Book Description

This globally oriented book covers the most current research and trends in International Management. It offers comprehensive and integrative cases that illustrate the actual behaviors and functions required for successful cross-cultural management at the strategic and interpersonal level. Includes numerous boxed features that relate concepts to real-world practice. Also includes experiential exercises for self-test.For professionals in international business. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great book describing culture
Excellent Book. I was impressed on how the author was able to showthe various difficulties that are faced and how one can go about managing them. Real scenarios helped a lot in understanding the difficulties better in International relations. ... Read more

Book Description

Now ranked the #1 selling Marketing Research book, this edition returns with an abundance of new and updated exercises, coverage, and features. Most notable is a special emphasis on online marketing research. Nearly every chapter includes coverage on how the Internet and new technologies are impacting research methods, for better and for worse. A book cannot succeed on new features and topics alone. With every new edition, reviewers complement these authors for an approach that is innovative yet approachable and reliable. Exercises and cases have been checked for accuracy, and the authors also recruited a Blue Ribbon Panel of marketing research professionals. The Panel explores today's increasingly digital research environment from a practitioner's point of view.Chapter topics include the marketing research process and industry, determining research objectives, research design, measurement, data collection and analysis, interpreting associations among variables, predictive analysis, and preparing and presenting the research report.For an understanding and appreciation of how marketing research works in practice. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

This is not a good book for beginners.
This is the textbook required by my professor. When I read it, I just felt that the author wastes a lot of words on some very simple and straightforward points. But as to those very confusing concepts and complicated procedure about how the economy adjusts, he uses as few words as possible. For example, when talking about the adjustment of inflation expectation, the author doesn't explain why and how the new equilibrium point appears at point E2 in figure 8-2. And I think this is very important to understand the underlying theory. Also, there are many inconsistent points and some critical typos in this book.

Just fine
I gotta buy this book for my class. I have some troubles with the topics inside. I agree that this is a good book but I gotta read from other sources to get more details. The author didn't make clear in many points. However, he covered all of the important topics. If you have some economic background, it would be your wonderful book, but for me it's not.

Good but poorly design
It is a good book. The author ,however, put "Figures and Graph" on the next page so that you have to turn pages back and forth most of the time to make senses. That will slow down your reading. Other than that you will enjoy reading the book.

A very helpfull book
Macroeconomics makes it easier to understand the very complex fundamentals of macroeconomics. It not only describes the different economic principles but also explaines them and examples are used frequently. Most chapters have at least a case study that shows how the ideas of the chapter can be applied to real-world episodes. The book consist of seven parts which cover different areas. The book provides information about unified development of core business cycle theory; new perspective on inflation, unemployment, growth and productivity and much more. What makes this book unique is that not only it deliver theories and concepts but also possible explanations to the central macroeconomic puzzles. I realy recomend this book.

An easy understood book
The book provides informations about business cycle, unemployment, inflation, and economic growth. Not only it describes Cinderella confluence of low unemployment and inflation but actually explains it. The book is easilly understood even by people who don't know anything about economics. The entire presentation is graphic, with simple ninth-grade algebra. Examples are used frequently. The book will equip you with the principles you need to make sense out of the conflicting and contradictory discussions of economic conditions and policies in newspapers and news magazines. I higly recomend this book to people who want to know more about how economi changes influence you. ... Read more

Book Description

The national bestseller that defines a new economic class and shows how it is key to the future of our cities.

The Washington Monthly 2002 Annual Political Book Award Winner

The Rise of the Creative Class gives us a provocative new way to think about why we live as we do today-and where we might be headed. Weaving storytelling with masses of new and updated research, Richard Florida traces the fundamental theme that runs through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the growing role of creativity in our economy.

Just as William Whyte's 1956 classic The Organization Man showed how the organizational ethos of that age permeated every aspect of life, Florida describes a society in which the creative ethos is increasingly dominant. Millions of us are beginning to work and live much as creative types like artists and scientists always have-with the result that our values and tastes, our personal relationships, our choices of where to live, and even our sense and use of time are changing. Leading the shift are the nearly 38 million Americans in many diverse fields who create for a living--the Creative Class.

The Rise of the Creative Class chronicles the ongoing sea of change in people's choices and attitudes, and shows not only what's happening but also how it stems from a fundamental economic change. The Creative Class now comprises more than thirty percent of the entire workforce. Their choices have already had a huge economic impact. In the future they will determine how the workplace is organized, what companies will prosper or go bankrupt, and even which cities will thrive or wither. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

Creative Class
Richard Florida's book, 'The Rise of the Creative Class', provides readers with some interesting ideas about economic and social growth. Throughout the book, Florida relates economic growth to creativity and diversity, without one, you may not have the other. In addition, he identifies 3 Ts as necessary for growth: technology, talent and tolerance. While planning for the future, cities no only have to look at economic development, but must look at the climate the city provides for the arts. Recently moving from South Dakota, one of the areas Florida describes as have high social capital but lacking economic growth, Florida's ideas about fostering an environment in which creativity thrives ring true. Economic development does not mean acquiring a chain restaurant, but it should include developing an authentic local environment that allows creativity to flourish.

Many criticize Florida's use of the Bohemian Index and Gay Index (however well it correlates to economic growth), citing the information does not apply to the majority of middle class Americans. The paperback edition of Florida's book contains a preface where the author points out that the creative environment is not limited to a city itself, but a region that allows people to live in the environment that suits them the best, i.e. Silicon Valley and San Francisco together provide an environment to growth. I do, however, find Florida's diversity ranking a bit lacking. Honolulu, one of the most diverse areas I have lived in, does not seem very diverse, because Asians and Pacific Islanders were considered as one racial/ethnic group.

Richard Florida for President
Richard Florida sees clearly what our present leadership does not- our country is in transition and the old rules no longer apply . He systematically shows through his research that cities that are thriving economically, intellectually and culturally are developing around a base of diversity, flexibility and tolerance. Talented people are moving to places that appeal to them and will allow them to reach their potential. He shows the only non-renewable resource is time and the only renewable resource the human intellect. Type his name into Google and you will find pages of growing city planning commissions either listening to him speak or their members quoting his book.
Run, Richard, run!

