Saturday Reader: Two books examine success and failure

Presumably, anyone can be a manager - or at least own the title. But being called a manager doesn't make you one.

Saturday Reader: Smarter work all about breaking rules, keeping tech in its place

Those of us fortunate enough to have jobs these days must work harder and smarter.

Saturday Reader: Enjoyable, breezy look as future rushes in

"I Live in the Future & Here's How It Works" by Nick Bilton; Crown Business, 304 pages ($25)

Saturday Reader: 2 interesting approaches to winning people over

Some people are naturally charming and persuasive. Others are clearly not, though they may try to motivate you with their logic, reason and sound arguments. Unfortunately for them, humans are not logical creatures, and they are rarely rational.

Saturday Reader: Books on how to snare customers in 24/7 world

Maybe you're old enough to remember when most retail stores closed on Sunday or shuttered their doors at 5 or 6 p.m. during the week. Now, to stay competitive, all but a few remain open every night and every day.

Saturday Reader: Examine all your hours to maximize their use

So we have 168 hours every week. How do we spend it? Let's see: Going to and from work and work itself for my "real" job takes 55 hours; I sleep about 50 hours or so, so that leaves about another 60 to be with my family, shop, cook, eat and read and review at least a book a week. I don't wat…

Saturday Reader: Some carefully chosen words about AP's newest guidebook

Word nerds (like me) usually look askance at most tomes on writing and language.

Something inside, not paycheck alone, makes work really rewarding

I was blown away by Dan Pink's 2005 book, "A Whole New Mind," his incisive look at the ways work can evolve into something much more than just labor.

This dog sees stories that mean business

"What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures" by Malcolm Gladwell; Little, Brown & Co., 410 pages ($27.99).

Zell tale: Deal-making, greed to Trib disaster

"Money Talks, Bull**** Walks: Inside the Contrarian Mind of Billionaire Mogul Sam Zell" by Ben Johnson. Portfolio. 246 pages.

Decentralized, chaotic era of blogs, Twitter, Facebook erasing old media

When advertiser-supported media - print, broadcast, online, whatever - cease to exist as audiences shrink below the critical mass needed by businesses to justify placing advertising there, it's what Advertising Age columnist and NPR host Bob Garfield calls "The Chaos Scenario."

Web touted as new tool for one-to-one marketing

"No Size Fits All: From Mass Marketing to Mass Handselling" by Tom Hayes and Michael S. Malone; Portfolio, 288 pages ($25.95).

Book about ill-advised media mergers is informative but not the easiest read

Most of new media clusters were illogical amalgamations to begin with. And clumsy execution guaranteed their failure, even with the best of intentions. Inevitably, the value of the properties quickly bled out. For example, the following passage, although a bit clunky, thoroughly describes th…

Saturday Reader: Layoffs are traumatic, but may offer opportunities

The effects of layoffs on individuals have been well documented. The trauma of being forcefully separated from job, friends, co-workers and company leaves painful, lingering scars. But the aftereffects of a layoff, or multiple layoffs, also have widespread and lasting implications and manife…

Saturday Reader: Business today is all about customer service

If advertising is becoming less and less effective, and marketing has to go into stealth mode to have any effect, how the heck do you promote your business?

Saturday Reader: Do you have the guts to be bold — fierce, even?

The paucity of leadership is all around us. In government and business, we see people who are unable to genuinely lead and inspire others to do their best for themselves and their stakeholders.

Saturday Reader: Analyzing what lies behind success and failure

Alan Deutschman's short and readable book looks at a number of people and the failure and success they achieved for themselves and their organizations based on whether or not their actions aligned with their words.

Saturday Reader: Retirement book a smart, humorous read

I currently have no plans to retire. As long as I still have most of my marbles, I'll just keep working, though I may eventually be forced to stop. This is highly unlikely (yeah right), but to be prudent I ought to prepare for the possibility that my earning days could end. I'll need to look…

Saturday Reader: Unaccountability can be curbed, authors say

As President John F. Kennedy said, "Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan." When good things happen, there's usually no problem identifying the responsible party.

Saturday Reader: 4 summer reads refreshingly take your mind off business

Take a break from business nonfiction to check out these summer reads:

Saturday Reader: 'Free' strategy changing how businesses compete

"Free: The Future of a Radical Price" by Chris Anderson; Hyperion. 288 pages.

Saturday Reader: Books provide paths through economic turmoil

Crisis? It would seem so. Despite spikes and blips, the Great Recession continues. Unemployment spirals, manufacturing craters, malevolent banksters still game the system and sundry companies seek new ways to squeeze blood from stones.

Saturday Reader : Helpful advice awaits job seekers

High unemployment continues. I suspect, in fact, that it's far worse than official statistics indicate.

Saturday Reader: Future gas-price leap will be game changer, two authors predict

These two fascinating books spell out the ways our lives will change as the prices of oil, gasoline and petrochemicals continue to rise.

Saturday Reader: Wise, engaging 'Pursuit of Elegance' boosts simplicity

The term elegance is popularly misunderstood. It's not about luxury, avarice or Fred Astaire. It's simplicity itself.

Saturday Reader : 'Rethink' could benefit from rethinking by author

Maybe I'm taking a cheap shot here, though I don't mean to. But a book titled "Rethink" invites every wise-guy and a well-intentioned reviewer to apply the implied invitation to this endeavor as well.

