length CDs instead of priming the demand pump with singles, has contributed to its own decline. If you peruse the shear breadth of music styles listed in Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles that have been able to make the "Top 100" over the years, you realize just how rich and exciting music WAS in the 50s through the early 80s. As the corporate entities who owned the stations became fewer and fewer due to mergers, the current blight of narrowcast programming blossomed. It worked - for a while. But a steady (and excessive) diet of your favorite food will ultimately become boring. This book is not just a dry list of song titles, artists and dates. It's our lives writ large in song - teenage crushes, first dates (and dances!), first automobile, leaving home, possibly time in military service, marriage, kids - all of these events punctuated with the musical nuggets listed in this volume. Here's hoping that a bright future continues to exist for the indelible impact of the "hit single".

This is a great collection for the music lover and for anyone who wants to get to know their favorite artist. This book features all of the songs from 1955 that hit the top 100. So if a song hit 92 you will find it in this book. the only problem I have with this is the price I think 50-70 dollars is high but it is worth it. I recommend this item to the music lover inside everyone.

You don't need to buy TOP POP SINGLES 1955-1999, because Joel Whitburn's own site (record research) will sell you the most up to date volume TOP POP SINGLES 1955-2002. I still have my TOP POP SINGLES 1955-1993. Essentially, it's the same book but updated by the year, by the inclustion of "B" sides, and Top Air Plays, making the new the edition the better buy. Why can't Amazon sell us the current most up to date record of this valuable resource? Any collector of popular music from 1955 to 2002, will find the TOP POP SINGLES 1955-2002, the best value. No school music library should be without this book as an addition to the curriculum. All songs the made the top hundred along with information on the artist is great as a resource book, a coffee table book or just for looking up your favourite song.

Joel Whitburn's book covers the pop charts from the Hit Parade era on up to the end of the century. This book is not just for collectors, but rather, it will satisfy anyone who loves music and has a desire to know more about the dynamics of the Billboard pop charts. Besides the easy, alphabetical listings by artist, the book includes features such as:

* debut date for each song
* a chronological listing, by peak date, of every song
* the peak position and weeks on chart for each song
* a listing, in the back of the book, of all song titles (listed alphabetically) in the artist selection
* assorted chart "facts and feats"

In addition, the book's typeface and bolding features makes it easy to read, without straining for particular entries. In total, this book is the most comprehensive source of info available for the music of this era. No one but Whitburn does anything close to this in terms of music factology. It's well worth the money, and if you intend on flipping through it over and over, the few extra bucks for the longer-lasting hardcover will be worth the expenditure.

I like to travel and to observe the cities, landscapes, the plants and animals and the human inhabitants of the countries I go to. So does Levy-Strauss, and he is a fantastic observer, much more sharp-eyed than I could ever hope to be, and a highly entertaining writer. In this classic he talks about a wide range of observations from a number of corners of the world, but mainly about South America.
The book deals with Levi-Strauss' time as a teacher in Brazil and his trips into the South American hinterland; his escape from Nazi-occupied France; His later expeditions to visit remote tribes in the Amazon; and an assortment of observations about such diverse topics as the frustration of the traveler to never encounter the true, pristine state of a culture, the Indian caste system and the division of public and private space in different parts of the world. The book is full of fascinating anecdotes: My favorite one is how a native chief from observing Levy-Strauss grasped the social importance of writing, but not its role in information storage and transmission. He bluffed to impress his underlings and drew freshly invented line configurations on a paper. This leads Levy-Strauss to observe that from the invention of writing to its universal knowledge a few millennia passed, during which it did not serve to liberate the masses, but to control them. Such wide-ranging philosophical associations are frequent and were very enjoyable to me. The book is, however, definitely not only a collection of anecdotes, but in parts a very detailed description of the life of some of the native tribes he visited in the Amazon. Drawings of artifacts, patterns used in body-painting and photographs supplement the text. We are given both anthropological descriptions of the lifes of these peoples, their social organization, attitudes and material culture, as well as Levy-Strauss' personal experiences when living among them, sometimes his friendships with members of these tribes. Of course these people were strongly affected by the contact with European civilization, often to the worse. We also learn about these developments. There isn't really much direct explanation about his theoretical approaches to anthropology. This is the kind of book which made me wish that I could have been an expedition member of Levy-Strauss' team. Highly recommended.

