5 comments about 50 Simple Steps You Can Take To Improve Your Personal Finances: How to Spend Less, Save More, and Make the Most of What You Have.

1. I have read this book and feel it is a very good book to start building a solid financial foundation. This is not a book for the advanced, but for people like myself in their twenties (I'm 28) trying to figure out how they can be smarter with their finances. As I read through the book, I wrote down the "things" on a list and checked them off as I completed them. One of the interesting "things" was to check my property tax statement to ensure I wasn't be taxed for more property than I owned.
   Again, this book isn't for the advanced financial planner; but I found it very helpful.



2. This easy-to-read book gives very basic information on personal finance. It is a great start if you really don't know anything about managing your personal finances. If you have an average knowledge of the topic, you probably will not learn a lot. However, I did find it useful to reiterate things I already knew.



3. This book presents good sound advice for people who want to manage and balance their finances properly.
   The advice is not far fetched and outlandish..., like some other financial books.
   Good for the common middle class person who wants to strive for better.



4. With all the reports in the news about high rates of bankruptcy, high credit card debt, and lack of understanding in the general population about how to manage their finances, certainly everybody would love simple steps that help them make their finances better.
   
   The first three steps all seem to involve *spending* money. She wants you to set up a home office area with office supplies and filing cabinets. She wants you to buy a computer, and Quicken. Next, you tally up your finances, calculate your net worth and plan out your goals. So far, none of these things seem to natively improve your financial situation. Yes, they're good planning steps.
   
   OK we get on to #7 - a tip! "Spend less than you earn." Yes, that qualifies as a good tip. She actually provides 10 sub-tips here, things like "don't go out to movies" and "eat at home" (twice).
   
   And on it goes. Don't smoke. Buy with cash, not credit. Use the web for directory assistance, not the phone company. Check your credit report. Consolidate your insurance bills.
   
   The glossary in the back of the book is actually quite helpful, with a number of terms that come up in financial discussions. However, using her own tips, I could easily get that information from dictionary.com :)
   
   Obviously this book *told* you they were "simple steps", not complicated ones. Still, I think that the book could have covered a wider range of information, and provided tips that were much more thorough. She could have created tip 1 as "set up a useful home office environment" that included the filing cabinets, computers, software, etc and warned you that it'd be over $500 to get this step done. There could be tip 2 about "get a handle on where you are now" and explaining in detail how to do that. Too many of the tips are redundant.
   
   I also think, if this book is aimed at the very-beginning-market of people just out of college who are hoping to get their lives in order, that they could have done a better job of making this step by step. Provide checklists. Give simple examples. They do that in one or two places, but it could have been very helpful to do that with each tip.
   
   There are many other books I'd recommend before this one, for people who are in this situation and need this kind of knowledge.



5. I bought this book based off a suggestion from the company that handles my 401k and it was a quick and easy read. Many of her suggestions seem to be no brainers but you kind of forget about them until you read it in a book. I'll definitely put a few of her suggestions to use and the others will be there to consider.

2 comments about Escape Fire: Designs for the Future of Health Care.

1. Escape Fire is collection of compelling speeches by one of America's leading crusaders for health care quality and patient safety - Don Berwick, MD, founder and president of the Boston-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI.org).
   
   Each year, IHI hosts the National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care. The influential annual event draws 4,000 health care leaders from around the world in person and 6,000 via satellite. In many ways, Dr. Berwick's keynote lectures set the tone for quality improvement efforts across the US. With an effective blend of common sense, real-life stories, persuasive metaphors, and out-of-the-box thinking, Dr. Berwick's presentations make for fascinating reading for anyone interested in improving America's $1.7 trillion health care system.



2. A wonderful book told with humility, intelligence, warmth, anger and knowledge.
   It presents the text of Don Berwick's annual talks at IHI's (Institute for Healthcare Improvement) National Healthcare Forum.
   This is a highly reccommended read if you work in healthcare. I don't know what others will think about this book.

