1 comments about Africa With a Twist and a Tale.

1. The book offers great insight into the ways Africa really is. The ways and means business is conducted, the beauty of nature and it's people. It is very worthwhile and entertaining to read and provides the reader some good smily moments.
   If you intend to work in Africa on an Expat assignment, it is a must !!! If you are working in Africa already, you will find a lot of your experiences again ... a brilliant read !!!

No comments about Recollections: A Life in Bookbinding.

No comments about Automotive Giants of America.

4 comments about Demystifying Wall Street: Shedding a little light on the BULL!.

1. There is a huge audience that can benefit from this book. For the typical American with investments in IRA's and 401K plans this is a must read. This will answer some questions like why my account is constantly being turned over, why the offices of the brokers I work with are posh and luxurious, why I am only getting modest returns, and how the heck do these people get paid? Stand up for yourself, go to page 147 in the book, and ask your broker the questions listed there. If they start to blink or get nervous - maybe it's time to find a new broker.



2. I enjoyed reading the book a lot. Bruce Fleet tells you like it is. He helps you think how you can avoid the proverbial "used-car salesman" in investing your hard-earned money. All of us want to deal with honest people. Bruce helps you in understanding Wall Street from the other side so that you may find honest people. Unfortunately, the Wall Street is full of people who care about their compensation much more than they care about your returns. Their huge compensations do indeed come out of your pocket whether you make money or not. Indirectly, the brokers, financial advisors and others take away a substantial bite out of your money. From his personal experiences, Bruce tells you more directly about how Wall Street intermediaries take away a lot of your returns than other champions of the cause have tried. (For example, John Bogle of Vanguard and Arthur Levitt have also tried to educate the investors and have written excellent books.) Whether you invest $1,000 or $10,000,000, I recommend that you read this relatively shorter book. I really like Bruce's conclusion, "... the person handling your money should not be paid as a car salesman." A simple lesson from this is to ask, "How is the financial advisor paid?" Please read chapter 11 carefully. Then, you can figure out the underlying incentives of the brokers and financial advisors. If you ask better questions (where this book will help you), you will get better answers and find honest people. I am writing this on the day when a $7 billion loss, potentially the largest ever, is discovered from an alleged rogue trader. It makes me think that when small investors like you and me lose money or don't earn the right amount, those losses don't make headlines. However, you can educate yourself to protect your wealth and also help increase your returns by educating yourself about the other side (Wall Street). There are many books that claim to teach you how to make a few percentages more than the market. Those arguments are often not well founded. However, Bruce teaches you how to potentially earn more by simply not losing enough of what you may be entitled anyway. He also has chapters on risk tolerance and getting to be in touch with your inner self. There are very few books like this one and I recommend it highly.



3. Fortunately for me,I was able to get the last copy of this book from my local book store and can now highly recommend this for anybody who has interest in smart investing. I have been a client of a Major Wallstreet Brokerage house , and have experienced so many examples sighted by Bruce Fleet in this well written book. It is now most clear that the clients interests are subjugated to the interests of the money managers and their hierarchy. Merrill's Thain received $15 Million Bonus for '07 is an example. Be sure and read page 131 ,if your Broker is not available to your needs. Bottom line, you can not afford to ignore this insightful read--it will give you the means and motivation to greatly improve your own finantial strategies. One thing for sure - you won't be given this book by your current WallStreet finantial Adviser!



4. Well written and entertaining. Fleet "shoots from the hip" but is "to the mark" in my estimation. Worth the price, but more important, worth the time to read!

No comments about A Sportsman's Life: How I Built Orvis by Mixing Business and Sport.

5 comments about Behind the #$%*& Green.

1. This book was not written or endorsed by Scott Simpson, the professional golfer on the PGA TOUR.



2. Scott Simpson, the author of Behind the #$%*& Green, has managed golf courses since 1987. In 1991, two golf courses under his supervision were recognized by the University of Colorado's School of Business as the #1 and #7 most played courses in Colorado. In 1996, he was a featured speaker on Golf Course Management at the National Recreation and Parks Association's Annual Convention. As for each Scott's talent as a writer, buy their respective books and judge for yourself....



3. Funny look at duffers to drunks
   Understanding it all

   I was a pro greens-keeper at 15




4. This fictitious "tongue-in-cheek" tale on the management of golf courses should appeal to non-golfers equally as much as it should to amateur and professional golfers alike.

