"Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt succeeds very well at what it was meant to do. The book makes it extremely easy for the reader to learn about economics. The book is simple and easy to understand. And it's also quite enjoyable to read. And it's only about 200 pages long, so it can be read in a relatively short period of time.

Most high schools do not teach economics. And most colleges do not require any economics courses to be taken. However, with this book, you can learn all the major basics.

The most important thing that this book does is that it rebukes and counters all of the majorly popular misconceptions about economics. According to the book, the two main reasons that most people don't understand economics when they look at a certain policy are, #1 they only look at how the policy affects its targeted group of people, and avoid considering how it affects the population as a whole and #2 they only look at the short term consequences of the policy, and ignore the long term effects.

For example, let's say that foreign companies are selling cheap steel to the U.S. So in order to protect jobs in the U.S. steel industry, the U.S. government creates import restrictions on steel that gets imported into the U.S. (These import restrictions could be either tariffs, quotas, or a combination of the two. The net result will be the same either way.)

So because of these trade barriers, the U.S. steel industry is saved. The jobs of thousands of steel workers are saved. We see reports on the TV news and in the newspapers that these jobs have been saved. Supposedly, the country is better off. Supposedly, these trade barriers were a good idea.

But most people will ignore the other affects of these trade barriers. Because the price of steel is higher, this will harm the U.S. industries that make things out of steel. The automobile industry, the washing machine industry, the refrigerator industry, the construction industry, and many other industries, will all have to pay higher prices for steel. So these industries will not be able to afford to employ as many people as they otherwise would, and so some jobs in these industries will be lost. Consumers will have to pay higher prices for things made of steel, so these consumers will have less money to spend on other things, such as food, clothing, entertainment, furniture, and other things, so some jobs in these industries will be lost. Since the U.S. is importing less steel from other countries, then these other countries will have fewer American dollars to buy goods from the U.S., so U.S. exports will go down, so U.S. jobs in these industries will be lost. The overall result of this trade barrier policy is that the net number of U.S. jobs remains the same, but that the average purchasing power of the average citizen is reduced. So overall, the average citizen has a lower standard of living. But most people will ignore the negative effects of the trade barriers.

This idea can be applied to other economic polices, too. Yes, farm subsidies do indeed benefit specific farmers. Yes, various labor laws do indeed benefit specific workers. Yes, laws that restrict competition in certain areas do indeed benefit certain people. The problem is that most people only look at the benefits of these kinds of policies. What most people ignore is that all of these policies have negative effects on other people, and that the total negative effects outweigh the total positive effects. So the overall result is that these kinds of policies make the average person worse off.

So why do most people only see the benefits of these policies, and ignore the negative effects? Because the direct benefits for the intended beneficiaries are usually very concentrated among a relatively small group of people, and so the benefits are very visible. But the negative effects of such polices are usually spread out over a much larger group of people, and so this harm is not always very easy to see. For example, if trade barriers against imported steel raise the prices of things made of steel (automobiles, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.), so that people have less money to spend on other things, such as, say, going to the movies, and, as a result, a movie theater has to close down, then it is very hard to trace the closing of the movie theater to the fact that the government had placed trade barriers against imported steel.

Hazlitt also explains that in the long run, many economic policies end up hurting the very people that the policies were intended to help. In the long run, price controls on beef lead to a shortage of beef, minimum wage laws cause unemployment among low-skilled workers, and rent control leads to a shortage of low-cost housing.

This book very strongly supports the idea that actions have consequences. And these consequences affect a much larger number of people than most people would expect to be affected. If everybody read this book, the population of the U.S. would be much better educated in the area of economic policies, and then, hopefully, they would act more logically when it came to choosing our elected representatives in government.

This is perhaps the best book to introduce the layman to the field of economics... This book was a Godsend for me... I stumbled on it in my early college days when I was taking two semesters of Economics and neck-deep in a Keynesian textbook of Fabian socialist fallacies and liberal lies. Hazlitt's book opened my eyes to an insightful intellectual library that supports free-markets and individual liberty. Economics in One Lesson enlightened me, while it helped develop my economic reasoning. It helped me confirm what common sense told me all along - that a laissez-faire free market is the way to go!