Insightful!
The good news is, Richard Florida's book recognizes the growing economic and sociological impact of creativity. The bad news is that in just two years, it has lost some of its gloss. The collapse of the bull market, the popping of the dot.com bubble, the 9/11 trauma, each took some shine off of the creative economy, with its casual dress days, flexible schedules and free rides. But even though this appraisal occasionally sounds quaint, we believe that the book's faith in the transforming economic and social power of creativity, its broad view, and its excellent references and quotations make it worth recommending.

a relic of the bubble economy
This book was conceived during the 1990s when the high-tech bubble economy caused a labor shortage which made it possible for recent college grads with the right "hot" skills to "write their own tickets". Professor Florida wondered why Pittsburgh, his home town, was having trouble attracting high-tech talent, and graduates from local schools were choosing to move away. He found that these young, single, upper-income, well-educated people were making job choices based on geography. They wanted to live somewhere "fun" for young people. That is with amenities such as a vibrant night life, opportunities for outdoor recreation such as biking, rock climbing, etc. Thus they chose places like Austin TX with its music scene over Pittsburgh with its symphony.

This is interesting enough, and Florida makes the connection to earlier work (especially that of Jane Jacobs) on what makes a city an "authentic" and interesting place to live.

It is well known that as time goes on, so-called "knowledge workers" are becoming a larger and larger part of the economy. However Florida, perhaps driven to some "irrational exuberance" by the bubble economy we were living in when he was writing this, makes some pretty outlandish claims for the importance and power of this class of workers (which he calls "the creative class"). As of mid-2004, this all seems a quaint relic of 1990s "new economy" optimism.

He also fails to address two things which have had a huge impact on the labor market in recent years:

He mentions but does not address at any length the collapse of the high-tech bubble, and what impact this change will have on the phenomena he describes. It would seem that most of what he describes is (at least for now) no longer true, as high-tech workers can no longer pick and choose but are now in the position of being glad to find any job at all.

He does not mention at all the phenomenon of overseas outsourcing. This may not have been a hot topic when the book was written but by the time (Fall '03) he wrote the preface to the paperback edition it was so, and he does not even mention it, despite the fact that it is at the very least having a large psychological effect on the high-tech job market.

Leaves us hanging
This book presents an interesting concept but the author doesn't tell us what to do with this information. He suggests that the "creative class" must become conscious of their identity as a class and begin to act in concert, but he doesn't outline a method for doing this. One would think that he would want to provide a platform for the unification and interaction of a class which he has identified.

The author suggests that municipalities would be wise to structure their geography to attract creative class individuals. Another approach, which he does not consider, would be a strategy to develop more creative class individuals from the resident population. Unlike other natural resources, which are finite, creative class capital can be generated by educational opportunities and personal development.

An interesting thought occurred to me while reading this book: Dr. Florida describes creative class individuals as uninterested in group conformity. Meanwhile, the major political parties become increasingly polarized and intolerant of dissent within the ranks, sidelining independent-thinking "moderates." Thus public policy is being developed by parties who have driven the creative class out from their midst. This, more than anything, may be the most critical issue for the creative class to confront. ... Read more

Book Description

John Meriwether, a famously successful Wall Street trader, spent the 1980s as a partner at Salomon Brothers, establishing the best--and the brainiest--bond arbitrage group in the world. A mysterious and shy midwesterner, he knitted together a group of Ph.D.-certified arbitrageurs who rewarded him with filial devotion and fabulous profits. Then, in 1991, in the wake of a scandal involving one of his traders, Meriwether abruptly resigned. For two years, his fiercely loyal team--convinced that the chief had been unfairly victimized--plotted their boss's return. Then, in 1993, Meriwether made a historic offer. He gathered together his former disciples and a handful of supereconomists from academia and proposed that they become partners in a new hedge fund different from any Wall Street had ever seen. And so Long-Term Capital Management was born.
        In a decade that had seen the longest and most rewarding bull market in history, hedge funds were the ne plus ultra of investments: discreet, private clubs limited to those rich enough to pony up millions. They promised that the investors' money would be placed in a variety of trades simultaneously--a "hedging" strategy designed to minimize the possibility of loss. At Long-Term, Meriwether & Co. truly believed that their finely tuned computer models had tamed the genie of risk, and would allow them to bet on the future with near mathematical certainty. And thanks to their cast--which included a pair of future Nobel Prize winners--investors believed them.
        From the moment Long-Term opened their offices in posh Greenwich, Connecticut, miles from the pandemonium of Wall Street, it was clear that this would be a hedge fund apart from all others. Though they viewed the big Wall Street investment banks with disdain, so great was Long-Term's aura that these very banks lined up to provide the firm with financing, and on the very sweetest of terms. So self-certain were Long-Term's traders that they borrowed with little concern about the leverage. At first, Long-Term's models stayed on script, and this new gold standard in hedge funds boasted such incredible returns that private investors and even central banks clamored to invest more money. It seemed the geniuses in Greenwich couldn't lose.
        Four years later, when a default in Russia set off a global storm that Long-Term's models hadn't anticipated, its supposedly safe portfolios imploded. In five weeks, the professors went from mega-rich geniuses to discredited failures. With the firm about to go under, its staggering $100 billion balance sheet threatened to drag down markets around the world. At the eleventh hour, fearing that the financial system of the world was in peril, the Federal Reserve Bank hastily summoned Wall Street's leading banks to underwrite a bailout.
        Roger Lowenstein, the bestselling author of Buffett, captures Long-Term's roller-coaster ride in gripping detail. Drawing on confidential internal memos and interviews with dozens of key players, Lowenstein crafts a story that reads like a first-rate thriller from beginning to end. He explains not just how the fund made and lost its money, but what it was about the personalities of Long-Term's partners, the arrogance of their mathematical certainties, and the late-nineties culture of Wall Street that made it all possible.
        When Genius Failed is the cautionary financial tale of our time, the gripping saga of what happened when an elite group ofinvestors believed they could actually deconstruct risk and use virtually limitless leverage to create limitless wealth. In Roger Lowenstein's hands, it is a brilliant tale peppered with fast money, vivid characters, and high drama. ... Read more

Reviews (114)

Engrossing read
The author gives an engrossing read about the LTCM debacle in this book. His writing style, in my opinion, really captures my attention and almost turns the book into a Grisham-style page-turner. After reading the book, you will have a better idea of the reasons why the fund failed. Also, you will gain more qualitative knowledge about hedge funds, derivatives markets and investing in general. However, if you are looking for equations and quantitative stuff, then sorry man, you will be greatly disappointed. Don't expect to find the Black-Scholes equation here. Nor do I think it's necessary. As a finance student, I'm tired of having to know the complex equations and quantitative stuff inside-out, without the slightest idea of how they should be used and their limitations.
If you have the basic idea or training in quantitative finance, the this book is a must-read. It sheds light on the untold stories in derivatives trading. The downfall of LTCM should be a very somber and sobering reminder of the limitations of the derivatives markets. Too much credit is given to "risk management" and "quantitative finance". I think every portfolio manager and derivatives trader should keep this in mind.

