Book Description

Northeast Utilities Company adopted an ambitious new competitive strategy in the mid-1980s, seeking to become the low-cost supplier in New England electric power markets bracing for deregulation. Given its high-cost nuclear facilities, doing so required a corporate turnaround. For a decade Northeast faced increasing public and employee resistance to cost cutting at its nuclear plants. Though management achieved many of its goals, curtailing outlays on nuclear operations meant high risk that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would close the plants because of frequent, prolonged outages. This is just what happened in 1996. Did management's deliberate cost-containment strategy take nuclear operations to an inevitable regulatory shutdown, and if so, why? Was it the pursuit of executive compensation tied to cost containment that caused undue risk of regulatory shutdown?

Paul MacAvoy and Jean Rosenthal describe ten years of corporate performance preceding the shutdown, detailing aggressive executive decisions, mounting regulatory actions in response to increasingly severe operational failures, and--at the same time--overall improvement in corporate earnings, stock prices, and executive pay packages. They relate the complexities of managing declining nuclear plant operations under ever more pressing budgetary targets. Their discussion of the increasing risk of outages raises the issue of the tradeoff of profit and conservative management of hazard operations.

All the more timely in light of the massive 2003 East Coast blackout, Corporate Profit and Nuclear Safety represents a powerful and cautionary commentary on industrial practices that goes to the heart of effective corporate governance.

Book Description

From the acclaimed authors of A Future Perfect comes the untold story of how the company became the world’s most powerful institution.

Like all groundbreaking books, The Company fills a hole we didn’t know existed, revealing that we cannot make sense of the past four hundred years until we place that seemingly humble Victorian innovation, the joint-stock company, in the center of the frame.

With their trademark authority and wit, Economist editors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge reveal the company to be one of history’s great catalysts, for good and for ill, a mighty engine for sucking in, recombining, and pumping out money, goods, people, and culture to every corner of the globe. What other earthly invention has the power to grow to any size, and to live to any age? What else could have given us both the stock market and the British Empire? The company man, the company town, and company time? Disneyfication and McDonald’sization, to say nothing of Coca-colonialism? Through its many mutations, the company has always incited controversy, and governments have always fought to rein it in. Today, though Marx may spin in his grave and anarchists riot in the streets, the company exercises an unparalleled influence on the globe, and understanding what this creature is and where it comes from has never been a more pressing matter. To the rescue come these acclaimed authors, with a short volume of truly vast range and insight. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Companies made interesting
There are few creatures more vilified in today's world than corporations. For some, companies are the instruments of evil, they exist to profit at the expense of ordinary people, and their chief executives are defamed for their greed and ambition. All the same, most people live off the checks they receive from those evil beasts; and, being the CEO of a large company offers comparable prestige with other esteemed professions.

Wrestling with these competing images of corporations is part of what "The Company" aims at. John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, both of The Economist, embark on an ambitious project to show that the corporation lies at the heart and center of organized societies-more so than the state, the commune, the political party, the church, and others.

Having put modesty aside, the authors deliver on their promise with great skill, both literary and scholarly. All pervasive in their narrative is a deep sense of historical perspective-of contrasting the companies of today with those of the past. This need of putting the present in context is extremely valuable in canvassing the role that corporations (and particularly multinationals) play in the world today.

Several themes emerge in this historical journey. The first is the evolution of the company itself through a continuous political debate about its role and place in society. A second charts the different attitudes that societies have had towards companies; in particular the authors focus on the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan.

At the heart of this book is the dialectic between society and company; the Virginia Company, for example, effectively introduced democracy in America in 1619. This helps explains why Americans have been more receptive to companies that have other countries. This is one of countless examples in the book that chronicle the immense impact that companies have had the world over.

"The Company" not only explains the historical arguments that have been front and center of the debate about the role that companies should play, but it also captures the timeless forces that have shaped, and are likely to keep shaping, the debate in the future. Certainly a book no one would like to miss.

Excellent book - just the right length - 4.5 stars
This book is nicely researched and well presented- not too long (not padded out) and not too short (despite its title).

I finally understood the origin of the US term 'Trust' as in 'Anti-trust'.

It was also interesting to see the role the Railways (Railroad) had played in causing the Company to evolve, from the limited-time partnerships of the Sailing Ships to the 'ownership' by the Pension Funds.

Only one irritation - the sub-editor must have been asleep reviewing the proofs (in my UK edition anyway). Each page contains genuine hyphenated terms such as 'joint-stock' and 'Anglo-Saxon', but there are rogue hyphenations such as in 'chap-ter', 'Car-negie', 'custom-ers', 'Gas-kell', and you keep having to re-read them to see what they mean? I found them in 5 different chapters, so its not as if only one piece of text was added/removed and threw out the pagination?

Bold thesis
Sweeping history of the corporation in a very short concise book. For many, I think just the history of the corporation would make this book worthwhile. Their claims about the importance of the corporation in world history represent a bold thesis, but the authors provide evidence not only over time but across countries and show why the different forms of corporations allowed some countries to advance faster than others.

Amusing reading, not to deep
The company is a fun little book for someone who wishes to understand the contribution of such entities to the creation of wealth in the modern world. It is not a thesis and it doesn't pretend to be one. It is basically a recollection of historical data starting from the fenician merchants and ending with the current anti globalization movement. However, beside the historical data and some insight into the views of the authors, the book doesn't ellaborate to much into any particular thesis. It is not a pertentious book but a fun one to read on a weekend.

Stimulating, If Basically Light, Reading
* THE COMPANY, by John Micklethwait and Adrian Woolridge, is a brief
historical survey of the evolution of the concept of the corporate
organization.

Partnerships and shareholding are concepts that go back a long time.
One of the most prominent of the "pre-modern" corporations was the
British East India Company, established by royal charter to control
trade with India, in fact becoming the effective government of India
for a time. However, the modern company didn't really arise until the
last half of the 19th century.

Corporations before that time had existed under specific government
charters, and it took some time for governments to become comfortable
with the notion that any group of people who wanted to form a
corporation could do so without explicit state approval, being
required only to meet a simple set of rules that applied to all. It
also took time to become comfortable with the notion of "limited
liability" -- that is, the now completely accepted notion that
stockholders who buy stock in a company may lose their stock, but will
not be liable for a company's debts.

Starting from that point, THE COMPANY goes on to describe the rise of
the modern corporation, particularly the rise of the US companies
during the period of "robber baron" capitalism up to the First World
War, and contrasting that with the corporate styles of other nations.
Britain, which had pioneered the legal mechanisms establishing the
modern corporation, lagged behind because of a social snobbery against
commerce, while Germany and Japan harnessed corporate energies into
service for the state.

The book then traces the evolution of the American corporate concept
of the 1950s and 1960s -- when the world seemed dominated by the likes
of GM, IBM, and Coca-Cola -- and how rapid changes in technology
undermined, though by no means crippled, the power of the major
corporations during the rest of the century. It concludes by

examining recent corporate scandals and the controversy over
multinational corporations and "globalism".