While I already had a libertarian bent, this book basically introduced me to the Austrian School of Thought on Economics. The "Austrians" vindicate the market economy's spontaneous order as the surest way to have optimal prosperity, opportunity, and individual liberty for the masses. The verbal logic and reasoning of the Austrian school is generally easy to understand and makes sense to the reader. Needless, to say my interest in the laissez-faire perspective grew - and I read and amassed a library of hundreds of interrelated books on various disciplines from economics to history to political theory. I also recommend any books by other "Austrian" luminaries such as Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, and Murray Rothbard. Hidden Order by David Friedman and Capitalism by Ayn Rand are also worth mentioning.

It is often said that people who study economics become more libertarian. Studying the Austrian perspective should do so even more so. Economics in One Lesson is a great way to start.

This book is usually listed by free-market advocates as one of the five books to read first. Henry Hazlitt writes with unequaled clarity. He outlines that basics of many fundamental ideas--the price system, inflation, government subsidies, minimum wage, and others. He uses pure logic and reasoning almost exclusively, only providing statistics as sidenotes to the main point. However, the book's strength is also its weakness. While he makes a tremendous intellectual defense of free market economics, it by no means complete. I would recommend this to any beginning libertarian or free market advocate; it will provide many strong points for further contemplation and research. However, a Keynesian advocate will still be able to question certain ideas. Yet, any intellectually honest statist should read it, because Hazlitt does present his arguments cogently, clearly, and with power. One note: a more seasoned free market economist may wish to consider this book a medium priority, because it may be somewhat basic to someone familiar with classic arguments.

Outstanding. As an Old Skool writer from back in the early 80's, I can only commend Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfont on such an informative and exceptional guide to the culture behind Graffiti. The book has great photos and is a must have for any up and coming writer or anyone who is interested in the origins of graffiti art on the subway in Newyork.

SUBWAY ART does not only inspires a new generation of"Graffiti Artist",but also shows that Graffiti IS an ART..all in it's own.It can not be taught,it is a self taught art that has been greatly overlooked...once the book is read you will have a different look at the"Underground Art"

The epitome of classic NYC graffiti, Subway Art has become the veritable Bible for this particular subculture that has exploded around the United States, and also the world ( just to name a few: Germany, Iceland, Denmark, Amsterdam, France, and Japan ). Contained herein are the masterpeices by the Kings of the Line, Dondi ( R.I.P. ), Blade, Lee, Kase, Seen, Lady Pink and a host of others. The pictures are large and there are some fold-outs, capturing the SIZE and LENGTH of what are basically moving steel masterpeices. There is a brief line or two about tags and throw-ups, but the book concentrates more on top-to-bottoms, window-to-bottoms, and whole cars. What is important about this book is its documentation of an up and coming subculture that basically gave a big EFF YOU to an environment that was comparable to some 3rd world countries by creating an art that was not only dangerous ( in its execution ), but creative, and beautiful. The message that "we are here, and WE SHALL BOMB", in SPITE of Transit Authoriy and the indifferent system which placed them there is characteristic of adversity which spawns creativity ( the same adversity that created Hip-Hop ) . An important peice of work, and a must for art afficiandos and graf & hip-hop heads alike.

A lavishly illustrated new edition of the classic handbook for conjurers is designed to help magicians of all levels, from beginning to advanced, hone their skills at legerdemain and develop new and exciting illusions to baffle the mind. This book helps you prove that the hand is quicker than the eye, and that the ingenuity of a master magician can defy the most suspicious scrutiny.

This book is superbly well-written. It is as if a kind, patient, highly gifted uncle comes to visit. The reader is taken step by step, thought by thought, along the way to appreciating the beauty, skill, and effects of the practice of magic.

The writer's style takes the simplest observations and gradually builds them until, before you know it, you are quickly doing things of startling sophistication and skill!

This handbook not only informs and instructs, it enriches. The author converses with the reader, and this comfort in reading inspires confidence in doing.