BIG MEN MAKE SMALL MISTAKES!
Small traders who break the simple rules are called 'dumb' by the professionals in the industry in their magazine articles, interviews on radio & TV etc. Here we have a group of top academics including Nobel Prize winners in economics who headed a firm that made some of the most silly 'mistakes' that caused them to lose over FOUR BILLION DOLLARS1 The reason: simple over-trading and mis-management of funds - just what the little guy is always told not to do!

This book gives a brief introduction to the various players involved. It gives an indicationl of the greed involved, not only by over-leveraging but by forcing investors to take back their money so the partners could put all their money in the fund and make all the profits for themselves. Interestingly, they did these people a great favor by preventing them from going broke.

Later in the book, when the crisis is really brought forward, we are given a detail day to day account of the stress and problems that the fund managers were creating for themselves and the rest of Wall Street as many banks and other financial institutions had tied up hundreds of millions with this firm. In the end the Federal Reserve arranged a bailout with fourteen major banks to save day.

Ironically, the super-losers went and created another fund after this big crash and sure enough they raised a few hundred millions in trading capital so the 'bright' fellows can get running again!

Not enough Cream on the Coffee
1997, 30 year Treasury Bonds Fell to 5.58; traders were selling short to hedge against riskier bonds, treasuries rallied and spreads increased between bonds; Japanese bonds dropped opposite of the bet by LTCM.

Blame the Asian flu, IMF unresponsiveness, and Salomon Barney Smith abandonment of its arbitrage positions as causes for the evaporation of 4 billion dollars LTCM within months. LTCM was too big, possessing $128 billion in assets and $3.6 billion in the bank and 2/5 of money belonging to the owners. Notation derivates reaching leverage 100 to 1 preventing rapid sell off and bankruptcy out of question, for bankruptcy would have caused a world cascade economic crash and loses reaching above $1 trillion. Bankruptcy was not an option; LTCM was too big to fail and the Fed knew it. LTCM only chance was too secure money from warranties, loans, or a buy out; none of which in the end would save them. In the end, the Feds 16 banks would invest $250 million each with a total accumulation of $4 billion dollars rescuing LTCM and the partners would leave with relatively nothing in their pockets. How did smartest guys on Wall Street fail? How did the impossible happen?

1997, Indonesia, Rupiah dropped 85 percent as currency traders forced devaluation revealing a corrupt banking practices and overextension of bad credit; volatility rose to 27 percent.

1998 LTCM bet that no future recession would occur and believed the Bond margins would narrow. Instead, the world economy were experience new global forces as communism was breaking down, China's GNP was heating up, and East Germany was experiencing new economic freedoms. A U.S - 56 point margin increase on the swap, England - 45 point margin, and German - 20 point margin and LTCM was losing money on all of its markets. LTCM had previously negotiated a warrant by UBS and UBS was being seriously exposed while LTCM was claiming "Future expected returns are good" although Equity Volume was in trouble, Swap margins were increasing, and Treasuries were falling as investors fled to safer securities and as Treasuries were being bought up their rates dropping to 5.56.

With Indonesia falling - all eyes were turned to Russia. There was no rescue by the IMF for the Russian ruble. Shares in Europe and Turkey were weak and Venezuelans were buying dollars all the while swaps margins increased. Aug 21, the Dow fell 280 points and investors continued to prefer the safest bonds, the 30 year treasures, US swaps increased to 76 points, 20 points in one day, Britain swaps increased to 62 points and mortgage spreads spread to 121 points, high yield climbed to 276, and treasurers were at 13. LTCM lost $558 million in a single day, 15 percent of their capital. LTCM was certain the markets would correct rationally and the spreads converge. Losses accumulated faster because leverages increased. Additional $200 million in funding was requested from Merrill Lynch. Hedge funds were not considered a bank and so credit extension regulation was constrained. The drop in LTCM performance caused banks to tighten their credit lines to hedge funds. In fact, the hedge funds poor performance screamed default and banks demanded their entitlement to repayment. LTCM was very close to insolvency. Mattone told Meriwether, "when you're down by half, people figure you can go down all the way" and "your out". Aug 31, the DOW crashed 512 points, Hong Kong Authority stopped supporting local markets by buying local shares. For the month of Aug, LTCM had lost $1.9 billion, 45 percent of its equity capital, and still had $125 billion in derivative assets. Death was imminent, the leveraging could not be stopped, LTCM was immobilized by its size, and Bear was threatening to suspend trading. After reviewing LTCM books, Bear allowed LTCM trades and gave a harsh warning, if they dropped below $500 million all trades would halt.

Sep 10, LTCM experiences a sum lose of $500 million dollar for five days of trading. LTCM still has 7,000 derivative contracts totaling $1.4 trillion dollars.

In 1987, Alan Greenspan was appointed as chairman of the Federal Reserves. Greenspan did not totally understand hedge funds, they were fairly private, and the Fed had no authority over them. Greenspan was nervous about the credit lines extended too these funds. Some call the funds, banks. What were the hedge funds? What is a bank?

The New York Fed keeps in touch with its branches and they talk with private industry, so supposedly the Fed keeps a pulse on the private sector. The Fed has a trading desk and trades $450 billions in treasuries, buying and selling to affect the amount of available money supply. If the Fed buys treasures, this act increase money supply and gives banks more money for banks to loan, and interest rates decrease. If the Fed buys back treasures, this act decrease money supply and makes less available loanable money and interest rates rise.

The volatility of LTCM was rising because it was so vulnerable. LTCM was being pressured by Goldman as they continued buying down increasing spreads. Goldman exasperated the European bond market cutting apart LTCM.

Warren Buffet was a seemly friend but of no help to LTCM. Berkshire Hathaway made an offer: 250 million for $3.57 billion to stabilize the fund and all partners fired. Legal confusion forfeited the deal. The last thing the economy wanted was an economic meltdown, so the Fed offered a deal and the LTCM partners were out in the cold with tears in their eyes, a perfect model (Merton, Black, Scholes) and not enough liquid money to save them against the impossible.

"...in crisis, correlations go to 1"
The author of this book is a journalist - not a trader or banker - and it's helpful to remember that as you read through this moralistic account of LTCM's rise and fall.

