Archive for the ‘Book Reviews’ Category
April 13, 2008
My favorite type of book is the autobiography as it gives me a chance to learn from other’s experiences. This book is one of the better business autobiographies I have read. Boone Pickens Jr. is an entrepreneur who started out in the 1950s with $2500. Over the next 30 years, he built Mesa Petroleum, America’s largest independent oil company, worth close to $3 billion at the time this book was published.
The most interesting thing about Mr. Pickens is that in addition to being an entrepreneur who has built successful businesses, he is also a dealmaker who has attempted hostile takeovers of some of the world’s largest companies, including Gulf Oil, Phillips, and Unocal. In each of these cases, he was unable to gain control of the companies but walked away with significant amounts of money as the management and boards of these companies spent enormous amounts of money and influence to keep their largest shareholder from taking away their control of the companies. Here is an interesting excerpt from the book:
“I pointed out that the managements and directors of the two hundred Business Roundtable companies owned less than one one-tenth of 1 percent of the stock in their own firms. A recent study revealed that 387 of the S&P 500 companies had adopted anti-shareholder proposals. Some 170 companies had changed their bylaws to restrict their shareholders’ ability to make charter changes. Forty-three had instituted poison pills, and more than two hundred had classified boards.” –Boone by T. Boone Pickens, Jr (p.285)
I find it interesting that an executive team and board of directors can have more control over a company than the owners. It definitely makes me realize the importance of evaluating the management teams and boards of companies I invest in to make sure they have a significant ownership position to ensure their objectives are aligned with the rest of the shareholders.
If you’re interested in studying big businesses and understanding how they operate at the top level, I highly recommend this book. It will give you an education, entertain you, and give you a glimpse into the world of hostile takeovers.
Posted in Book Reviews, Investing, Negotiation | Tagged autobiography, book review, entrepreneur, hostile takeover, M&A, Mesa Petroleum, negotiate, negotiating, Negotiation | No Comments »
February 6, 2008
Since visiting China in November 2007, I have been interested in investing in China. As investing in China has many complexities that do not exist elsewhere, I searched for a book to educate me on the full range of options. This book fit the bill. The book is organized into 3 sections that provide the background, investment options, and potential strategies. While this won’t be the only book I read on this topic, it provided a good entry-level primer on the topic. I rate it 4 stars.
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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged book review, china, Investing, investment | No Comments »
December 21, 2007
This is one of the top 5 books I’ve read in 2007. I learned a ton about economics. It seemed like every page I read helped to fill in gaps in my understanding of how the global economy works. The first half of the book is an autobiography and covers Greenspan’s experience of serving every president from Nixon to GW. The second half of the book is about what he has learned based on that experience and where he thinks the global economy is headed. There’s a saying, “a stock’s performance is determined 50% based on economy, 25% based on industry/market, and 25% based on the company itself.” This book will definitely help your odds of understanding the 50% that’s based on the economy. I would say this book along with Jim Cramer’s “Confessions of a Street Addict” are the two best investing books I’ve read in terms of helping you understand the system from an insider’s perspective. I highly recommend the book if you’re up for a 500-pager. I rate it 5 stars.
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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged alan greenspan, book review, economics, fed, federal reserve, Investing, investment | No Comments »
November 25, 2007
Reading this book makes you wish you had such clarity in knowing what your passion and life’s work is. This autobiography is a great story and an education in the art of making fine wine. It’s a must read for anyone who wants to achieve mastery at something. I rate it 5 stars.
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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged autobiography, book review, napa valley, robert mondavi, wine, winery | No Comments »
October 31, 2007
Very well written and organized. This book emphasizes defining a book’s competition, market, and the author’s promotion plans more so than other books I’ve read on this topic. I’m definitely putting this to use in creating a proposal for my 2nd book. I rate it 5 stars.
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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged author, book proposal, book review, publishing, writing | No Comments »
October 20, 2007
A very inspiring book that profiles speakers that we should all strive to emulate in communicating our message. I’ve seen some of the communicators profiled speak in person and they are truly great. Becoming a great public speaker will improve your odds for success in business and in life so everyone can benefit from this book. I rate it 5 stars.
Author Website
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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged book review, communication, communicator, presentation, public speaking, speaking | No Comments »
September 30, 2007
I read this book shortly after it was published and just recently listened to the audio CD version. This is a must read as it discusses the changes brought on by globalism. The author does a great job of outlining the things that enabled the world playing field to become more level. While the world isn’t flat and never will be entirely, the point the author is making is that competition from a number of emerging markets is now challenging the leading economies. My feeling is that competition is good and will ultimately make everyone better. I rate it 5 stars.
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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged book review, economics, global, globalism, thomas friedman | 2 Comments »
September 20, 2007
I would recommend Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi first and this book second or third. The only practical advice I plan to apply from the book is to try tagging, underlining, and writing comments in a book while I’m reading it. The author has found this to be a better way to really learn what the book has to teach. I love reading so I’ll definitely give this a try. I rate it 3 stars.
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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged book review, networking, tim sanders | No Comments »
September 10, 2007
I really enjoyed this book. The author does a good job describing how you can apply the 80/20 rule to your work and outsource most of your routine activities. He has accomplished this in his business and is able to manage it in 4 hours per week from anywhere in the world. After applying the 80/20 rule to his customers, he found that 3 of 80 customers accounted for over 80% of his revenue. By focusing on the 3 and basically ignoring the other 77 (just processing their orders), he was able to actually increase revenue while reducing his work down to 4 hours per week. Some argue that the author is crazy in promoting doing less work to achieve success in life. Some will promote filling in the other 36 hours/week with more money making opportunities. I tend to agree with the author. You can live a retirement lifestyle on a reasonable monthly income and if you can earn it in 4 hours of work per week, go for it. I rate it 5 stars.
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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged book review, productivity, tim ferris, time management, timothy ferris | No Comments »
September 1, 2007
I came across a fantastic 1957 autobiography in a used book store a few weeks ago. It was the autobiography of Bernard M. Baruch (Baruch: My Own Story), a stock market speculator who became a millionaire by age 30 in the early 1900’s and eventually a statesman and advisor to Presidents during WWI and WWII. One of the things I liked about this book is that he tells of his mistakes and failures along with his successes. It was also interesting to hear stories of investing back in the early days of the stock market when there weren’t online brokers, an SEC to ensure accurate reporting of financials, or vehicles like index funds to help with diversification. There’s a particular section in which he discusses his investing philosophy that was most useful to me. I won’t list it here as it’s much more powerful after reading the stories about how he learned valuable lessons that helped him formulate his investment philosophy. I’ll just say that it has caused me to really think hard about my current investment approach and how I came upon it. I rate it 5 stars.
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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged autobiography, bernard baruch, book review, Investing, investment | No Comments »