This book is an invaluable addition to any magician's library...it is one of the three best I have read in thirty-five years of studying magic.

Yep! If I was on a deserted island... This book is ineffably valuable to me. So much so that I even went as far as to order two, not at the same time. The first one was paper back; the second one was, surprisingly, hard back. No, the price difference wasn't a "tip-off." Now I own two. Now I've come to find out it's purportedly out of print; I'm smiling like the Cheshire Cat. I look at this book as a condensed Tarbell series. I collect magic books. I even scored a Discoverie of Witchcraft, and still, the Amateur Magician's Handbook is my favorite.

My Father bought Up Front when it was released and I read the cartoons numerous times. Later, I read the text. This book does more to capture the human experience of war than any other of its time. It prefigures and anticipates the recent oral history books such as, "The Good War", "D-Day" and most recently, "Citizen Soldier". The last two, by the way, are well worth the read. Through Willy and Joe, Maulden protrayed the absurdity and the eternal human spirit in the everyday events that make up so much of the experience of war. The cartoons alone make this a book which even the most casual student of WWII should read. His text captures the experience on the ground, the mud and cold, the rain and heat, the boredem and fear and the workman like approach to war that made up the GI's life. Get it. Read it.

Cartoonists have an incredible ability to capture human situations with simple drawings and a bit of text and Bill Mauldin was one of the most unique. He is best known for his drawings of Joe and Willie, two combat veterans slogging their way through WWII. In his drawings, you see the despair, fatigue and determination of dirty, tired men who always seem able to take the next objective and move one step closer to the end of the war. Whatever they are doing, there is a perpetual slump in their shoulders, clearly demonstrating an overpowering weariness with the war and what it all means.
Mauldin was drawing from personal experience, having spent a great deal of time on the bitterly contested Italian front, particularly at the Anzio landing. The book is a combination of narrative and cartoons that he drew while in the field. To his credit, Mauldin also ran afoul of some superior officers, which fortunately did little to alter his tactics. As one of his editorial superiors told him, "If you aren't making somebody mad, you're probably not worth reading."
This is a view of the war that is not about combat as much as the deprivation that the fighting foot soldiers endured. Days of being wet, eating cold food and sleeping in water were routine for the men who fought. His description of their joy in being able to bed down covered with hay in a barn is a classic definition of a simple pleasure.
Many books have been written about World War II in Europe and more continue to be published as additional material is released from the archives of nations. This is one that will not be improved upon as it does not involve decisions made by political or military leaders. It is about the simple soldiers who fought their way across Europe and endured because they had to.

Over half a century has passed since it's initial publication and it arguably remains still the greatest book ever written about the dogface infantryman. With his brilliant cartoons serving as the book's illustrations, Mauldin explains in wonderfully clear language, life as experienced by the regular frontline infantryman. This book is a must have for all World War II infantry buffs. That it hasn't ever gone out of print since it's appearance in 1945, I think says volumes for it's staying power.

One last note: Mauldin went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for his work in 1945 at the tender age of 23, not too shabby.

I also heartily recommend Mauldin's complete World War II cartoon collection, "Bill Mauldin's Army."

When British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was busy saving his crew after a shipwreck in the Antarctic in 1914, you would guess that he wasn't thinking much about teaching leadership lessons. But author Dennis N.T. Perkins uses Shackleton's expedition to show how the leadership principles the explorer exercised can be applied to your work. He even adds modern case studies as illustration. This excellent book is at its best when it describes Shackleton's courageous rescue. He led his men to safety through a frozen wilderness by focusing on the ultimate goal of survival, setting a personal example, overcoming conflict, minimizing status differences, stressing teamwork and applying other essential leadership qualities. Though the principles may sound familiar, the book provides a dramatic new view of them, and it is written in a clear, crisp style. We at getAbstract.com recommend it to all corporate explorers.

This outstanding book is a collection and analysis of leadership lessons from Ernest Shackleton's heroic 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition at the edge of survival. Shackleton's amazing adventure saga alone is a great read, but it is the leadership insights that make this book a "must-read."