Lowenstein has the audacity to write of Merton, a Nobel Laureate, that he held a "naive belief in perfect markets." Perfect markets may be mythical, but the author is not qualified to call this view naive. The output of the model is as important as the tenability of its' assumptions.

In the end, the fund was too big and successful, not hubristic, to remain in its' sphere of expertise (bond arbitrage) and was forced to become the 800-pound gorilla in other markets like merger arbitrage. Yes, the top two traders were arrogant (a requirement for traders) but the markets broke the fund, not Hilibrand and Haghani.

More details on the transactions would have been interesting but these may have burdened the flow of the book.

There are copious footnotes and the author does a nice job of outlining the players and their stakes in the fund.

Ideology and greed defy common sense
There should be a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as you read this book. Long-Term Capital Management was almost guaranteed to fail from its outset and, when the end finally did come, the fund's collapse almost took a big chunk of Wall Street with it. The scary part is that there are more LTCMs out there, operating without regulatory oversight and all subject to wrong-headed economic hypothesizing as the basis for their trading operations.

The poison pill at the center of Long-Term Capital Management's very being was the efficient market theory, an almost universal belief among economists and financiers alike that free markets always operate in the most effective, logical manner possible over the long term. They don't, of course, and that refusal to acknowledge fundamental human irrationality led LTCM over the brink.

Lowenstein does an outstanding job of untangling the fund's complicated derivatives trades and explaining how the fund eventually over-leveraged itself into a sudden collapse. We normally read business stories like this for the thrill of seeing moral hazard at work, seeing the rich fall from grace and thinking how well-deserved that fate is. I would recommend, however, that you approach this book as a template for how the next Great Depression could spring from the simultaneous self-destruction of derivatives trading firms. And thanks to Roger Lowenstein, you don't have to be a genius to see how it could happen. ... Read more

Book Description

This easy-to-read, accessible, macro-first principles book engages readers with familiar real-world examples and applications that bring economics to life. The authors follow an Explore and Apply theme that shows learners how economics is a part of their everyday lives, and how it can be a useful tool in making personal decisions and evaluating policy decisions.The Enhanced Edition contains more detail and more in-depth coverage of key economic concepts, expanded multiplier coverage, new coverage of crowding out, greater detail on exchange rates, more extensive treatment of antitrust, and much more.For individuals interested in the principles of economics—and how those principles effect the details of daily living. ... Read more

Book Description

The idea of China has always exerted a pull on the adventurous type. There is a kind of entrepreneurial Westerner who just can't resist it: red flags, a billion bicycles, and the largest untapped market on earth. What more could they want? After the first few visits, they start to feel more in tune and experience the first stirrings of a fatal ambition: the secret hope of becoming the Mr. China of their time.

In the 1990s, China went through a miraculous transformation from a closed backwater to the workshop of the world. Many smart young men saw this transformation coming and mistook it for their destiny. Not a few rushed East to gain strategic footholds, plant their flags, and prosper. After all, the Chinese had numbers on their side: a seemingly endless population, a thirst for resources, and the tide of history. What they needed was Western knowledge and lots of capital. Or so it seemed ...

Mr. China tells the rollicking story of one man's encounter with the Chinese. Armed with hundreds of millions of dollars and a strong sense that he and his partners were -- like missionaries of capitalism -- descending into the industrial past to bring the Chinese into the modern world, Clissold got the education of a lifetime.

The ordinary Chinese workers, business owners, local bureaucrats, and party cadres Clissold encountered were some of the most committed, resourceful, and creative operators he would ever meet. They were happy to take the foreigner's money but resisted just about anything else. At every turn, the locals seemed one step ahead of Clissold's crew threatening to take the Westerners for all they were worth.

In the end, Mr. China isn't a tale of business or an expatriate's love for his adopted land. It's one man's coming-of-age story where he learns to respect and admire the nation he sought to conquer.

Reviews (20)

A first-hand look into China's complex business culture

In "Mr. China," we get a genuine look into the, "Now you see it, now you don't," world of foreign investment in China.

You'll laugh, and cry, when you read Clissold's frightening tales.You'll find out first-hand what it's like to be a pioneer in an emerging market, still entrenched in communism, where firing workers is off limits, regulations are deliberately complicated, and property ownership is a moving target.

Much of what has been written about China deals with the economic boom in coastal cities.Clissold takes us out into the hinterlands, some areas of which have only recently been opened to westerners.Out in China's badlands, they can be trying to destroy you one day, and the next day they're your best buddies, staying up with you all night, sloshing down baijiu.Lucky for us (and for the author), he lived to tell about it.

This book is full of valuable lessons, not just about China, but which are relevant to any emerging market.Even if you're not looking to invest in China, this book is still worth reading.Because, like it or not, China is here to stay.And the more we understand their complex culture, the better we'll be able to deal with them as an economic superpower.

We should be thankful to pioneers like Clissold, who pave the way and take the arrows.Yet despite the extreme hardships, and tens of millions in losses, Clissold leaves us with hope that, some day, we'll be able to make this work."Mr. China" is definitely a step in that direction.

Unusual stories about investments in China that went wrong
For every success story that we hear about China investments, there must be many which have gone awry. Yet there are not many books that depict such tales from the first narrator viewpoint. Many are dry textbook-like, how-to narrations. Thus, Mr China provides a refreshing look into the realities of doing business in this vast land of 1.3 billion. I particularly enjoyed the story on the investment in Five Star Brewery- perhaps because it is a tale about a consumer product which makes it easier to grasp.

However, I do not understand why Mr Clissord kept using "arrived back from " when he could have used "returned from". Perhaps, it is due to his long stay in China that he started formulating his thoughts in Chinese?

It would also help if Mr Clissold could explain in greater detail the hierarchial structure of the Chinese governmental bodies.

On the whole, this is book worth your time.

A must-read for anyone wants to understand modern China
As a person who was born in Taiwan and came of age in the States, I marvel at Tim's in-depth understanding of Chinese culture.All those proverbs he quoted at the beginning of each chapter are old sayings that are known for almost all Chinese and capture much essence of Chinese view of life and world through ages.His sincerity and truthful portrait of the Chinese that he encountered makes this book truly educational for anyone who wants to do business in China, like many reviews have already mentioned. What makes this book so special is Tim's compassion toward fellow human beings, in the instance of this book, toward people who live in the land that European happened to call "China."Scratching the surface difference of customs or language, people everywhere are pretty similar--they all long for a better live, try to do the best of what they are given and want to be treated respectfully.Being a member of this exclusive five-thousand year old club, I admire and appreciate Tim's efforts to put a humane face of Chinese people and try to build deeper understanding between two great nations.

