Visit Bookviews by Alan Caruba, June 2003

Books for review should be sent to Alan Caruba, Bookviews.Com, 9 Brookside Road, Maplewood, NJ 07040. Do not send galleys or bound proofs. Bookviews.Com accepts only the finished book. Thank you.

My Picks of the Month

Way back in 1984, I created a media spoof called The Boring Institute and, over the years, I discovered how dangerous boredom can be for anyone of any age. Recently, Linda Deal called to tell me about her new book, The Boredom Solution: Understanding and Dealing with Boredom (Dandy Lion Publications, 3563 Sueldo, San Luis Obsipo, CA 93401). Boredom is a warning sign of potentially serious problems that include depression and even suicide. Thus this book, addressed to parents and teachers, is particularly valuable as it describes what boredom is, and how to spot and deal with it in children. Easy to read and easy to apply, I would strongly recommend anyone who knows a young person who speaks of being constantly bored get a copy and then take steps to intervene and help that child. July will mark the 19^th year the Institute will sponsor Anti-Boredom Month.

Knowing history is the mark of a well-tuned mind. One cannot predict the future without knowledge of the past. And there’s a lot of it! That’s why I was rather intrigued to receive the 2003 edition of Everything You Need to Know About Latino History ($14.00, Plume) by Himilce Novas. Latinos are going to transform the United States because they are the fastest growing minority and have been for several decades. In 2000, there were more than 35 million Latinos, a 58% increase from 1990. Most of us, myself included, know little about their Latino neighbors, their culture, their history, or their dreams for the future. Well, this softcover is a bargain of information with chapters on Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and others.

Want to learn how to speak Spanish? Well, for about $100, you can pick up The Platiqumos Foreign Service Institute program that will have you speaking Spanish like a native. In addition to its 199-page textbook, there are eight (8) compact discs providing more than seven hours of audio to supplement the text. This is how US Foreign Service officers pick up a language in a hurry. Lawrence Eagleburger, a former Secretary of State, took the course and mastered Spanish in a few months. He recommends it. The completely revised course is available from Lucas Language, 1309 NE Ravenna Blvd, Seattle, WA 98105 or call toll-free 1-800-218-2737. With the rise of the population of Hispanic Americans, having Spanish as a second language will prove very useful.

Throughout any year there are books that come along that capture something magical. Take, for example, butterflies. Sharman Apt Russell has written An Obsession with Butterflies ($24.00, Perseus Publishing) combining a poet’s eye and a scientist’s precision to tell us about these beautiful and fascinating species of insect that have captured the imagination of people from earliest times. The Greeks used the word psyche for both butterfly and soul. The Egyptians put butterflies on their tombs. The butterfly is a universal symbol of resurrection. This is a small, easily read book that matches the short lives of its subjects, but will leave you with a lasting appreciation for them. Coincidentally, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden has a new book out, The Butterfly Gardener’s Guide ($9.95, Sterling Publishing) edited by Claire Hagen Dole. Want to fill your garden with butterflies? Here are the time-tested secrets in a 120-page book filled with portraits of North America’s most common butterflies, as well as their favorite flowers. This is the second title in a series of gardening guides published under the aegis of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Called "All-Region" guides, they have been a trusted source for gardeners since 1945.

Summer is a peak time for vacation travel, but for travel any time of the year, I’d recommend picking up a copy of You Are Here Traveling with JohnnyJet.Com: The Ultimate Travel Guide by Eric Leebow with John E. DiScala ($14.95, Yahbooks Publishing, 30799 PineTree Road, Suite 356, Cleveland, OH 44124). It is a thick compendium of more than 3,000 carefully researched Internet sites that will provide you with a wealth of information on virtually any destination, plus money saving information on travel bargains, travel tips, and much more to enhance your vacation or business travel plans. JohnnyJet.com is widely regarded as a leading travel portal and the book is a valuable guide to speed up the process of identifying places to go and the way to get the most for your money.