5 comments about Hit and Run Trading II: Capturing Explosive Short-Term Moves in Stocks, Updated.

1. Cooper's "setups" as presented in this book are really just a repackaging of various chart patterns. I believe the reader would be far better served by understanding why these setups work (when they do) rather than what they are specifically; an examination that the author chooses not to provide (after all, what do you want for 100 bucks??)

   Bulkowski's book on chart patterns & Prechter's book on Elliot waves will give you a far better understanding of the market than any of the Cooper books. In fact, with an understanding of Elliot all of these patterns or setups become remarkably clear, to the point where you shouldn't need this book in the first place




2. Looking at Jeff's second book, I am happy to say that I found it to be very useful. It goes into a lot more detail than his first book and gave me a better sense of how he trades. I mean, he introduced a number of new strategies and also included a pretty detailed section on the data feeds he uses, how he interprets charts intraday, and recommends a reliable brokerage system for you. It's a great little package with lots of helpful information.



3. Following up the original collection of successful strategies in Hit and Run Trading is Jeff Cooper's second and equally outstanding book on capturing explosive moves in stocks. I imagine the question on everyone's mind is, "Great, but will this improve my trading?" and the answer is - YES. The first book kick-started daytrading careers for thousands, and this one is bound to make you wonder how much further the author can break down the complexities of the markets and delineate methods for taking advantage of it.

   Hit and Run Trading II, like its predecessor, is all about taking advantage of strongly trending stocks. There are four parts of this book revealing 17 new strategies:

   1. Trend continuation patterns, holding for a few days

   2. Cooper's best strategies, including Stepping In Front of Size

   3. Reversal strategies

   4. Techniques to improve your trading, including 40 learning examples.

   Cooper provides solid groundwork for interpreting the dynamics of stocks and the market so traders can recognize the strategies for themselves. For example, the Intraday Relative Strength Trading Strategy (IRSTS), used to identify and exploit strength in big-cap Nasdaq stocks by comparing to the S&P futures action, is clearly defined for makings risk-adverse decisions. After Jeff outlines his strategies with a set of rules and examples, a trader is practically given a map of what to look for. All of the strategies of the book are discussed and broken down to a specific set of rules to follow. Of course, every situation in the market is truly different from the next, but it's the basic pattern and trends that repeat themselves over and over that Jeff has identified and made obvious.

   A chapter of Q&A's is another valuable resource of this book. Through the years Jeff has been interviewed by radio shows and newspapers, and this represents the best and most useful insights from that material. This is where the reader can really get a feel for the thought process of a trader. Trading isn't just about having some great strategies to apply to the market; to be successful requires lots of hard work and devotion. From being fully prepared each day by locking in hours of research, to having a good understanding of how your judgment may be flawed, this section is an important part of this book and alone makes it worthwhile.

   If you read the first Hit and Run book, you are aware of Jeff's style and well-thought-out strategies. This book is of the same spirit and quality. Having Jeff's strategies on your side would be a tremendous asset to any trader. Simply getting a glimpse of his perspective on the market would be beneficial to everyone from scalpers to intermediate-term traders. Jeff is a daytrader and a highly successful one. If given a chance, this book could take traders a long way, but as always, the decisions are always yours.




4. I've never read the first one, so I can't compare and have no opinion on it. However, I did find this book is be very good. Gets straight to the point, has a dozen step by step strategies and methods that I'm positive will work with proper money management. I don't agree with all the theories, nor will I necessarily use these in my own trading. But, for someone new or looking for short swing type of trading methods .. this one is worth a look.

   Pricey, but consider it an investment.




5. Fantastic. Period.
   Boosted my earnings 200%. Needs some minor tweaks because of increased volatility of markets today, but the rest works as a charm.

5 comments about You Got Screwed! Why Wall Street Tanked and How You Can Prosper.

