(Part 2) Best business professional biographies according to redditors
We found 1,302 Reddit comments discussing the best business professional biographies. We ranked the 285 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Happy to!
[Suburban Xanadu] (https://amzn.to/2Kc0Nud) grew out of my doctoral dissertation. It's my most academic book, and Routledge keeps the price pretty high. If you can borrow it from a library or get a used copy, decent reading. It looks at why casino resorts developed in Las Vegas after World War II, particularly which national trends they benefited from.
[Cutting the Wire: Gambling Prohibition and the Internet] (https://amzn.to/2HIU1Ob) looks at how the Wire Act (1961) was passed, and how it was used to prosecute online gambling operations in the late 1990s. I go back to early 20th century attempts to outlaw the uses of telegraphs for gambling purposes, talk about the development of sports betting, and sketch the brief history of online gaming, circa 2005.
[Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling] (http://amzn.to/2vLFcDA) is a global history of gambling from a broad perspective. It's a synthesis and more popular than academic.
[Grandisismo] (http://amzn.to/2w68wDa), which tells the story of Caesars Palace and Circus Circus founder Jay Sarno, is a biography that includes a lot about the mob in Las Vegas in the 1960s/1970s. Sarno was a fascinating character.
[Boardwalk Playground] (http://amzn.to/2imIsRg) is a collection of short pieces about Atlantic City history.
I've also edited a few collections and oral histories.
If you want an overall view of casino gaming, I would start with Roll the Bones. If you'd like a good story, I would start with Grandissimo.
I also have a series of feature stories at [Vegas Seven] (http://vegasseven.com/author/david/) magazine that may be of interest. Here are a few:
[Tropicana casino] (http://vegasseven.com/2017/03/30/tropicana-the-tiffany-of-the-strip/) Lots of mob stuff there
[Howard Hughes in Las Vegas] (http://vegasseven.com/2016/11/03/howard-hughes/)
[The Riviera] (http://vegasseven.com/2015/05/07/last-days-riviera/)
PROBLEMS WITH HEDGE FUNDS
One thing you have to hand to hedge funds is that in 2008 and 2009, when investment and commercial banks were all begging for bailouts from the federal government because they were all "to big to fail", thousands of hedge funds died fast and anonymous deaths. Many of them lack the wealth, political connections, and systematic importance to influence the government. If people want to gamble with their money in financial markets, that isn't problematic as long as they are willing to suffer the losses they incur. (It is worth noting that money of them benefited indirectly from the various bank bailouts, and especially the bailout of AIG. Much of the bailout of AIG was to pay off credit default swaps (CDS) on mortgage backed securities, and the proceeds of those CDSs went to certain hedge funds.)
There has been some concern that some of the larger hedge funds could be systematically important, and could cause problems in the future if they place unmitigated bets in financial markets. The Dodd Frank Act made some effort to control them by having them register with the SEC and provide information on their bets to regulators, but as usual the regulation is watered down and many will comply with the letter but not the spirit of the law.
Also, in reviewing the results of most hedge funds, the investors don't seem to be getting a very good deal. First, it's incredibly expensive to pay someone 2% of your money up front and give them 20% of all returns that they earn on the remaining 98% of your money. Many investors would have been better off investing in more conventional vehicles, but the allure of investing in a hedge fund combined with the possibility of outsized returns lures in a lot of people.
The other risk of hedge funds is that they are frauds. Bernie Madoff was running a long short hedge fund, but it was actually a Ponzi scheme. A number of fund of funds were supposed to be diversifying their investor's assets, but were actually just giving it all to Madoff. (It's pretty insulting to pay someone to invest money for you, and give them 2% plus 20%, only to have them dump it all in a Ponzi scheme after performing no due diligence.) Another form of fraud might just be taking on asymmetrical risk. For example if, like AIG, you sell tons of insurance on the housing market, you can pocket a lot of money in the hopes that you never have to pay up on this insurance, and if you do, you just make vague statements about "once in a lifetime" financial calamities.
Further Reading and Sources:
The Economist Guide to Hedge Funds
More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
TL;DR: They are investment vehicles for rich people and institutions that invest in whatever they think will make money. They're supposed to make their investors a lot of money, but they definitely make themselves a lot of money.