My late Mother, Rebecca, was an internationally famed teacher of haute cuisine and authority on wines. My Father and I enjoyed years of the finest dining at home and in great restaurants. That’s why Cooking for Mr. Latte: A Food Lover’s Courtship with Recipes by Amanda Hesser ($23.95, W.W. Norton) gets Four Stars for a delightful reading experience as the author tells of a blind date with a man whose priorities did not put food at the top of the list. This is a food lover’s version of "Sex in the City" as she relates how their relationship blossomed over intimate dinners, convivial dinner parties, and kitchen compromises. As a bonus, the book offers lots of great recipes. A food writer for The New York Times, the author’s expertise is matched by her sense of humor. This is great reading for anyone who loves food and romance. For the health conscious, The Ultimate Healthy Eating Plan by Liz Pearson and Mairlyn Smith ($19.95, Whitecap Books), two nutrition experts, impressed me because it does not ignore the fact we want to eat things that are not only good for us, but are delicious, too. Aimed at female baby boomers, it even says it’s okay to indulge in a moderate amount of chocolate. The book addresses dieting myths, tricks to get kids to actually enjoy vegetables, and provides recipes to make any meal a pleasure while doing its bit to keep the bad cholesterol away, reduce platelet buildup in arteries, and explains how the flavonoids in chocolate also help the heart.

Hearts and Minds: How Our Brains are Hardwired for Relationships ($19.95, Box 7551, Boulder, CO 80306-7551) is an interesting book by Thomas David Kehoe. It is a guide to improving your relationships by understanding how your brain processes the message that you are attracted to someone. It explains why young people fall in love with mirror images of themselves while more mature men and women accept a partner with all their faults. John Gray, Ph.D, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are from Venus, says "The opposite sex will make sense to you after reading this book." That is high praise. So let me add my own for the way this book sheds light on how and why we fall in love.

Okay, girls, ever wondered what it would be like to be an exotic dancer? Well, I have two books for you. The first is Strip City: A Stripper’s Farewell Journal Across America by Lily Burana ($13.00, Miramax Books). The author has written for The New York Times, GQ, and been a contributing editor at New York Magazine and Spin. A former stripper, she decided to return to her former occupation, seeing America from the top-flight gentlemen’s clubs of Dallas to the blue-collar go-go bars of New Jersey, from Anchorage to Las Vegas. If you want titillation this isn’t the book for you, but if you want excellent writing, a memoir filled with sharp, intelligent observations, this book provides it in spades. For any woman who wants to learn about exotic dancing to keep in shape and drive the man in her life crazy, there’s The Art of Exotic Dancing for Everyday Women by Leah Stauffer ($19.95, Carlton Publishing Group, distributed by Andrew McMeel). Fully illustrated, it provides both fitness and other tips to express one’s natural sexuality.

Can’t get enough of Elvis? Few people have been the subject of more books and now there’s Elvis: The #1 Hits by Patrick Humphries ($12.95, Andrews McMeel) who describes it as "the secret history of the classics." Classic Elvis, that is. It’s a collection of stories behind the many Elvis hit songs, plus A-Z facts about the man and his life. There are lots of photos and a consistently interesting text.

We all know that humans require at least eight hours of sleep, but what about insects, birds, fish, reptiles, and other mammals? I have often wondered about his and, happily, Corine Lacrampe has answered all of my questions in a wonderful book, Sleep and Rest in Animals ($24.95, Firefly Books). Not only is the text interesting, but this is a beautifully illustrated book filled with full color photos. Turns out that some birds can sleep while flying and migrating penguins can sleep while swimming. Some species of insect literally survive by sleeping all winter. Your pet cat sleep on and off for about 15 hours a day while a jaguar will catnap for a total of 11 hours a day. For anyone with an interest in science, this book provides lots of interesting information.

There is nothing more therapeutic than a good laugh. You will find lots of them in Wit by Des MacHale ($9.95, Andrews McMeel) in twenty different categories that include the whole of life from business and money to love and sex, family relations, sports, et cetera. The author is an associate professor of mathematics at a university in Cork, Ireland, who writes humor books, thirty to date. I am glad he collected these witticisms such as Henny Youngman’s "I’ve got all the money I’ll ever need if I die by four o’clock this afternoon."

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Biographies, Autobiographies & Memoirs

The lives of great men will forever fascinate. I read somewhere that there have been over six hundred books written about Abraham Lincoln. Of late, there have been a spate of books about Albert Einstein, the physicist who transformed the way we look at the universe. Barry Parker has written Einstein: The Passions of a Scientist ($28.00, Prometheus Books) after delving into his letters and personal papers to explore his intellectual and emotional passions that motivated his work and his life. Einstein has a passion for learning, absorbed by physics, mathematics, and philosophy. He also loved classical music and was an accomplished violinist. Albert loved women too. He had two marriages and liaisons with other women. Having escaped the Nazis, he was anti-war and an advocate for peace. Ultimately, though, he was obsessed with finding a unified theory of the universe. There was no question he was a genius, but this book shows how human he was too.