I often review works which I have read long ago. Upon beginning to write about them I invariably discover how much time I gave to something which seemed so worthwhile at the time, and which I have almost completely forgotten. I then ordinarily do some catch- up learning about the book. And my review becomes an amalgalm of distant past and most recent present impression. And meanwhile the heart of the book is forever unknown to me and lost. And my review is only a minor tracing an impression both of the book itself and what of my mind knew when reading through it.
This certainly applies to my reading of this particular work, ,the one work of Levi- Strauss which I remember reading with any degree of real understanding and pleasure. His making of a life and career as an anthropologist which are a good part of the first part of the work interested me then.
The long travelogue and explorations into Amerindian society and mind, interested me less.
I understand though that the real voyage is into and along with the mind of Levi- Strauss itself, a mind much more complicated than I was ordinarily used to meeting and ingesting .
I do remember however the somewhat majestic tone, the tone of restrained sadness of quiet mourning which seemed to go through the work as Levi- Strauss met with worlds being lost and deterorating , in part through their meetings with the very kind of Western mind he himself exemplified. It is the mind destroying the object in the process of knowing it , as the Western explorers of these tribal societies transformed them out of their own natural state by meeting with them.
For Levi- Strauss and this I remember, the ' primitive mind' is not ' primitive at all' and may be in its linguistic complexity and social structure far more intricate than the ' civilized ' as it were sophisticated worlds we believe we live in.
I read this work as a way of being acquainted with a great mind, a mind which to my mind proved to be quite elusive and even distant.
But clearly the exploration made by Levi- Strauss of his own inner and external worlds is one which calls to the curious human mind and heart in its quest for understanding ' of the other'
Montaigne took a trip in the Brazilian jungle in the twentieth
century, looked in the mirror and saw the face of Levi- Strauss.

One way to gauge who's in among fashionable academics is to read the catalog for the "Writers and Readers' Documentary Comic Book" series. Sartre has an entry, and so does Derrida, and Lacan. Thirty years ago, you would have expected to find an entry in this index for Claude Levi-Strauss. No more. Translations of his principal works appear to persist in print, but the sales numbers are look low, and he seems almost to have disappeared from the trendy book reviews and such. This is perhaps a matter for at least idle curiosity: Levi-Strauss is surely no more abstruse than his magisterial contemporaries - but no less so; one is perfectly willing to be relieved the obligation of ever picking him up again.

With one exception. In style and temperament, Tristes Tropiques is so different from almost everything else Levi-Strauss wrote that it is hard to believe it is written by the same man. Oh, the primitive tribes are there, and a brief personal intellectual history, that offers a bow to Freud, and Bergeson, and Saussure. In my own copy, which I first read about 1980, I even have a pencilled notation "structuralism" - this at page 375 (Pocket Books edition, 1977). But there is almost none of the portentous vacuity that you had to cope with in the so-called "serious" works.

What you get instead is Levi Strauss the raconteur, full of travelers' tales. He dines on roasted parrot, flamed with whisky. The termites make the earth rumble. Virgins are made to spit in pots of corn, to provoke fermentation - but "as the delicious drink, at once nutritious and refreshing, was consumed that very evening, the process of fermentation was not very advanced." You almost expect the anthropophagi and the men whose heads grow beneath their shoulders, that you meet in the Voyages of Sir John Mandeville, Knight.

Laced through it all, you get a kind of austere sadness which is either (a) a tragic view of life; or (b) a kind of self-indulgent posturing, depending on your temperament for skepticism. "Every effort to understand," he says, "destroys the object studied in favor of another object of a different nature." Or: "Anthropology could with advantage be changed into 'entropology', as the name of the discipline concerned with the study of the highest manifestations of [a] process of disintegration."

Well, call me anything the like, they say, as long as you call me for dinner. It might even be an elaborate con. But so, for that matter, might the stories of Herodotus were you get the same mix of the eclectic and the tolerant, the surreal and the sly. Herodotus, we may note, is one of the first great works of Western literature. Let's hope that Levi-Strauss is not one of the last.