We have a user here, u/grandissimo, who is an author of several Las Vegas books, a writer for Forbes, and is currently the Director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV. He has a few books that you may be interested in. My personal favorite is Grandissimo; a book about Jay Sarno, who built Caesars Palace and Circus Circus, but was a complete degenerate yet shaped how the city's casino industry is fundamentally positioned today.
You can also check out a fantastic response he did in r/AskHistorians to the question "How much truth is there that the Mob built Las Vegas?". Super interesting thread to read through that gives great background to the history of our lil town.
If you're looking for a more modern day history, Winner Takes All is a book on the dynamic of the top CEOs of the city and how they all have different visions for the city and their companies.
One I have not yet read but intend to is Blood Aces. It's about Benny Binion - mob boss, casino owner, and creator of the World Series of Poker. He's another huge influence on how casinos operate today. If I remember correctly, he was the first one to put chairs in front of slot machines, offer complimentary rooms and drinks to players, and much more.
You should read this book or watch the documentary Inside Job
The book gets a little boring but it's relatively short and explains everything quite well.
The doc gives a worldly view to the entire crisis.
Enjoy!
Don't forget John Paulson, who made muuuuch more than Burry in 2007-2008.
https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Trade-Ever-Behind-Scenes/dp/0385529945
+$15,000,000,000 would have made a good Robinhood Screenshot.
Biggest YOLO of all time.
> Millionaires are millionaires, they make it on somebody else's back
I understand where you're coming from, but this is dismissive, ignorant, and cynical. 'Billionaires' I'd accept, but millionaires who have come by their wealth through moral and honest hard work are all around us. For example, I just finished reading an interesting autobiography by founder and CEO of Sierra Nevada brewery... TL;DR he leveraged everything he had and worked 7 days a week reinvesting everything he made for a decade to get off the ground. The company is deeply invested in water and energy conservation, improving sustainable farming operations, investing in employee well-being and the well-being of the surrounding community, etc. He doesn't mention it in the book but he has also spent many millions of his personal wealth purchasing land in the Sierra Nevada foothills to then donate it to the state as nature preserves. These people exist, they're just often humble and not dramatic enough to be of media interest.
edit - added link
Budweiser used to be 3.80% ABV, and today it is 5.0%. Budweiser used to be a little lower ABV-- With that, I believe the qualifying characteristics of the yeast has changed as the ABV increased a bit. Budweiser is a pretty terrific example of detectable acetaldehyde, I would reckon since A-B stored yeast even through prohibition, we're tasting roughly the same yeast, and probablydid not havecontained a lot less of that apple flavor in the early days.In Bitter Brew, we go through the generations of Busch family members controlling A-B (also this book is fucking awesome, this whole family is way better than any reality TV show family in terms of how bonkers they all are) and we find recipe pride dies right around the 1980's when Lite beer and other gimmick beers come in.
It's also around the time corn gets subsidized. Now, I know what you are thinking, "But there isn't corn in Budweiser, you're thinking of rice!". It's not the most in-plain-sight ingredient on their site, but sure enough, even Budweiser got in on that sweet, subsidized corn market. So expect corn's flavor contributions to also be a difference.
And finally a lot of science has happened between then and now. A-B has optimized just how much Beechwood to add to each fermenter to successfully flocculate the yeast out of suspension, so some wood flavor has disappeared. Yeast has probably become a lot more stabilized in-house, brewing chemistry has advanced tremendously, water chemistry and it's relation to mash pH (pH was invented for this very fact by Sorenson) has become better understood, and if that hasn't changed it's flavor overall, it's sure as hell changed it's consistency, to where Gussie and Three Sticks would go to each brewery and taste batches for such consistency.
So to conclude, I would say the old Budweiser would taste kind of different.
I have an eccentric obsession with the oil/energy industry. Some of these books were mentioned already, but below are my absolute favorites:
If you're looking for a history of oil and gas check out The Prize, and The Frackers covers the more recent energy revolution. Oil 101 and Fundamentals of Investing in Oil and Gas deal more with the technical side.