Must Reading Before Business Travel to China
Several days ago, I learned of the book Mr. China by Tim Clissold. I started reading it last night and finished it early this morning - only 252 pages. It is an absolutely mesmerizing chronicle of the investing in China in the 90's, and of the challenge to traveling out into the hinterlands of that enormous nation.

To a great extent it explains to me the situation I was actually in during my trip to Humen China last November - the balance between the Party and the private sector there, the role of the press, the work ethic and entrepreneurial drive of the Chinese, the intrigue of their nefarious rules/regulations and the balance between Beijing and the provinces. It reinforces the wisdom of our non-profit trade group having over 30 members with offices in China, a resouce we can draw from in our network. But this book is what individuals must read and come to grips with prior to travel to China.

I almost can not imagine what our members went through in opening factoriesthere. After you read this book, neither will you. And the same holds true for our many members there or soon to be in one form or another.

Simply amazing and an important, informative, moving and almost visceral read for those of us in this global game.

Great Emerging Market Lessons
I have worked extensively in Russia, rather than China, but most of the author's experiences and lessons are just as applicable to Russia or any other emerging market.

Other than describing some common pitfalls and challenges, the author does a great job of explaining with insight, humor, and feeling why people are attracted to invest and live in emerging markets.

A good, fun, quick, read that might actually teach you something.Highly recommended!

TMR ... Read more

Book Description

If you have ever looked for P-values by shopping at P mart, tried to watch the Bernoulli Trails on "People's Court," or think that the standard deviation is a criminal offense in six states, then you need The Cartoon Guide to Statistics to put you on the road to statistical literacy.

The Cartoon Guide to Statistics covers all the central ideas of modern statistics: the summary and display of data, probability in gambling and medicine, random variables, Bernoulli Trails, the Central Limit Theorem, hypothesis testing, confidence interval estimation, and much more--all explained in simple, clear, and yes, funny illustrations. Never again will you order the Poisson Distribution in a French restaurant! ... Read more

Reviews (33)

I'm a Cartoon Guide Addict now...
Have you ever chuckled while reading your mathbook? Ever laughed out loud while crunching numbers? Don't worry--neither had I until I read this book. And any book that makes me smile when I'm doing math has got to be a winner.

Yes, Gonick has done it again. I bought the CG-genetics a while back, and loved it. So when I went hunting for a good 'refresher' stats book, I picked up this one.

I wasn't disappointed. Gonick (et al) has great talent for presenting information in a way that almost fools you into thinking you're not learning, but rather, having fun. And although this book wasn't as "easy" to get into as his Genetics book, I believe it's because I'm less familiar with this subject.

Careful though--as others have mentioned, you can't be fooled into thinking this book is THE way to learn statistics. You have to be pretty comfortable with algebra, and pretty determined to read through the book in order to take anything away from it. And don't try this book as a stand-alone or you'll end up with the same frustration you'd have with a college textbook.

A Good Introduction
"The Cartoon Guide to Statistics" by Larry Gonick and Woollcott Smith was published in 1993. This book is a good introductory level look at Statistics. The authors cover what Statistics is, what the history of the subject is, and a look at some theories, terms, and applications of the subject.

The weakness of the book is that there are a lot of formulas given, and not enough discussion of the formulas, so one would need to use other statistics texts to supplement the material, so this book cannot stand alone in that respect. On the other hand, if one is just trying to get an overview, there is a lot to skip over. The authors do make fun of the formulas, and the amount of math so those that are looking for an overview may enjoy the humorous presentation. There is also a lot to do with the subject that the book covers. It does cover probabilities, but when it comes to distributions it really focuses on Standard Normal distributions. I don't believe it ever mentions Uniform, Poisson, or other types of distributions which most statistic courses do cover.

The best part of the book is the examples, some of which are carried through for several chapters to help the reader better understand the subject. Although, even with the examples they are a bit inconsistent in how complete they are. For example, in one case they started to discuss the use of statistics to compare the salaries of male and female employees in the same job, but they never completed the discussion. The examples of racial bias in jury selection, and the gas mileage comparison of two different types of gas are much better. This is a decent book, but not up to the level of Gonick's excellent "Cartoon History of the Universe" series, and not strong enough to give it more than three stars.

Very funny and cute book. I love it!
If you want to learn complicated things like statistics, but are feeling quite overwhelmed by the complexity, I highly recommend you learn visually from a book like this. Larry has a great sense of humor and is a creative genius.

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated

Best intro to stats around
I read this book because I had to take a Linear Regression stats class, and I lacked the pre-requisite knowledge of basic statistics. After attempting to skim some of the 800 page intro books in the library, I decided to give this one a try.

It contains everything you need to know about introductory statistics. Some things are a little unclear, but this stems from the fact that the author's did not want to burden the reader with the derivations of the basic equations. So at the expense of some clarity, they cut out a lot of junk that you will never need, probably even if your major is statistics.

So even though you may need to supplement this book with a more detailed book, and even though the cartoons are far from funny, I give this book 5 stars because it is simply the best intro that you will find. You could easily get through an introductory college course with this book alone, and its a shame more courses don't try to do that.

Book Got Me Through College
I am math phobic and taking Statistics in college made me wonder if I was one of those people who "wasn't cut-out for college". But I got this book and it made statistics fun and a lot less intimidating. After college, an interviewer asked me about Bayes Theorum and I immediately pictured the illustration from the book! Recently, while studying for the GMAT, I recalled the fun lessons from the book - especially probability and nailed that section of the test.
This would be great for High School or college students or ANYONE who is intimidated by math or stats. ... Read more

Book Description

Intermediate microeconomics is both fun and intellectually challenging in this new edition, written by the author of The Armchair Economist, the popular trade book that explains basic economics to the general public. The text provides an exceptionally friendly and application-rich presentation, combined with a rigorous and careful development of microeconomic theory. All of the standard topics of intermediate price theory are included, as well as innovative topics such as alternative normative criteria, efficient asset markets, contestable markets, antitrust law, human capital, and the demand for public goods. A unique unifying theme of social welfare is used with little higher-level mathematics. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Excellent book for beginners
This is one of the best books I have ever read. Anyone who is just beginning with microeconomics, should start with this book. It is very simple and goes right to the point.

