5 comments about The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Grow, or Manage a Business.

1. con este libro, martha te inspira a ser una mujer de negocios y creativa, me gusto mucho



2. I love this book. Martha Stewart doesn't make you feel stupid when you're reading. The book is written in plain language so you don't need an MBA to understand what she is saying.
   Everyone who is thinking about starting a business should read this book.



3. I love this book! The Martha Rules is chock full of excellent down to earth advice on how to get started in entrepreneurial business. The additional attraction is that these are life lessons as well that can easily be applied to our everyday behavior. I keep it on my desk and just pick it up from time to time since every page has some form of positive reinforcement. And that is a good thing.



4. Insightful personal experiences revealed both good and bad with lessons learned. Perhaps her most important mantra is "quality" in everything you do. I have implemented many of her guidelines in my own business and with success.



5. No matter what you think about Martha Stewart, you cannot argue with her business success. She's managed to turn the domestic arts into a multi-multi-multi-million-dollar empire. This book shares her suggestions for entrepreneurs so they can take advantage of her numerous successes and occasional failures. Written in a straightforward, no-nonsense tone, this book is full of concrete examples and practical advice. A great read for anyone in the business world who wants to take their company to the next level.

5 comments about Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center.

1. Although a slow read, this book is well worth having in your history collection. It fills in those annoying gaps in your knowledge of the era and could possibly change your mindset on the Rockefellers per se.



2. Okrent has done a wonderful job in this single -volume history of 20th century architecture. The Center itself is the culmination of a project comparable to the pyramids. Of special interest is the early chapter on the character of the properties prior to Rockefeller's acquisition. Speakeasies and brothels seem to have been the chief occupants of these by by-now hallowed lands. It must have been something. We forget how jsut how great John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was. His accomplishments are so numerous. Incredibly, this is but one of his extraordinary projects. The Center continues, after all, to be THE model for city planning. It is one of the few real plazas in the entire country, where people actually choose to congregate. (Think of LA's awful Century City, where the police pick you up for getting out of your car.) Rockefeller Center continues to be beautiful and unique. From the first chapters that cover the acquisition of properties belonging to a wonderful assortment of eccentric New Yorkers through the lengthy middle chapters on the design and construction of the complex, Okrent's book is filled with personal anecdotes worthy of Chaucer to help dramatize what might otherwise be a dry narrative. It is a story of human egos, failures, triumphs, tragic human destruction, and glory. Again, as in David Rockefeller's "Memoirs," we learn much about the family itself. As always, Nelson comes off as a bully, so unlike his father and siblings. The story of Radio City Music Hall is terribly interesting, especially for those interested in show biz. The biography of a building would not seem the proper lens through which to tell the history of an era, but Okrent's treatment succeeds. The Center is a success story, after all, an enlightening story, finally, about wealth leading to greatness. It doesn't happen often.



3. It was a long read for me, just a little to much information in my opionion. Overall a good book, but wasnt as interesting as I was hopeing it would be.



4. I stumbled across this book after my father in law died. What a gem of a book - so well written, extensively researched and compelling. The book is a dense integration of New York City History, Politics, Architecture, Real Estate and the Rockefeller family's influence on the built environment.
   
   Each chapter is almost a novel unto itself. The author accurately conveys the architectural rivalry and the forced cooperation of the Associated Architects led by Raymond Hood to collectively design this complex. The Rockefeller Center Project was built during the Depression, when there was no other construction, except for the Empire State Building.
   
   So many forward looking urban design concepts were incorporated into the Master Plan of the complex. The story of how the building designs were tailored to match the major Tenant's needs is also fascinating. Also, the decision to include the work of a variety of contemporary artists keeps this complex distinctive to this day.
   
   The information about New York City was enlightening, even though I've lived and worked as an architect in New York City for many years. The biographical sketches and in depth portraits of the hundreds of people involved in assembling, designing, building and leasing the site is amazing in its depth and breadth.
   
   This book is a slow read because of the shear volume of information covered by this fact filled book. A great read for anyone who is fascinated by New York City and its architecture and social history - an excellent book.



5. This lively narrative history is full of fascinating characters and stories. The humbly powerful John D., Jr. (who financed it), the Victorian president of Columbia (who leased the land), Nelson Rockefeller (who took over command of it), and the extraordinary team of builders and architects who designed and built it--they and many others truly come to life. How do you build a vast commercial center in the depths of the Depression? How do you rent out the space? How does it become more than a collection of office buildings and turn in one of the world's great tourist attractions, and a symbol of NYC as the world's modern commercial capital? Okrent tells us with wit, with sympathy and admiration, but without sparing some of the gory details. A great choice for anyone who enjoys reading about business enterprise, architecture and design , the Rockefellers--or about the central character in the tale, the city of New York.