Perkins carefully organized the book into four inter-related parts. After briefly summarizing the Shackleton expedition, in Part One Perkins presents his 10 strategies for leading at the edge:

1-Vision and Quick Victories: Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short-term objectives.

2-Symbolism and Personal Example: Set a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors.

3-Optimism and Reality: Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality.

4-Stamina: Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt.

5-The Team Message: Reinforce the team message constantly: "We are one - we live or die together."

6-Core Team Values: Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.

7-Conflict: Master conflict - deal with anger in small doses, engage dissidents, and avoid needless power struggles.

8-Lighten Up!: Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.

9-Risk: Be willing to take the Big Risk.

10-Tenacious Creativity: Never give up - there's always another move.

Interwoven with these strategies are detailed accounts from Shackleton's expedition and real world business examples to fully illustrate the strategies' applicability to today's leadership environments.

Part Two is case studies of four organizations that successfully applied the strategies and achieved remarkable success. In Part Three, Perkins "outlines a number of qualities and actions that...contribute to living, learning, and thriving at "The Edge."" Part Four provides the reader with some tools to further develop individual leadership skills.

Written by a former combat Lieutenant of Marines in Vietnam and current "President of The Syncretics Group, a consultancy that focuses on effective leadership in demanding environments," this book was a very enjoyable and informative study of leadership. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning about, and seeing if they have what it takes for, leading at the edge.

This is simply one of the finest, most fascinating, and most instructive leadership books I have ever read. Dr. Perkins and his co-authors have succeeded in clarifying the universal leadership principles and practices as they exist in the real world. Using the incredible true story of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition as backdrop, and interweaving modern business examples to further illustrate the critical leadership lessons, Dr. Perkins has captured the heart, soul, and guts of leadership for the modern leader. Rather than stopping there, he also gives us the benefit of leadership lessons learned through his own intense experiences "leading at the edge" as a Marine Corps Infantry Officer in Vietnam, and as an organizational leadership consultant. It doesn't get any better than this extremely well-written work. If you, like me, are tired of the "leadership cookbooks" which crowd the bookstore shelves, search this one out. Read it. Discuss it with your family and your colleagues, and truly grow from the experience. The lessons are powerful, the stories are inspiring and instructive, and they work at the level of both metaphor and real-world example of what is possible in any organization when authentic leadership is present. Sean M. Georges, JD, LLM, is a former Marine Corps Officer and now serves as Vice President, Human Resources for a publicly-traded corporation.

My grandson, who is six, especially enjoyed the arithmetic lesson in this book, as Henry's friend adds up his earnings steadily. He was also interested in seeing which bear got to Fitchburg first. The illustrations are charming, and the story wears well for repeated reading. As for the references to the Alcotts and Emerson and Henry the Bear's likemindedness with Henry David Thoreau, that's just an extra for adults.

I read this book based on Javagirl 23's reveiew, and I must give her kudos. Great pick! Henry (a bear) and his friend decide to visit Fitchburg. Henry plans to walk, but his friend decides to work enough to afford train fare, since walking will take forever. While Henry's friend slaves away at different jobs (pick up on the last names of the employers!), Henry leisurely strolls towards Fitchburg, collecting flowers to press, berries, and enjoying himself thouroughly. Henry's friend finally gets his train fare, and they both end up in Fitchburg at the same time. "The train was a lot faster!", says his friend. Henry merely replies, "Yes...but I got us some berries to eat". What's the lesson? Sometimes the fastest way isn't necessarily the best way...take time to stop and smell the roses...or any other cliche you prefer. This is a great lesson for adults- stop rushing around so much and take the slower way of doing something; there may be more enjoyment along the way if you do.

There's a lot to love in this book by D. B. Johnson. There is the priceless story-lesson concerning two bears traveling to the same destination by widely divergent paths, one enjoying the pleasures of nature along the way while the other works to earn fare to travel by more modern means. There are the beautifully memorable illustrations, one after another, of the bears as they make their way to Fitchburg. And there is the message, to stop and smell the roses, take in a little nature, just walk. Or maybe just sit in the woods and read Thoreau.