Very readable and challenging textbook
This is an excellent textbook for any intermediate level price theory or microeconomics course. The author is right when he says beginning students should find it easy to grasp and advanced students will find the material challenging and thought provoking. The portion devoted to a review of elementary topics is small, and I would not recommend this book as an introduction to economics. Any undergraduate who encounters this book should breathe a sigh of relief - it is definitely one of the better texts in the subject. Instructors looking for a good textbook would do well to choose this one.

The "study guide" that is sometimes packaged with the textbook is not entirely useful; the number of problems actually in the textbook should be more than sufficient. Overall, this is a great survey of price theory with Landsburg's signature examples and interesting applications.

I agree! Excellent textbook!
I recommend this book for some undergraduate student to take an intermediate microeconomics! Lucid explanation and some pictures are the finest.His another work, Armchair economist,is also nice. Randsburg did many good jobs!

Excellent text
I have only read two textbooks in my life that I would recommend to the public in general. This is one. If you have never studied economics, start here. Extremely readable. Note in particular the discussion on whether college should be outlawed (Chapter 9, "Knowledge and Information"), the tragic story of Treasury Bill #GS7-2-179-46-6606-1 (Chapter 17, "Allocating Goods over Time") and the Pigs-in-the-Box problem (Chapter 12, "Game Theory"). Don't succumb to the Nash equilibrium! Read Price Theory.

great!!
One of the best books on Price Theory. He really elucidates the subject matter. The questions given at the end of the chapters challenge you to the limit. ... Read more

Book Description

Every day, stocks, bonds, and currencies bounce wildly in response to new economic indicators. Money managers obsess over those statistics, because they provide crucial clues about the future of the economy and the financial markets.

Now you can use these indicators to make smarter investment decisions, just like the professionals do.You don't need an economics degree, or a CPA... just this easy-to-use book.

Former TIME Magazine senior economics reporter Bernard Baumohl has done the impossible: he's made economic indicators fascinating.

Using real-world examples and stories,Baumohl illuminates every U.S. and foreign indicator that matters.Where to find them.What they look like. What the insiders know about their track records. And exactly how to interpret them.

Whether you're an investor,broker, portfolio manager, researcher, journalist,or student, you'll find this book indispensable.Nobody can predict the future with certainty. But The Secrets of Economic Indicators will get you as close as humanly possible.

What the numbers really mean...

...to stocks, bonds, rates, currencies, and you

Ahead of the curve: spotting turning points

Calling recessions and recoveries in time to profit from them

Leading indicators: where's the economy really heading

Decoding initial unemployment claims, housing starts, the yield curve, and other predictors

Beyond the borders

Why foreign indicators are increasingly important—and how to use them

Making sense of indicators in conflict

What to do when the numbers disagree

Finding the data

Free web resources for the latest economic data ... Read more

Book Description

This is a no-nonsense principles book that emphasizes economic theory and applications.The book is a study tool for students and the pedagogical approach and in-text features were chosen to reinforce that theme. It provides students with a picture of economics as a unified discipline, a set of interrelated tools and ideas that can be used to look at the world in a different way, and the less-is-more approach has been carefully crafted in both content and supporting pedagogy to keep students focused on learning and applying the central ideas used in economic analysis.It teaches students how to use analytical processes in developing their own economic analysis skills.Hall/Lieberman's careful focus on core theoretical ideas, as well as their systematic application of theoretical tools to timely real-world questions, conveys the message that economics is an integrated, powerful body of knowledge that can be used to address domestic and global issues. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

excellent for review
In this study guide, Hall and Lieberman provide an excellent accompaniment to their brilliant text. All the exercises are very clear, as is the answer key, which gives one the opportunity to see where one went wrong in aparticular concept. The scope of the study guide is exactly the same asthat of the book. Basically, if you can do everything in the guide, youhave mastered their concepts. ... Read more

Book Description

The tenth edition of this market-leading text continues its tradition of providing a solid foundation of economic understanding for use in managerial decision making.It offers a practical treatment of economic theory and analysis in an intutive, calculus-based format.Its focus is on presenting those aspects of economic theory and analysis that are most relevant to students of business administration, and a wide variety of examples and simple numerical problems are used to illustrate the application of managerial economics to a vast assortment of practical situations.The nature of the decision process and the role that economic analysis plays in that process are emphasized throughout.This major revision is designed to maximize accessibility for a student audience with little or no background in economics, and no previous training in calculus. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This is a really good book
Economics does not have to be dry and boring, and Hirschey proves it.I especially like the fact that the book explains economic theory in plain English and then shows how it works with real-world examples.This is a really good book.No wonder its a best-seller. ... Read more

Book Description

The Art of M&A, Third Edition, is the leading answer book in today's fast-changing, enormously complex merger world. Written in a handy, easy-reference Q&A format, this no-nonsense handbook covers everything from the early stages of locating a suitable target--or finding that you are a target--through the postmerger trials of turning multiple companies into one.

Synopses of nearly three dozen landmark cases give real life insights into legal rulings from previous high profile mergers. Over the past decade, The Art of M&A has helped thousands of executives make sound decisions. Now, let it provide all the information you will need to buy or sell companies, whether public or private, domestic or foreign. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Great Reference Book
This is a fantastic reference tome for anyone involved with M&A. As a private equity Associate, I have found this book to be invaluable on multiple levels as both a reference guide for securities law, as well as for procedural issues such as sample formats for term sheets, DD check lists, etc.

Also, while it is a dense read, I think this would be invaluable for people just entering either Investment Banking or Private Equity to read as an introduction to the rules, regulations and procedures surrounding mergers/acquisitions.

A Definitive Manual for M&A Transactions
If you only were allowed to have one book on this subject in your library, this is the one that you want. It gives good coverage to all of the important topics needed to evaluate, price and execute a transaction. The footnotes at the end of each chapter are an excellent reference. It also benefits from a very detailed index. The Q&A format of the text is a bit unusual for a work of this type, but is actually quite useful when browsing or quickly finding the key theme of each paragraph or section. It also contains a good selection of sample documents and checklists. Overall, it delivers a lot of high quality information the investment banking professional can really use.

Yes, this is a very focused topic, but it is a great book!
The very size of this book on such a specialized topic may seem daunting. However, the writing is so lively and the organization by question and answer is so easy to use that you will find this a very useful and comprehensive handbook.

It is NOT a theory laden textbook. Rather, it is a very useful and practical guide to the field and will help the careful reader avoid many pitfalls. There are many ways to make mistakes in buying companies and this book can open your eyes to quite of few of them. In fact, if you are the target of a buyout, this book can be of special importance and interest.

