Brief:
An interesting book of modern-wave economy. The author proves that the universe of a company is way to complex to be understood, thus any strategy has an undetermined probability to succeed or fail. There is a great number of examples of strategies that failed, of big companies that really did not understood their market even after being a leader in the business for many years. Also the game theory is presented, along with the ice-cream vendors on the beach game.
I personally did not appreciate a great deal the "What is to be done?" chapter, otherwise the book has tons of good information.
Links to other books:
- "Scale and Scope: the Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism" by Alfred Chandler
Charts in great detail the development of large firms in America, Britain and Germany around 1900
- "Eat the rich" by P.J. O'Rourke
"Microeconomics concerns things that economists are specifically wrong about, while macroeconomics concerns things economists are wrong about generally"
- "Barbarians Led by Bill Gates" by Marlin Eller
About Microsoft strategies, and the lack/luck of it..
- "The Country of the Blind" by H.G. Wells
"In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is King."
New Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic Thought by Todd G. Buchholz and Martin Feldstein
"Our children are no longer raised by people who know the world, not because parents have gotten stupid or lazy, but because the world has gotten too big to master. Parents must eventually learn to teach their children how to handle uncertainty - not how to ensure stability"
I find that all people that know very well their business, they obey two rules: first they can make even a stupid man understand, by simple and amusing stories, such a way regardless of how complicated all seems so simple and common; and second they can always look at many sides of the story, and as Keynes "always have two answers for one question". This reminded me of other two writers I liked a lot Stephen Hawking and Bill Bryson, that after analyzing many theories, inside up, they come to the conclusion that sill there is much to discover.
The book simply presents all the important economists and their ideas through the centuries, with lots of humor and simple example. I found out about: Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" - the free market, the division of labor, deregulations.. Found out the the prophecies of overpopulation and global climate change are actually very old, dating from Malthus time, that is around 1800. Found out how Ricardo's law of "competitive advantage" works, and why free trade is so important.
Jeremy Bentham's "pleasure, pain and arithmetic" sounded a little similar to Dalai Lama's teachings, thou I am pretty sure I have to read a little more into it.. :)
Also found out about John Stuart Mill's theories, Karl Marx life and "contributions", Alfred Marshall's marginalist theories, economic time - short and long runs (and how our perception of morality and ethics changes given a different time constraint), the biological view of economy.
And here comes the fun part:
1. Institutionalists:
- Thorstein Veblen and his "Theory of the Leisure Class" (1899) "Clothing use to have labels on the inside, hidden from view. [..] Ralph Lauren's name tells the world that the wearer can afford expensive clothing."
A follower, John K Galbraith - "advertising and salesmanship cannot be reconciled with the notion of independently determined desires, for their central function is to create desire - to ring into being wants that previously did not exist "
- The creativity of engineers, in the face of business man
- Economy and law - hand in hand, and how does it apply to negligence, property, crime and corporate finance.
2. MV = PQ : Keynes vs Friedman (monetarist), and how modern economies are shaken/driven by the four pedals that these currents created.
3. The Public Choice School/The politics as a business: trying to explain why politicians act as they do, and what are their constraints from an economical point of view.
4. The Rational Expectations and Behavioral Economics: that brings fresh ideas on stock exchange and the new economy we leave in. "Stock picking is ineffective because so many people engage in research and stock analysis." "Plenty of brokers and publicists rave about their predictions. Careful studies uncover little reason to believe them."
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky - theories on how people react depending on the why the problem is formulated. Rchard Thaler's intertemporal choice - how people value the future - the people discount the future too much.
Even so, even if my late-hour review is just a long list of names, at the end of the story it is a good start point to investigate more, at least on bold topics. Night night.
I find that all people that know very well their business, they obey two rules: first they can make even a stupid man understand, by simple and amusing stories, such a way regardless of how complicated all seems so simple and common; and second they can always look at many sides of the story, and as Keynes "always have two answers for one question". This reminded me of other two writers I liked a lot Stephen Hawking and Bill Bryson, that after analyzing many theories, inside up, they come to the conclusion that sill there is much to discover.
The book simply presents all the important economists and their ideas through the centuries, with lots of humor and simple example. I found out about: Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" - the free market, the division of labor, deregulations.. Found out the the prophecies of overpopulation and global climate change are actually very old, dating from Malthus time, that is around 1800. Found out how Ricardo's law of "competitive advantage" works, and why free trade is so important.
Jeremy Bentham's "pleasure, pain and arithmetic" sounded a little similar to Dalai Lama's teachings, thou I am pretty sure I have to read a little more into it.. :)
Also found out about John Stuart Mill's theories, Karl Marx life and "contributions", Alfred Marshall's marginalist theories, economic time - short and long runs (and how our perception of morality and ethics changes given a different time constraint), the biological view of economy.
And here comes the fun part:
1. Institutionalists:
- Thorstein Veblen and his "Theory of the Leisure Class" (1899) "Clothing use to have labels on the inside, hidden from view. [..] Ralph Lauren's name tells the world that the wearer can afford expensive clothing."
A follower, John K Galbraith - "advertising and salesmanship cannot be reconciled with the notion of independently determined desires, for their central function is to create desire - to ring into being wants that previously did not exist "
- The creativity of engineers, in the face of business man
- Economy and law - hand in hand, and how does it apply to negligence, property, crime and corporate finance.
