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Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1069 reviews
Jared Diamond
W. W. Norton, 2005
Exactly the answers I wanted in twice the length I needed
+ The Environmental Basis of History
+ Guns, germs and stell
+ Tracing the spread of human culture, language, and empire
+ so good I bought it for a friend
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Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't 699 reviews
Jim Collins
Collins Business, 2001
Good to Great
+ Good to Great -- the "fluffless" road to greatness
This is one of the best books on business ever written. Very easy to read and even easier to put into action.
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Breakfast of Champions251 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut
Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999
Breakfast Of Champions
+ Vonnegut is the Best!!!
+ Love the story, but the Kindle version's editing was HORRIBLE
+ You must read this
+ Excellent Novel!
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Mediated: How the Media Shapes Our World and the Way We Live in It29 reviews
Thomas de Zengotita
Bloomsbury USA, 2006
A clear-eyed book
+ Excellent book, but (ironically) a little "blobbish"
I'm probably like most people who read this book: I'm reading it a second time in order to pull together all the sense-making pieces, and trying to re-think my experiences growing up in America in the period de Zengotita describes. He hits many nails on the head.
My only disappointment with this ...
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Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media86 reviews
Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky
Pantheon, 2002
Your life could depend on reading this book.
+ Eye Opener
+ Eye Opening
+ One of Chomsky's best (and still applicable today)
+ Chomsky's pinnacle
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Gilead: A Novel299 reviews
Marilynne Robinson
Picador, 2006
Another book you can't put down to you finish it.
+ A Beautiful Novel, Well Worth Your Time
+ Grace
Gilead : A Novel
A man of the cloth who has a child later in life writes a letter to his young son. The father's death is soon and he reviews life by writing this letter. He tells his son about the love he has for his mother, friends and family he has lost and realizations about himself.
...
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Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit866 reviews
Daniel Quinn
Bantam, 1995
Original, Thought-Provoking and Intriguing
+ Step out of the box!
+ This should be required reading.
+ "To the Point"
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The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good52 reviews
William Easterly
Penguin (Non-Classics), 2007
How Global Aid became a Cash Laden Cow instead of a Thoroughbred Racehorse (or Bureaucracies eat oats too, don't they?)
+ Want to understand the World?
+ Despite the title, a little to PC to be effective
+ Good...a little too far to the right for me, though
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King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa185 reviews
Adam Hochschild
Mariner Books, 1999
Leopold: Evil Genius
+ Amazingly eyeopening
+ Rich and informative.
+ Good Book
+ The Contest Against Leopold, Archetypal Colonial Despot
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The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution178 reviews
Richard Dawkins
Mariner Books, 2005
Begs a pictorial companion
+ Not without its flaws, but a must-read for anyone interested in the subject
+ A great introduction to the science of Evolution
+ Evolutionary Biology
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Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors79 reviews
Nicholas Wade
Penguin, 2007
Riveting
+ Ammo for conservatives
+ Engrossing
+ Simply the Best Survey of Human Prehistory for the Layman
+ Nice layman's book but perhaps still too difficult for the average reader
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The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work6 reviews
Peter Block
Jossey-Bass, 1991
Required reading for any person in a leadership position
+ Lucid directions on how to rule
+ The Fundamental Text on Empowerment
+ This is a "must-have" for anyone in a leadership role.
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The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil21 reviews
George Saunders
Riverhead Trade, 2005
I've known a number of Phils
+ amusing, until you think about it. then, disturbing.
+ very very enjoyable tale.
I was so entertained by this book that I've bought additional copies for friends. Saunders, in a small book, manages to capture the core frailties of our species in the bodies of animated junk. A must read for anyone willing to put their rigid outlook on life on standby while they trip along with ...
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The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (P.S.)96 reviews
Jared M. Diamond
Harper Perennial, 2006
This book is a Great Leap Forward
+ Jared Diamond answers all those pesky questions about how we choose mates, natural selection
+ Intersting Read
Of Jared Diamond's books, this one and Guns, Germs and Steel, I prefer this one. Unlike Guns this one is not as redundant and has more focused chapters. I compare it to going to listen to a good college lecturer where you might listen to well focused lectures that get you thinking, but may not ...
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Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies148 reviews
Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras
Collins Business, 2004
The "Core Values" of Corporate Business of the Yesterday and Today
+ Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
+ Built to Last
+ A Must Read Together With Good To Great
+ Stick to your core values!
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Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, ...47 reviews
Julian Rubinstein
Back Bay Books, 2005
Fantastic, Hilarious...and a Bit Chilling!
+ A highly entertaining tale
+ ballad of the whiskey bandit
+ Brilliant!
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Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty75 reviews
Muhammad Yunus
PublicAffairs, 2008
Amazing read!
+ banker to the poor
+ Banker to the Poor
+ Wonderful and Inspiring!
+ Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness... and credit
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Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln363 reviews
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Simon & Schuster, 2006
a fascinating read
+ A good read, but is it good biography? I'm just not sure.
+ Team of Rivals
+ Wasa Lincoln some sort of God to be worship?
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Orientalism69 reviews
Edward W. Said
Vintage, 1979
Intelligent and Poignant
+ Book came on time
This book is a great overview and as noted by many others, a true work of literary genius. Colonial subjects, such as Said himself, have a hard time placing themselves in the mess of Colonialism and the supposed Post-Colonial era we live in and this book aids in that coming to terms process. Said ...
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Pastoralia54 reviews
George Saunders
Riverhead Trade, 2001
Failing into Grace
+ Author is a must read
+ NEEDS SOMETHING
+ Great Tales
+ more pleasure from mr. saunders.
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