|
- NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – A bold new work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one’s own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life. As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights:
- For social justice, focus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations.
- Ethical rules aren’t universal. You’re part of a group larger than you, but it’s still smaller than humanity in general.
- Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities imposing their tastes and ethics on others.
- You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. “Educated philistines” have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low-carb diets.
- Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines.
- True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it. The phrase “skin in the game” is one we have often heard but rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it’s also an astonishingly rich worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives. As Taleb says, “The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that’s necessary for fairness and justice, and the ultimate BS-buster,” and “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them.”
Kapcsolódó könyvek
James Ellroy - Blood's a Rover
America's master of noir delivers his masterpiece, a rip-roaring, devilishly wild ride through the bloody end of the 1960's. It's dark baby, and hot hot hot.
Martin Luther King assassinated. Robert Kennedy assassinated. Los Angeles, 1968. Conspiracies theories are taking hold. On the horizon looms the Democratic Convention in Chicago and constant gun fire peppers south L.A. Violence, greed, and grime, are replacing free-love and everybody from Howard Hughes, Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover to the right-wing assassins and left-wing revolutionaries are getting dirty. At the center of it all is a triumvirate: the president’s strong-arm goon, an ex-cop and heroine runner, and a private eye whose quarry is so dangerous she could set off the whole powder keg. With his trademark deadly staccato prose, James Ellroy holds nothing back in this wild, startling and much anticipated conclusion to his Underworld USA trilogy.
C. Wright Mills - The Marxists
For the past hundred years the Marxists have posed the chief political alternative to capitalist society.
They have been successful revolutionaries in Russia, China, and Yugoslavia. They are now the technicians and philosophers whose appeals to the under- developed nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America may be decisive.
In this pelican book they speak for themselves – in documents by the leading theorists and rulers from Marx, by way of Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, to Khruschev, Mao Tse-tung, and even Che Guevara of Cuba.
As a guide through these theories C. Wright mills, the controversial and outspoken author of the power elite and other sociological studies, maps out the essential ideas of Marxism and examines them critically. He sketches their historical development – failures and points to their implications for the present and the future.
Alec Reed - Capitalism is Dead: Peoplism Rules
We live in an age where the individual talent is the only provider of competitive advantage. Economic, political and social power has shifted from capital to people and Alec Reed believes that Peoplism has now superceded Capitalism. An emerging concept developed by Alec Reed, Peoplism defines our economic state where individuals own and control the most important factor of production: their human ability. The aim of this book is to look at the acute challenges experienced by companies in the Peoplist era, and proffer solutions. This book translates the impact of Peoplism into business strategy through original case studies and innovative management tools. The first part of this book provides a general introduction to the concept of Peoplism, what it is and why it is important. It analyses factors in the economic, social and political landscape which are cause for concern for business. The second section will examine the contention that corporations are dysfunctional in the peoplist economy and will highlight the problems and challenges facing businesses in the modern economy. The third section offers practical and innovative advice on how businesses of all sizes can function fruitfully before the final section prophesizes the challenging future, signposting potential areas of concern for the future.
George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones
In a world where the approaching winter will last four decades, kings and queens, knights and renegades struggle for control of a throne. Some fight with sword and mace, others with magic and poison. Beyond the Wall to the north, meanwhile, the Others are preparing their army of the dead to march south as the warmth of summer drains from the land. After more than a decade devoted primarily to TV and screen work, Martin (The Armageddon Rag, 1983) makes a triumphant return to high fantasy with this extraordinarily rich new novel, the first of a trilogy. Although conventional in form, the book stands out from similar work by Eddings, Brooks and others by virtue of its superbly developed characters, accomplished prose and sheer bloody-mindedness. Although the romance of chivalry is central to the culture of the Seven Kingdoms, and tournaments, derring-do and handsome knights abound, these trappings merely give cover to dangerous men and women who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. When Lord Stark of Winterfell, an honest man, comes south to act as the King's chief councilor, no amount of heroism or good intentions can keep the realm under control. It is fascinating to watch Martin's characters mature and grow, particularly Stark's children, who stand at the center of the book. Martin's trophy case is already stuffed with major prizes, including Hugos, Nebulas, Locus Awards and a Bram Stoker. He's probably going to have to add another shelf, at least. Major ad/promo.