I read a great number of biographies that deal with American history, and this is simply one of the finest works I have ever read. In terms of scope and ambition and writing style, I compare ALL ON FIRE with Robert Caro's THE POWER BROKER. Henry Mayer should come to be known as one of America's finest living biographers. In addition to being the definitive biography of William Lloyd Garrison, this is also a brilliant retelling of nineteenth-century American history as seen through the eyes of its greatest Abolitionist leader. This is social and intellectual history at its finest, for Mayer uses Garrison as a focal point to tell the story of the political leaders, writers, agitators, and early women's rights advocates whose lives were affected by the fight to abolish slavery. I realize that this book will take you a good chunk of time, but it is worth every minute. ALL ON FIRE becomes an absorbing, tragic tale, yes, an epic, with all events leading to the carnage of the Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves. Once you have finished this book, you will put Garrison before Lincoln as the one person most responsible for setting free the slaves. It's hard to imagine a time in American history when people were so socially and politically responsible (read the section where 10,000 people encircle a Boston prison to protest the removal of an escaped slave back to South Carolina, for example). There is a great tradition in America of social protest. This book is really a colossal achievement that harkens back to an age when people and ideas still mattered.

I thought I knew my American history reasonably well until Henry Mayer taught me how much I had missed. Garrison certainly was far more than the hot-headed crusader on the nut fringe I read about in one text after another. But this book also is more than a correction of an historial footnote; Mayer breathes life into the moral arguments about slavery before the Civil War and weaves America's history from the signing of the Constitution to the passage of the 14th Amendment into a colorful, lively tapestry. This is biography raised to its finest form.

Henry Mayer has written a definitive account of the life of William Lloyd Garrison, the great abolitionist. While I have a Master's Degree in American History, and have read extensively about 19th century America, I had not until now read anything of this power and scope about this great central figure. In many ways, the Garrison portrayed here is the epitome of an American ideal: fierce and unswerving in the constancy of his views about great and weighty matters, willing to not only stand up for his convictions, but to live them every day of his life. Mayer does a particularly good job in delinieating the early days of Garrision's life and the surprising--at least to me--roots of both his background and his passion. While we can learn a great deal not only about the conduct of an intellectual life from Garrison, we can also learn a great deal about the conduct of family life as well. Gentle, kind, loving and doting, Garrison at home stood in marked contrast to his public personna of "Garrison the Madman," as he sometimes introduced himself. We also find a cast of peripheral characters in this biography (William Herndon, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Beecher Stowe, etc.) which enliven it and give it the necessary depth required for a weighty and detailed biography. Taken in all, this is a terrific biography, and one of the best books I have read in some time.

Even those with little knowledge of the Second World War know the names "Dessert Fox" and Rommel. For those more familiar with WWII history and the great generals, they know a lot of what is general knowledge is hype more than fact. For example, while Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was certainly a brilliant tactician and strategist, he was not - contrary to popular belief - the originator of the Blitz style of armored warfare. Certainly he was one of its most successful practitioners, but not the originator. That credit belongs to English military minds and was put into practice by General Heinz Gurderian (see Panzer Leader by Gurderian). Rommel was a brilliant self-promoter - with humility though. And he was a favored son of Hitler in the beginning, although the "father" forced him to commit suicide in the end. Rommel did have some amazing victories and equally appalling defeats. All are chronicled in this stirring, well-written pseudo-autobiography. The Rommel Papers was written from Rommels own personal diaries made during his numerous campaigns. He was a voracious writer who sat down on a near daily to preserve the events of the day. Thus we are treated to a wonderful story of the Blitz through western Europe in 1939-40, the swift victories in northern Africa and slow arduous defeats that followed, and finally to Rommel's attempts to stem the Allied tide that was threatening to rush the Western shores of France in 1944. This is a fun and insightful read for anyone who wants to see war from the perspective of the German public's most favored Marshall. Certainly worth the time spent reading it! Highly recommended.