Great list! I would like to add a few more:
Stay in tune with what is actually happening downtown/on the strip. u/MsKim has a list every week. Great new restaurants open every few months - Mr. Chow at Caesars Palace will be a must and opens soon but many locals do not know about it!
Grab a Vegas Seven, Las Vegas Weekly, or any of those free local magazines when you see one.
Also, keep up with the financial news of these companies. More than 50% of the labor force in Las Vegas works for the hospitality company in someway. Being knowledgeable about your economy, I think, makes you feel more 'at home' too.
Hell - why not learn a little about the fascinating history of this city! There are a ton of great books out there on the history of Las Vegas. My favorite is Grandissimo. It's written by Dr. David Schwartz who often contributes to Vegas Seven. He's a great writer and very nice guy.
Oh, and, watch the movie Casino. It's based off a real story that's right in your backyard.
If you enjoyed this story, I recommend the book “Rivethead”.
This is the plot to A Savage Factory if you're interested:
https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Factory-Eyewitness-Industrys-Self-Destruction/dp/1438952937
Robert J. Dewar came from a working class family in the bituminous coal fields. He paid his own way through Penn State and receivied a full academic scholarship to earn an MBA at the University of Southern California. His first job was at Procter and Gamble, managing the Duncan Hines Cake Mix operation in Cincinnati. When he left P&G to take a supervisor's job at Ford, he was shocked at the incompetent management, the never ending war between management and labor, and the lack of real quality standards. He quickly concluded that at some future time the entire auto industry would simply collapse under its own weight, much like the old Soviet Union collapsed. Dewar wanted to give people a long, hard look behind the walls of auto plants to show people how the cars were built that lost our largest and most important manufacturing industry. So he kept a daily journal. He made copies of telltale internal memos. He made an extensive collection of defective parts that were routinely assembled into Ford C-4 automatic transmissions. When Ford received the largest recall in auto history because of defective transmissions built at the Sharonville Transmission Plant, Dewar decided to write A Savage Factory.
There's a story in the book Cop where he talks about learning very quickly that "Cover me!" means something entirely different to Marines, all stemming from the riots.
I can't remember exactly how it went, and I don't have the book in front of me, but after LAPD started rolling around next to USMC units, he was about to go into a building for something, and called for the Marines to cover him. He just about shit his pants when they opened fire on the building as he was advancing. The LAPD was trained to simply watch for threats and respond if they saw one. Marines are taught to throw rounds downrange and suppress, which, for obvious reasons, is not a tactic that a police force should be choosing in populated neighborhoods.
Totally depends. People have made Billions during crashes- selloffs tend to be faster than bull runs, so traders holding short positions can make money hand over fist.
John Paulson made $15 billion in 2008 by betting against the housing market, for instance.
https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Trade-Ever-Behind-Scenes/dp/0385529945
Then yes, if those investors close their shorts at the right time, and try to catch the bottom of the crash, they can pivot long and buy up assets cheap. As can anyone sitting on cash.
Given, this is much easier said than done, trying to time markets is like trying to surf in a hurricane.
Before reading this book, I didn't like Nike much. To me, Nike was a big company, the top dog, the big successful bully. There were child labour scandals during my formative running years, and my local running stores refused to carry Nike because of it. That influenced my opinion greatly. I didn't boycott them or anything but I always thought it was a little uncool to wear Nike stuff because they were already "winning" the industry.
Reading this book has kind of given Nike a human face for me. It became a personal story about Phil Knight The Underdog, and his gang of misfits. I mean, I was actually rooting for Nike to succeed! It was really neat to read about their innovations as well.
Also, I didn't know or had forgotten that the Puma and Adidas guys were brothers? I felt like I didn't know that. But at the same time, I feel like it may have been mentioned in the Zatopek book. (Aside: I just saw there's a book about it called The Sneaker Wars).
It has been part of their marketing for over a century. You can find it on vintage pins and coasters and magazine ads and pamphlets and signs and more. It was such a point of pride that a family conflict arose when they considered abandoning the practice in the 1950s (see this book for the story).
