Interesting book

I found this book on Bill Gates favorites ever list. I guess it was recommended to him by Warren Buffet. Gates said he read it once in the 70's and again recently and thought the lessons were timeless and applicable. I'm trying to figure out exactly what he saw....😝

19 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Extremely Dated / Would Not Recommend

Took a chance here based on Bill Gates book list. Subject matter is very dated and extremely dry. The last chapter in particular (over 3 hours) was a true challenge to get to the finish line

7 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

A bit uneven; jumps around; has gems

This works for me. I have a broad and deep interest in business and financial history, and I'm always snagging stories from here and there and fitting the parts together into deeper understandings. Sometimes the author nails it here -- as in, giving a great plain-language explanation of central banking and international currency markets (and some wild swings, say, in the pound sterling, presaging better-known recent ones, featuring the US and UK's coordinated battles with speculators, trying to reduce volatility in those markets). I always like a different but clarifying look at such things, from a bit different angle. But, this is a snapshot from the later-mid-1960s, so (like reading some older books or watching some older movies) it helps to have some bigger background and context. The earlier stories do fit well as prequels to more recent ones. This was written on the eve of the US dollar falling off the gold standard, and the emergence of the post-Bretton Woods world (things the author only guesses at, prospectively), so having more of the story helps.

Elsewhere there is a story about price-fixing among certain manufacturers in the 60s. These scofflaws got their knuckles rapped, somewhat, under the glare of public and governmental attention. Then there ensued the corporate game (also well known among politicians) in moments of scandal, of artfully evading responsibility. We have a ringside seat as this art is practiced by various execs under the hot spotlight. What a rhetorical dance! This is a fine tutorial (all done tongue in cheek) for anyone, I suppose, looking to glide through a public grilling in congressional hearings and parading before angry righteous citizens wielding pitchforks and torches, without breaking stride or losing that elite "teflon" panache (and somehow trying to sound ethical and even noble, or as a last resort, gullible, but no, not culpable!). I find plenty amusing and enlightening here. But the choice of topics is fairly random, and it does suffer from flat spots.

12 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Boring

Didn't finish, old fashioned, so many numbers without analysis or end conclusion. Don't get it, waste

4 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Underwhelming

I had high hopes, but was unimpressed with this book. I didn't mind that all the stories were from the 1940s and 50s, but none of them really grabbed my attention.

4 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Old specialities

Old specialities for people with a lot of time available and with historical interest. Could be shortened to 25 % without problems. The Ford marketing mistake is OK.

8 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Little dated but relevant

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes- I have already recommended it to my parents.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The original book was written in the 1970s. The stories are about business in that time period and earlier. There is a lot of information that is foundational to how business is conducted today but you will also see how it has evolved. The chapter on Texas Gulf was especially interesting to me because I grew up in Timmins.

8 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Dated

I was disappointed with the book. The histories are too old and in my view they aren't classical enough

3 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Great stories

This is a very interesting book. First time I heard about it was that it was recommended by Bill Gates. The book is constructed in the form of stories of different business flavors. The first few stories are not super interesting but they turn out to be essential for understanding the stories towards the end of the book, which are fantastic. Would recommend this book to anyone with a small caveat: be patient with the first couple chapters.

2 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Boring

I wish there would be an abridged version of this book. This was way too long compared to its actual contents. Pages after pages were wasted on describing irrelevant background where the moral of the story would turn out to be marginally significant. Waste of time in my view.

8 les gens ont trouvé cela utile