This is Levi-Strauss most readable book, and it is a fantastic introduction to the "why" behind his interest in structuralism. There are hints of the various methods and approaches that he uses in later works, but this book shows why he was to develop structuralism in later works. The writing is clever and eloquent, and various conclusions he made about cultural diversity address contemporary concerns in a highly articulate and responsible manner. Read this book before delving into the other writings of one of the 20th Century's most important anthropologists.

Tristes Tropiques, surely one of the great books of the twentieth century, is Levi-Strauss at his intoxicating, idea-overloaded best and an elegy for a world that colonialism and then globalisation have doen their rational best to annihilate.

Levi-Strauss, like most thinkers who come up with new ways of describing the world-- those who Richard Rorty calls "inventors of philosophical vocabularies"-- has of course been mis-read and his ideas mis-applied, as we see with the much-hyped "creation" and then "demise" of "structural anthropology." The real pleasure of this book, which mixes fascinating accounts of Levi-Strauss' travels in Brazil in the '30s with autobiography, and adds chapters on the Maya and ancient Hindu (Indian) civilisations, is in its sheer mass of artfully arranged detail and its endless, provocative play of ideas.

Levi-Strauss stays conversational, descriptive and straightforward, avoiding academic jargon and obscure references. He assumes you know the basics about people like Freud, Marx, Darwin and the Buddha, and then shows you a trip through largely non-industrial societies which unfolds from anthropological description into deep philosophical speculation on the meaning of society and life.

In Brazil, Levi-Strauss watches an illiterate but canny chieftain use his anthropological fieldnotes to intimidate his illiterate tribesmen subordinates, and speculates on the parallel origins of writing and slavery. In Matto Grosso, he meets a butcher fascinated with elephants, since "he could not imagine so much meat in one place." On the banks of the Amazon, a non-industrial tribe is dying, hypnotically lost in the symbolic intricacies of an ancient social system that makes its citizens inbreed. In India, Levi-Strauss watches Islam and Hinduism-- the "locker room" and "mother" religions-- wage symbolic and then real war post-Independence.

The book starts as anthropology, turns into philosophy, and ultimately becomes a critique of the West, driven by "reason" and technology to shake off what Levi-Strauss calls the "thick blanket of dreams" with which non-industrial civilisation arranges the Universe into Meaning, which remains for the industrialised world the greatest and unanswered question.

But Levi-Strauss does not idealise the primitive. His point is that through the study of those and that which are different, a kind of "ideal model" of society-- one which will never exist-- can be built in the imagination, and people can evaluate their world by reference to this community of mind.

This is a remarkable book-- easy to read, engrossing, and endlessly thought-provoking.

As a long-time PR professional and M.A. graduate in mass communication, I've read a number of publications highlighting best practices. Mark Weiner's book, Unleashing the Power of PR: A Contrarian's Guide to Marketing and Communication (J-B International Association of Business Communicators), is by far one of the industry's most powerfully informative.

Public relations professionals tend to be measurement agnostic -- an unfortunate occurrence for practitioners who answer to P&L-savvy organizational leaders. Weiner's book addresses this issue, detailing practical analysis techniques that both improve the impact of communication programs, and reliably measure the effects of those programs.

For example, Chapter 1 details research, initiated by AT&T, which measured the interaction and effect of public relations within the marketing mix. The study revealed a surprising finding: public relations generated as many new customers as mass-market advertising -- at a fraction of the cost. Further, positive news about AT&T enhanced the effects of other marketing mix components. Such findings offer practitioners a powerful argument when competing for finite budgeting dollars.

In summary, I highly recommend this book for practitioners committed to powerful PR. For communication professionals, the book is a literary workhorse.

I have been in marketing communications and public relations for years, and shortly will have a doctoral degree in public relations, and I have to say, I have never read a more concise and valuable book for public relations. There are things in this book that years in public relations did not teach me, and every public relations professional, whether executive or new practitioner, should read this book.

Too many practitioners get into public relations and think it's about writing press releases, getting media coverage, and planning publicity. In this book, Mark Weiner goes beyond the alleged "secrets" of good PR to provide the kind of holistic strategic perspective of public relations that most organizations overlook. And yet, his information is extremely practical and accessible to even the most neophyte practitioner.

Mark Weiner is one of the most talented and intelligent public relations executives in the world, and this book is testament to his simple genius.

This is the only professional business book I have used in my university teaching...and it's the first book I recommend for anyone interested in succeeding in public relations.