While mania is destructive, hypomania is (sometimes) thought to be very useful
Lots of mental disorders are double-edged swords like this: schizophrenia can cause these psychotic breaks, but also brilliance (the little girl in the title and also John Nash); autism can paralyze a person but can also create savants
That gives insight into why mental illnesses are so pervasive and hard to treat
Read Just For Fun, Linus Torvalds' semi-autobiography.
Before you even go to a financial advisor or one that any Redditor might post to recommend as friends, go borrow these books from the library for a read so the investment world makes sense to you when you do talk about money with a planner and want to make sure you're getting good advice:
http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Practical/dp/0060555661
http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393081435
http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffett-Way-Second/dp/0471743674
If you're really lazy, at least read the first one.
If you're really, really lazy. Follow this blog for a bit http://canadiancouchpotato.com/
After that, only then should you take referrals and recommendations. Go to a few, and armed with some knowledge, you'll be much prepared to sift through advisors that are trying to bullshit you for front-loaded commissions, etc.
There is a great book called Sneaker Wars.
There are also a few documentaries, but they're in Spanish or German with no subtitles.
> Under the Influence: The Unauthorized Biography of the Anheuser Busch Dynasty
I read Bitter Brew and shout out to that one, really enjoyed it.
No idea how well the family treated their employees and community and it was a good beer at one point... and then a spoiled selfish son kills a couple people, gets away with it, and ruins the brand.
Ladies and gentlemen, for your enjoyment I give you Cars Guys vs Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business. Written by none other than fucking Bob Lutz.
Bobblehead Bob needs to read his own book. When he supervised the writing of this book, he understood the importance of the customer experience. As long as Tesla remains the Apple of the automotive industry, they will continue to dominate the luxury car market. Tesla Models S, 3, and X have the highest customer satisfaction of any cars made (Consumer Reports). Tesla Model 3 versus Chevy Bolt. QED.
​
I have to recommend Car Guys vs Bean Counters, by Bob Lutz, who joined GM in 2001, and helped bring them back from the brink of death. GM is far better off now then they were a decade ago. The Volt is a plan for the future, and they, unfortunately, had to kill Pontiac and Saturn (wasn't really their decision). GM is still far ahead of Dodge in build quality and reliability. If you want to switch to a winner, switch to Ford.
I found Confessions of an Advertising Man to be incredibly interesting and inspiring.
Dunno if it would be amusingly familiar to you or just rubbing salt in the wound but this amused the shit out of me. Good job getting out.
favorite books (in response to my question)
RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon by Richard Nixon
Confessions of an Advertising Man
I don't disagree, but also the market was vastly different when Adidas and Puma were on top.
BTW, if you want to read more on this stuff (because I find it fascinating) I cannot recommend this book enough
https://www.amazon.com/Sneaker-Wars-Brothers-Founded-Business/dp/0061246581
https://www.amazon.com/How-Google-Works-Eric-Schmidt/dp/1455582344
I don't think it's a technical book, it's described as "an entertaining, page-turning primer containing lessons that Eric and Jonathan learned as they helped build the company. "
If someone could invent a medication that kept me constantly hypomanic, without spiraling up or crashing back down .... man, I would pay good money for that. Hypomanic is the only time I feel like "me", as I think of and identify myself.
There is actually a theory out there that many very successful people are just mildly hypomanic at all times .... there's a book on it called They Hypomanic Edge ... (sorry for the ugly link!)
http://www.amazon.com/Hypomanic-Edge-Between-Craziness-Success/dp/0743243455/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370123939&sr=1-1&keywords=hypomanic+edge
Perhaps he'd benefit from hearing about people talk about their jobs? If you think that might help, I wholeheartedly suggest:
Gig: Americans Talk about their jobs.
It's a nonfiction book with upwards of 120 interviews with everyday working people about their jobs. The book's authors speak to all kinds of people: a crime scene cleaner, a married couple that drive big rigs, a big time movie producer, a drug dealer, a transvestite prostitute, even a couple kids selling lemonade. And the best part of it is that the people giving the interviews speak in their everyday language, so you get the sense they're real people.
Each interview is about 3-8 pages, so he can cherry pick the people he wants to read about on the go.
