Bromberg's : An Alabama Tradition for 150 Years

by J. Morgan Smith.

I recently came across this book in the Bruno Library collection and had to browse it. I have heard of the Bromberg's name for as far back as I can recall b/c of it's advertising associated with Alabama football. One of the unique things about Bromberg's (the family name is Prussian) is that it is one of the oldest family owned businesses in the USA and the oldest in Alabama. Bromberg's (est. 1836) is one year older than another famous jewelry store business, i.e. Tiffany & Co. of NY. This short (95 pg.) heavily illustrated book (index included) is an entertaining and informative book. The Brombergs first settlement in AL was in Mobile.

As a business librarian I am obviously interested in business stories and this one is sure to please others like me.

Click here to see if this book is available in the Bruno Library.

Happy reading,
Paul

Accidents of History Created U.S. Healthcare System

I heard this piece from some economic historians recently on NPR and was intrigued.

Read or listen @ this NPR site.

Handbook of Leadership:

Theory, Research & Managerial Applications by Bass & Stogdill. (3rd ed. 1990)

This Reference-type book can also be a great source of browsing and reading. Leadership is such a fascinating topic. We are all intrigued by leaders and how they got to where they are. People are regularly studying leadership and how the concept is applied. It's inspiring to see how great leaders such as Churchill, Lincoln and many others overcame great personal setbacks and obstacles to rise to the positions they once held. Includes a glossary, index and a lengthy references section with hundreds of sources.

See Amazon for more information.

Click here to see call # in Bruno Library.

Nerds on Wall Street

:Math, Machines, and Wired Markets by David J. Leinweber

While reviewing books recently I ran across this one. (As a business librarian I have the pleasurable task of reviewing business books that make their way to the Bruno Business Library via our Approval Plan...but that's enough library talk...I don't want to put you to sleep!)

I later looked on Amazon and read some of the reviews and was further intrigued. It received some great reviews and appears to be an entertaining, yet educational, read.

You are probably aware that there has been a lot of talk lately regarding flash trading. My last post was about this topic.

Have you read this book? Click here to see if it is available in the Bruno Business Library.

Happy reading,
Paul

Bernie Madoff's Other Legacy

by Justin Fox.

I came across this article in Time magazine recently and found it to be an interesting read on the background of today's issue of flash trading of equities.

The Effective Executive

by Peter Drucker. This is a pick from Covert and Sattersten's book, "The 100 Best Business Books of All Time." Although first pub. in 1966 the book still has relevance today. We all struggle with being more efficient and effective with the things we do. As societies move away from industrialization and more toward knowledge and service work then there is the need to better measure effectiveness in these ever rising occupations. Covert and Sattersten note that Drucker "starts by asking: if the ultimate measurement of manual labor is efficiency, what is the corollary measurement for knowledge workers? Drucker argues that rather than doing things right, knowledge workers must strive for effectiveness by doing the right things." (pg 12)

Click here for Bruno Library status.

Click here for Amazon reviews.

The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Investing

by Kenneth M. Morris and Alan M Siegel. This handy book is something you may want to consider buying. I have my own copy. The front cover of the book states: "An easy-to-understand, easy-to-use primer that helps take the mystery out of money, indexes, treasury bills, stocks, commodities, options, bonds, tracking performance, risk/return, futures, mutual funds and inflation." I highly recommend this book and have found it useful over the years. It's a short read and is heavily illustrated...perfect for the busy college student. Click here to see if the Bruno Library copy is available.

Retail in Detail

by Ronald L. Bond. This is a book that will tentatively appear in the Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network (AERN) program. The front cover of the book notes that it covers both starting and running a retail business. Furthermore, it also includes comprehensive worksheets with actual costs and budgets and incorporates real-world examples and shows how to apply them. The author has had personal, business success stories that reinforces the validity of this book. Click here for status of book in the Bruno Library.

The 100 Best Business Books of All Time:

What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten.

Here is a GREAT book that will get you excited about reading if you have lost or never had that desire. This is also for those like me who are just simply too busy to read as often as you might wish and would like something more condensed and, better still, a suggestion on WHAT to read.

The overriding reason why this book appeals to me is that it covers a lot of territory and summarizes or makes synopses out of many other GREAT books that you may not have time to read.

Click here to see if the Bruno Library has this book available...don't be surprised if it is already checked out!!!

"Ask Marilyn" - Q&A re: stock and $$$

Check out this question to Marilyn vos Savant regarding stock and money from Sunday's (July 19, 2009) Parade magazine regarding money and the stock market.

Do you agree or disagree with the answer(s)?

C-Span Book TV

I recently discovered this really neat website that allows you to see book talks. It is searchable and easy to use. Check it out here.

Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America

by Adam Cohen. Penguin Press. 2009

Anyone read this? I came across this book recently via a review on Bloomberg.com. Cohen, with the editorial board of the NY Times, focuses on 5 people in the FDR admin. who helped shaped policy during the first 100 Days. I was particularly interested in Frances Perkins as I have recently read some interesting things about her. As a young lady she was a witness to the fire tragedy at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in NYC where 146 people perished in this horrible event. Many of the victims were young girls working behind locked doors in this sweatshop environment. Perkins later had a huge impact in labor rights and better working conditions. She was instrumental in developing unemployment insurance that many people are gratefully using now in the current economic downturn. Check out Amazon for more information as well as the status of the book in the Gorgas Library.

International Labour Organization

I am currently doing a web review of this site. There are quite a number of pdf downloadable books and publications by this tri-partite UN Agency that was established in 1919. I am learning a great deal about this unique source and what they do by virtue of this review. Check out their site sometime.

6 Degrees of UA

Just like the "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game, what we have here is "6 Degrees of UA" . I bet you didn't know that Bernard Madoff once attended UA. Check out this site from the New York Times.

Morals and Markets: An Evolutionary Account of the Modern World

by Daniel Friedman.

Read about the book @ Amazon.

Appetizer: Friedman notes that morals and markets need realigning so that they work better together. To take a small example, as he mentions in chapter 12 "Future Morals and Markets", would be to consider spam e-mail. He says the underlying cause is that it:

"costs almost nothing to e-mail a thousand more strangers about how to make a fortune or improve their sex appeal. A spammer can make money if only one person in ten thousand goes for the bait, but all ten thousand suffer from clogged in-baskets and wasted time. It's a classic social dilemma, and the profit opportunity has defeated all technical fixes tried so far.

Perhaps it would be more effective to harness people's moral outrage. For example, require all e-mail senders to post a bond, perhaps twenty dollars for an ordinary user, and a much larger sum for anyone who wanted to send bulk mail. Have routers confirm the bond balance before forwarding messages, and let recipients click a "spam" button to take a nickel or so from the sender's bond. This cheap form of vengeance would, I believe, soon raise the cost of sending another unwanted email enough to make spam unprofitable." (Friedman, pages 179-180).




Have you read this book?

Click here to see if Bruno Library copy is available.

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

by Dan Ariely. View a profile on Wikipedia. See one of his lectures on YouTube.

This book, dealing with the psychology of behavorial economics will be sure to impress and entertain you as well as enlighten you educationally.

See the Amazon profile.

Have you read it? What did you find interesting about it?

Click here to see if the University Libraries copy is available. (Note: this book is in Gorgas).

Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street

by Janet M. Tavakoli

Tavakoli (click here to see the the C-Span Q&A with Tavakoli on YouTube) had an opportunity to have lunch/discussion with famed investor Warren Buffett just prior to the recent financial crisis. She acknowledges in the preface that her book is "not about Graham's [Benjamin] ideas or Buffett's ideas, it is about my reinterpretation of my own ideas about the financial markets as I looked through the lens of the value framework of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett."

Read more about the book here at Amazon.

Click here for status of book in Bruno Library.

Read it? What did you think?

21 Ideas for Managers: Practical Wisdom for Managing Your Company and Yourself

by Charles Handy

"Capitalism, particularly in America, is a very exhausting business, it tires people out." Charles Handy, management expert and founder of the London Business School

This seems like an odd quote, especially coming from someone who started a business school. One of the great things about this blog is the ability to share business content with its readers. I enjoy listening to NPRs Marketplace where I recently heard a thought-provoking commentary on the current state of the economic recession. To listen to this gentleman's wise commentary click here .

The Bruno Library has a number of Handy's works such as:

Click here for status. Have you read this? Any comments?

Money Meltdown : Restoring Order to the Global Currency System

by Judy Shelton.

In light of recent events with the stimulus package comes the potential for inflation if we continue to print huge sums of money backed up by the government fiat system.

Economist/author, Judy Shelton, opines in today's Wall Street Journal (Feb. 12, 2009, page A13) as saying,

"We need money that works for the legitimate producers and consumers of the world -- the savers and borrowers, the entrepreneurs. Not money that works for the chiselers."

Click here for status of book in Bruno Library.

Wrestling with Starbucks: Conscience, Capital, Cappuccino

by Kim Fellner

This new book in the Bruno collection takes a look at the multi-faceted attempts of a large corporation to be a proponent for social justice while at the same time being concerned about the business side of running a multi-national corporation in a globalized economy.

Readers comments?

Click here for status of book in Bruno Library.