The world of music provides three books about three noted personalities. George Wein has known all of jazz’s greatest musicians. As founder of the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals and, later, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, he has the greatest names of this uniquely American form of music to the public. In Myself Among Others ($27.50, De Capo) he tells a lifetime of stories filled with revealing insights to people from Charlie Parker to Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie to Joan Baez, and so many more. If you love jazz or folk music, you will want to read this autobiography written with Nate Chinen. Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro by Michele Korte ($14.95, A Thomas Dunne Book, St. Martin’s Press) will surely please the fans of one of the most influential singer-songwriters of her generation. Given unprecedented access to those closest to Nyro, the author tells the full story of her life from her childhood growing up in the Bronx and ending with her untimely death from ovarian cancer in 1997 at age 49.

Discovered at age 18, her songs were recorded by such high-profile bands as Fifth Dimension, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Three Dog Night, and singer Barbra Streisand. Nyro ultimately rejected stardom for a quiet, rural life. This very private person’s life will prove very interesting to anyone who loves her music. Maria Callas: An Intimate Biography by Anne Edwards ($16.95, St. Martin’s Press) is now available in softcover. The famed biographer is just the right person to have written the story of the most legendary and troubled divas in operatic history. Callas continues to capture our attention twenty-five years after her death.

Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda are the love letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald ($16.95, St. Martin’s Press) as edited by Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks, and includes an introduction by their granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan. Fitzgerald was the most famous novelist of the Jazz Age, turning out classics like The Great Gatsby, but by the end of his life his books weren’t even available in bookstores. He struggled with alcoholism and she ended up in a mental institution. Against this is the great love affair that endured over twenty-two years. Fans of this great American writer will enjoy this collection. Also from the world of literature is Hilary Spurling’s The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell (24.95, Counterpoint) that tells the story of George Orwell’s wife. Yes, the Orwell who wrote "1984" and "Animal Farm." She was the model for Julia, the heroine of Orwell’s "1984." When she died in penury in 1980 after the failure of her second marriage, many unkind things were said of her. She was a complicated, gifted woman who made her mark on an influential literary magazine of her era and evoked enmity, perhaps based on jealousy of an exceptional person’s exceptional life. You will enjoy this book for its trip back to a recent era in literary history. She deserved better and has now received it.

China has been in the news for its mishandling of the SARS outbreak. The Girl from Purple Mountain by May-Lee Chai and Winberg Chai ($14.95, Thomas Dunne Books) was published in November of last year at the same time the virus began to be noticed. The response of the Red Chinese leaders was to keep it a secret, even from their own captive population. This book is a family history that reveals the changes that occurred in China during the last century. Ruth Mei-en Tsao Chai had been born into a wealthy Christian family in China during the reign of the last emperor. She was a very intelligent woman who secured a Western education at a graduate school in America. Returning to China, she was caught up in the shifting political turmoil. Her survival skills enabled her and her husband to immigrate to the United States. This is a powerful memoir filled with historical detail that will provide many insights.

Across the wide world, another book takes us to Africa. Daktari: A Surgeon’s Adventures with the Flying Doctors of East Africa by Dr. Thomas D. Rees, M.D. ($26.95, Sun Stone Press) is a memoir by the author, the founder of the Flying Doctors of East Africa. This organization has helped evacuate more than 50,000 emergency patients from the bush to urban hospitals, flown more than 12 million miles, and performed more than 50,000 major operations. What kind of man would dedicate his life to this and to training hundreds of Africans, both doctors and support staff, to heal their own people? Dr. Rees has lived a remarkable life and it is well worth reading. Another life, this one devoted to the cause of world peace, is found in Prophet: The Hatmaker’s Son. The Life of Robert Muller by Douglas Gillies ($$24.95, East Beach Press). Muller eventually served as Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful. The UN has come under a great deal of criticism of late; much of it well deserved, but there were people like Muller who strove to make the world a better, safer place, and his life, too, provides an insight into the last century’s turmoil, successes, and failures.

Martha Stewart’s biography, Martha Inc., by Christopher Byron is now available in softcover ($14.95, John Wiley & Sons Inc), having been a New York Times bestseller. It tells the twenty-year history of how she began with a single cookbook and created an extraordinary media and marketing enterprise. By the end of last year, however, charges of "insider" trading involving the selling of stock landed her in a world of trouble, facing a possible indictment. In an earlier age, a lot of gossip swirled around the woman who would become the mother-in-law of the current Queen of England. Hugo Vickers has written a biography, Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece ($17.95, St. Martin’s Press), available now in softcover. The cover is a painting of a beautiful woman in thought. Curiously, though one of the most overlook members of England’s royal family, she is among its most interesting. Born deaf at Windsor Castle, she was raised in England, Damstadt, and Malta. In 1903 she married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, and thereafter her life was overshadowed by wars, revolutions, and enforced periods of exile. She died in1969 after a secretive and turbulent life that anyone interested in Europe’s royalty will enjoy.

