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Business and Personal Finance October 2016
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| Capital Offenses: Business Crime and Punishment in America's Corporate Age by Samuel W. BuellPart true crime, part business law, this accessible exploration of white collar crime and the prosecution of such crimes is packed full of contemporary examples. Written for non-lawyers by Samuel Buell, the lead prosecutor of the Enron investigation, it examines not just modern-day business crimes but also the complex laws that govern corporations. From the "art of the loophole" to proposed changes to the law, this is an illuminating, pro-prosecution look at a complex and often frustrating subject; Library Journal recommends reading it with Three Felonies a Day, by Harvey Silverglate, for an opposing viewpoint focusing on the pitfalls of federal criminal laws. |
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| Heads I Win, Tails I Win: Why Smart Investors Fail and How to Tilt the Odds in Your Favor by Spencer JakabWall Street Journal columnist and former stock analyst Spencer Jakab is not terribly fond of fund managers, as he explains in this lighthearted but educational exploration of the pitfalls of private investing. Some advice is obvious (spend less than you earn), while other tips will be familiar to some but perhaps new to those just sticking their toes into personal investing -- don't listen to stock analysts, don't try to time the market, buy index funds, watch how much you're spending on management fees. Even if that's old hat, Jakab's anecdotes and storytelling flair offer entertaining and illustrative examples. |
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| For the Love of Money: A Memoir by Sam PolkAs a child, Sam Polk was bullied for his weight and poor social skills; although his wrestling prowess got him into Columbia, he was eventually asked to leave when his drinking and drug use became too big a problem to ignore. Bouncing back, he enjoyed a successful, lucrative career in hedge fund management in his twenties. But his issues persisted -- now estranged from his twin brother, Polk was still abusing drugs and alcohol. Finally, as he became more disillusioned with his success, his eyes were opened to his damaging and obsessive pursuit of money. This story of how he turned things around and reached for more rewarding, humanitarian goals is an expansion of a 2014 article (which went viral) in the New York Times Sunday Review. |
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| High-Hanging Fruit: Build Something Great by Going Where No One Else Will by Mark RampollaThough he had a successful career as an executive for International Paper, Mark Rampolla wanted more -- to find meaning and profit in building his own company, while also having a positive social effect. To that end, he and his wife decided to produce and sell coconut water. Despite the many obstacles to succeeding in the beverage market, he eventually found success on all fronts, and here shares not only his own story but also the strategies he used to build a profitable yet socially and environmentally conscious company. This "honest, motivational tome is bound to inspire," says Booklist. |
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Focus on: Decision-Making
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| Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip Heath and Dan HeathWhen faced with a difficult choice, what do you tend to do? According to brothers and bestselling authors Chip and Dan Heath, how you approach making decisions can be more important than the decision itself. To help strengthen your decision-making process, they offer four principles to follow: widen your options, reality-test your assumptions, attain distance before making a decision, and prepare to be wrong. They follow up with real-world examples of these best practices. And while they focus on case studies from the business world, the tools explained here can be used in your personal life as well. |
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| The Art of Choosing by Sheena IyengarIn The Art of Choosing, social psychologist Sheena Iyengar talks of choice -- from the challenges of having too many or too few options to the times when you're better served by someone else's pick to when (and how) cultural backgrounds influence decision-making. Backed up by solid research that illuminates the vagaries of choosing, this is an engaging, intelligible choice (see what we did there?) for fans of popular science books like those by Malcolm Gladwell. |
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| Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel KahnemanDaniel Kahneman -- often credited with helping to found the study of behavioral economics -- won a Nobel Prize for his work on decision-making (along with a colleague); no collection of books on the topic would be complete without his work. Synthesizing decades of research, Kahneman introduces his theory of the two decision-making processes at odds in each of our brains -- one of which is largely unconscious and intuitive, and one of which is almost too laboriously, deliberately involved. These "fast" and "slow" systems (and their challenges) are clearly explained in this guide to "spotting -- and correcting -- our biased misunderstandings of the world" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Wait: The Art and Science of Delay by Frank PartnoyHaving gathered together copious amounts of research on decision making (and why, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, such poor decisions were made by regulators and financial experts), author Frank Partnoy discovered something interesting: the longer we wait to make a decision, the better off we may be. In Wait, he explores why delaying a choice can improve the outcome, how to assess how long those decisions can be delayed, and how to avoid making snap judgments. If you have a particular curiosity about our understanding of time, this may be the decision-making book for you. |
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| You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice by Tom Vanderbilt"We are faced with an ever-increasing amount of things to figure out whether we like or dislike," says author Tom Vanderbilt. But why do we prefer some things over others? What's the point of having a favorite color, number, or animal? Vanderbilt, who analyzed our driving habits in the bestselling Traffic, now turns his attention to the science of personal preference. If you like accessible and engaging blends of sociology and economics, such as Barry Schwartz's The Paradox of Choice, you'll probably enjoy this book. But then again, there's no accounting for taste. (Or is there?) |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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