Richard
Pachter's choices for 2004's best business books.
Click
on the links to read each review or purchase a book.
Of
the more than three score and ten books I reviewed for The Miami
Herald during 2004, here are the ones that I believe are most worthy
of your time, attention and money.
Perfectly
Legal
by David Cay Johnston
Click
here to purchase.
Johnston's carefully researched study revealing how the U.S. tax
code has been subverted by corporate interests and how the financial
burden has been shifted to (surprise!) the middle class is as enlightening
as it is depressing.
MBA
In A Box
by Joel Kurtzman, Glenn Rifkin, Victoria
Griffith et al
Click
here to purchase.
It's far from complete, but this super-size omnibus business tutorial
provides a great crash course in the basics of commerce. From there,
you're on your own.
Confronting
Reality: Doing What Matters to Get Things Right
by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Click
here to purchase
the book or the unabridged 5-CD
audio set.
While other authors philosophize and pontificate, Bossidy and Charan,
in the follow-up to their bestseller, Execution, demand honesty
and courage from managers. Their crisp prose evokes inspiration
while avoiding tech talk and mysticism; no mean feat in this new
millennium
.
The
Mind at Work:
Physical Work and the Thought It Takes to Do It
by Mike Rose
Click
here to purchase.
Rose's proletarian agenda doesn't get in the way of this absorbing
collection of stories that makes a strong case for the intellectual
power of labor. You'll never watch a waitress or plumber at work
and think of them as ''unskilled'' again.
Free
Prize Inside!
by
Seth Godin
Click
here to purchase.
Godin always has a clever gimmick, but this canny marketer's ceaseless
curiosity for unique and powerful ideas always results in entertaining
and provocative manifestos. In fact, his latest venture, Changethis.com
offers a number of Free Prizes and Big Ideas by a variety of innovators
and proselytizers, including Godin himself.
Free
Culture
by
Lawrence Lessig
Click
here for free downloads.
You may strongly disagree with the author's contention that copyright
laws have been reconfigured in ways that would have prevented Disney
from ''creating'' many of the company's most lucrative properties
it now fights to protect, but in these days of digitalization and
peer-to-peer file sharing, Lessig's historical context is priceless.
The
Wisdom Of Crowds:
Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few
by James Surowiecki
Click
here to purchase..
A fascinating and elegantly written narrative articulating what
many have intuitively suspected: that collective knowledge can be
a pretty powerful market force.
Art
of the Start:The
Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide For Anyone Starting Anything
by Guy Kawasaki
Click
here to purchase.
While some authors (like Tom
Peters) have responded to increasing complexity with more of
the same, Kawasaki boils down modern entrepreneurial exigencies
like marketing, sales, management and promotion into a simple and
actionable brew.
Banking
On Baghdad: Inside Iraq's 7,000-Year
History of War, Profit and Conflict
by Edwin Black
Click
here to purchase.
As American costs and casualties grow, it's worth learning about
the region's tragic past and how Bush's war fits into the tapestry.
Black makes history come alive.
The
Best Business Stories of the Year: 2004 Edition
edited by Andrew Leckey with Jack Bogle
Click
here to purchase.
The range of subjects that fit under the heading of ''business''
is staggering. Leckey's latest annual collection is an extraordinarily
enlightening and lively reflection of this diversity.
Confronting
Reality: Doing What Matters to Get Things Right
by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Click
here to purchase
the book or the unabridged 5-CD
audio set.
While other authors philosophize and pontificate,
Bossidy and Charan, in the follow-up to their bestseller, Execution,
demand honesty and courage from managers. Their crisp prose evokes
inspiration while avoiding tech talk and mysticism; no mean feat
in this new millennium.
Like
business books? Join the club.
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