This book takes you through the events of World War II using the unedited writing of General Rommel. Hart does a great job of insuring the thoughts of Rommel are preserved. The hard bound version of this book, has chalk drawing of Rommels battle plans.

If you want to read about Nazi's than this is not the book for you, but if you want to read about a true german soldier and honorable man, than I highly recommend this. What an incredible account of war! War without hate, that was the phrase in one of the commentary lines. It's hard to imagine, but Rommel's book shows how it was his job as a soldier. It also gives accounts of how prisoners of war were treated by Rommel and gives you a real sense of the honor of being a soldier no matter which side you were on.

I especially liked the added notes and commentary by Gen. Bayerlein and Rommel's son Manfred. I predict as you read this book you will feel the development of a relationship with Rommel, a friendship and consern for his well being. Feel his heartfelt consern for his troops and desire to save them from destruction. Feel the anger towards the "High Command" as they tell Rommel to fight to the death. It's a book that will take you on a rollercoaster of emotion that closes in the inevitable and tragic end of your new found friend. The book was finished by Manfred Rommel who gave a truly tragic and heart breaking view of the final moments between him and his father.

I found this book hard to grade, but easy to read. Stories are the best way for people to learn, and this book has six interesting ones (about Josiah Wedgwood, H.J. Heinz, Marshall Field, Estee Lauder, Howard Schultz, and Michael Dell) describing entrepreneurs pulling themselves up by their bootstraps to create major brands. As a book of engaging business stories, this is a five star book. In terms of the insight you will get from these stories compared to the potential insight you should get, this is a three-star book. I compromised the two to come up with my grading.

If you want to learn about today's brand-building challenges, other books handle that subject much better. If you want to learn about how the Wedgwood, H.J. Heinz, Marshall Field, Estee Lauder, Starbucks, and Dell businesses got started, this is your book. The material is handled much like historical fiction (except the facts are meticulously gathered and documented), and you will find the going easy and pleasant.

If you like Horatio Alger stories, you will find those here as well. I suspect that exhausted entrepreneurs on long plane trips where their computer batteries have run out will find this book helpful in recharging their personal batteries. As Winston Churchill once said, "Never give up." That's the key lesson here. Through trial and error, these entrepreneurs kept trying until they found formulas that worked.

The choice of examples is a little flawed. Five are consumer branding examples and only one is a business example (Dell). Of the consumer branding examples, you will find that most are about selling to the higher income people. That gets a little repetitive.

The explanation of the examples is also incomplete. Considering that this is a business book, there is relatively little financial information other than annual sales and occasional asset turnover ratios. Qualitative example are helpful, but they are more helpful with more pinning down. For example, when you see the profit margins that Wedgwood had, that explains a lot about why the company could afford such lavish promotions. Without similar information on Heinz, you wonder why he was so successful in making sales but went bankrupt. Presumably, he had low margins.

The photographs and maps in the book are a plus, and I enjoyed them very much. The book was printed on such high quality paper (similar to that used for diplomas) that the images are on the same paper as the text. This permits the book to have many more illustrations than similar-sized business books.

The point about earning trust in the book is easily explained. At the time when these entrepreneurs were getting started, their largest competitors usually provided poor quality products, sometimes had inappropriate brand images, often failed to offer decent guarantees, and typically acted in self-serving ways. Earning trust isn't too hard if others are scoundrels or incompetent. Above all, these entrepreneurs stood for decent human values, and got that point across in one-to-one situations. I'm not sure that point comes out clearly enough, even though it is certainly present in each example.

Those who think the Internet age is unique will find the comparisons to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England and the transportation improvements in the United States to be valuable contrasts. But each age brings its unique changes. Entrepreneurs should seek to grasp those changes, but also see what others have missed. I think that the Starbucks concept could have been successfully innovated in the late 1950s. It's just that no one did it then.

After you finish enjoying these stories, I suggest that you think about the values that your organization stands for. Are those values presented and delivered in ways that make your organization more trustworthy than any other? How else do you have to be superior in order to establish a burnished brand image?

Be serious about giving people the best you can possibly provide!