It's not a book many people talk about, but it's one of the best books I'd ever read and one that really helped me to narrow down on what I wanted to do in life. I'd even go so far as to say it's more enlightening on the subject of human psychology than any psychology textbook I've ever read.
I give it my highest recommendation: http://www.amazon.com/Gig-Americans-Talk-About-Their/dp/0609807072/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266207688&sr=8-1
There is also this gem: https://www.amazon.com/Rivethead-Tales-Assembly-Ben-Hamper/dp/0446394009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1495684380&sr=1-1&keywords=rivethead+tales+from+the+assembly+line
And this is the unofficial sequal:
https://www.amazon.com/Crash-Course-Automobile-Bankruptcy-Bailout/dp/0812980751/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Read Rivethead first.
I enjoyed Grandissimo which tells the story of Jay Sarno, who originally built Caesars Palace and Circus Circus. I think the author may lurk around here.
No book will prepare you for law enforcement, it has to be touched, smelled, heard, and seen. If you're already a cop then the best thing you can do to be better is to be a well rounded human being and books can help with that.
Here's the recommended reading from some of the prior threads I was able to find in the sub.
I've read a good portion of the above listed. I highly recommend Emotional Survival and going to see one of Gilmartin's talks if he's in your area. Below are a few of my personal suggestions.
En god bog kunne være The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich, hvor bogen omhandler Marc Rich som var kendt for at stifte det største råvarer handlede firma på hans tid, som senere blevet til Glencore(en af de største multinationale firmaer i verden). Bogen omhandler både hans forretning, men også hans personlige historie. Alt i alt en meget god bog
Edit
På et tidspunkt i bogen spørger forfatteren Marc Rich om, han har moralske svært omkring handlede med verdens diktatorer, hvor han svarer "If you are too proud, you don't do business."
trading bases
conquering risk
logic of sportsbetting
weighing the odds in sports betting
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Depends on what you want. I look at a lot of academic papers for more technical idea generation but these are some decent reads. Joe peta, author of trading bases just came out with a golf book that I haven't read yet
Highly recomend this book for anyone interested in how this happened: https://www.amazon.com/Frackers-Outrageous-Inside-Billionaire-Wildcatters/dp/1591846455
My goal when I started investing was to learn as much as I possibly could without spending a dime. This means not buying stocks or mutual funds immediately, but instead reading and understanding from people who have already done well. If you are unwilling to pick up a book at this stage, then you're going to make some costly mistakes down the road.
My advice: ignore the $2500 and go to the library. Below are my recommendations (taken from the /r/investing sidebar):
> My first (probably terrible) idea was when I noticed that apple shares fluctuate about 30 dollars a day on average. Even if I just had one share and sold high and bought low, 30 bucks a day is bathing in money when you're at school. I realize I'm probably missing something and it isn't that simple, but that's why I want to learn.
This is pure speculation, not investing. Investing means long term (> 10 years) holdings that produce a consistent, reliable return (there is an ebb and flow, of course). Speculating is akin to gambling. If you want your money to work for you, investing is the course much more likely to accomplish that goal. If your goal is a quick buck, then you'll probably have better odds in Vegas than on Wall Street.
This is my full list of books from /r/homebrewing but it includes pro level books:
New Brewers:
Continued Learning:
Specialty/Advanced/Other:
Business Books:
Technical Readings (Textbooks might be expensive):
Just For Fun. It's about (and co-authored by) Linus Torvalds.
https://www.amazon.com/Rivethead-Tales-Assembly-Ben-Hamper/dp/0446394009
A great read about what went on in the GM plants in the 70's and 80's.
This kind of stuff goes on everywhere, except for the horse. That seems to be Tesla specific.
How many husband and wife driving teams are out there?
(Also, the husband/wife truck driving team was one of my favorite interviews in the book Gig. I've never seen a couple finishing each other's sentences so often or so perfectly. You could tell these were two people made to be around each other 24 hours a day.)
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0619/037.html
https://www.amazon.com/Hypomanic-Edge-Between-Craziness-Success/dp/0743243455
Yes.
Start with #2.
