2 comments about Keynes: A Critical Life (Contributions in Economics and Economic History).

1. Felix's(F)book on Keynes shows that historians have no better grasp of Keynes's General Theory(GT) analysis than do economists or philosophers despite nearly 70 years in which to get it right.The reason for this state of affairs is the constant ,consistent, uncritical,and near universal acceptance of the claims made by Richard Kahn and Joan Robinson that they were collaborators with Keynes who helped him write the GT.Unfortunately, according to the story told by Kahn and Robinson ,Keynes was a poor mathematician by 1927 who lacked training in microeconomics.Keynes refused to take the advice of their counsel and made a horrible mess of his theory of effective demand in chapter 3 of the GT by completely screwing up the analysis of his aggregate supply function.Felix tells a variation of this story on pp.230-241 of his book.His claim that Keynes assumed constant prices ,a variation on the usual mistaken claim that Keynes assumed rigid or constant money wages,is simply false.Such a general assumption appears nowhere in the GT.Keynes,in order to simplify chapter 3,an introductory chapter of the GT,held the short run money wage constant while making it very clear that his general theory would ,of course,cover the case of variable money wages in chapters 19,20,and 21 of the GT.This book is worth purchasing if the reader is interested in the areas of Keynes's life outside economics.Felix has some interesting discussions of the interactions between Keynes and James and Lytton Strachey,Hobhouse, Duncan Grant,Vanessa Bell,Sebastian Sprott,Leonard and Virginia Woolf,and, of course,Lydia Lopokova.There is also an interesting discussion of Keynes's involvement in other areas of public life,such as farming,book collecting,financing the arts,etc.



2. As with David Felix's previous books--especially "Marx as Politician" (Thankfully out of print)--this is inane psycho-babble mixed with rumor-mongering, poor citations, and no understanding of economic theory whatsoever. Save your money, your time, and your brain cells.

No comments about Life and Labours of Mr. Brassey 1805-1870.

1 comments about Permanent Waving - The Golden Years.

1. "O' to be rid of the albatross of incessant and unproductive meetings!", is the mantra of people throughout the business world. Sometimes there are even meetings in an attempt to determine why there are so many meetings. Everyone is convinced that an enormous amount of potentially productive time is wasted in this way, yet there never seems to be a great deal of action to prevent it.
   In this short book Shessel puts forward a simple, effective strategy to reduce the waste of unproductive and unnecessary meetings. Her plan is based on the acronym P.O.I.N.T., which is
   
   P - purpose
   O - organization
   I - involvement
   N - navigation
   T - tasks
   
   Her advice is simple and if followed, would be effective. The problem here is of course wrapped around the phrase "if followed." There is a great deal of inertia loaded up into the perceived requirement for meetings that is hard to overcome. However, if you muster the courage to try, reading this book will provide the blueprint for success.

1 comments about Keep Your Hard Earned Money: Tax Saving Solutions for the Self Employed.

1. As an owner of a small business, I'm always reading and keeping up with the tax laws, and ways to implement legal tax avoidance strategies. I have read quite a few books on the subject. Mr. Fellman's book is technically accurate, however I had trouble with his "joking" style of writing. I suppose he is trying to make a dry subject more interesting, but I found the style to be condescending and that it sometimes made the material more confusing than it is. Yes, the tax laws are tangled, but I prefer to read without the joking, questionairre format. A more readable, straightforward book on the subject is Robert Cooke's Doing Business Tax Free. Also, for a true in-depth reference volume of the small business owner's tax avoidance options, I found it helpful to skim & reference the very thick, but very informative, How to Pay Zero Taxes by Jeff Schepper.

No comments about Josiah Wedgwood: An Illustrated Life (Shire Library).

No comments about Memorias/ Memoirs (Libros Del Tiempo).

No comments about At Arm's Length: Recollections and Reflections on the Arts, Media and a Young Democracy.

No comments about Success By Default: The Depersonalization of Corporate America.

No comments about Mr. Felton's Bequests.

No comments about International Directory of Business Biographies Edition 1..