* Both the authors are staffers for the British ECONOMIST magazine,
and THE COMPANY reflects that to the point of generally seeming to be
an expanded ECONOMIST essay. This is not really a complaint, however.
Yes, it does come on as sketchy in places, and sometimes a bit glib.
I spent almost two decades working for a major corporation, and it
seems a bit funny to see a book discussing such places in a sanitized
fashion when anyone who's been stuck in one for a long time suspects
that a realistic book on how a big corporation works would have to be
written by Kafka and illustrated by Dali. (Ah, but things always look
different close up.)

THE COMPANY certainly reflects the ECONOMIST's enthusiastic boosterism
of capitalism, and of course the reader is given an almost obligatory
defense of globalism -- but a measured one, admitting that though the
Left may be loony at times, they still have a few valid points and
concerns. In any case, overall this is a fun little book to read,
lively and entertaining, even worth some rereading, though in

the end it's basically casual reading. ... Read more

Book Description

How do you fundamentally change a company that has 33,500 employees and 251 stores? Consumer electronics giant Best Buy went from making less than 1% profit on $7 billion in sales in 1997, to being a company whose stock prices soared 1,000% within a handful of years.

This is the remarkable story of corporate transformation, financial rejuvenation, and radical cultural change, written by the change consultants who were there every step of the way.

Coauthors Elizabeth Gibson and Andy Billings present in detailed, replicable steps their proven strategies and tools that fundamentally altered the behavior at Best Buy, turning cowboy management practices and a high-energy culture fixated on rapid growth into the kind of disciplined, learning-focused operation that now drives Best Buy's phenomenal success.

Best Buy's transformation was the result of a careful methodology that focues on three arenas for human change:

The Head--thinking, or coming to grips with the problem,
The Heart--feeling, or working it through,
The Hands--behaving, or making it real.

Once new behaviors became part of the company's DNA, they were reinforced and maintained with the Change Scorecard (SM), a powerful change technology for evaluating progress, measuring change, and providing developmental feedback.

Both a compelling story and a step-by-step model for real change, this book offers hard-won lessons for every executive, manager, and employee. Learn:

Why change efforts typically fail, and why this one succeeded;
How to overcome employee resistance;
How to turn verbal compliance into actual behavioral change;
How to get others and yourself to think differently;
How to effect change on multiple organizational levels;
How to monitor and measure change;
How to insure long-term transformation and growth.

With this book, Gibson and Billings bring change management out of the realm of theory and into the dramatic world of real people, real problems, real business challenges, and a real success story. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Phil Ruffner, Sundyne
I found the book to be interesting and challenging enough to order a copy for each member of my management team. My take on this book is that it provides a great deal of insight into managing the evolution process. As with most management texts, the most interesting and exciting parts of that insight show up in the latter third of the book. I suppose you could skip the first 175 pages and still get the flavor of what RHR and Best Buy did, but I encourage you to read it all. The last 100 pages will be your reward for getting through the first 175.

Things I noted in particular:

1) Early in the book, the authors set up the concept of the Head, Heart and Hands. The Head talks about getting the concept. The Heart talks about motivation, the desire to apply what was learned. The Hands is about putting the concepts into action and producing results.

2) There is a lot of discussion about the role of the Senior Managers in this process, I suggest you test yourself against the model that develops and see if you meet the authors' expectations.

3) If you don't read any other part of the book, I ask you to read pages 216 and study the table on page 234.

4) On page 216 you will see "When people set out to measure the effects of change on business results such as productivity, sales, profit, and employee turnover, they are measuring the outcomes of a process. Measuring results does not provide much information on how the change is proceeding or what issues might be impeding or furthering the change process." We all certainly focus on a couple of the measures cited - to what extent do we sacrifice the longer view in doing so?

The authors got me with the following: "Knowing the score at the end of a game gives you limited information about how the individuals played, where they need to improve, or what's getting in the way of their achieving a better score."

Sound familiar?

BIG Change at YOUR Company
Three interesting observations...
1) I'm surprised Best Buy management would allow these details to become public
2) I liked the way the consultants admitted they learned something, too
3) There are many paragraphs where one could change the name of the company from "Best Buy" to your company's name, and the text would apply to YOU.

Big Change at Best Buy is a Must Buy
Therer are lots of books on transformational change out there. Few if any compare to Big Change at Best Buy for its candor, its practicality or its thoroughness. The authors take the reader on a no holds barred 5 year journey. The guts of the company are laid bare for better or for worse as senior executives share their struggles, their doubts, their hard won successes on the road to true breakthroughs in perfomance.

This is fundamentally a book about how to improve your financial results by changing your formulas for success. The authors prescribe a "head, heart and hands" change methodology which not only makes sense intuitively, but seems to work when applied with care by a team of consultants and insiders working closely side by side.

This is no oversimplified cookbook. The ins and outs of change are detailed in a very practical straightforward manner, leaving few stones unturned. Metaphors and analogies are used liberally to help readers get a 3D color picture and to enable them to generalize the issues faced at Best Buy to their own organizations.

Tips on how to fail at each stage of the process are very instructive in what not to do....as are the many colorful quotes from menmbers of the internal change implementation team.

This book feels real...lots of conflicts, values needing to be clarified, lessons learned about change. No sugar coating, but a happy ending nonetheless.

True change seems like it never comes without a struggle. Big Change at Best Buy chronicles both the struggles and the victories won, leaving little for the reader to imagine or reconstruct. It's all there, all the tools and the instructions for how to use 'em to fundamentally transform people, systems and culture for superior financial results.

It's not just for CEO's
I have been teaching in the public schools for 30 years. One of the things that I have done since Tom Peter's came out with his "In Search of Excellence" is keep a close eye on what is being done in the economic sector and applying those principles in my classroom. "Big Change . . ." caught my attention immediately after I read the first chapter. It was not only an interesting read, but I knew it was going to make me change my way of doing business in the classroom.

As a teacher who has always held the ancient Greeks in esteem, I have always thought the best products were ones that employed the head, heart, and hands, but I had never thought of it in quite the same way as presented in "Big Change". While I have always "soap boxed" the idea, I have never tried to make it a mindset, to actually change the culture. Next year I will try to do just that in my classroom using the tools that are presented in this excellent book. Because the process is so well laid out, I expect to succeed in changing the culture of education in my classroom.

I also teach a class at Western Washington University on how to create change. This book will be required reading because when you are finished with this book, you have the tools to implement change that lasts and makes a difference. "Big Change" is a best buy!