Guy Kawasaki - The Art of the Start
Kawasaki draws upon his dual background as an evangelist for Apple's Macintosh computer and as a Silicon Valley venture capitalist in this how-to for launching any type of business project. Each chapter begins with "GIST" ("great ideas for starting things"), covering a variety of facets to consider, from identifying your customer base and writing a business plan to establishing partnerships and building brand identity. Minichapters zero in on particular jobs that will need doing, while FAQ sections address the questions readers are most likely to have: Kawasaki covers the basics in an effectively casual tone. Much of the advice, however, consists of generic banalities—start your company's name with a letter that comes early in the alphabet, use big type in presentation slides for older businessmen with declining eyesight, and avoid writing e-mails in all capital letters—that can be found in any mediocre guide. Fortunately, Kawasaki does rise to the occasion here and there. He goes into great detail when it comes to raising capital and offers effective methods for sorting through the nonsense associated with interviewing prospective employees.
David Blanchard - Supply Chain Management Best Practices
Learn what it takes to develop and have a "best-in-class" supply chain This new edition shows you how to build supply chains that work by illustrating how leading companies are doing it. Identifying world-class supply chains in more than a dozen different industries and explaining in detail how these companies got to where they are, this essential book reveals the proven strategies, solutions, and performance metrics used by leading companies to design their extended enterprises. * Identifies proven strategies, solutions, and performance metrics for supply chain management best practice benchmarks * Shows how to manage supply chains in a global marketplace and how to choose third-party providers * New edition includes new chapters on green supply chains and lean supply chains, and expanded analysis of emerging technologies * Includes coverage of supply chain metrics, planning and forecasting, procurement, manufacturing, transportation, globalization, customer service, collaboration, security, and workforce management * Written by the Editorial Director of Penton Media's Supply Chain Group and a Contributing Editor to IndustryWeek magazine It also offers guidance on the latest technology, green supply chains, going lean, how to choose third-party logistics providers, and how to manage the supply chain in a global environment.
Jonathan Coe - What a Carve Up!
A brilliant noir farce, a dystopian vision of Britain, a family history and the story of an obsession. Michael is a lonely, rather pathetic writer, obsessed by the film, 'What A Carve Up!' in which a mad knifeman cuts his way through the inhabitants of a decrepit stately pile as the thunder rages. Inexplicably he is commissioned to write the family history of the Winshaws, an upper class Yorkshire clan whose members have a finger in every establishment pie, from arms dealing to art dealing, from politics to banking to the popular press and factory farming. During his researches Michael realizes that the Winshaws have cast a blight on his life, as they have on Britain. His confidence, his sexual and personal identity begin to reform.
In a climax set in the Winshaw's family seat the novel turns into the film, 'What A Carve Up!' as a murderous maniac stalks the family and Michael discovers the significance of Shirley Eaton's lingerie.
Nigel Farage - Fighting Bull
Nigel Farage is a founder member of the UK Independence Party, which was established in September 1993. He is the Member of the European Parliament for the South East region and is the leader of the parliamentary party in the EU parliament.
Bill Jones - Andrew Gray - Dennis Kavanagh - Michael Moran - Philip Norton - Anthony Seldon - Politics UK
Like the first, this edition covers the core features of A level and first-year university syllabuses - the constitution, parliament, prime minister and departments, voting, parties, the media, pressure groups and local government, in the wider context of British political life. All chapters have been thoroughly revised and new chapters on the management of government services, environmental policy, the EC and the politics of law and order have been added. This edition also has more material on social inequality, elections and voting behaviour, quasi-government and the European dimension of British politics. Concluding comments have also been updated where relevant to cover contemporary issues such as trial by jury for the judiciary and public order.
Noam Chomsky - Occupy
'Occupy is the first major public response to thirty years of class war.'