Mark Weiner brings a refreshing and much needed viewpoint to the public relations field with his in-depth book about the need to measure results and the value it creates. He provides the public relations professional with insights to help place him or her directly on the playing field as a strategic business advisor to corporate leadership. Mr. Weiner shows how PR professionals can be "change agents" by identifying mutually agreed upon objectives, measuring the results of PR efforts to accomplish those objectives and then making recommendations to improve overall corporate performance.

As Mr. Weiner points out, proving value can be a great challenge, but he shares several steps to make it a relatively simple undertaking. PR professionals will benefit from Mr. Weiner's perspective on how PR measurement demonstrates proof of performance and can result in bigger budgets to work with, earned respect for the profession and opportunities for personal advancement.

This book is a valuable resource as Mr. Weiner provides cost-effective tips on measurement strategies based on three types of "PR-ROI" which should create an "aha" moment for many PR professionals. In addition to covering the unintentional and intentional mistakes that can occur during the measurement process, Mr. Weiner has a wealth of information for the PR professional who wants to become a strategic thinker and have a place at the corporate decision making table.

Mark Weiner's book is a "must read" for PR, marketing and any communications professional working today. It's chock full of great examples as well as great advice. Mark's research background gives him a unique vantage point -- one we can all learn from. And, his experiences represent real life, not an academic approach. I highly recommend it and keep it on my desk as a resource.

Although hardly the "contrarian" of his book's title, Mark Weiner correctly identifies two problems common to public relations practitioners: They fail to set objectives, and then they fail to measure what they have accomplished. Weiner explains an uncomplicated way to correct these tendencies. He tells PR managers and their clients why taking a scientific approach can improve the professionalism of PR campaigns and gain respect for them in the marketing world. He uses examples from his own experience to buttress his arguments about the benefits of PR. Occasionally, the book is repetitive, but it is eminently practical. We recommend it to corporate communicators, PR consultants and their clients.

Of all the business books I've read, and I have read a great deal more than most for my job, this is simply one of the best. It is well researched, yet also well written. Its lively, yet detailed, historical analysis brings out the lessons of business that are usually lost to time. This book has more intelligent things to say about the true sources of business success than ten of the best sellers combined, and is just as fun to read as any of them.

Gerard J. Tellis and Peter N. Golder methodically and empirically demonstrate that pioneers are rarely rewarded for their efforts at the end of the day. The confusion between pioneers and current market leaders lies in the exclusion of failures (survival bias), tendency for managers to refer to their own firm as the pioneer (social desirability or self-reports bias), and self-serving market definitions (self-serving bias). For example, the Gillette Company is the oldest surviving firm in the disposable razor market. However, the Gillette Company was not the firm that first commercialized the razor. Similarly, Intel was not the firm that first brought the microprocessor or CPU to the market, even it has been perceived as the pioneer in that industry.

Tellis and Golder brilliantly build on over a decade of in-depth research to show that vision, persistence, relentless innovation, financial commitment, and asset leverage are the real factors that drive the superior performance of enduring leaders like the Gillette Company and Intel.

1. In their examination of "Vision", Tellis and Golder take their distance from the traditional definition of that much abused business term. Often, vision is indeed synonymous with broad mission statements used to excite and inspire stakeholders of an organization. In Counter-intuitive Marketing, Kevin J. Clancy and Peter C. Krieg concurred that most companies do not have much of a vision (See especially pg. 74 - 86). Vision has two key components according to Tellis and Golder: 1. A focus on the often-decried mass market with its dynamic and evolving needs and 2. A unique perspective of serving that mass market. For example, in contrast to its top competitors, AOL has stressed from the beginning convenience, ease to use, community, and ubiquity. Similarly, McDonald's has stressed from the onset quality, service, cleanliness, and value to build a worldwide network of mainly franchisees for bringing fast food to the masses. In Product Strategy for High Technology Companies, Michael E. McGrath gives a good complement to Tellis and Golder's definition of vision by explaining it as an answer to three key questions: 1.Where does a firm want to go? 2. How will the firm get there? And most critical 3. Why will the firm be successful? (See especially pg. 12, 306, and 317).