1. Jim Cramer rules. Anyone who can mix schadenfreude (German for vicarious pleasure in others' misery), Pangloss from CANDIDE, sports analogies, and pop culture references with a straight shooting approach to finance and investing is cool. More importantly, he does a better, more readable job of dissecting big bad Corporate America than Michael Moore ever could (Cramer and Moore both got skewed in a bad-guy list of RADAR that stated the scariest facts about both, respectively, were "Is married and has children," and "Won an Oscar"). Jim Cramer isn't a get-rich-quick franchise.



2. James J. Cramer is responsible for much of what occurred during the tech bubble. He was a cheerleader for the tech boom and now says that others got screwed? HE WAS DOING THE SCREWING! This is hypocrisy at its best.
   
   From his near firing at Goldman to the collapse of his own company (TheStreet.com is down 90% plus from its IPO price) Cramer is a genius - at cashing in on his own failures.
   
   Do not touch this book with a 50 foot pole.



3. Don't get me wrong, I kinda like Cramer. He's entertaining. He's funny. He's run a successful Hedge Fund. He's made a lot of money. He's also often wrong.
   
   Here's my personal experience with Cramer. A few weeks before the collapse of Tyco, Cramer was hyping the stock on his Real Money radio program. If I remember the quote correctly he said, "I would be remiss if I didn't buy Tyco at these levels". So Tyco fell to $32, I bought 1,000 shares. Tyco went to $35 a week later, I sold and made a sweet profit. A week after that Tyco tanked. The rest is history.
   
   I got lucky.
   
   Even though I made money, I suddenly realized how foolish it is to buy stock on the advice of any pundit. I counted my blessings, thanked God I didn't get creamed, and learned a valuable lesson. I wonder how many others weren't so fortunate.
   
   This book fires bazooka rounds at the corporate excesses of the 90's and early years of the millennium. It lobs well deserved grenades into the boardrooms of the brokerage industry. Then it spits a pea shooter's worth of advice at how to avoid getting "screwed" again. Like I said, Cramer is entertaining.
   
   Clearly, Cramer is angry at something or somebody. Maybe he's feeling guilty about his own contributions to the largess of Wall Street and wants to make amends. If that's the case then I understand why he wrote this book. It's a laudable goal. Who knows?
   
   What I do know is there's nothing really new in this book. It provides some very interesting background information about a pivotal point in the country's financial history. It readdresses some of the deck stacking practices of the financial services industry, and it rehashes, in a minimal way, sage self-help advice that can be found in numerous other places for free.
   
   It's not a bad book. And Cramer is not a bad guy. I actually believe the Real Money Cramer is a far different man than the Hedge Fund Cramer. A man for the better in my opinion. So I give him the benefit of the doubt.
   
   If you know nothing about how corporate shenanigans work or how Wall Street works this book is a good primer. You'll just have to go elsewhere for the details.



4. In late December 1999/early January 2000 at the height of the tech bubble, Jim Cramer appeared on CNBC and screamed this mantra like a maniac at viewers, "If you don't buy ICGE now you are an idiot!! ICGE -- ICGE -- I SEE GE -- I SEE THE NEXT GE -- Get it -- Get it now!" If I remember correctly those were the words he screamed in a fury. The word "idiot" may have been "imbecile" but the point is he wanted to make you feel really stupid if you missed this golden opportunity.
   
   Shortly afterwards the stock started dropping like a rock and Internet Capital Group fell from something like $220 a share to half that in no time flat. Now check out a chart to see where the next General Electric is.
   
   How Jim Cramer got away with this is beyond me. I just found an article in my archives dated 12/20/1999 about "Why Jim Cramer is a Big Fan of Internet Capital Group" but because of copyright laws I don't believe I am allowed to post it here. In the article he stated that his hedge fund owned a large stake in the company and that he was looking to buy more on any pullbacks. What a load of bull. When he says BUY, you should say BYE as you switch to another TV channel.
   
   Good luck if you put your trust in this guy.



5. This short but very informative book gives you a history lesson on how companies have been screwing over the public for years to make a small group of people a lot of money, It teaches you how to watch for it and avoid becoming a victim of insider trading yourself.
   
   Worth every penny.