The lives of people whose religious beliefs transformed them and others are told in three interesting books. Paul, the Founder of Christianity by Gerd Ludemann ($22.00, Prometheus Books) was published late last year and is an interesting and unsettling piece of scholarly research that provides a view of the man who replaced the small sect that believed Jesus was the messiah. His evangelizing of his personal view became Christianity. The devotion to the downtrodden masses transformed the lives of William & Catherine: The Life and Legacy of the Booths, Founders of the Salvation Army ($19.99, Bethany House). Trevor Yaxley has written their biography, revealing the struggles and persecutions they faced. This is the story of how the Salvation Army changed a nation and eventually became one of the most recognizable organizations for helping the destitute around the world." Another figure on the world’s stage of religious belief is the subject of Sister Gargi’s biography, A Heart Poured Out: A Story of Swami Ashokananda ($26.00, Kalpa Tree Press). A longtime deciple of the swami, she tells the journey of a monk (1893-1969) of the Ramakrishna Order who developed the Vedanta movement in northern California. The spread of this Eastern religion in America can be traced in many ways to his dedication and commitment. For students of comparative religion, this will provide many insights.

Sometimes I wonder why certain memoirs get written at all. That’s the case of I am the Central Park Jogger ($25.00, Scribner) by Trisha Meili. In 1989, the author was attacked, raped and left for dead in a case that made the headlines. Now, fourteen years later, she tells a fairly amazing, even inspiring, story of survival and recovery. My question is, why bother? After all, she went to some lengths to keep her identity secret for a long time. I know people will say her story will help others, but I can’t help feeling her story got published only because she had her fifteen minutes of fame.

It’s baseball season and David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, has penned The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship ($22.95, Hyperion Books). It’s the story of four Boston Red Sox players who formed a friendship that lasted a lifetime. It begins with an October 2001 trip as Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky begin a 1,300-mile trip by car to visit their teammate, Ted Williams, who is dying. A fourth friend must remain with his wife who has suffered a stroke. This is a warm story that tells how time changed the lives of these legendary players from strong, young men in their prime, to men who became legends over their sixty years of friendship. For anyone who loves baseball, this book will evoke what is best about the game.

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Books for Kids & Young Adults

Since the baseball season is in full bloom, there’s a cute story, Little Billy and Baseball Bob ($5.95, Wynn Publishing, PO Box 1491, Pickins, SC 29671) by Mitchell Axelrod, illustrated by Ron Campbell. Bestread to someone who is pre-school, the story tells of Little Billy’s hope of getting Baseball Bob’s picture to hang in his room. Little Billy learns a good lesson, discovering that his real hero is his dad. Former shortstop for the 1969 Championship New York Mets, Bud Harrelson, calls it "a very heartwarming story. It’s nice to read about baseball players willing to meet their fans. It’s even nicer to know that there are Dads everywhere willing to help fulfill their children’s dreams." To learn more about this book, please visit our Featured Books section.

Getting kids hooked on books is, to my mind, a great idea. The whole world is at their fingertips through reading. So, naturally, I enjoyed seeing a new book series called ZZ Dogs by T.S. Franks and illustrated by Felix d’Obrin ($15.99, ZZ Dogs Press, an imprint of That’s Life Publishing). The heroes are Zeb and ZeeZee, two Jack Russell terriers and their first adventure and, if the first delightful story is any indication, we will all be looking forward to new ones. For more information, check out www.zzdogs.com.

From Illumination Arts comes Inside Out by Wendy Stofan Halley and illustrated by Roberta Collier-Morales ($15.95). In this story, good for those age three and up, about an invisible friend, about growing up and making real friends. It’s a "message" book about dealing with the real world. Dealing with new experiences is the message, too, of My New Town, a Flying Naptime Adventure by D.R. Thompson ($14.95, This New World Publishing, 13500 SW Pacific Hwy, Suite 129, Tigard, OR 97223). It is a light-hearted story of Sally-Ann, a young girl who is worried because she’s moving to a new city. This is the sixth in a series of Naptime Adventure stories that you can learn more about by visiting www.NaptimeAdventures.com. These stories are perfect for kids three to eight years of age.