2. MV = PQ : Keynes vs Friedman (monetarist), and how modern economies are shaken/driven by the four pedals that these currents created.
3. The Public Choice School/The politics as a business: trying to explain why politicians act as they do, and what are their constraints from an economical point of view.
4. The Rational Expectations and Behavioral Economics: that brings fresh ideas on stock exchange and the new economy we leave in. "Stock picking is ineffective because so many people engage in research and stock analysis." "Plenty of brokers and publicists rave about their predictions. Careful studies uncover little reason to believe them."
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky - theories on how people react depending on the why the problem is formulated. Rchard Thaler's intertemporal choice - how people value the future - the people discount the future too much.
Even so, even if my late-hour review is just a long list of names, at the end of the story it is a good start point to investigate more, at least on bold topics. Night night.
"All Marketers are Liars" - Seth Godin (Google presentation)
I've just seen this presentation from Seth Godin, about new means of marketing products, two years after his presentation, and I find him completely right and according to the directions of the Web3.0 in the last years.
It will be interesting to watch how Google and other companies apply this, for sure Apple does it; as well as to look fw for other presentations of the guy.
"Ideas that spread win", use this in conjunction with the power of internet communities, and you are a winner. Talk to the people that care about it (early adopters).
Check his blog and website.
It will be interesting to watch how Google and other companies apply this, for sure Apple does it; as well as to look fw for other presentations of the guy.
"Ideas that spread win", use this in conjunction with the power of internet communities, and you are a winner. Talk to the people that care about it (early adopters).
Check his blog and website.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins
Definitively a must-read book for any company, manager and self-motivated employees.
The book is a remarkable synthesis on the research analysis of the Forbes's company top in the last 70 years. From all the companies that made it in the top, they especially select and analyze companies that respect one pattern: when they started growing as a business, successfully sustained the growth of the company for several years in a raw.
Incredible or not, from thousands of companies, only 11 were selected!
Even more incredible are their conclusions regarding: motivation, team cohesion, creating a unique-company-concept for income, and keeping to that concept regardless of what it takes.
The book is a remarkable synthesis on the research analysis of the Forbes's company top in the last 70 years. From all the companies that made it in the top, they especially select and analyze companies that respect one pattern: when they started growing as a business, successfully sustained the growth of the company for several years in a raw.
Incredible or not, from thousands of companies, only 11 were selected!
Even more incredible are their conclusions regarding: motivation, team cohesion, creating a unique-company-concept for income, and keeping to that concept regardless of what it takes.
The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic by Wade Davis
Wade Davis is one of the persons I really admire. He dedicated an important part of his life to anthropology and ethnobotany, so he is one of the persons who tried it all from the herbalist point of view.. :) up-to meeting the most interesting and remote communities of people.
In this book, Davis relates his stay in Haiti, a place and culture that he felt in love with.
His story presents the mind-set of the local people. Through the eyes of the US PhD author, the voodoos are presented, very different from the Hollywood's portrait, with subtle and insight details of the zombies, their herbals, their secrets, and people way of thinking.
In this book, Davis relates his stay in Haiti, a place and culture that he felt in love with.
His story presents the mind-set of the local people. Through the eyes of the US PhD author, the voodoos are presented, very different from the Hollywood's portrait, with subtle and insight details of the zombies, their herbals, their secrets, and people way of thinking.
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel
I found by mistake "Zen Bow, Zen Arrow - John Stevens" while killing time in Cape Town, looking for presents, and it directed me to "Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel", which I prefer from the two books.
Both of the books are about Awa Kenzo, the Japanese archery master, the big difference is that Herrigel is the one that actually took classes with the master, and recalls his history.
Other than the clear explanation of the sport itself, and the struggles to learn it, I liked a lot the explanation of the meditation while doing archery, or any another Asian art (even gardening). At the end of the day is the story of a westerner, that tries to understand the mindset of orientals through the art of archery; and as I was also arguing in this post, this is not that easy as it seems.. :)
Both of the books are about Awa Kenzo, the Japanese archery master, the big difference is that Herrigel is the one that actually took classes with the master, and recalls his history.
Other than the clear explanation of the sport itself, and the struggles to learn it, I liked a lot the explanation of the meditation while doing archery, or any another Asian art (even gardening). At the end of the day is the story of a westerner, that tries to understand the mindset of orientals through the art of archery; and as I was also arguing in this post, this is not that easy as it seems.. :)
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
A good book, basically it talks about improving one-self up-to the point that one can do a task, perfectly without even thinking of it.
Also I have recently seen an interesting documentary about the savant syndrome, and it seems that the research in this field may one day provide us means to develop our mind in the most unusual ways. Ex: the Chinese scholars that practice long computations with the abac, after several year, they can compute without the abac long computations, without even not thinking about it, by a simple movement of the hand.
Also interesting enough is the other side of the story, the more you develop your inner side, the more it is possible to affect your means of interrelation with other people.
Also I have recently seen an interesting documentary about the savant syndrome, and it seems that the research in this field may one day provide us means to develop our mind in the most unusual ways. Ex: the Chinese scholars that practice long computations with the abac, after several year, they can compute without the abac long computations, without even not thinking about it, by a simple movement of the hand.
Also interesting enough is the other side of the story, the more you develop your inner side, the more it is possible to affect your means of interrelation with other people.
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