Since its appearance in Zuccotti Park, New York, in September 2011, the Occupy movement has spread to hundreds of towns and cities across the world. No longer occupying small tent camps, the movement now occupies the global conscience as its messages spread from street protests to op-ed pages to the highest seats of power. From the movement's onset, Noam Chomsky has supported its critique of corporate corruption and encouraged its efforts to increase civic participation, economic equality, democracy and freedom.
Through talks and conversations with movement supporters, Occupy presents Chomsky's latest thinking on the central issues, questions and demands that are driving ordinary people to protest. How did we get to this point? How are the wealthiest 1% influencing the lives of the other 99%? How can we separate money from politics? What would a genuinely democratic election look like? How can we redefine basic concepts like 'growth' to increase equality and quality of life for all?
Occupy is another vital contribution from Chomsky to the literature of defiance and protest, and a red-hot rallying call to forge a better, more egalitarian future.
Arthur Hailey - In High Places
As events bubbles to a scalding boil, leaders of two great nations fought in desperate secrecy to keep the lid on the world. Bartering, backstabbing, browbeating, bribing...and praying for a little more weight to throw on the delicate balance of international power. This is a novel of men at the summit, their bold deals and soiled souls -- and their women, clutching at fevered moments as the time for loving, the time for living, slipped so quickly away.
John Stuart Mill - On politics and society
Although he wrote extensively for fifty years, Mill's reputation as the philosopher of liberalism is largely based on three books published within a short space of five years: On liberty (1859); Considerations on representative government (1861); Utilitarianism (1863).
Such a selective record offers a very partial view of Mill's scope as a political theorist, and one that largely ignores the restless and questioning approach which was central to his work.
In John Stuart Mill on politics and society Geraint L. Williams provides a new selection from the whole range of Mill's political writings to present a comprehensive view both of the structure of Mill's thought and of the development of his political thinking from the 1820s to the 1870s.
Jesse Ventura - I Ain't Got Time To Bleed
When he left the navy SEALs to become a pro-wrestler, the fans knew him as Jesse, the Body.
When he hosted his hard-hitting KFAN radio talk show, he became Jesse, the Mouth.
And now that this body-slamming, straight-talking, charismatic hero is masterminding Minnesota's gubernational decisions, you'd better start calling him Jesse, the Mind.
In I Ain't Got Time To Bleed, Jesse Ventura reveals the secret of his landslide electoral success--with record voter turnout--and maps his innovative strategies for pioneering a new era in American government. In his own inimitable words, he takes on bloated government, career politicians, and apathetic voters, and tells the wildly colorful story of his days as a navy SEAL, his nights in the pro-wrestling ring, and his experiences on radio and in films.
I Ain't Got Time to Bleed is Rocky meets Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, an audiobook that will challange listeners' ideas of traditional government as it introduces them to one of American politics' most ferocious new heroes.
Edward Rutherfurd - Ireland Awakening
Few authors are as ambitious as Edward Rutherford. And Dublin: Foundation, the first of a massive two-part epic, is possibly Rutherford's most challenging undertaking yet--and (on the evidence of this first book) could well be his most considerable achievement. Rutherford's sheer readability belies his obvious seriousness. His arm-straining volumes may cover every possible variety of human experience (couched in historical backgrounds of immense detail and authenticity), but he remains a storyteller of no mean skills. From the early books that made his name (notably the much-acclaimed Sarum), through to the more recent blockbuster London, the author has combined a panoramic, Homeric vision with a James-Joyce like concentration on the minutiae of everyday life; the results of this synthesis are brought to perfectly honed effect in Dublin: Foundation.
Parallels with Joyce's Dublin are not appropriate here, though. The scope is far wider and stretches back into history. Beginning in Pre-Christian Ireland as the Kings of Tara reigned autocratically, we encounter the lovers Prince Conall and the beautiful Deidre. An army sized dramatis personae surround the lovers, representing every player in a turbulent era. We are shown many of the key events in Irish history, with parts for Saint Patrick, the Nordic savagery of the Vikings and the battles with the cunning Henry VIII. As this operatic volume ends with the approach of the Reformation, the orchestration of narrative commands total respect. --Barry Forshaw
Ronald Dworkin - Justice for Hedgehogs
The fox knows many things, the Greeks said, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. In his most comprehensive work, Ronald Dworkin argues that value in all its forms is one big thing: that what truth is, life means, morality requires, and justice demands are different aspects of the same large question. He develops original theories on a great variety of issues very rarely considered in the same book: moral skepticism, literary, artistic, and historical interpretation, free will, ancient moral theory, being good and living well, liberty, equality, and law among many other topics. What we think about any one of these must stand up, eventually, to any argument we find compelling about the rest.