Big help in do-how
There are lots of books on change but this one gives practical information that you can use tomorrow without losing theoretical sophistication. It is the only model that I know of that deals well with all three arenas: head, heart and hands. I particularly liked ithe "what to do to fail" lists. The book is realistic in that it does not present the consultants and the company as all-knowing. The examples of mistakes and corrections give a realistic picture of the what a real change project feels like. If a company is going through (or planning) a change process, this would be a great book to read and discuss as a group. ... Read more

Book Description

This book covers: the historical background and regulation of gambling; all aspects of casino operations--from food and beverages to cage operations, auditing, marketing, and reporting; and the mathematics and a utility analysis of gaming. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Something strange happened to the Enron Corporation in the early 1990s: It went from a company that traded in tangible goods to one that dealt in pure abstractions, with shoddy accounting practices, astonishing compensation packages, and smoke and mirrors to obfuscate this new reality.

Company auditors, Sherron Watkins among them, warned top Enron execs from CEO Kenneth Lay on down that the company’s increasing reliance on cooked books and phony reports "will implode in a wave of accounting scandals." As anyone who played the stock market or watched Enron suits do the perp walk on the evening news a couple of years ago will remember, that’s exactly what happened. Texas Monthly editor Swarz and Watkins team up to offer this account, rich in anecdote and numbers alike, of what went wrong and who made it so. Though even-handed throughout, they serve up plenty of righteous scorn for the corporate leaders who enriched themselves as the company disintegrated, and for the name-brand politicians who abetted them.

Though Osama bin Laden’s pawns barely dented the U.S. economy, observes Alex Berenson in The Number, Lay and his lieutenants brought it to its knees. Swartz’s and Watkins’s eye-opening account will rekindle new indignation over unpunished crimes and well-rewarded hubris, and it ought to be required reading in business schools henceforth. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Good but could have been better
This was a good look at the fall from one of the insiders who had a good view.But the book dragged and could have benefitted from some tighter editing.Some portions were needlessly long, only to reveal small insights into the problems at the company.

In a related note, if you are interested in a book that offers a very fresh perspective on the Enron mess (although no inside information) I highly recommend "The Tao of Enron."

A book with good utility.
Everyone is familiar with the story of Enron Corporation, but do they really know what factors initiated the destruction of this world-respected company?While the outcome is obvious, few people are knowledgeable about the cause of this atrocity. The media spun this news event into a tale of good guys versus bad guys - the powerful executives hurting the weaker, low ranking employees.But the profoundness of this case is that such a scandal can occur at any corporation.

As effectively illustrated in Power Failure, the handiwork of CFO Andy Fastow blurred the lines of legality so indistinctly, that it was difficult for several renowned legal firms and accounting firms to recognize as unethical.It was not an obvious shuffling of numbers that inflated earnings over $4 billion dollars, but gray areas that bordered fair accounting and federal crime.The discreetness of the financial operations is what hid billions of dollars in debt from investors, other executives, and auditors.After reading the book, it is evident how such a scheme could slip past the CEO without notice.

The best aspect of Power Failure is that it describes the malignant financial manipulations in detail. It perfectly describes how Enron used accounting practices like FAS 25 to book earnings before they could be earned.It shows how Enron used fair value accounting as an unfair means of shuffling assets and making profits.It shows Andy Fastow's the gradual chipping to create a complex network of special purpose entities, which turned into a recipe for disaster.

Power Failure does a good job debunking many of the misunderstandings that surround the Enron case.Despite the media glamour as a hero, the "whistleblower" Sherron Watkins actually played a minor role in exposing the scandal.The mysterious suicide of accountant Cliff Baxter really had no hidden agendas.Questions can also be raised as to Ken Lay's participation in the event, despite his insider trading of stock.

Perhaps the greatest strength of Power Failure is that it can show executives of other companies what to watch out for.Students and accounting buffs will also find this a worthwhile read.Being knowledge about the Enron story may even prevent such an incident at your company.

Must Read
Ken Lay was the product of a very religious background in a small Midwestern town. During work on his PhD in economics, he became enamored of the world of stocks. He parlayed InterNorth, a small energy company into Enron. He was a rich man, having made $4 million in stock value increases from the merger of Houston Gas into InterNorth, later renamed Enron. He was also the highest paid CEO in the United States. The company's strengths were also its weakness: the constant risk-taking; the high debt load to ward off potential takeovers; "impassioned embrace of deregulation;" constant reorganization; and instant adoption of the hottest new business ideas.They were soon struggling for cash.

In the meantime, Lay had created a new culture at Enron.It was his belief that all one had to do was hire the best and the brightest, provide a free environment, and things would take care of themselves. He also had trouble saying no to anyone.He hired an old friend to be the "bad guy," but it soon became apparent to all that if you made money for the company you could get whatever you wanted.

Watkins was hailed in 2001, following the collapse of Enron, as a heroine for her "whistle-blowing." Whether her actions actually constitute that appellation is open to question.Certainly she was an insider, and her account reveals a great deal more of the financial shenanigans in greater detail than the previous book I reviewed, Anatomy of Greed. She interacted constantly with Lay, Skilling and Fastow, and if she got really nervous about what she was seeing, perhaps whistle-blowing was just a way of protecting her posterior.

What started out as a new paradigm, a different way of delivering energy, soon became a case of the blind leading the blind, or a corporate version of Dumb and Dumber, as the board and Enron employeesbegan creating numerous new ways of hiding losses, even making losses look like revenue.It was a huge, ever-increasing house of cards.

Watkins is an accountant and naturally had a strong sense of the financial improprieties the company had embarked upon, but the impending doom she warned of in her now-famous memo to Lay should have been obvious to everyone.Enron's own head of research said presciently, "Every era gets the clowns it deserves."

If they ever make a movie of this book, it will have to be a comedy. It is astonishing how stupid many of the "best and brightest" graduates of American business schools were, as they bellied up to the trough of corporate greed. Sherron made an attempt to meet with Ken Lay, but first she had to convince his personal secretary to arrange a meeting.The secretary informed Watkins that"Ken gravitates toward good news. . . ." It did not bode well for the meeting. Another insider told her to make the presentation as simple as possible and eliminate any accounting jargon.She obliged and reworked her presentation so that her two-year-old daughter could understand it.The meeting was a flop, and it was clear to her that Lay could not understand - or perhaps did not want to understand - a thing she was talking about.

Ironically, Osama Bin Laden's exploits barely dented the US economy.Lay's machinations and the subsequent stock free fall provided a vicious slambang.

Solid good read
An interesting and involving read on the rise, demise and fall of Enron. The book draws the reader into this story of of corporate greed, corruption and deception.

No Energy Here Either
Disappointing.Although Watkins got a lot of play as a "whistleblower," you may develop a different opinion if you read her actual memo.Nothing new, which is disappointing given her immunity from prosecution, and too long in coming.Technically proficient ghost writer. ... Read more

Book Description

When Lucent Technologies was spun off from AT&T in 1996, the new company was full of promise. An old-line manufacturer, it quickly became a sizzling hot stock thanks to the emergence of the Internet and the build-up of telecommunications. The stock market was soaring, and Lucent flew with it. Within a few short years it became the sixth-largest corporation in America and the most widely held stock in the country. Yet only months later, Lucent was gasping for life, victim of the greatest stock-market bubble in history.