Stories are the way that we all learn best. Professor Koehn has provided six meticulously detailed ones about brand development by 18th and 19th century entrepreneurs (Josiah Wedgwood, H.J. Heinz, Marshall Field) as well as 20th century ones (Estee Lauder, Howard Schultz, and Michael Dell). Almost any reader will learn details new to her or him from these cases. Each example focuses on how important brands got started on a shoestring. The book has a major weakness in that the financial details of the six businesses are too sketchy to really help understand the economics of what the entrepreneurs did.

Wedgwood improved the quality of earthenware, and changed the way that the products were used by the wealthy and the aspiring. He courted the visible elites and royalty to inspire emulation by those who could afford the products.

H.J. Heinz offered quality and convenience at a time when most preserved food products were shoddy and women did most of their own preserving.

Marshall Field courted the carriage trade who could afford to pay top dollar for top quality goods and service.

Estee Lauder provided high quality cosmetics at more affordable prices.

Howard Schultz introduced most Americans to the latte, taking coffee from being a source of caffeine to a tasteful experience.

Michael Dell changed the business model for how corporations got their computing equipment, customizing for each one just-in-time.

Having been educated in both history and in business, it is clear that Professor Koehn comes at the problem more from the historical discipline than from the business one. As a result, the book will be most appealing to those who are interested in the origins of one or more of these brands, companies, or entrepreneurs. At this level, the book is five-star entertainment.

Business readers will find that relevant details are often missing. For example, Wedgwood staged very expensive exhibitions of his wares. You wonder how he could afford to do this, and finally learn near the end of the study that the company had enormous profit margins. H.J. Heinz is described as being very successful in a predecessor company, yet he goes bankrupt. Some information about his margins would probably have revealed that he had low margins. The information is not included. There are bits and pieces of ratios and annual revenue numbers, but the financial side of these examples is clearly underdeveloped. That's a shame, since they all built up important enterprises on a shoestring.

The choice of cases seems flawed from a business perspective. Five of the six are consumer products and services. Of the five, all appealed initially to high income people when good products and services were largely unavailable. Forming brands in such an environment is no great trick. Readers would have learned more about brand building from cases where the competition was fierce from people who were providing exactly the same choices.

As a result, from a business perspective, this is a three star book. I averaged the five and the three star ratings out to reach my four star conclusion.

After you read this book, you should think about how you decide which brands to trust, and how you go about establishing the trustworthiness of brands that you represent. What else is important before trust can be earned? In particular, pay attention to the significance of establishing improved business models (something that all six entrepreneurs had in common).

Make your brand stand alone in its desirability in the eyes of all who see it!

Brand New is a brilliantly written book about entrepreneurs, brands, consumers, business history, and socioeconomic change. The book explores these subjects through the examples of six entrepreneurs-Josiah Wedgwood, H. J. Heinz, Marshall Field, Estée Lauder, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and Michael Dell-and the brands and companies they created during times of economic and social change: Wedgwood during the Industrial Revolution, Heinz and Field during the Transportation and Communication Revolution of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Lauder, Schultz, and Dell in our time.

Koehn is a perceptive historian and biographer as well as an astute analyst of brand creation, entrepreneurship, and organization-building. She explains how the entrepreneurs in her book were able to understand the economic and social change of their times and anticipate and respond to demand-side shifts. This understanding, she argues convincingly, enabled these entrepreneurs to bring to market products that consumers needed and wanted and to create meaningful, lasting connections with consumers through their brands. Koehn also focuses on the importance of these entrepreneurs as organization builders who understood that their success depended on developing organizational capabilities that supported their products and brands. Her book is very well-researched throughout, and uses primary archival documents extensively in the historical chapters on Josiah Wedgwood, H. J. Heinz, and Marshall Field. Koehn also brings her entrepreneurs and the stories of how each built his or her company and brand to life with her talent as a biographer and historian.