I love your perspective on this. Similarly, a while back someone did a lot of research on hypomania and discovered a likely connection between it and entrepreneurship:
https://www.amazon.com/Hypomanic-Edge-Between-Craziness-Success/dp/0743243455
tl;dr The incidence of mania in a population was found to be proportional to the fraction of immigrants and their descendants in that population, and the countries of with the highest rates of mania also had the highest rates of entrepreneurship.
Hypomanic? Start a company. BPD? Not sure yet.
Chuck Feeney is a really good example (perhaps the best).
https://www.amazon.com/Billionaire-Who-Wasnt-Fortune-Without/dp/B001E95J70
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/09/18/chuck-feeney-the-billionaire-who-is-trying-to-go-broke/#135d4a66049e
Another interesting-looking read is Frackers, by Gregory Zuckerman, published late last year. Haven't read it yet, just saw it at my dad's house recently.
I'll have to check out Energy.
You should read Trading Bases. It's about a former Wall Street hedge fund manager who uses his knowledge from trading stocks to develop a baseball betting formula.
There are three things mixed up here. One is the valid ritual use of symbolism. That Iamblichus book somebody else mentioned the other day is explicit that all this is in the most ancient written texts in Sumeria and Babylon. The symbol communicates what is inexplicable in our everyday human language.
There are a number of eye glyphs in Wallis Budge's Gods of the Egyptians to cite the most obvious example of this.
The second thing is the cottage industry of illuminati books where masons or the jesuits or the jews supposedly have the power to manipulate us into buying a billion Beatles records, 99.9% of which is fiction although a small amount, such as the work of Texe Marrs you cite is fascinating.
The third thing is purely mindless mass market fad and fashion like Lady Gaga. They do what works and gets attention and the world's greatest marketers (like this guy) are unanimous that nobody understands what works and it is ALL hit and mostly miss.
The Devi's Casino by Vicky Ward.
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The Greatest Trade Ever by Gregory Zuckerman
​
They give a look inside the firms that failed and gained (and how) in the crisis.
Besides case books, I'm currently reading Trading Bases. I just started it, but it's pretty good so far.
> My degree is in civil engineering.
Well, you are smarter than me, so you have the intellectual horsepower to make a lot of money.
I would read up on just the very basics of what a bond is this weekend otherwise what I tell you is not going to make a lot of sense. Bond discount, bond premium, yield to maturity, credit worthiness, duration, etc. You don't have to be super detailed, just know the basics of how bonds work.
This is the best book I have found as a starter for learning about value investing. Used is a penny.
This is the kindle edition of the latest edition - worth the money.
Shot in the dark, have you ever taken an accounting course?
I am re-reading King of Oil - The Secret Lives of Marc Rich. Fascinating book about Marc Rich the oil trader who defied sanctions on Iran. Built the commodities trading firm what is now Glencore.
Joe Peta's book 'Trading Bases' helped me a lot to tackle the first steps of my model.
fair point. maybe the quotes mean more if you have some context of his investment principles. i like the quotes because some of them are good reminders to keep you ontrack. if you're interested he is well worth looking into. i read two books on him a few years back that i found very interesting.
The Warren Buffett Way
The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy
one of them in particular (a cant remember which) went into a lot of detail about the criteria he used to select solid companies. if you want specific unique advice about his investment style, id recommend them to anyone that is looking to invest.
Besides Ogilvy On Advertising , Confessions of an Ad Man http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Advertising-Man-David-Ogilvy/dp/190491537X
http://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Brew-Anheuser-Busch-Americas-Kings/dp/0062009273/
I work at a small book store and this is the one that comes up a lot.
Start with The Prize. If you want to understand the economics of oil you need to understand the history of the business, the player's, the Middle East (especially Saudi Arabia) and the Caspian.
These are some great books to help you understand the industry better:
The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich
The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea
Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power
The Seven Sisters: The great oil companies & the world they shaped
The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
The Handbook of Global Energy Policy
What Should I Do With My Life and Gig are pretty practical suggestions.
Read both of David Olgilvy's books. Then read them again.
Confessions of an Advertising Man
Ogilvy on Advertising
My understanding of the Finnish system is based on what I read in Linus Torvalds' autobiography, of all things!