2. In their analysis of "Persistence", Tellis and Golder debunk the myth that enduring market leaders usually achieve their success through luck or sudden breakthroughs. In fact, visionaries have the will to persist in their efforts through seemingly insurmountable obstacles, slow progress, and long time efforts. The origin, early struggles, and ultimate success of Federal Express showed how important the vision and persistence of Fred Smith, its founder, made the difference at the end of the day. Similarly, the ultimate success of xerography after 13 years of research was due to the unwavering faith of former Xerox (Haloid)'s CEO, Joseph Watson in the underlying technology.

3. In their approach to "Relentless Innovation", Tellis and Golder remind their audience about the importance of firms not resting on their laurels. Technology and consumer tastes constantly change. Tellis and Golder rightly identify complacency with past successes, bureaucracy, managerial occupation with current customers and competitors, and fear of cannibalizing existing products as the four enemies of the relentless pursuit of innovation. For example, the earlier history of the Gillette Company clearly indicated that its success led to complacency and arrogance detrimental to its market leadership several times. Quoting Andy Grove, one of the founders of Intel, "Only the paranoid survives." In Product Strategy for High Technology Companies, Michael E. McGrath gives a good complement to Tellis and Golder's examination of both time-based and cannibalization strategies (See especially pg. 219 - 234 and 257 - 271).

4. In their study of "Financial Commitment", Tellis and Golder demonstrate that visionaries show persistence in their ability and willingness to raise and commit financial resources whatever the obstacles in their way. For example, Federal Express was on the brink of bankruptcy for years before it finally took off. Similarly, King C. Gillette, one of the co-founders of the Gillette Company, struggled not only to launch the eponymous company but also to raise the capital necessary to commercialize his disposable razor for years.

5. In their dissection of "Asset Leverage", Tellis and Golder look at how generalized and specialized assets can be mobilized for dominating a product category. Tellis and Golder rightly identify the extent to which the new product category does or appears to threaten the old product category, a strict focus on costs, myopic view of markets, and bureaucracy as the four major hindrances to leveraging assets. Xerox squandered more than one opportunity to leverage its assets to adopt and commercialize the revolutionary discoveries of its Palo Alto Research Center for years. In contrast, Microsoft showed sacrificing several products in development as the way to catch up with the competition after it had initially misjudged the potential of the Internet revolution.

Tellis and Golder also remind their audience that the relative importance of the five factors mentioned above varies by firm and market characteristics: new firms, established firms competing in established markets, and established firms entering new, yet unrelated markets (See pg. 265 and 266).

To summarize, Will and Vision by Gerard J. Tellis and Peter N. Golder is like The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen a major contribution to a better understanding of how markets really work.

In Will and Vision, the authors refute the theory that first-movers have an overwhelming advantage, and replace it with the idea that seven factors, that can be summarized as will and vision (hence the title of the book) are instead the factors that permit companies to dominate markets.

First, the author performed an in depth empirical study that included 43 different industries at different times in order to show that the original entrants in many markets were not in fact the current leaders. Instead, the authors offer the following seven factors as the main ones in determining whether firms became leaders in their markets:

* Envisioning the Mass Market - Examples include P&G with Pampers disposable diapers for everyone instead of for travelers only and Kodak with photographs for the non-professional.
* Uniqueness of Vision - Examples include Tim Berners-Lee and the development of the WorldWideWeb and King Gillette's view of the razor market.
* Persisting Against All Odds - Examples include Bill Gates' persistence that landed him the operating system contract with IBM and Haloid's persistence over a decade that created Xerox.
* The Need for Relentless Innovation - Examples include Moore and Noyce leaving Fairchild Semiconductor to found Intel and the relentless pace of innovation there, and Gillette's close brush for lack of innovation in the 1960s and its ensuing fast pace since.
* Organizing for Innovation - Examples include HP's organization beating Xerox and IBM at the laser printer market, and Netscape beating Mosaic by taking talent and rewarding it.
* Raising and Committing Financial Resources - Examples include Fred Smith's almost bankruptcy to keep FedEx alive and Amazon sacrificing profits for a long period in order to achieve its envisioned mass market level of service.
* Leveraging Assets Despite Uncertainty - Examples include IBM losing the PC battle because it did not want to hurt its mainframe sales, and Charles Schwab's leadership in web trading after it chose to focus on it and sacrifice off line higher margins.