Optical Illusions is the story of a financially sound company steeped in world-class talent, dominant in one of the fastest-growing industries, that in the space of two years found itself downgraded to a junk-bond credit rating, under investigation by the SEC for its accounting practices, the value of its stock reduced to the price of a cup of coffee. Lisa Endlich tells the fascinating tale of the company that epitomized the misfortunes of the telecom industry, leaving investors and employees shocked and confused.

In writing this book Endlich had access to more than a hundred people who played a role in the drama, as well as previously sealed courtroom documents. She explains how the conflicting styles of CEOs Henry Schacht and Rich McGinn contributed to Lucent's woes, and she shows how the loss of skilled executives such as Carly Fiorina hurt the company at a crucial moment. When it was all over, Schacht -- Lucent's first CEO, who was later brought back to right the listing ship -- acknowledged that Lucent had allowed itself to be swept up in the market mania, distorting its corporate values in the process.

Although the stock-market mania of the late 1990s is remembered as "the Internet craze" or "the dot-com madness," as Optical Illusions shows, the damage was more widespread and lasting. In fighting for its survival, Lucent laid off more than 70 percent of its employees, wrecking retirees' savings and investors' portfolios alike. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Every few years a new book comes along that belongs to a select category one might label "the bookstore bio."Comprising such titles as Old Books, Rare Friends or 84 Charing Cross Road, these few, these happy few biographies are purportedly about the proprietors of a particular store. In reality, however, they are as much about the relationships booklovers forge as they are about books. Certainly this is true of The Bookstore, Lynne Tillman's entertaining history of a New York literary landmark, Books & Co.Founded in 1977 by IBM heiress Jeannette Watson, the shop became a legendary stomping ground for everyone from Woody Allen to Salman Rushdie. When it finally closed its doors in 1997 due to a rent dispute with the Whitney Museum, it was a blow felt by bibliophiles round the world.

Though Books & Co. is gone, its hold on the hearts of its admirers is still strong, and Tillman has had no trouble rounding up a slew of former patrons to sing its praises; the history is punctuated with anecdotes covering the full spectrum of bookstore life. John G. Hanhardt, describing Books & Co.'s philosophy section, remarks "I think of Books & Co. as a curated space," while sales rep Ed Solowitz wryly comments on the store's buying policies: "We don't even want to talk about returns. I tell people, I don't even watch election results because they say 'We're going to the returns.' I get very nervous. Returns, I get very nervous." The likes of Brendan Gill, Fran Liebowitz, Paul Auster, Amy Hempel, Susan Sontag, and many, many more writers and readers weigh in with their memories as well. And weaving in, out, and around these various reminiscences is Watson's personal account of her enterprise from its earliest inception to its final days. Books & Co. will be sorely missed; The Bookstore reminds us of why. --Alix Wilber ... Read more

Reviews (11)

An oral history of independent bookselling...
At its most basic, Lynn Tillman's "Bookstore: The Life and Times of Jeanette Watson" is an oral history of the life cycle of one independent bookstore, in this case Books and Co. in New York. Spanning the mid-'70s to late '90s, the book is a collection of reminscences by booksellers, writers, and patrons of the bookstore intercut with the "memoir" of the store's owner, Jeannette Watson. (In a strange twist, the memoir is written by author Lynn Tillman from interviews held with Ms. Watson, which is a little jarring. Maybe Ms. Watson had an aversion to taking credit for a ghost writer.)

The book chronicles years that marked a decline in independent bookstores around the country. It is fanciful and nostalgic -- anyone who has ever worked in either publishing or a bookstore will appreciate its accuracy and the affectionate tone. It is also full of suggestions for lesser known literary reads; a nice tear out list of 50 of the store's lesser known finds is found at the book's end.

I enjoyed the book without loving it. I'm sure many book lovers will find it a worthy escape from the usual.

The story of a great independent and literary bookstore.
Bookstore is the story of a woman, Jeannette Watson, who made her dream come true by opening her own bookstore, Books & Co., in New York City in 1978 and kept it alive through thick and thin for 20 years. The economics of the business and a nasty landlord finally drove it out of business, but for its 20 years it was a haven for writers, readers and lovers of literature. With an introduction by customer Woody Allen, Bookstore is filled with stories told in the first person by the people who read there and the people who bought there. It is a poignant and sad story that is ultimately a triumph of one woman and her dream over the crass commerce that is bookselling today. Books & Company lives on in this fantastic volume.

Felt like a Books and Co. regular customer
I bought this book thinking I would save it to read during one of those rare times that I didn't have anything else to read. That time came sooner than expected, but as I started reading Bookstore, I found that I hadn't given it the credit it deserved. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the twenty year account of Jeannette Watson's bookstore ownership from the time it was just an idea until the day the doors closed forever.

Although, the lack of chapters or any sort of division in content was foreign to me, I loved the way it was put together with words that seemed to come from Jeannette Watson's personal journal (written by Lynne Tillman) as well as quotes from famous authors and regular customers.

By the time I got to the end of the book, I felt like I'd visited the store regularly even though I've never even been to New York City where the store was located. I could almost smell the atmosphere as it was described and as it was decided to close the store, I grieved right along with other customers who saw the closing of the store not only as a personal loss, but a loss for community as well.

Although, I don't condemn the bookstore chains in any way, it's very unfortunate that there isn't room for the independently owned bookstores to survive alongside them. I've always felt that to be true...but even more so after reading Lynne Tillman's Bookstore.

If you've ever dreamed of owning a bookstore, you will love this book as you live vicariously through Jeannette Watson's own dream come true!

Nice little story
I always enjoy books about books or bookstores. This one was pretty good.

The writing style was refreshing and did not go into too much useless details about the book business (i.e. financial aspect,etc).

I was amazed at all that was accomplished by Jeannette Watson and thought the book was very interesting.

A great read for all who love to browse bookstores and ever wondered about how they came to be.

Mixed feelings...
This book is primarily an extensive assemblage of quotes and reminiscences from the various and sundry parties connected with Jeannette Watson and/or Books and Co.

What this book did was give me a crash course into the world of Literature as High Art as defined by the guardians of cosmopolitan New York "high culture." They are indeed an intellectual, highly educated, well-read crowd. Yet I cannot seem to get past the needless pretentiousness and arrogance that inevitably goes along with it. I could make many harsh, critical and obvious observations about Jeannette Watson and how she reveals herself (and is revealed by others) within the pages of Bookstore (other than this one). But instead I'll take the (sort of) high road and say that she comes across as a person who sincerely loves reading and enjoys literature, be it hi-brow, low brow, or anything in between as long as it talks to her, as it were. And that is wonderful.