   The book is very well written and, even though it is fictitious, seems to give a very good insight into the highs and lows of golf course management (both on and off the course). The story appears to be written with a mixture of sincerity, joviality, friendly irreverence and with a light hearted touch of arrogance.

   All in all, the book amused me to the point I couldn't put it down and, to me, that is the mark of a good book, isn't it?.




5. This is an excellent look into the game and business of golf. Written in a humorous style, Behind the Green will ring true to anyone who has ever been in the business of golf. The portions of this book that deal with the business side of the game may seem outrageous to the player, but they are, if possible, understated. But anyone with a love of the game will enjoy this book.

5 comments about On a Roll: Or How a Kid from the Bronx Started with Hot Dogs and Wound Up Making a Fortune.

1. It seems I am the only female and only non-New-Yorker to review this book... That said, it is very interesting at first. It is very encouraging and engaging to read about a young man working his way up. I thought that whole part was great. Once it got on to where he was older, he became more and more annoying to me. The book was still relatively well written, but it began to reek of capitalist propaganda. Since it is his book and that is what he believes, that is great that he could express it. It just began to annoy me. I was so irritated that after whizzing through the first 3/4ths of the book, i came to a complete stop. At some point he switched from presenting things in the manner of saying thing like: Harvard was not right for me to saying things like: All college professors are left-wing weirdos without a grip on the real world. That was the point where he just started to seem like an arrogant jerk, and I didn't feel as warm inside about his hard work and accomplishments anymore.



2. Howard's book is actually a book about morals in business. It was such an inspiration that I had my eleven year old read it. It inspired him in many ways. Indeed, when I was recently gone for two days last week. It was because my Son and I spent two day touring Harvard and other institutions museums etc. in the area.

   Everyone should remember that Howard Jonas is a deeply moral man. That gives me a great deal of comfort. He is also a visionary and a person who does not hesitate to do things HIS way (in spite of all odds). He has surrounded himself with people that share his vision and to the extent that he does not have a talent. He makes sure his company does. Also, lets remember that people change. A good executive is capable of realizing when he or she is wrong and not allowing his ego or ignorance of a subject dissuade them from making the right changes and decisions. Did anyone ever for instance, think you would see the day when Alen Greenspan would cut rates a 1/4 point 3 times in a row. This, in spite of the fact that when the dow was well below this point, he had been prognosticating about irrational exuberance? Well, people do change. I know for instance, that Howard Jonas does indeed know how to operate a computer. He in fact, monitors these boards when time permits. He also is much more cognizant of the necessity of dealing with the financial community and has taken many steps to see that this happens. My point is, people are constantly growing. Heck, three years ago, I was computor phobic. I mean really phobic. Now, I am considered somewhat of an expert. However, peoples morals do not change and THAT is something every single investor in this company will always be able to count on. I have been saying for sometime that EVERY serious investor in this company should read Howards book. The book comes with a $25 credit in prepaid long distance from IDTC upon request. Frankly, I never requested it.




3. What is most amazing about Howard Jonas is not that he has built a company from scratch that has a billion dollar market cap, but he is a family man with 9 kids with an uncanny way of being in the right place at the right time!



4. Quite enjoyed this book. Easy to read, hard to put down. Full of advice on business and on life in general, though not pompous or lecturing at all. I recommend the book highly.



5. I enjoyed this sometimes tell all, sometimes travelogue. The story on Telecom in Geneva is worth the read alone. Lots of inspiration based on perspiration!

1 comments about What's Your Best Price?.

1. Mr. Purnie will keep you laughing so hard throughout the book. You won't be able to put it down until you finish it in one sitting. Henry brings us back to a pre-internet time when we all wish we could have been antique dealers-the finds, the surprises, the "scores". Henry, you're the best. We all know a character in this business that could have been in this book. Touche!!!

No comments about Tori Richard: The First Fifty Years.

5 comments about Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes.

1. Donald Bartlett and James Steel's book, "Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes" is an excellent example of journalistic reporting converted into book form; the book is simply fascinating to read. The authors accomplish the gargantuan task of separating fact from fiction in the very complex life of Howard Hughes. "Empire" is impeccably researched and documented; It is a bona fide biography that reads more like fiction than real life-such was the world of Howard Hughes.
   
   "Empire" traces the rise and tragic fall of Howard Hughes; a man who wore many hats, he was an aviator, Hollywood movie producer, Las Vegas hotel/casino owner ... and a recluse. For one brief shining moment, Hughes was considered one of America's premier aviators, breaking flying records, but then falling out of grace with government and the aviation industry for breaking contract deadlines. In the long run, Howard Hughes would become a grand failure in the world of big business.
   