IIRC there are three ways to do it:
Military service - through the ranks of 'enlisted' troops.
Military service - Officer training.
More of a 'community service' approach for those who don't want to do military service.
As for other countries I can only speak for Britain. National Service was abolished in the 1960s here. You make a good point about the athletes though.
In that vein, I loved Gig and no one I know has ever even heard of it.
http://www.amazon.com/Trading-Bases-Fortune-Betting-Baseball/dp/0451415175
this guy made a fortune betting on baseball and goes on to explain why it is more profitable than other sports
If you want to dig deep into the history of Sierra Nevada specifically, Ken Grossman’s book is a great read. https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Pale-Sierra-Nevada-Brewing/dp/1118007360/ref=sr_1_1
For those of you who haven't read it, I'd recommend this book. A great look inside the philosophy of Google and how they've accomplished what they have. A very unorthodox way of achieving success.
Cop by Michael Middleton is excellent.
For home brewing check out Charlie Papazian's books:
https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Papazian/e/B000APNS36/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
For more recent history of ABInBev buy-outs, there is a new book about the history of Goose Island and the AB Buyout: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075TGFCLB/?coliid=I2LXZVBPAKF3PP&colid=2YSL69HF0HW9V&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
For the history of Sierra Nevada: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118007360/?coliid=I112DGOG2QCE0S&colid=2YSL69HF0HW9V&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Brooklyn Brewery: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470068671/?coliid=IGH5AQOEB9RBE&colid=2YSL69HF0HW9V&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Here are all the books with amazon links, Alphabetical order :)
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Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sports deals with all of this in depth. Pretty interesting read.
I highly recommend a book I came across called A Savage Factory. It’s about an earlier period at Ford when they were also selling cars with with transmissions they knew to be bad. The author was a manager at the plant and kept a diary, but for some reason put it away for 30 years until he wrote the book. But clearly the book is still relevant and it’s excellent writing that may have been overlooked.
A Savage Factory
First-hand account of the adversarial relationship between labor and management at a Ford transmission plant in the 1970s.
This book offers some counterexamples to your second point.
I interviewed for a lower level job there as a jr acct manager - what sticks out in my mind is the question 'explain a time you improved upon an existing process'
if you have the time, definitely skim through this book https://www.amazon.com/How-Google-Works-Eric-Schmidt/dp/1455582344
it has great information on what type of people Google hires, their culture, and what's made them an empire. Super well written and informative.
Best of luck!!
There is a book called Sneaker Wars which tells the story of the two companies.
Add some rims and some fake portals, you're in business. (haha)
Anyway, the cool thing about the Magnum is that it appears to already be chopped. I've seen some really bad-ass looking ones tooling around (too bad they dropped this car, by the way). For the record, I have never been a fan of station wagons (don't even hint at the words "crossover SUV" -- I've got a wet fish right nearby that I keep handy for such occasions). But this car looked cool from day 1. Put some nice rims on it and tint the windows and you have one of the sweetest cruising machines around town that can seat more than 4 people (way more) and carry lord knows what in it's wagon portions.
What's a person with a big family supposed to do if they want to cruise in style? Put the kids on a luggage rack or something? No problem with this car -- stuff em in the back and crank the aftermarket stereo :)
Chrysler probably pissed off a small market segment that they thought was not worth the effort when they dropped this car. I understand the market dynamics of these kinds of decisions -- and this is precisely why Bob Lutz is right -- the bean counters need to step back and let the people who have a pulse make these kinds of calls.
Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Car-Guys-vs-Bean-Counters/dp/1591844002/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1309808368&sr=1-1
You're not alone in that thinking. Some of the most successful guys in manufacturing (Bob Lutz, former Vice Chairman at GM, for example) agree. He wrote a book about it:
Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business
TIME sums it up here
It is my thought that reading the book "small giants" might be useful. The companies in the book all chose to create a high end product and remain small in order to maintain quality
https://www.amazon.com/Small-Giants-Companies-Choose-Instead/dp/1591841496
Check out Rebel Code for all of your answers and some good history. Just for Fun is decent too.