But the book itself comes across as a self-congratulatory toast to a group of elitists who, for a time, kept the wolves of mainstream pop culture at bay (not that this is in itself bad - mainstream pop culture IS the societal equivalent of cotton candy - good for an occasional snack, but a lousy meal). The irony is, that what did Books and Co. in was another scion of highbrow culture - a New York art museum.

So what are we left with? Probably the loss of a good bookstore that need not have gone out of business had its owner been more financially savvy (another irony in itself). The anecdotes are sometimes interesting, and it is an interesting birds-eye view on how to (in some cases) and how not to (in others) run a bookstore. ... Read more

Book Description

Now fully updated, the classic account of how a bottle of sweetened caramel-colored soda water became synonymous with American capitalism

For God, Country and Coca-Cola is the unauthorized history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it. From its origins as a patent medicine in Reconstruction Atlanta through its rise as the dominant consumer beverage of the American century, the story of Coke is as unique, tasty, and effervescent as the drink itself. With vivid portraits of the entrepreneurs who founded the company-and of the colorful cast of hustlers, swindlers, ad men, and con men who have made Coca-Cola the most recognized trademark in the world-this is business history at its best: in fact,"The Real Thing." ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Very good historical work, with good perspective
Basically, this is a book on the history of Coca-Cola, with some really good information on the cola industry as a whole. Well-researched, and well-written, I enjoyed this book. It was especially interesting to see the honesty in regard to the cocaine and caffiene content issues that Coke had to deal with, and later the "New Coke" fiasco. My only complaint would be with the length and that its a bit slow moving. The people involved certainly aren't very likeable, but the author does a good job of putting everything into a proper historical context. It even has the "secret formula" for the drink, which I found interesting just to know what I'm drinking.

Entertaining history of our times through a Coke bottle!
I have always had a great fascination for the things that seem to define our lives in the Western world - those great style and cultural icons of our times. And nothing seems to typify this, in a truly frivolous sense of course, more than Coca Cola.

This is detailed, meticulously researched and absolutely FASCINATING study of the history of Coke - not just who first made it and how it was first presented to a thirsty public (and no, it doesn't give you the formula), but how it has grown to become something that looms large in everyone's life, even if you're not a fan. More people drink Coca Cola in the world than coffee, but at this point I must confess that I don't drink Coke myself.

There are entertaining stories of how the product evolved from a syrup served at every soda bar (ever wondered about that cocaine rumour - its in the book!); how every soldier in WW2 had a coke at the front, even if they didn't have bullets and medical supplies; and how jealously Coke guard their market share and branding. There are some really funny anecdotes from the Coke/Pepsi wars, especially when the formula was tinkered with to gain competitive advantage, and my favourite is the lady who berates a poor man stocking shelves with the "new" Coke, and when the man stacking Pepsi laughs, she berates him for his product as well. This is an amusing study of our society and how this innocent fizzy brown drink has become one of the most universally recognised products of our times.

I remember I was reading this one night and my husband declared that he thought the whole book was nothing but an advertisement for Coca Cola. I laughed, told him it was a very entertaining study of a product that is now literally everywhere in the world. I then asked him to get me a Coke.

Good though it drags in the middle ...
FOR GOD, COUNTRY, AND COCA-COLA is an interesting and exhaustive read about the history of what is likely the world's best known product, sugar water.

Pendergast most definitely did his homework on Coca-Cola. Accordingly, if you were curious about any facet of Coke's history up to the mid-to-late nineties, it's probably included in this book. I kid you not that the last hundred pages are all footnotes - it's that exhaustive.

I love Coke though I often find myself bothered by the importance of a product that is nothing more than good-tasting water. If you are curious about Coke and have the will power to read 460 pages of history about this company, pick this book up. However, be forewarned that it's a major book that doesn't pull any punches. I probably drank at least a case of Coke while trying to read this thing. Kudos to Mark Pendergast for being so thorough though. I always wanted to know that Rome, GA had the highest per capita consumption of Coke in the world!

Coke Mega info.
Very good history of the Coca-Cola Company. I could do without the Author's comments at times, but when you write the book you get to say what you want. Very enjoyable!

Fascinating
In the late nineteenth century, cocaine was considered a wonder
drug. Heralded by medical journals, pharmacists, Freud and even several Popes - Pope Leo III was a regular imbiber of Vin Mariani, a wine created in 1863 that contained 2.16 grains of cocaine, in the recommended dose of six glasses per day. No doubt he felt very holy indeed, and his long life and "all-radiant" eyes were probably less due to his piety than his daily dose of this "healthful" and "life-sustaining" drug that had been so valued by the Incas.

Dr. John Pemberton, an Atlanta druggist and doctor - he held two degrees and had created a master reference work containing over 12,000 tests - was anxious to create a drink that would be healthful and profitable. He was not immune to the vast literature hailing cocaine as a wonder drug. "The use of the coca plant not only preserves the health of all who use it, but prolongs life to a very great old age and enables the coca eaters to perform prodigies of mental and physical labor," he wrote in 1885. It was a time when patent medicines and elixirs were all the rage. Soda fountains would often offer as many as 300 different combinations of drinks. Advertisers tried to influence consumers to purchase one in favor of others, and huge signs were erected along railroads and roads to get the traveler's attention. It was not unusual for a patent medicine "advertiser of the era to clear-cut an entire mountainside to that he could erect a mammoth sign for Helmholdt's Buchu." A contemporary traveler described, "enormous signs are erected in the fields, not a rock is left without disfigurement, and gigantic words glare at as great a distance as the eye is able to read them."

Pemberton's first product was French Wine Coca. It was loaded with cocaine, an extract of the kola nut (very high in caffeine) and damiana, the leaf of a plant with supposed aphrodisiacal powers. The concoction was advertised as a cure for virtually everything from nerve trouble and dyspepsia to impotence and morphine addiction.

Opiate addiction was a huge problem after the Civil War. Known as the "Army Disease" because so many veterans were addicted. Pemberton himself was an addict trying to break the habit. He was convinced that cocaine was the best treatment for morphine addiction.

In the meantime, by 1886, temperance was becoming a movement in the Atlanta area, so Pemberton began experimenting with a new beverage that excluded the wine. By adding citric acid, he eliminated some of the sugary sweet taste and eliminated the damiana but kept the coca and kola, hence the alliterative choice that his colleague Robinson came up with: Coca-Cola. They advertised it both for its medicinal benefits and as a new soda fountain drink. One ad read, "The new and popular soda fountain drink containing the properties of the wonderful coca plant and the famous cola nut." As it gained in popularity, the business convolutions kept pace, with Pemberton selling his rights to the business several times over. It was soon a mess.

