It is only fitting that I am writing this book review on a Sunday. In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic starts off by telling about the importance of a few Sundays in 2008. In March, there was the Sunday when the Federal Reserve announced an unprecedented action to lend $30 … Read more »
Tag: Book reviews
Weekend Book Review: Sonic Boom by Gregg Easterbrook
You may know Gregg Easterbrook from his previous book The Progress Paradox (one of his six books) or his articles in The Atlantic. I know him mostly from his hobby: writing the Tuesday Morning Quarterback column on ESPN.com. Sonic Boom tries to look beyond the current recession. Easterbrook looks ahead to what to expect after … Read more »
The Drunkard’s Walk, The Butterfly Effect and The Black Swan
The “drunkard’s walk” refers to the Brownian motion, the seemingly random movement of particles suspended in a fluid. The original thought was that you might be able to calculate the movement by measuring and calculating the interaction. It proved impossible. There are too many factors and too many interactions. Small changes in a system can … Read more »
Are You Trying to be a Trust Agent?
Yes? Then you have probably already read at least part of Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust, the new book from Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Most likely, you are wondering what a “Trust Agent” is supposed to be. “Trust agents have established themselves as being non-sales-oriented, non-high … Read more »
Whales and Compliance
I was surprised to be thinking about compliance while I was reading about whales. Sure, I eat, drink and sleep compliance. But there are some lessons that compliance professionals can learn from the study of whales. This came up while I was reading Watching Giants: The Secret Lives of Whales by Elin Kelsey. My original … Read more »
Criticism and Praise
Do criticism and praise work to affect performance? Leonard Mlodinow briefly addressed this topic in The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives. He explores the studies of Daniel Kahneman who was lecturing the Israeli air force flight instructors on behavior modification. Kahneman was trying to make the point that rewarding positive behavior works, but … Read more »
Blink and Compliance
I am a little late to the game when it comes to reading some of Malcolm Gladwell’s books. Last week, while on vacation with the family, I managed to read Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. The book is about rapid cognition, the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. … Read more »
Social Networking for the Legal Profession
I just finished reading Social Networking for the Legal Profession by Penny Edwards and Lee Bryant. They were nice enough to send me a copy. Penny and Lee used a few quotes from me, referred to some of my writings and used some of my social networking activity as examples. That poor judgment aside, the book … Read more »
Free and Law Firms
I just finished reading Chris Anderson’s new book: Free: The Future of a Radical Price. Given that I am a lawyer, I kept thinking about how his concepts apply to law firms. Let me say a few things up front. First, this is an excellent book that will make you think about how these concepts … Read more »
Weekend Book Review – The Nine
You would expect a book about the inner workings of the United States Supreme Court to be dry and boring. I did, which is why this book has been sitting unread in my book pile for months. Surprise! I found this book to be very interesting and entertaining. The Nine: Inside the Secret World of … Read more »