For the older youngster, there’s a new book by Jane Yolen, a prize-winning and very prolific writer, My Brother’s Flying Machine: Wilber, Orville, and Me ($16.95, Little Brown). It is told from the viewpoint of a younger sister, Katherine. She is rarely mentioned in the history of first flight, but the brothers credited her with having a hand in their success. Need it be said that some young girl will find this story inspiring? I also liked A Smart Girl’s Guide to Friendship Troubles ($9.95, American Girl Library, Pleasant Company), written for girls from eight to twelve years of age to provide advice on how to deal with such things as bullying or betrayal. Patti Kelley Criswell, a therapist, is the author and she has done an excellent job covering all the bases of dealing with the emotional side of the "whole popularity thing" and other common friendship-related problems girls encounter.

There’s an interesting series "I am America" from National Geographic ($6.99 each) that are stories from history based on real life. They include The Eve of Revolution: The Colonial Adventures of Benjamin Wilcox, (2) Yankee Blue or Rebel Gray? The Civil War Adventures of Sam Shaw, (3) Our Journal West: The Oregon Trail Adventures of Sarah Marshall, and (4) We Came Through Ellis Island: The Immigrant Adventures of Emma Markowitz. Each provides a wealth of information about the times in which they lived. Any young reader, from about ten years of age up through early teens would enjoy these stories. They are handsomely illustrated.

These days, both boys and little girls are interested in the martial arts because of the movies and television programs that feature it. Martial Arts for Young People (And their Parents) by Laura Scandiffio, illustrated by Nicolas Debon ($9.95, Firefly Books Ltd.) is perfect for young readers, eight years old and up, plus their parents. It deftly tells the story of the various styles, judo, karate, kung fu and others. The history and the philosophy of martial arts are provided and I think any young reader will find this book fascinating.

Encouraging children to draw taps into their talents and interests. Two new books by Steve Barr provide step-by-step advice that only needs a pad of paper and a pencil to offer hours of fun. They are 1-2-3 Draw Cartoon Aliens and 1-2-3 Draw Cartoon Wildlife ($8.95, Peel Productions, Inc., PO Box 546, Columbus, NC 28722. Other books in this series include drawing faces, people, and animals. As a child I loved to draw, inspired by a grandfather who painted pictures and for some time as an adult I too painted for fun. I keep telling myself I am going to take it up again.

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Getting Down to Business (Books)

There’s no comfort in having lost your shirt in the stock market these passed few years, but there are lots of laughs and cautionary wisdom in Bull! 144 Stupid Statements from the Market’s Fallen Prophets ($12.95, Andrews McMeel Publishing) by Greg Eckler and L.M. MacDonald. They have gathered the predictions and comments of such financial gurus as Alan Greenspan, Lou Dobbs, and Larry Kudlow, among others, who proved only that they had no more of a clue what was happening than anyone else. The only smart thing I did was to get out before I was totally wiped out.

Born to Steal: When the Mafia Hit Wall Street by Gary Weiss ($24.95, Warner Books) is the story of Louis Pasciuto went from being an 18-year-old gas-pump jockey to stock-brokering scam artist who attracted the unwanted attention of a member of the underworld. Eventually, to stay alive, it drove him into the arms of the FBI. This is a look inside the seedy world of crooked brokerage firms that reads like a segment from "The Sopranos." Between partying, Pasciuto had a series of harrowing adventures as he exercised his passion and talent for fleecing the innocent. He went from knowing nothing about selling stocks to pulling in more than $100,000 a month by stealing as he moved between seventeen different brokerage firms, selling worthless stocks to the gullible. This is a very cautionary, entertaining tale.

James Hoopes has written False Prophets: The Gurus who Created Modern Management and Why their Ideas are Bad for Business today ($27.50, Perseus Publishing) which probably qualifies for one of the longest titles of the year thus far. "This is a story of misfits and phones, ruthless bosses and generous philosophers, shrew executives and honest engineers." And that’s just the opening sentence as Hoopes takes a look at Peter Drucker, Frederick Taylor, and W. Edwards Deming as less than the worshipful coverage they have received in the past for their management advice and philosophies. He argues that the top-down boss has all been eliminated from today’s management model and that business suffers because it is not a democratic enterprise. Anyone who has worked for a corporation knows that! If you want to read an interesting, contrarian point of view, this is the book for you!