Asa Candler finally wound up with ownership of the trademark. He remained committed to quality and insisted that his distributors (a rather unique arrangement for the time) not tinker with the syrup recipe, although some of them did, one adding saccharine in an attempt to preserve the drink -- it was also an ironic attempt to make the drink as sweet as possible. Candler never thought bottling the drink would amount to much, so he virtually gave away the bottling rights, a prognosticatory failure that was to cost the company millions in later years to purchase them back. He and Frank Robinson (the real marketing genius, who invented the script logo for the drink) soon were collecting huge amounts of money as Coke took off.

By 1900, Coca-Cola had become so popular it became a target for those who were terribly afraid someone might be out there enjoying themselves, i.e., the self-righteous, and soon pulpits all over attacked the nefarious qualities of the drink that was addicting children, of all people. It had also become a popular drink among the black population, and soon the KKK was suggesting that the black population was drinking Coca-Cola, becoming "drug fiends" and roaming the countryside in search of white women to ravish. Some white farm owners had indeed paid their sharecroppers, mostly black, with cocaine, since it was cheaper than alcohol, and cocaine addiction had become a serious problem. Ironically, Candler had already removed the minute traces of cocaine that had been in the formula. (The purity of the formula was somewhat of a joke, as several of the bottlers had added saccharin to make it sweeter, but also as a preservative.) The company by 1902 was promoting Coca-Cola as a healthful drink and the official Coke line is that the drink never contained cocaine, a typical PR prevarication, and not a particularly astute one since earlier company brochures had bragged about the healthful benefits of cocaine. In any case, the do-gooders, who wanted Coke declared an adulterated product because it contained caffeine managed to enlist the mighty forces of the FDA. Many expensive years later the suit finally died although Coke did reduce the amount of caffeine in the formula. They spent massive amounts of money on advertising, plastering the Coke logos on the sides of barns and giving out millions of items with the Coke logo. It was widely successful and soon Coke was the most popular drink around.

Pendergrast's section on the infamous New Coke marketing disaster - or was it really an enormous accidental success - is fascinating. The outrage was enormous, but the publicity that resulted showed tremendous loyalty to a drink. Odd hype occurred almost everywhere. A study at Harvard Medical School compared the douche properties of the old Coke to those of the new, and found that the old Coke killed five times as many sperm as the new Coke. That's weird. The company completely failed to recognize that Coca-Cola had become an American institution, an icon. "They talk as if Coca-Cola had just killed God," moaned one executive. Coca-Cola had come to symbolize America; it was "associated with almost every aspect of their lives - first dates, moments of victory and defeat, joyous group celebrations, pensive solitude." ... Read more

Book Description

"I'd say you were a carnival barker, except that wouldn't be fair tocarnival barkers. A carnie will at least tell you up front that he's running a shell game. You, Mr. Lay, were running what purported to be the seventh largest corporation in America."-Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) to Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, Senate Commerce Science & Transportation's Subcommittee, Hearing on Enron, 2/12/02
The speed of Enron's rise and fall is truly astonishing and perhaps the single most important story of corporate failure in the twenty-first century. In Enron investigative journalist Loren Fox promises readers nothing short of the most compelling and insightful investigation into Enron's meteoric ascent-regarded by Wall Street and the media as the epitome of innovation-and its spectacular fall from grace. In a lively and authoritative manner, Fox discusses how the biggest corporate bankruptcy in American business history happened, why for so long no one (except for an enlightened few) saw it coming, and what its impact will be on financial markets, the U.S. economy, U.S. energy policy, and the public for years to come. With access to many company insiders, Fox's intriguing account of this corporate debacle also provides an overview of the corporate culture and business model that led to Enron's high-flying success and disastrous failure. The story of Enron is one that will reverberate in global financial and energy markets as well as in criminal and civil courts for years to come. Rife with all the elements of a classic thriller-scandal, dishonest accounting, personal greed, questionable campaign contributions, suicide-Enron captures the essence of a company that went too far too fast. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Insightful!
Enron's story seems to have happened all at once. There was a big company with a stock price shooting for the stars and, then, suddenly there was a massive fraud, and the two things came so close together it was like hearing the explosion from a fireworks display after you've seen the light in the sky. Loren Fox's account was one of the first books about Enron and remains one of the best. The author is a skillful, diligent reporter who managed to get the story first and get it right, although Enron did not authorize his book or cooperate with him. His discussion of the company's complex, illegal accounting maneuvers is thorough and, if not quite clear, certainly complete. The book was written during the relatively early stages of the legal proceedings against the architects of the Enron fraud, so a lot of the material uncovered by Justice Department and SEC investigators was not yet available. The demerit of this is that Fox was not able to include much that is now common knowledge about Enron. However, we find that there is an advantage as well: Fox was not excessively guided or directed by common knowledge and conventional wisdom, but instead carved his own path through the thicket of Enron's weird and instructive history.

Read in conjunction with Smith/Emshwiller
This book, plus "24 Days," together tell you everything you need to know about the fall of Enron.This one covers the "rise" better, that one covers the "fall."

What one ought to take away from both books is the realization that, despite the failure and indeed despite the evident criminality, Enron (as Fox says in his epilogue), "wasn't a complete hoax.The company deserved admiration for its early forays into trading gas and electricity, and for its plunge into the innovative financing of energy projects.It out-maneuvered the old-line energy companies to expand the use of derivatives in the energy industry. This introduced new ways of managing risk, which lowered the costs of energy-related transactions for an array of businesses."

Another reviewer has said that the Fox book is a cure for insomnia.The fact is that if you need to have material on Enron MADE interesting for you by dramatic presentation, by a well-shaped narative flow, then you may have trouble with Fox, simply because he lets the material speak for itself.

Sometimes it speaks in ambiguous tones.

Solid
Good, solid background on the history of Enron and its missteps.If you're interested in one stop shopping for an understanding of Enron the corporation from start to finish, this is the best out there so far.

A "fair and balanced" treatment that can cure insomnia
I've read several Enron books, from Cruver's poor product to Lynn Brewer's silly treatise, and I have to say that this one is probably more accurate and balanced than any of the others, but..... it's a real snorefest.Any author that can take a fascinating story like this and put a reader to sleep with it is not really overachieving in my view.

I guess Fox couldn't get anyone significant to talk to him and maybe that held him back some, but it didn't keep Cruver and Brewer and Swartz from producing more entertaining stuff in their efforts which were similarly unencumbered by input from people who were really making it happen.Oh well, he produced a "fair and balanced" treatment that just might help you with that insomnia thing.

Driven by Fear and Greed
This well researched book gives the best global picture of how Enron came into being and how it developed into the financial shell game which eventually brought it down.Derivatives proliferate, power concentrates, and stock options vest."Profits" soar and morality plummets.

I read this shortly after reading "Credit Derivatives" by Tavakoli.Trades can be levered and rigged to state almost anything one wants.Enron stared with the answer it wanted and worked backward to write financial fiction. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent integration of theory and managerial experience.
This team of authors has effectively catogorized experience as a tool for training managers. They have a very clear understanding that most of what managers learn is done through hard fought pain and effort - rarely the classroom.