Saturday Reader: Hard look at corporations sets out ways to rein in excesses

"Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back" by Douglas Rushkoff. Random House. 304 pages.

Saturday Reader: How to forge business links in evolving social media

Facebook, Twitter and other social-networking tools have evolved from being merely the latest annoying fads to nearly essential tools for social and professional networking — and the blurry and fading border between the two.

Saturday Reader : 3 new books indicative of the times

Unless you're an economics wonk, finance books can be excruciatingly boring.

Saturday Reader: Some good advice on takin' care of business

As much as I am obsessed with biz books, I often find business wisdom in others that seem to have nothing to do with commerce. A few years ago, for example, I reviewed a book about the underground culture of pickup artists, since many of their principles and practices were applicable to sale…

Saturday Reader: Ways to genuinely connect with your customers

There are hunters and there are gatherers. With the advent of online commerce, hunters are now ascendant. And why not? Thanks to Google, anyone who can key in a name, even one spelled incorrectly, can suddenly gather information about a product, service or provider in detail that would have …

Saturday Reader: 'Whuffie Factor' shows how social networking is good for business

According to Wikipedia, "Whuffie is the ephemeral, reputation-based currency of Cory Doctorow's science-fiction novel, 'Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.' This book describes a post-scarcity economy: All the necessities (and most of the luxuries) of life are free for the taking. A person's …

Saturday Reader: Success will be measured by our ability to learn from the past

Hindsight isn't really 20-20.

Saturday Reader: Guides to career building all stress online tools, relationships

To have a successful career, one must cultivate an individual identity—a brand, if you will. Yet it's vitally important to build a network of connections to make it happen. Three new books attempt to explain how it's done.

No shortage of new books focusing on where we go from here

As we had mentioned in an earlier review, one business sector is booming. Books examining the current economy and the causes of its precarious condition are apparently a growth industry — at least on the production end. Previously, we looked at attempts to identify and explicate the origins …

Saturday Reader: If you're starting a business, this book's for you

Unlike novels, movies or music, a non-fiction book's title is a promise, and a description of its content and goals. Because of this, certain expectations are set up, though the old saying "You can't tell a book by its cover" should still be heeded.

Saturday Reader: Visual approach to concepts is worth a look

I recently encountered a pair of current business books employing pictograms and graphic storytelling to communicate principles, tactics and other ideas:

Book: US firms complicit in Nazis' rise to power

Author Edwin Black is a child of Holocaust survivors. His new "Nazi Nexus" offers a compact and highly concentrated dose of history that powerfully demonstrates the deleterious effects of the convergence of avarice and ideology, American-style.

Saturday Reader: Steering small business through rough economy

Author Steven D. Strauss is a small-business maven. This USA Today small-business columnist and author of "The Business Start-Up Kit" and "The Big Idea" recently released a new edition of his "The Small Business Bible." His Web site, MrAllBiz, www.mrallbiz.com, is a one-stop resource.

Saturday Reader : 'Leadership' offers fairly obvious tips for hard times

This is a smart and sharp look at what mostly bigger businesses can do to prepare for survival in the present uncertain economic environment.

Saturday Reader : A look at one of the top 'Mad Men'

When David Ogilvy, the most famous advertising man of his era, died, it merited front-page notice in The New York Times.

Saturday Reader : Firms need to strive to be different

It's a strange time, uncertain and frightening. But it's a logical outcome for an economy fueled by funky credit, inflated real estate, cooked books, regulatory dereliction and more. Add the Internet, the commoditization of, well, nearly everything, and sundry international instabilities and…

Saturday Reader : Long copyrights hinder creation, 'lock up' culture, author says

Intellectual property is the gift that keeps giving — for some. Current copyright laws, especially in the United States, tend to favor the incumbents, which is why Disney still owns Mickey Mouse and his posse.

Saturday Reader : Knowing spectrum of today's networking strategies can pay off

Networking is confusing. Merely a few short years ago, it was just a matter of handing out and scooping up business cards then following up with a nice note and/or phone call.

Saturday Reader: Become 'Googlier,' author advises

Unless I missed an earlier one, this is the first religious tract about Google. Jeff Jarvis, a high-profile blogger, journalism teacher, entrepreneur and editor preaches that with few exceptions, businesses ought to embrace and embody the qualities that he calls (ugh!) "Googley." Essentially…

Book takes a look at what makes media mogul Murdoch tick

Scan the online comments accompanying most current stories about the travails of the newspaper business and you'll invariably encounter declarations that most problems are caused by a dearth of "conservative" views.

'Yes!' is logical, not surprising on how to be persuasive

I'm not sure if this book was persuasive — at least in one aspect.

Recent books explore qualities of work success, survival

A recruiter pal told me recently that despite the ongoing waves of layoffs, some companies are still hiring, though specific skills and other qualifications are more important than ever. That's good news for those of us who seek new challenges — whether it's voluntary or forced upon us.

Different, holistic perspective on globalization is offered

It's a really loaded term that triggers sundry hot buttons like outsourcing, imports, protectionism, layoffs and more. But apparently, everything we thought we knew about globalization is wrong.

3 books explore avenues for fostering and capitalizing on innovation

How do we get out of this mess we're in? The United States doesn't manufacture very much anymore, nor is agriculture likely to re-emerge as the driving force of our economy. American popular culture is still dominant throughout the world, but many of the movie studios and remaining record co…