Skepticism in all its forms--philosophical, cynical, or post-modern--threatens that unity. The Galilean revolution once made the theological world of value safe for science. But the new republic gradually became a new empire: the modern philosophers inflated the methods of physics into a totalitarian theory of everything. They invaded and occupied all the honorifics--reality, truth, fact, ground, meaning, knowledge, and being--and dictated the terms on which other bodies of thought might aspire to them, and skepticism has been the inevitable result. We need a new revolution. We must make the world of science safe for value.
David Robertson - The Penguin Dictionary of Politics
Containing over 500 definitions of political theories, dogmas and phraseologies, this dictionary includes updated entries on the European Community and federalism alongside new definitions of the European Court of Justice and Central Banks, among others. Frequently-used terms in Middle-Eastern politics are explained, from Ayatollah and the Arab-Israeli wars, to fundamentalism and the Gulf War. It also includes sections on ideas that have become familiar terms over recent years, such as perestroika, glasnost, being politically correct, and Thatcherism, as well as issues that have taken on greater political significance - for example, abortion and environmentalism.
Hunter S. Thompson - Kingdom of fear
Be afraid. Hunter S. Thompson – hellraising author of _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_, high priest of hedonism and supreme chronicler of the American nightmare – tells the uncensored story of a life dedicated to excess in this outrageous autobiography.
Here, for the first time, the godfather of Gonzo journalism takes on the subject no one else could handle: himself. It’s a tale of fast living, hard drinking, sharp writing and ingesting most illegal substances known to humanity. Of crazed road trips, girls, guns, bikes, brushes with the law and accidentally being accused of trying to kill Jack Nicholson. And it’s an explosive, no-holds-barred assassination of America today.
John Scalzi - Zoe's Tale
Zoe's Tale is a retelling of Scalzi's third Old Man's War novel, The Last Colony, written as a first-person narrative from the viewpoint of Zoë Boutin Perry. Zoë is the 17-year old adopted daughter of John Perry and Jane Sagan, two former-soldiers-turned-colonists who were the subjects of Scalzi's first book, Old Man's War. Her biological father, Charles Boutin, created a device capable of giving a race of creatures, called the Obin, consciousness. The Obin worshipped him, but he was killed for being a traitor to mankind and wanting to overthrow the Colonial Union, and so his daughter, Zoë, became a demigod to them.
Jeffrey Archer - The Prodigal Daughter
Jeffrey Archer has once again outdone himself in the Prodigal Daughter. This sequel to the infamous Kane and Abel explores the life of Floyreneta, beginning at the genesis of her rise to the Whitehouse. Whilst Kane and Abel explores a profound quarrel between opposing figures from diametrically opposed worlds, Jeffry Archer unites these forces in his novel Prodigal Daughter through the son of Kane and the Daughter of Abel. The power of motivation, politics, war and conflict, the American Dream, twisted with elements of love and romance render this book a must read in the Archer series.
I would recommend this book to the lovers of all genres, as Archer’s Prodigal Daughter astutely combines a pastiche of elements which render this novel universally captivating.
Hunter S. Thompson - Better Than Sex
Since his blazing 1972 opus, _Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail_, Hunter S. Thompson has reported the election story in his truly inimitable, just-short-of-libel style. In Better than Sex, Thompson hits the dusty trail again without leaving home yet manages to deliver a mind-bending view of the 1992 presidential campaign, in all of its horror, sacrifice, lust, and dubious glory. Complete with faxes sent to and received by candidate Clinton's top aides, and 100 per cent pure gonzo screeds on Richard Nixon, George Bush, and Oliver North, here is the most true-blue campaign tell-all ever penned by man or beast.