Perhaps most useful is the chapter on learning from good, bad or indifferent bosses. The best part about the book is that these authors both understand the academic, social science research behind effective management, and they have blended it with hard ball qualitative interviews with real people in real job situations. Regretably, they don't give enough emphasis on how to manage one's own job experience.

All in all, an excellent tool. I have reread it five times and consult it regularly. ... Read more

Book Description

"Bill Bowen’s powerful insights into the principles and practices of institutional governance make his new book ‘must reading’ for all board members." —H. B. Atwater, Jr. Chairman of the Board and CEO General Mills, Inc. "The ‘old boys’ club’ of the boardroom no longer works as companies and organizations re-engineer for the global challenge. Dr. Bowen’s thoughtful and incisive analysis of issues and his prescriptions for good governance are must reading for all responsible board members." —W. Michael Blumenthal Former Secretary of the Treasury and Limited Partner, Lazard Freres & Co. "This thoughtful, lively, and well-written comparison of the many similarities and striking differences in the governance of not-for-profit and for-profit corporations is a unique resource from which both sectors will benefit.… This valuable book, and in particular its twenty ‘presumptive norms’ to govern how boards function, will certainly establish a new and important agenda for management and directors." —Helene L. Kaplan Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom "Dr. Bowen brings to Inside the Boardroom unusual qualifications: a distinguished economist who has served as university president, foundation executive, and [as a member of] several for-profit and nonprofit boards of directors. From this varied experience he combines scholarship with corporate reality in ways which provide wisdom, insight, and guidance as to how boards should work and how in fact they do work, and what they can and cannot contribute to management. Best of all, he does so in a thoroughly readable way." —Nicholas Katzenbach, Partner Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti Former United States Attorney General Former Senior Vice President and General Counsel, IBM Corporation "This superb study rests on Bowen’s extensive experience of both corporate and nonprofit boards and his personal qualities of lucidity, perceptiveness, intellectual acuity, and fair-mindedness. Readable, fresh, jargon-free, and thoughtful, the book is a gem." —Richard W. Lyman President Emeritus, The Rockefeller Foundation President Emeritus, Stanford University "William Bowen is the finest example of America’s meritocracy. He rose, by ability and wisdom, from Main Street to the highest counsel of business and philanthropy while gaining along the way admiration for scholarly innovations as an economist and leadership as President of Princeton University. In this short book he addresses—from experience and with analytical precision—the vital problem of how outside directors might help improve governance of business corporations and non-profit institutions. Read. Ponder." —Paul A. Samuelson Nobel Laureate in Economics Department of Economics, M.I.T. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An important discussion of directors' responsibilities.
Mr. Bowen gives an important perspective about the responsibilities and duties of members of boards of directors. He shows a deep understanding of the role of directors of both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.The not-for-profit director's importance is often overlooked, so this bookis a welcome addition to the literature about boards of directors. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The reason the "lost generation" was never truly lost.
Sylvia Beach, with eyes and ears that missed little in the way of nuance and subtlety, as much compassion for her fellows as passion for their writing and her bookshop, and a plucky all-American, "the gal can do it" spirit, wordpaints very likely one of the most accurate portraits of literary and artistic ex-patriates in Paris in the Twenties and Thirties. While they do seem a jolly crew, Beach is unflinching in her descriptions of the tiffs and teapot tempests that regularly flew. While such works as Hemingway's MOVEABLE FEAST, McAlmon's BEING GENIUSES TOGETHER, and Janet Flanner's PARIS WAS YESTERDAY are interesting and viable, each in its own way, Sylvia's little book out-sparkles them all for wit and humane truth. A priceless gem among books about books, readers and writers.

Shakespeare in L'Oeuvre
This, a book about books, is one of my favorites. In just 220 pages, bookshop owner Sylvia Beach, owner of the bookstore "Shakespeare and Company," paints a vivid portrait of the social, cultural, and especially , in Paris.

The store opened in November 1919, offering works of T.S. Elliot, Joyce, Chaucer, and others, a variety of literary reviews, and photographs of Wilde and Whitman. It ran first as kind of lending library, and almost immediately the many native and expatriate writers of Europe were borrowing books--and giving her their own new writings. Very early customers included Gide, Maurois, American poet Robert McAlmon , "Mr. and Mrs. Pound, " and the following couple:

"Not long after I opened my bookshop, two women came walking down the rue Dupuytren. One of them, with a very fine face, was stout, wore a long robe, and, on her head, a most becoming top of a basket. She was accompanied by a slim, dark whimsical woman: she reminded me of a gypsy. They were Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas."

Sylvia Beach writes clearly, candidly, and fondly of her many visitors and friends in prewar Europe, especially the 1920's ( she and her friends dismantled the shop when the Nazis threatened to confiscate her books in 1941). She evokes an entire era though richly told and plentiful anecdotes. She writes of encounters and friendships with such notables as Sherwood Anderson, Katherine Anne Porter, Satie, Bryher, H.D., Paul Valery, Valery Larbaud, D. H. Lawrence, and Hemingway (at the end of the book, Hemingway liberates "the wine cellar at the Ritz" (Hemingway's words) as he and his company try to rid the Rue l'Odeon of the remaining German snipers. Perhaps her closest relationship was with James Joyce, and she tells many stories, both amusing and sad, about him. (Sylvia Beach published the first edition of the highly controversial "Ulysses" in 1922.) The book feels intimate; one feels as if M. Beach has let one into her confidence. Highly enjoyable, fascinating, personal--and ultimately thrilling.

An excellent account of a literary life
These memoirs by Sylvia Beach--originally published in the 1950s--are reprinted here exactly as published. Ms. Beach became one of the most prominent Americans in Paris during the twenties and thirties by opening a bookstore called "Shakespeare & Company" (the title of this book). But to refer to her as a "bookstore manager" misses the point completely. Shakespeare & Company was a meeting place for many of the literary luminaries living in Paris at the time, including James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Her personal account places the reader in the center of their lives in a way no biographer looking back eighty years could dare to accomplish. Most notably, though, is Ms. Beach's support of James Joyce. When Joyce's masterpiece "Ulysses" looked as if it might not be published because of the fear of censorship exhibited by some of the established British and American publishing companies, Ms. Beach took it upon herself to take Joyce's finished manuscript to a printer in Dijon, and published the book herself, thereby ensuring that the world would experience this novel as Joyce intended. In fact, she exhibited admirable patience by allowing Joyce to correct proofs innumerable times and to increase the size by one third after it had been initially typeset by hand.