Anheuser-Busch did the same thing and if I recall correctly had it delivered by the trademark Clydesdales. Theres an awesome book called "Bitter Brew" that tells the story of the Anheuser-Busch family. Fascinating read for anyone interesting in history and beer of course.
https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffett-Way-Second/dp/0471743674/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JR7EXGAVQYCA4W1DSQQ1
Yeah Oil 101 is definitely a little dry at times and much more focused solely on information.
Here is a link to King of Oil. It is much more of a story and just has some history of the industry and information about it mixed in throughout since it is necessary to telling the story.
https://www.amazon.com/King-Oil-Secret-Lives-Marc/dp/031265068X
The 33 Strategies of War
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The E-Myth
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Mastery
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Crucial Conversations
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Great Business Teams
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Power vs. Force
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Barbarians to Bureaucrats
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How to Win Friends & Influence People
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The Hypomanic Edge
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The Law of Success
I read the Frackers and while not super technical, it was still an interesting read.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Frackers-Outrageous-Billionaire-Wildcatters/dp/1591846455
> Next?
Really?
Here's an entire book about the subject. I suggest you calm down and educate yourself.
Currently reading On combat, very interesting read. As far as books that help with training I can't really think of any off the top of my head. I can list the book which pushed me over the edge to go into the law enforcement field. That would be Cop: A True Story by Michael Middleton. Fantastic read, easily worth the 4 bucks it costs for a used copy+shipping.
My point still stands: the men in porn aren't really enjoying themselves either. source Porn objectifies everyone involved, which is kind of the point. And everything you said about acting and gratification applies equally to male porn stars.
I know because most people that have worked in a UAW plant will tell you what a screwed up work environment it is and that the UAW enables much of the behavior in question.
Hahaha...
I'm running a week behind, found this reddit about 3 weeks after it started, so went backwards reading through it, and now back forwards and catching up.
As to the Chrysler comment, I was about to correct you before I read the last line.
Speaking of which, this is a great book, if you're down with reading.
on Amazon
There isn't a book he wrote, but his biography is called The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing
the book is actually a super interesting read!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Billionaire-Who-Wasnt-Fortune/dp/B001E95J70
We all love the stock market. Yeah, but slightly off base here. Baseball betting, it's legal in New Jersey now. If you are into stats and ALGO seems like a natural, picked 6 winners in a row. That's never happened to me in the market. :-)
​
Baseball is all stats, if you put your time into it, think you can come out ahead. Lots.
Back to the dow ... :-)
Here's a former trader saying how he does it:
\> Trading Bases: How a Wall Street Trader Made a Fortune Betting on Baseball
https://www.amazon.com/Trading-Bases-Fortune-Betting-Baseball/dp/0451415175/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
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>Yeah, but it isn't in workers self interest to work with the drunk either, right?
Worker's interest, yes. Union's, no. Drunks pay dues, too.
BTW, my knowledge of unions comes mainly from my father, who was in the UAW literally from the day he graduated High School until he retired. Some of the stories he told me were so shocking I had a hard time believing them - and then I read Rivet Head - and that made it sound like my Dad had it easy.
And I don't say unions all are bad. They've done a lot of good (as has been documented in this thread), and my dad's go-to line was always "The union keeps the shop safe!". Which is pretty important when you're working in a building filled from end to end and top to bottom with machinery that can turn a man into a pile of ground meat in less time than it takes to read that sentence.
But - the union isn't the great panacea that many think it is. They have their downsides as well. The two things Dad hated about the union was the fact they did fight to keep management from firing drunks and druggies, and that they contributed part of his dues to politicians he wouldn't vote for if you put a gun to his head.
I realize that last isn't the case any more, that the members can "opt out" of the contributions, but frankly I wouldn't want to be "that guy" on the shop floor.
A union isn't for me, personally, but I have no problems with unions in private business. I do have a problem with government unions.
Probably more than you wanted to know :)
You're really against people looking into things for themselves. I've never made any claims beyond a bunch of nouns being connected. I didn't even say how they were connected. I thinks you protest a whole lot bro.
Try reading a book, it shouldn't hurt you too badly. https://www.amazon.com/King-Oil-Secret-Lives-Marc/dp/031265068X