I admit to being fascinated by this topic so take that into consideration when evaluating what I say about this book. But even so, mergers and acquistions are so much in the news (for good and ill) that it can only help to get more background on what is really going on and how these deals are (or at least should be) put together.

The book reads MUCH shorter than its size and is fairly comprehensive on the subject - from the methods in selecting candidates for acquisition to what to do when you are a target of an acquisition to some very specialized topics. It also deals with M&A issues with both public, private, and even family firms.

Honestly, I am surprised at how glad I am that I bought this book. It is terrific.

Highly Practical
I have been an M&A practitioner for twenty years and rarely have I found a book that is as readable and useable as this one. The author is able to synthesize difficult concepts and communicate them in a highly user friendly way.

Very thorough
Very detailed source for information on mergers, acquisitions and buyouts. The question and answer format is a great way to identify the information that you need. This book really is a handbook; I wouldn't encourage reading it cover to cover, but to use it as more of a reference book. The footnotes at the end of each chapter are useful to finding more in depth information, and the book gives a generous number of websites which you can consult. ... Read more

Book Description

"A well written and comprehensive journey into M&A...an essential reference for any M&A practitioner...this isn’t just a book about great thoughts and process, but rather how to turn insight into deals, and deals into lasting value."
–From the Foreword by Joseph R. Perella
Chairman, Institutional Securities and Investment Banking Group, Morgan Stanley

"Bob Bruner’s Applied Mergers and Acquisitions is a masterful and comprehensive treatment of the topic of M&A. The book is remarkably complete, discussing economic valuation, legal considerations, deal structure, ethics, accounting, post-merger integration–and more. It blends material from practice and from academia in an easy-to-read style, making it a must-read, and want-to-read, for anyone interested in this subject."
–Peter Tufano
Sylvan C. Coleman Professor of Financial Management, Harvard Business School

"Preeminent scholar Robert Bruner has combined the best insights from theory with proven lessons from industry to produce the definitive resource on mergers and acquisitions. Bruner’s renowned teaching skills and keen intellect are evident throughout, rendering a must-read for finance students, investors, and corporate executives into a remarkably enjoyable read."
–Mark Kritzman
Managing Partner, Windham Capital Management Boston and Research Director, The Research Foundation of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR)

"How many books really succeed in teaching M&A practitioners to distinguish among deals that should be avoided, deals that are promising but can’t be executed by the teams involved, and deals where significant value can be achieved? We should start the count with Bruner’s Applied Mergers and Acquisitions. Bruner is the ultimate teacher for practitioners who want to improve performance."
–Edward A. Snyder
Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Economics
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

"Bob Bruner has achieved the impossible: covering in one book all relevant economic, financial, accounting, legal, and tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions and illustrating each concept with case studies. Impressive!"
–Theo Vermaelen
Professor of Finance, INSEAD

"Bob Bruner’s book combines the best of academic thinking and business practice on one of the most fascinating and challenging topics in all of business. The area of mergers and acquisitions stretches executives and scholars to consider the whole realm of management practice–from strategy, to finance, to law, to negotiations, to integration planning, to human behavior."
–Robert S. Harris
Dean, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Comprehensive and well written!
Truly an essential reference for M&A. I found the book incredibly helpful in assessing M&As for future value. The case studies particularly helpful. Every executive should read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

This text remains a proven leader in the world of economics. Since introducing the aggregate supply/ aggregate demand model as a fundamental tool for learning economics over two decades ago, in this edition William J. Baumol and Alan S. Blinder continue their long tradition of equipping students with the knowledge and tools they need to apply modern economics to their world.Hallmark features include one of the strongest policy treatments on the market and a careful and in-depth focus on the most important economic tools students should retain after the course is over. ... Read more

Amazon.com

IDEO, the world's leading design firm, is the brain trust that's behindsome of the more brilliant innovations of the past 20 years--from the Applemouse, the Polaroid i-Zone instant camera, and the Palm V to the "fat" toothbrushfor kids and a self-sealing water bottle for dirt bikers. Not surprisingly,companies all over the world have long wondered what they could learn from IDEO,to come up with better ideas for their own products, services, and operations.In this terrific book from IDEO general manager Tom Kelley (brother of founderDavid Kelley), IDEO finally delivers--but thankfully not in the step-by-step,flow-chart-filled "process speak" of most how-you-can-do-what-we-do businessbooks. Sure, there are some good bulleted lists to be found here--such as thesecrets of successful brainstorming, the qualities of "hot teams," and, towardthe end, 10 key ingredients for "How to Create Great Products and Services,"including "One Click Is Better Than Two" (the simpler, the better) and "GoofProof" (no bugs).

But The Art of Innovation really teaches indirectly (not to mentionenlightens and entertains) by telling great stories--mainly, of how the bestideas for creating or improving products or processes come not from laboriouslyorganized focus groups, but from keen observations of how regular people workand play on a daily basis. On nearly every page, we learn the backstories ofsome now-well-established consumer goods, from recent inventions like the PalmPilot and the in-car beverage holder to things we nearly take for granted--likeIvory soap (created when a P&G worker went to lunch without turning off hissoap mixer, and returned to discover his batch overwhipped into 99.44 percentbuoyancy) and Kleenex, which transcended its original purpose as a cosmeticsremover when people started using the soft paper to wipe and blow their noses.Best of all, Kelley opens wide the doors to IDEO's vibrant, sometimes wackyoffice environment, and takes us on a vivid tour of how staffers tackle a designchallenge: they start not with their ideas of what a new product should offer,but with the existing gaps of need, convenience, and pleasure with which peoplelive on a daily basis, and that IDEO should fill. (Hence, a one-piece children'sfishing rod that spares fathers the embarrassment of not knowing how to teachtheir kids to fish, or Crest toothpaste tubes that don't "gunk up" at themouth.)

Granted, some of their ideas--like the crucial process of "prototyping," orincorporating dummy drafts of the actual product into the planning, to work outbugs as you go--lend themselves more easily to the making of actual things thanto the more common organizational challenge of streamlining services oroperations. But, if this big book of bright ideas doesn't get you thinking ofhow to build a better mousetrap for everything from your whole business processto your personal filing system, you probably deserve to be stuck with themousetrap you already have. --Timothy Murphy ... Read more

Reviews (49)

Less than expected
The Art of Innovation is the story of the famous Palo Alto based design firm, IDEO. The book is easy to read and moves quickly. The author, Tom Kelley, is the brother of founder David Kelley. Tom is the General Manager and is an ex-management consultant. This is important because the book really devolves into a light treatise on business management practices. This makes sense since given Tom Kelley's responsibilities at IDEO and his background. It also explains the Tom Peter's Foreword. If you like Tom Peter's books, you will enjoy this book.

