The Ultimate Business Library by Stuart Crainer, 0814403956, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Introductions into 50 great management and business classics

Stuart Crainer is business and management writer, who quite often appears in The Financial Times. Gary Hamel is a top business writer/management guru, fellow at Harvard Business School, visiting professor at the London Business School, and chairman of California-based consulting firm Strategos. Both have written several business-related books.

The book starts with an introduction by Gary Hamel, who lists the books featured per issues - management, leadership, complexity, people, customerd, global, the future, renewal, competition, efficiency, strategy, and fun. Then, Stuart Crainer describes 50 management and business classics in alphabetical order of the authors. The classics featured range from Sun Tzu's Art of War (500 BC) and Machiavelli's The Prince (1513) through to modern works from Gary Hamel, Michael Porter, Peter Senge and Tom Peters. I do not think that anybody will argue the author's selection, since all books are truly greats. Since the complete book consists about 300 pages, each classic receives about 4-6 pages (introduction by Gary Hamel, biography of author(s), and a description of the main ideas and issues). This is enough for a quick insight and description, but do not expect to become a specialist in any of the issues.

The breakdown into issues makes it easy for readers to choose a subject/books. You can then have a quick flick through the particular summary/summaries. If you like the summary/summaries, you will still require to purchase or borrow the book(s) since the summaries are not that detailed. I used this book during my MBA-course (in particular during the earlier part), where I used it as a type of tool since it pointed me to the best book(s) for a particular subject. (I must admit that I also bought Stuart Crainer's 110 Ultimate Book of Business Gurus, but I do much more prefer/use this one.) The book is simple to use and is written in simple business US-English.

CONDENSED READER'S DIGEST VERSION OF TOP BUSINESS BOOKS

Few people have the time or interest to read every influential business book, but we all run into people who swear by a certain perspective that originates in a business book we have not read. Having this book is like having a dictionary when traveling in a foreign country -- it allows you to quickly find out the meaning that someone is trying to convey by referring to a top book by an important author. I find that many young business people have read almost none of these books. By reading this book, you will be able to understand almost every important management philosophy that is practiced. There is more wisdom in this book than in most two-year M.B.A. programs. I strongly urge you to add this resource to your personal library, and to sample a book a day for two months. It will only take you ten minutes. Then follow-up by reading the books that sound most intriguing or helpful to you. This method can save you years of unproductive reading with less good books by less effective and influential authors. I refer to this book several times a month to check my thinking on something or other. I have already gotten substantial economic benefits from reading and using the lessons contained in these pithy, five page summaries.

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