2 comments about Prelude to Meltdown.

1. I am glad I bought Mr. Bert Dohmen's book "Prelude to Meltdown." I am not a financial person but I am an investor. I bought the book to try and understand if we are going to have deflation or extreme inflation in the future. I agree and understand a lot of what Mr. Dohmen is saying but he seems to be a deflation guy. I am worried about the money supply (M1) and (M3). I think some things will deflate and I think some things will inflate. We might have periods of both or have them at the same time but I don't think a deflating credit market and growing money supply will restore the U.S. Dollar. The Dollar was about faith. It's that faith that will deflate away. This book is well worth the read. Regards, Keith Renick, Peachtree City



2. This is a scary time in our economy. Increasing unemployment, loan denials, higher interest rates. Food costs too much. Gas prices leaving holes in our bank accounts. "The size of the leverage and the financial instruments that are outstanding, and now defaulting, are beyond the ability of any central bank, or all of the central banks combined, to bail out. We've never had a situation where the central banks were not big enough to bail out a situation -- but we have it now." Bert Dohmen presents the facts, the truth, an explanation, and some serious advice on how we can prepare and protect ourselves. The hard times have only begun but this book has given me the knowledge to move forward head-strong and ready. You can't trust what you hear or read in the media. Sugar-coated reports and predictions from our "financial leaders" are intended to keep us from worry. Prelude to Meltdown reveals the facts and what consequences are to come. This book was a real eye-opener. I bought a few copies and gave them to my friends.

3 comments about Supplier Evaluation & Performance Excellence.

1. Through the years Supplier Performance Management has been much talked about but in reality few organizations have implemented a program which delivered meaningful reports and sustainable results. I remember in the late 1970's, when I was a young Quality Auditor at The Gates Rubber Co. I responsible for "Raw Material" quality and put in place a manual process and reporting system to look at acceptable material lots, timely delivery and prompt customer service that was marginally effective, not scaleable beyond a single site and only supported production materials. Thirty years later not much has changed albeit the introduction of technology that has potentially accelerated the delivery of meaningless and unactionable data ... until now.
   
   Sherry Gordon has written the first comprehensive guide for organizations to develop and implement a Supplier Evaluation and Performance Excellence program (hence the book title)that really works. She's produced a masterful "recipe" for success.
   
   Some of the practical features of the book includes:
   
   - How to structure a Supplier Performance Management project, including roles and responsibilities and senior management support
   
   - A complete project plan for an SPM implementation, including tasks, key decisions and challenges
   
   - A supplier segmentation model specifically for supplier evaluation, including types of performance information to use by supply base segment
   
   - Sources and types of supplier performance information for evaluating both direct and indirect suppliers
   
   - A process for developing supplier performance expectations
   
   - A hierarchy for developing a business measurement model
   
   - How to choose metrics that are meaningful to your organization
   
   - Pros and cons of different evaluation approaches
   
   - Suggested supplier evaluation processes
   
   - How to create a good supplier survey
   
   - How to conduct a supplier site visit
   
   - Specific tios on the "do's and don'ts" of giving supplier performance feedback
   
   - How to create a process for supply risk planning
   
   - How to develop a good supplier certification process
   
   - How to plan and run a successful supplier conference
   
   - How to conduct a successful supplier development process



2. Very well written, easy to read, practical and comprehensive survey of the art & science of supplier performance management and supplier assessment. If you are just learning about the topic, wanting to figure out how to drive more productive relationships with suppliers, implementing a new supplier performance management program or enhancing / re-architecting an existing program, this is an excellent resource. The author actually has experience in improving relationships between suppliers and customers and developing tools to automate the necessary processes She is very direct about the tradeoffs you must consider and the pitfalls you will face along the way. As we are in the process of designing and piloting a program, this was a very useful guide for validating our design and getting additional ideas to make it better. Highly recommended!