   Bartlett and Steel show the reader a man who had everything to live for, good looks, fame, fortune, power and prestige, but he was unable to triumph over his social and physical phobias that led to psychological, emotional, and physical illnesses and to his final descent into the dwellings of the insane. Hughes' deep mistrust of all people-even family, worked against him and led to his demise and the lose of his billion dollar empire by the very people whose job it was to safeguard him and his empire.
   
   By the time I finished reading "Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes, I was much more accepting of my status as a non wealthy individual. Although Howard Hughes had everything a man could possibly wish for, he was underprivileged in peace of mind.... The authors do a superb job in separating fact from myth in the life of Howard Hughes. The book is worth reading.



2. The story of Howard Hughes, told superbly in this classic bio, is simply magnetic. How else could you describe a tale that begins with young Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. being born into one of Texas's wealthiest oil families (his father's company, Hughes Tool Company, held a virtual monopoly on drill-bits for many years), moving to Califoria to become a movie mogul, pioneering aviation, heading TWA, and then slipping into degenerative obsessive madness that rendered him completely in the hands of his manipulative underlings. Thus in this book we confront both the young, energetic Hughes (romantically linked to both Jane Russell and Katharine Hepburn) and the old, sick hughes - a nudist who left his hair and fingernails uncut for years, chronicly addicted to codeine, flitting between vacuum-sealed hotel rooms in diffent countries (Bahamas, Nicaragua, Toronto, London, etc.), yet whose name continued to command terror and respect among presidents and governors.

   As I read this book, there were many Hughes habits that I found deeply endearing, even as the weird details mounted. How can you not like a guy who, in the pre-VCR era, decided to buy the local Nevada TV station, just so they'd play the movies he wanted? Who - upon installing his home entertainment system - had an obsessive-compulsive need to watch the epic 1968 thriller "Ice Station Zebra" over and over again? (It's a good movie, after all.) Who bought up half of the real estate of Nevada in a doomed expectation of a world gold shortage? Or who lent his name to the ocean-dredging vessel, Glomar Explorer, to aid the CIA's covert attempts to refloat a Soviet sub? And there was something genuinely visionary about the way he built his aircraft and electronics empires. Indeed, despite the piles of carefully-compiled evidence of financial disasters at TWA, RKO, Air West and Summa Corporation, somehow I want to believe that Hughes was not the bungling sicko that emerges from these pages, but so what if he was, the story remains magnificent.

   As a postscript, every time you see a DirectTV advertisement, remember that it used to be a Hughes company.




3. After reading other books on Howard Hughes, I thought this book would be a waste of my time since I'd "read everything else" but little did I know that this book went into such detail of his life, exposing in great detail specifics that other books briefly mentioned.



4. The Life, Legend, and Madness offers an in-depth view into the secretive life of Howard Hughes. Unbiased in its writing, the book focuses on all of Hughes accomplishments and successes, as well as some of the darker aspects of his life. After reading this book, one can really see that Hughes is one of the few "larger than life" characters that ever lived.
   
   Hughes played an integral role in shaping this country, a role unknown to many of today's younger generations. Donald Barlett and James Steele do an amazing job detailing both his accomplishments and private life. Some of his endeavors are less obvious today than others, such as helping transform Las Vegas into the resort town we know today. Many people are unfamiliar with the Hughes Medical Institute or the creations from the Hughes Aircraft Company. Although the book does show his odd lifestyle behind the darkened windows and closed doors, it is fair in that it also accurately focuses on his important business dealings.
   
   The popular movie "The Aviator" seems to be scripted largely from the first half of this book. To fully appreciate the movie, I recommend reading this particular book first. Not only will it help clarify references that may slip by in the movie, but this book shows that Hughes was much more than a movie producer who flirted with Hollywood's divas of the day. He was a master engineer, expert businessman, and defender of Democracy (he furiously fought Communists). Innovative people like Hughes is what America is all about.



5. This book answers the question, "How did he get to be that way?" It delves deeply into his relationship with his mother (and lack of one with his father) and follows him into adulthood. He seems a little eccentric but still within the normal range for most of his early life. He lived lavishly, but his demons caught up with him eventually. The pity is it didn't have to be that way.
   
   I read this book when it was on the Best Sellers list. Howard Hughes was the subject of one of my papers for a psychology class and this book was my main source.