The book's emphasis on drawing lessons from both past and present offers many valuable insights for those interested in coming to a better understanding of brand creation, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial management, and organization-building. Koehn's emphasis on the demand side of the economy and on entrepreneurs and companies making connections with consumers through the brand distinguishes her book as an important work of business scholarship on brands and entrepreneurship. A lively, interesting, and engaging read, Brand New is also valuable reading for anyone interested in business, economic, or social history or biography of business leaders. I highly recommend it!

It was about time I read "Tom Jones." Fielding's 1749 novel gives us a panoramic view of 18th century British life. Its titular hero journeys among the low- and high-born trying to find his way in a world in which he occupies a precarious position. Fielding uses the sprawl of 800 pages to explore a multitude of social, political, and literary issues, gluing them together with an exquisitely outlandish, fully embodied sense of humour.

The action of the novel begins with a view of the Allworthy family, a landed gentleman, Thomas Allworthy and his sister, Bridget. Into this family is dropped an orphan, a foundling - a child, if you will, of questionable parentage. This child, Tom Jones, is raised alongside Bridget's child, Blifil, as relative equals. Both are tutored by two ideologues, the philosopher Square and the theologian Thwackum. Jones is a precocious, free-spirited youngster, spoiled by Allworthy while Blifil, the heir apparent to the estate, becomes the favourite pupil and spoiled accordingly by his mother. As the two youths age, Tom develops a fondness for the neighbour's daughter, Sophia Western.

Tom's sexual development begins to get him in trouble, as it tends to throughout the novel, and as a result of one such incident, coupled with the goading jealousy of Blifil, Tom is driven out of the Allworthy home, left to seek his fortunes in the world. Meeting his supposed father, Partridge, on the road, the two begin a quixotic ramble across England. Sophia, meanwhile, pressured into marrying Blifil, runs away from home, beginning her own voyage of discovery.

"Tom Jones" begins with the narrator likening literature to a meal, in which the paying customer comes expecting to be entertained and satisfied. All 18 books of "Tom Jones" start out with such authorial intrusions, each cluing us into the writer's craft, his interactions with his public, and various other topics. This voice is actually sustained throughout the novel, providing a supposedly impartial centre of moral value judgments - each of which seems to tend toward enforce Fielding's project of a realistic, and yet, didactic portrayal of a world full of flawed characters.

Some of the issues the novel deals most extensively with are modes of exchange, anxieties over female agency, and the power of rumour and reputation. Exchange and the ways in which value is figured include a wide range of goods - money, bodies, food, and stories - and are integral to the story. The treatment of women is a great concern in "Tom Jones": from Partridge's perpetual fear of witchcraft to the raging arguments between Squire Western and his sister over how Sophia should be treated, to general concerns about sexuality and virtue. A novel that can be in turns hilarious, disturbing, and provoking, "Tom Jones" is never dull. Despite its size, the pace of the novel is extremely fast and lively. So, get thee to a superstore and obtain thyself a copy of this excellent and highly entertaining novel.

Journey with a guy with much testosterone, but a HUGE heart. I was not looking forward to reading this book for my 18th Century British novel class, but upon starting to read I found it to be a pleasurable story. This piqaresque novel has a humor that I have seldom encountered in other narratives. What is ironic is that Fielding wrote this piece during one of the most traumatic periods of his life. His wife just passed away, his daughter was dying, and he was inflicted with the gout. One would never think it from the clever way the book is written. The point of view gives us an in so that we feel as if we ourselves have roles in the storyline. Rooting all the way for Tom despite his flaws, we find out more about human nature along the way. A good read, light a candle and sit down with some wine like they would've and enjoy this classic comical delight.

Tom Jones is probably one of the greatest novels in all of English literature. I imagine some might be put off by the length and by its designation as a classic (something which Mark Twain said was frequently praised and rarely read). Tom Jones does not deserve to be ignored since it is a riotous rollercoster of a book filled with comic vignettes and blows against the self-satisfied and pompous. It is a book that not only is instructional, but is considerate enough to give the reader a good time while doing so.

Though frequently termed an immoral book, Tom Jones holds up rather well in the early 21st century. Even Fielding's comic characters seem to have a dimension often lacking in 18th and 19th century novels. Fielding is a genius.