3. Ms.Gordon has done an excellent job of providing an interesting and readable, step-by-step analysis of what it takes to properly evaluate suppliers and drive them to perform optimally. She has certainly met her goal of providing a book "to help guide firms in this journey." She starts out by telling us how to sell the Supplier Performance Management initiative and then takes us through every step including what a customer company must do to obtain optimum value from this effort. She makes it very clear that this is a process, not a project or an event. One must understand this going in or be destined to fail. I wish I had this book to read years ago, but in reading it I find it validated what I had to learn through years of working the process.
   James Tarabori
   Director of Purchasing-
   North America
   Caterpillar Inc.

5 comments about Conquer the Crash: You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression.

1. THis book is simply outstanding. A must read for anybody that cares about their financial future. Well written, super informative, and exciting reading.



2. Pros: "Conquer the Crash" by Robert R. Prechter Jr. is a very good book. I discovered this at the public library and went "WOW!". I bought a copy for myself and a friend. The author's data is pretty accurate and reliable. He goes through showing how the current market is very unstable and how it got there. He goes through the whole subject of depressions and recessions and shows through graphs that history of the ups and downs of the US economy. He gives really good data as why a crash is coming and it's pretty much not a question of "If" but "When". There are places where he gets rather promotional about his Elliott Wave Theories. However, it's not as bad compared with a lot of other books and there are just a few places that he gets on this bandwagon. He is very honest that he doesn't have all the answers. He provides resources and, in the latter part of the book, provides how to survive and prosper after the crash. Our best shot is to stay constantly on top of financial news that are behind the curtain. Yahoo and MSN ain't gonna cut it. If sites have RSS, then a good reader can be very handy. Picking up information and processing it quickly and accurately is a must.
   
   Cons: I gave this 4 stars so that you would be careful with what you take in when someone is predicting the future. This is really a Five-Star book. He makes his predictions based on previous information, a lot of that gathered from the Great Depression of the 1930s. However, these are not the same times as the 1930s. We will have the potential for nuclear armament and world war. We have a lot more people on the planet which creates a greater possibility for much more violence and we seem more psycho today than previous generations. As wars break out, diseases and famines are produced. Drinkable water is also a big concern. If you're older in age, medical care comes into play. A lack of medicines available is pretty much likely. As this next crash unfolds, governments could become much more totalitarian and confiscate everybody's wealth. The economy system will probably turn out to be radically different from the one of today as no one is going to want to repeat this crash ever again. There is also the possibility that the United States may not be the best place to be when everything is crashing down. There are many factors working within and without that seeks for her destruction. World governments and people around the world will want to pin the blame on American consumerism.
   I do have a complaint that alot of this is for people with alot of money. Not only with this book but with also other resources that I have. The dollar amounts they speak in is unbelievable to me. I only make $13 a hour - just enough to get by (things are high here) and just enough to survive. Surviving is really my only option. There is also the problem that there may not be any Internet for a vast amount of time (or only for government and defense) or a working phone system. If the bank that your money is in is very long-distance from where you are, you got a problem. It would be much safer if you're closer to your assets. The Great Depression is only appliable as a small scale model but I believe that this crash is going to be very different and for worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. God help us all.



3. page 129 - "one can imagine a scenario in which the fed, beginning soon after the onset of deflation, trades banknotes for portfolios of bad loans, replacing a sea of bad debt with an equal ocean of banknotes, thus smoothly monetizing all defaults in the system...". that's what happened when the fed recently bailed out some investment firms! it's prophetic. this guy is right on track, and it's about the ONLY book on amazon that is this accurate. ya know, there's a negative review on this book written by someone in florida - you should hunt it up. the negative reviewer pokes fun at this book's conclusion about the housing market. bet he's not laughing now!



4. ...and depression for at least the twenty years I've been watching him...does anybody EVER look at his success rate?...about twenty years ago he made something like a million dollars trading futures based -- so he claimed -- upon Elliott wave theory...he then invested that money entirely in treasury bills and started a stock market advisory newsletter...he has been significantly correct ONCE -- TWENTY YEARS ago...if you had followed his advice since then you would probably have gone broke...and he, himself, admits that he keeps his money in treasury securities and doesn't invest according to his own predictions...now, MAYBE he'll be correct again -- SOMEDAY...but do you really want to follow the advice of someone who's right -- MAYBE -- every twenty years?