Overall, I found it a very good entertaining book, with anecdotes that help support the ideas the authors suggest. I strongly recommend it.

This book comes out with a hypothesis challenging conventional thinking which assumes that pioneers dominate markets. Collecting and analyzing historical data from over 66 industry segments the conclusions by the authors is baffling. This is not a case where statistics is used conveniently to support untested theories using available tools to prove a point. The approach to understanding market dominance and the role of pioneers and followers is path breaking. Contrary to common belief, data shows that in many cases the pioneers have as little as 9 % market share. The ingredients for success are therefore not being there first, but doing the right things.

Five factors that emerge as key to ensuring long term success and market dominance are Vision, Persistence, Financial Commitment, Innovation and Asset leverage- factors that are structurally related in a causal chain starting with a clear vision for a mass market. There are innumerable examples and detailed cases where the inability to see a mass market for innovative products has resulted in late comers grabbing the market from incumbents. Fear of cannibalization of existing products, bureaucracy, complacency, are some other causes that stifle growth.

After explaining the hypothesis, a good and crisp summary of the conclusions from the historical data, every chapter proceeds sequentially to substantiate the findings. This is a rare combination of business history, statistical analysis and strategy. It is this unique combination and the unconventional wisdom that is bound to make this book a classic in its own right. The range of products covered varies from diapers to couriers and computers. IBM, Microsoft, Fed Ex, Xerox, Gillette are some companies that are discussed in detail.

Comparing it with other books on similar research, my prescription for business would be:

Innovators Dilemma + Will and Vision + Built to Last + Good to Great = Road to Market dominance.

Highly recommended.

Few business principles engender as much faith among people as the principle of the pioneer's advantage. For example, Ries and Trout, in their book on the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, boldly state the "first immutable law of marketing" to be "It's better to be first, than it is to be better." Brand recognition, brand loyalty, consumer inertia, network effects, experience effects, access to distribution channels - these are all reasons for why the first movers in a market could have an advantage over others in the quest for market domination. Consultants, academics, and managers note the many examples of pioneers who appear to have done very well in their markets. Look, they say, at Gillette (in safety razors), Hewlett-Packard (laser printers), Microsoft (PC operating systems), and Amazon.com (online bookselling). All of these cases appear to prove the pioneer's advantage.

Tellis and Golder argue quite convincingly that these examples prove exactly the opposite: pioneers are much more likely to be cursed to failure than blessed with long term success! The authors show that the real pioneers in the markets listed above are not the current market leaders. Gillette entered the safety razor market in 1903, but a company called Star, they find, had already introduced a safety razor in 1876. H-P entered the laser printer market in 1984, but IBM had one on the market in 1975. Microsoft introduced MS-DOS in 1981, but Digital Research had introduced its CP/M operating system back in 1975. Amazon.com entered the online bookselling business in 1995, but Clbooks.com/books.com was selling books online in 1993. Most of these pioneers are forgotten now - many are long dead. Yet the myth of the pioneer's advantage lives on.

Using new and detailed historical research, Tellis and Golder systematically debunk the myth of the pioneer's advantage. The book refutes much conventional wisdom, and wonderfully weaves together hard data and vivid business stories to argue its thesis. Tellis and Golder are two of the world's leading experts on market entry and long term success. Their prior research has had a major impact on the academic business community. Yet if current and recent business practice is any indicator, few managers seem to be aware of the lessons that emerge from this remarkable stream of research. One only needs to think back at the Internet gold-rush to see this point.

The bulk of the book is on the question: If pioneering does not explain market dominance, then what does? Again, Tellis and Golder bring fresh, unorthodox insights to this question. They organize the answer to this question along two dimensions: Vision and Will. Their arguments force one to rethink several common precepts. For example, they challenge the very notion "vision" as it's currently understood. Similarly, they point out that dominance is often seen as a function of luck, or being at the right place at the right time. In fact dominance is more a function of small, incremental innovations in design, manufacturing, and marketing over many years. Indeed, it took Procter and Gamble (a latecomer) 10 years of persistent planning and research to find success in the lowly disposable diaper market.

Overall, the book is provocative and compelling, meticulously researched and highly practical. The case studies alone are worth the price of the book. But the novelty and persuasiveness of the insights make it one of the finest works on business strategy.