When Goliaths Clash: Managing Executive Conflict to Build a More Dynamic Organization by Howard M. Guttman ($27.95, Amacom) examines how the internal competition between corporate folk can end up paralyzing the organization. How to turn these warring folk into a team is the theme of this book, helping to speed the process of introducing new products. If this sounds like the place at which you work, pick up a copy. And, especially if you work in human resources, you will want to read HR from the Heart by Libby Sartain with Martha I. Finney ($24.95, Amacom). The author has had a twenty-five year career in human resources at some of the nation’s most successful companies, most notably Southwest Airlines, consistently ranked as one of America’s best places to work during her 13-year tenure. This book is filled with her secrets of success as its subtitle says, "Inspiring stories and strategies for building the people side of great business." Looking for a business guide to managing policies, security, and the legal issues for email and digital communications? Well, E-Mail Rules ($19.95, Amacom) is the book for you. Nancy Flynn and Randolph Kahn have written the definitive best practices toolkit for getting the most out of corporate email systems while avoiding a world of grief.

Let’s not neglect the personal aspects of a life in the business world. The Parent’s Guide to Business Travel by Charlie Hudson ($14.95, Capital Books, Inc., 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166) offers a lot of practical advice for when you have to be away. Ms. Hudson has spent a substantial portion of her parenting years on the road, thanks to her career in the Army Ordnance Corps, and her book is "must" reading for any parent who is required to be away from their children. Next month is the official publication date for Financially Fearless by 40 ($14.00, Plume) for the smart, successful, and financially clueless. Jason Anthony, the author, tells you everything you need to know about buying your first home, starting a retirement plan, and avoiding debt. I could have used this book about twenty years or more ago! The Retirement Revolution by Dan L. Flores ($22.95, iUniverse), a vice president and retirement planning consultant with UBS/PaineWebber, offers tons of good advice if you are planning your retirement, lost or are changing your job, or being offered an early retirement package. In clear, easy to understand language, the author analyzes the lump-sum alternatives and investment strategies you need to understand. A book like this can make a big difference in your life.

A lot of people are looking at energy industries for investment and, for those who believe is serious research, I recommend Electric & Natural Gas Business: Understanding It! ($169.95, Financial Communications Company, 7887 San Felipe, Suite 122, Houston, TX 77063), an encyclopedia of the most up-to-date information put together by Robert E. Willett, its editor. If you think this is dry reading, you’re wrong. This remarkable book captures the year’s events in the energy industry offering the news of electric transmission trends, gas price projections, and other comparable topics on which to base your investment or other decisions. Twenty-three essays by experts, plus two appendices will tell you everything you need to know.

Of course, nothing happens in the world until someone sells something to someone else. Part of that process is innovation. Henry Chesbrough has authored Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology ($35.00, Harvard Business School Press) and he says that companies that don’t innovate die. Then he tells you the best way to do it. He shows how major corporations combine internal and external innovation sources to keep their competitive edge. This book is strictly for those who take management very seriously. Conquering Consumerspace by Michael R. Soloman ($25.00, Amacom) is just off the press last month looks at the countless ways companies conspire to get their brand name and products before the consuming public where the boundaries of advertising have become blurred. The book provides some counting edge thinking and ideas about the ways that consumer behavior can be influenced. It offers hundreds of examples than can make a big difference in your profits. Finally, for anyone wanting to pick up the basics of selling anything, there’s Neil J. Binder’s The Art of Selling: A Scientific Approach ($25.00, Nice Idea Publishing). Written by a real estate sales whiz, he provides some easy reading combined with good advice that will improve one’s sales success. As with everything involved with selling, it comes down to observing human behavior to develop or enhance one’s sales style.

Finally, a book about an aspect of life working for a company, any company, these days and that’s the loss of one’s privacy. Frederick S. Lane II has written The Naked Employee: How Technology is Compromising Workplace Privacy ($24.95, Amacom) and it is a frightening look at life inside any corporation or other business enterprise that monitors its employees. The author says, "Workplace surveillance now has the potential to play an important role in undermining our most fundamental freedoms." Employers today are able to amass vast quantities of information about their employees while, at the same time, monitoring their every move on-site, online, on the road, and even after hours. It starts with hiring practices, intrusive drug testing, and worse. A company may well want to protect itself against theft, sabotage, lawsuits, and even the threat of terrorism, but the current state of employee investigation and surveillance, argues the author, a former attorney, goes well beyond those requirements.

This is an important book.

That’s it for June!

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