5. I don't know where he is today but the author couldn't be more wrong in his predictions for 2002 or is he just off by 7 or 8 years ? Had he wrote this two years ago about 2008/2009 he would have be heralded as an economic prophet. Its completely uncanny that he describes, in the most precise detail, what 2008 looks like but, unfortunately for him, he is predicting todays scenario to happen in 2002/2003. It didn't of course. We not only did not experience a credit bubble but the 2001 Recession turned into a bull, quite the opposite of the authors prediction of a major depression. Of course he could excuse his error today by saying that he wasn't 100 % certain on the time frame, that he did mention a slight chance that it could happen later...at any time really, but such Delphic predictions are absolutely meaningless in their ambiguity. Even a stopped clock is right 2 times a day. I mean, eventually all stock markets along with our solar system get sucked into the sun in 2 billion years. In any event, the author does a great job in explaining the Fed and monetary phenomenon and policy but like pretty much anyone who tries to predict where its all going with technical analysis (ie graphical trend lines) we can see now that he fails and there is no reward for failure in economics. I must confess however that I am defiantly prejudiced against technical (graphical) market analysis as a predictor. I'd recommend this book out of a library for a educational read on the mechanics of money and banking, but not to buy. It's just too old and embarrassingly wrong at its predictions that can now be seen in hindsight.... but then again what an uncanny resemblance to the banking debacle of today ! If one could just add 6 or 7 years to the authors predictions it would be a world best seller to be sure !

5 comments about Doing Deals: Investment Banks at Work.

1. I am currently studying at the INSEAD MBA, France. Looking for information about the investment banking industry, I have been browsing dozens of books on the subject, but very few helped me to see both the big picture and the details of how the industry works. Fiction like Liers' Poker or Barbarians at the Gate missed the technical points and presented a very blurry picture of what investment banking is about apart from psychological or philosophical concerns. At the same time, technical books like The Industry of Investment Banking were too broad in technicalities, but narrow in the cultural issues. As I was reading "Doing Deals," I found the best industry guide of its kind, the book that provides very detailed information how the internal functions are structured, how the deals are done, how bonuses are allocated, what management practices are in place, what cultural differences one should expect between firms and between different functions within companies, what is driving the people who work at investments banks, and what personal qualities and experiences are expected from potential applicants. In addition, the book gives a lot of detail in its description of the principal industry players and the differences in their strategies. While the Vault.com guide is an absolute must read for everyone, who considers investment banking for his future career, "Doing Deals" is a much more fundamental book. True, it does not provide a list of short answers to finance interview questions, therefore adjust your expectations. What it does, however, is that it gives a very thorough and detailed description of how the industry functions and a very competent and knowledgeable analysis of strategic specifics within banking firms. While the Vault.com guide is for everyone, this book is more targeted at a seriously-minded reader.



2. This book is a good overview of the investment banking business, but it
   is quite expensive. I would strongly recommend instead or in addition
   the Vault Career Guide to Investment Banking.... The Vault guide includes more
   detailed overviews of all the departments and functions of an investment
   bank including corporate finance, M&A, sales, trading, private client
   services, credit, etc. If you are a job seeker in investment banking
   also try the Vault Guide to Finance Interviews, which contains actual
   investment banking finance interview questions and answers and which I
   found to be enormously valuable in my Wall Street job search.



3. Book is not bad but expensive. For a good general overview of what bankers and other people in an M&A deal do, take a look at my work, Deal Teams by Frankel.



4. I really enjoyed reading and learning this book. One of the reviewers mentioned this book was the best of its kind, and it truely is. This book takes you inside on how investment banking deals are gathered and closed. I'm a commercial banker but have always been a avid follower of news in this industry. I have read Security Training and the Intelligent Investor and this was an easier read but extremely informative. I recommend this book to anyone interested or fascinated by Investment Banking.