These memoirs are anecdotal and readable and the story moves along quickly. The only criticism I have, however, is that having read subsequent works, such as the Fitch book on Sylvia Beach, there were a few occasions in this volume when the editors back in the 1950s cut sections of her manuscript that dealt with "controversial" subjects, such as the relationship between Ms. Beach and the French bookseller Adrienne Monnier. One would hope at some time a publisher might afford Ms. Beach the opportunity she gave to James Joyce: to have the book published as she intended. ... Read more

Book Description

The Monopoly game, Trivial Pursuit, Clue, Boggle, and Risk are more than games-they're part of Americana. All of these games were published by one company, Parker Brothers, which began as a dream inside the mind of a sixteen-year-old boy, over one hundred years ago.

In The Game Makers, industry expert Phil Orbanes reveals how, by adhering to the principles of its founder, Parker Brothers rose to prominence, overcame obstacles, and forged lasting success. Orbanes, a game historian and former executive at Parker Brothers, draws from company archives, interviews with surviving family members, and the newly discovered records of founder George Parker to tell a story rich in examples of business acumen that spans world wars, family tragedy, the Great Depression, and global competition. Pairing Parker's enduring business lessons with little-known historical anecdotes, Orbanes reveals the often whimsical origin of classic games-Tiddledy Winks, Monopoly, Nerf, Sorry!, the modern jigsaw puzzle, and more-and how Parker Brothers turned them into cultural icons.

Engaging and insightful, The Game Makers explains the rules that popularized the games we play and reveals the people who built an American business empire.

"From one who loves games:The Game Makers is a real page-turner. Nobody knows the subject matter better than Phil Orbanes, and it shows. A most compelling read."

-Wink Martindale, host, Music of Your Life, and veteran host for award-winning game shows such as Can You Top This , Tic-Tac-Dough, and Trivial Pursuit.

"Phil Orbanes is a gifted chronicler. He serves up a tantalizing tale of fast-paced competition, drama, risk, eccentric personalities, and strategy, in one of the world's most competitive industries. The reader wins!"

-Richard C. Levy, Author, The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook

"In this deeply researched look at the evolution of business practices within the world of 'game makers,' Phil Orbanes takes readers on a journey in which they will happily recall the joyful hours spent playing the games that rolled off the presses at Parker Brothers."

-John J. Fox, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Salem State College

"A classic tale of American entrepreneurship, The Game Makers is a detailed study of successful business expansion and an insider's view of the cultural conflict between a corporate parent and its prize acquisition. This history of Parker Brothers offers something of interest to any serious student of American business practices."

-Linda M. Lemiesz, Ph.D., Dean of Students, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Arts

"I thoroughly enjoyed Phil Orbanes's journey through the history of Parker Brothers. Enjoyable and informative, The Game Makers is a fascinating account of how one individual's strength of character-or weakness-exerted a significant influence over a company's fortunes."

-Ralph H. Baer, Toy and Game Inventor, and Father of Video Games

... Read more

Reviews (4)

Sanguine but credible history
The author is a former employee and diehard fan of Parker Brothers which makes his viewpoint a double edged sword. On the one hand, his account is complimentary although never gushing. He does not shy away from relating some of the nasty corporate politics especially those during the company's recent years during which he worked for them. Some of the early history though, seems a bit too rosy especially when you consider US labor conditions in the early 20th century.
On the much brighter side, Orbanes' passion and connections to the company have afforded him dilligence and sources no other author could have attained. The book is well documented with accounts from George Parker's own private papers as well as interviews with lifelong employees from the upper and lower reaches of the organization.
Being a game fan, I can't be completely objective about the historical quality of the book. Orbanes injects as much historical context as he can and documents these references as well. Personally, I couldn't put the book down and found every chapter fascinating.

Makes you want to invent games yourself
Philip Orbanes tells a sympathetic and interesting tale of Parker Brothers' long rise to fame and fortune between 1883 and the beginning of the 1980s, as well how General Mill's video-game-stoked greed and lack of prudence brought on the decline of the once so respected game maker. This is the point where the authors tone as well as coverage of the history of the firm change dramatically, becoming somewhat more emotional, although not less enthusiastic.

One thing that "bothers" me about Orbanes' book is that the author is not always as elaborate as he could be. For example, he could have been more explicit on how Parker's Banking game was actually played, rather than just a basic outline of the game. Or the history of the Mah-Jongg game could have been more detailed. Also, an early example of the clear and concise wording of game rules that George Parker was famous for would have been interesting. None of these shortcomings seriously compromise the quality of the book, but it left me somewhat hungry for more material.

Much to my amusement, from the moment I passed the first few pages of Philip Orbanes' Parker story I have been housing the notion of making games myself. I can only imagine the satisfaction of creating intelligent and fun games. I find the concept of take a set of concise, simple rules and turning them into challenging and lasting game quite intriguing. Parker certainly mastered this principle in the past with games such as Risk or Monopoly, to name two of the most prominent.

One of my best reads in years...
I first noticed this book in a review in The Economist. The review was favorable, and I make video games for a living, so I decided to purchase and see what making games was like in ye olden days. What a delight! I read the entire book in one sitting, staying up late into the night.

Written by an executive from Parker Brothers' last independent days, the prose is clean and crisp, and the storytelling moves the events along at a good clip. The book details the rise of Parker Brothers, from George Parker selling his first home-made game through the eventual sale to General Mills late in the 20th century. There were many rises and falls along the way, and the stories about Monopoly (which the company initially refused to purchase) and the frequent successes from imported games such as Ping-Pong, were especially good.

I'd recommend for just about anyone, games fan or no.

A fascinating family and all the games we grew up with
I finished reading the Game Makers at 2:00 a.m. Usually I am sleeping long beforehand, but I found it just fascinating to learn about this amazing family and their great company-- especially because of the the way the story is told. It is filled with real drama and surprise. It made it difficult to stop reading before the last page. I learned a lot about making games as well. I also understand much better now the relations between the principles of successful business and the rules of games. The incredible changes in the last 25 years were of great interest for me. The amount of details presented is astonishing and the way they are presented makes it a pleasure to read.I applaud this highly original and interesting book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

From industrial revolution to information society
The book gives an interesting overview to Nokia, but at the same time it is an interesting story from the industrial revolution to the information society. Nokia has had a long way from paper, rubber, and cable business to cellular networks and handsets. It is also a story about different corporate strategies. Nokia used to be in several industries and huge diversified product portfolio. During the last 10 years Nokia has shifted its strategy to have a clear focus in the telecom industry. And all events are also related to politics.

Actually I feel the most interesting part of the book is 1970's and 1980's. It was the time when Nokia started the shift from paper and rubber industry to consumer electronics and telecom. This time had many dramatic events and great visions. 1990's is maybe the most boring part of the book. There are so many other books that tell about Nokia's most recent days and strategies.

I recommend this book. Especially, it put me to think that each strategy is always related to a prevailing political and business environment. Nokia has been able to successfully adjust its strategy to meet different needs and situations. ... Read more

Book Description

The Legend of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers tells the story of a company founded by three brothers in Kelow