If you are looking for real insights into the IDEO design process you will be disappointed. Most of the insights are of a personnel management nature, and even those are at a relatively high level. Mr. Kelley pokes more than a few veiled barbs at the slow industrial giants who simply cannot compete with the brain power and management prowess at IDEO. That may sound sarcastic, but Mr. Kelley's pride in his company often crosses that fine line into arrogance.

There are a few actual projects described to point out how valuable a certain IDEO practice is. There are repeated references to IDEO's contribution to the invention of the Apple mouse and follow-up work on the Microsoft Mouse. Also, a great deal of time is spent talking about the redesign of the common shopping cart that was done in one week for a segment on Nightline. I know that IDEO has had many important clients and recent important projects. Perhaps they can't talk about them because of non-disclosure agreements. There are color pictures of some products at the beginning of each of 15 chapters but often there is no mention of those products in the text. Some black & white photographs of products and the IDEO workspaces also accompany the text. There are no diagrams or illustrations.

A great deal of the book outlines the emphasis that IDEO puts on the treatment of their employees and their penchant for quick and frequent prototyping as a key to success. All projects start by assigning a "hot" team and letting them brainstorm and prototype their way into some great ideas. No details are given on how the teams are formed or managed.

This book is for you if you are looking for a light management practices book and just a little insight into a premier design firm. You will probably be disappointed if you want to find out how products are designed or what specific processes are used to manage the design process. You also will not get a great deal of competitive information about IDEO. The book assumes that you have at least a general idea of what Industrial Design is about.

Tom Kelley admits that workshops about the "IDEO way" have been turned into a profit center. They give seminars on how to organize product development at client companies. I could see IDEO including this book with their seminar, or perhaps they could give it to a prospective client to whet their appetite. It definitely leaves you wanting more information. I am left wondering, "How much is that seminar, and will they let me in?"

Innovation for Fun as Well as Profit
There are dozens of excellent books which discuss innovation. This is one of the best but don't be misled by the title, "Lessons in creativity from IDEO, America's leading design firm." Unlike almost all other authors of worthy books on the same subject, Kelley does NOT organize his material in terms of a sequence of specific "lessons"...nor does he inundate his reader with checklists, "executive summaries", bullet points, do's and don'ts, "key points", etc. Rather, he shares what I guess you could characterize as "stories" based on real-world situations in which he and his IDEO associates solved various problems when completing industrial design assignments for their clients. "We've linked those organizational achievements to specific methodologies and tools you can use to build innovation into your own organization...[However, IDEO's] 'secret formula' is actually not very formulaic. It's a blend of of methodologies, work practices, culture, and infrastructure. Methodology alone is not enough." One of the greatest benefits of the book is derived from direct access to that "blend" when activated.

It is extremely difficult to overcome what James O'Toole characterizes, in Leading Change, as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." He and Kelley seem to be kindred spirits: Both fully understand how and why truly innovative thinking encounters so much resistance within organizations. Whereas O'Toole suggests all manner of strategies to overcome that resistance, Kelley concentrates on the combination ("blend") of ingredients which, when integrated and then applied with both rigor and passion, may (just may) produce what Jobs once referred to as "insanely great." What both O'Toole and Kelley have in mind is creating and sustaining an innovative culture, one from within which "insanely great" ideas can result in breakthrough products and (yes) services.

"Loosely described", Kelley shares IDEO's five-step methodology: Understand the market, the client, the technology, and the perceived constraints on the given problem; observe real people in real-life situations; literally visualize new-to-the-world concepts AND the customers who will use them; evaluate and refine the prototypes in a series of quick iterations; and finally, implement the new concept for commercialization. With regard to the last "step", as Bennis explains in Organizing Genius, Apple executives immediately recognized the commercial opportunities for PARC's technology. Larry Tesler (who later left PARC for Apple) noted that Jobs and companions "wanted to get it out to the world." But first, obviously, create that "it."

Kelley and his associates at IDEO have won numerous awards for designing all manner of innovative products such as the Apple mouse, the Palm Pilot, a one-piece fishing mechanism for children, the in-vehicle beverage holder, toothpaste tubes that don't "gunk up" in the cap area, "mud-free" water bottles for mountain bikers, a small digital camera for the handspring Visor, and the Sun Tracker Beach Chair.

With all due respect to products such as these, what interested me most was the material in the book which focuses on (a) the physical environment in which those at IDEO interact and (b) the nature and extent of that interaction, principally the brainstorm sessions. In the Foreword, Tom Peters has this in mind when explaining why Kelley's is a marvelous book: "It carefully walks us through each stage of the IDEO innovation process -- from creating hot teams (IDEO is perpetually on 'boil') to learning to see through the customer's eyes (forget focus groups!) and brainstorming (trust me, nobody but nobody does it better) to rapid prototyping (and nobody, but nobody does it better...)." Whatever your current situation, whatever the size and nature of your organization, surely you and it need to avoid or escape from "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Granted, you may never be involved in the creation of an "insanely great" product but Kelley can at least help you to gain "the true spirit of innovation" in your life. I join him in wishing you "some serious fun."

This is the way I would run my company
This should be the first book you read when you get out of college. Much of what Tom Kelley says would probably make your boss turn away, going against many theorems taught in management classes.

But just maybe he is re-defining the perfect environments for the the ideas that change the way we interface.

a handbook of innovation
It is a handbook for innovation, the book share the experience of IDEO, the methods and the work practice to generate new ideas and the process of turning ideas to product. The first one is observation, people many ignore this point or pay little attention on that point. Tom mentioned a point that, we should user-oriented. Observed people how actually use a product instead of only interview them. Because some of customers are lacking product knowledge they cannot express the difficulty of using the product, even they do not fully utilize the product, so you may only get limited insight from interviewing them only.
I know that many people know the term of Brainstorming, which is a method of ideas generation. However, how to have a good brainstorming is a difficult task.

The third process is making prototype. It helps to solve the problem in 3-D, and let you know the problem or mistake in early stage of the process.

The last insight is about the quality of the team members. They should broad in their skills and interests, deep in their knowledge and experience in one or more disciplines. All these could enhance the cross-pollination. All they should accept the divest within the team.