5. Doing Deals in an analysis of investment banking. It details the various structures of investment banks and how they approach their relationships with their customers. It discusses transactional-based investment banking vs. relationship investment banking. If you are interested in investment banking from a marketing view or sociological view, this book is excellent. It basically discusses how investment banking organizations are organized to market to and meet their client's needs and goals. This is an academic work and is a studied analysis. I thought the book was excellent. The book is good as a part of an overall investment banking library. If you need to learn about the basics of investment banking, there are other books. If you are interested in the intellectual side of how banks structure themselves and try to optimize their structure, this book is for you.

2 comments about Investor Relations: The Comprehensive Guide.

1. 
   I thought this was a wonderful book. There are a fair number of good public relations books on the market. And there are a few tomes about investor relations. But I am not aware of any that layout all that is included in this book about an investor relations executive (IRE) at a public company: his job description, goals, responsibilities, and minefields that he or she has to face. I found it interesting that the author chose to default to "she" when he referred to IREs. Women are traditionally thought of as filling public relations roles. But it is my understanding that investor relations (a highly specialized and technical subset of public relations) is usually worked by men.
   
   I also found it kind of odd that the author called IREs investment relations OFFICERS. By calling them "officers" that seemed to me that the author was trying to catapult them up into the highest echelon of a public company's corporate team. I'm not sure that is the case in reality. While it is true that an IRE does hobnob with the CEO, the CFO, the public relations guru, and the company's Board of Directors (BOD), I'm not aware that the IREs enjoy similar status as these other executives and directors generally do.
   
   As a discovery expert who has worked on a number of high profile securities fraud class action lawsuits I have seen firsthand how the organization charts for some very large public companies fit an IRE into the executive and director mix. And I have had to review the correspondence, SEC filings, SEC filing drafts, and other investor relations papers that a number of IREs have been responsible for creating, producing, and filing. I think typically the IRE is a subordinate of the CFO, but has dotted line responsibility to the CEO, BOD, and the public relations executive if one exists. And a PR executive more than likely will exist.
   
   Overall regarding this book I must say it is a gem. It is very well written and outlined. And it logically flows from chapter 1 all the way to chapter 23. And it is packed with content. However, there were a few instances that if changed I would have liked the book better. Chapters 8 and 9 seemed to be related. I would have liked the book better if those chapters were merged and then the topic of SEC filings that they cover were expanded into three separate chapters. And Chapter 17 just did not fit for me. I'm not sure it should have been included. And if included, I think it should have been written from a different perspective - that of the IRE. There was a typo at page 89 regarding the Yahoo! Finance URL.
   
   Chapter 11 on "Guidance" was great. And I liked Chapter 22 a lot, too. If I were writing the book I would have made chapters 18 to 23 part of an Appendix. They seemed to be add-on material for me when reading this book. 5 stars!



2. I had a problem with this book from the very first sentence where the author asserts the goal of IR is to have the highest possible stock price. That is not the goal at all - in fact NIRI (the National Investor Relations Institute) was founded years ago to make sure that exactly that did not become the goal of IR. While it is tired to use the rash of large frauds in the early part of this decade as a warning, this really is the thought process that led to Enron (where the IR chief got to spend lots of time on the stand and get 18 months in jail for his part in keeping the stock price high). Even if those extremes are avoided, trying to keep the price "as high as possible" increases the chances of a crash and an eventual lawsuit - not a desired outcome.
   So what is the goal of IR? It is to create the broadest and most correct understanding of the company. Then the market, and others, can understand what matters and what does not for the company - reactions are based on facts at that point, not on misperceptions. Some of the information in this book may help a less than savvy management team meet this goal. For example, it would be useful for them to understand the different types of investors. However, the book has tried so hard to be broad that it does not really give the breadth needed to support an all out IR effort. In the end, I think most people would be better off looking elsewhere for their advice.

No comments about Mapping Work Processes, Second Edition.