3 comments about A Tract on Monetary Reform (Great Minds Series).

1. This classic is a must-read for anyone interested in economics, for two reasons:
   
   First, for its age, it is strikingly modern. Although economists have picked apart various points Keynes makes, the core ideas of this text remain both solid and influential. In my opinion, the single most important idea contained in this text is the importance of disciplining the currency supply, keeping the currency supply in rough proportion to the extent of the economy. In this regard, the intellectual ideas contained in this book are the underpinning of virtually all modern economies, and this text is the first in which these ideas appear in their modern form.
   
   On the point of smaller details, while some of Keynes' reasoning and analysis has been picked apart, or shown not to hold in a more modern context, there are other aspects of this book that go ignored by many economists and are still valid. Keynes has a healthy dose of skepticism, more so than is typical for modern economists: he talks not only about his idealized world of ideas, but also about the political realities of implementing what would be the "best practice", and how to reach reasonable compromises. In particular, Keynes seems to be acutely aware of the potential for unhealthy accumulation of wealth in the hands of a powerful but not-necessarily-productive minority, a point that seems to be ignored by all but the most radical economists nowadays.
   
   The second reason I think economics students would benefit from studying this book is its radical perspective and philosophy. Rather than accepting things the way they are, Keynes questions fundamental assumptions and looks for new solutions. I think he must be hailed as a genius for coming up with the ideas in this text when we consider that they were both novel, and that they conflicted very strongly with the dominant ideas of his time. This book is a prime example of "outside the box" thinking. Keynes' genius is even more apparent when we realize that he was able to communicate these ideas in such a way that they became actively embraced by others--in a time frame that is quite impressive for ideas so radical. I think current students could be encouraged and inspired by Keynes' persistent drive to question deep assumptions and come up with what he believed to be the best possible system based on what he knew.
   
   I would recommend any student of economics to study this book. It is not particularly long and it can be a quick read if you have an analytical mind, and I can guarantee that you will find it worthwhile! My advice to the more critical readers: keep an open mind...although many of the ideas in this text are out-of-date, you may find that you can learn form the philosophy and approach that Keynes takes. This book's radical spirit can be inspiration for people in all fields to search for creative new solutions, especially for people facing problems that cannot be solved within the framework of established orthodoxy.



2. Keynes's Tract on Monetary Reform allows the reader to conclude that,while Keynes did distinguish between uncertainty(Ellsberg's ambiguity,measured by his rho index and/or Keynes's weight of the evidence of the A Treatise on Probability,measured by his w index)and risk on p.105,he had not yet formally integrated the role that uncertainty plays in the demand for money(liquidity preference).Keynes talks about risk in international product markets, trading,currency exchange,backward-forward markets,etc.,but it is clear that he is talking about the various spreads that incorporate risk premiums.Considerations of risk alone lead to the transactions demand for money as being the only explanation for holding money balances in the quantity theory of money as understood by classical and neoclassical economists from Hume to M.Friedman and R.Lucas.The standard quantity theory of the demand for money is operationalized by assuming the applicability of a normal probability distribution.Interestingly,not a single neoclassical,moneterist,or rational expectationist economist has ever done a goodness of fit test first to see if the normal distribution is applicable.Keynes,in 1924,implicitly goes along with this approach.The most important portion of Keynes's book is contained on pages 61-69.He presents the standard approach,given by the following formula: n=p(k+rk'),where n equals cash in circulation,p equals the price level(cost of living index),k equals the public's holding of a cash equivalent,k' equals the public's holding of the cash equivalent in the form of bank deposits,r equals the bank deposit's reserve ratio,and rk' equals the amount of bank reserves.The standard classical and neoclassical short run and long run neutrality of money assertion is obtained if,and only if, n increases while(r+rk') remains invariant.The price level variable p will increase by the same amount as n.In the General Theory(1936),Keynes demonstates in chapter 21 that this result,which he accepted in 1923-24, is only a special case that holds under the existence of risk(the normal probability distribution used by Friedman,Lucas,Tobin,etc.)or certainty.Under conditions of Ellsbergian ambiguity or Keynesian uncertainty(or ignorance),the correct,generalized equation of exchange requires that either the rho index or the w index be integrated into the equation of exchange.The generalized Keynesian-Ellsbergian equation of exchange is then written as n=p[(k/w)+r(k'/w')],where w and w' represent the weight of the evidence available to the general public(w) and the weight of the evidence available to the banking industry(w'),respectively.Both w and w' are normalized on the unit interval between 0 and 1,i.e.,w,w'are elements of the set[0,1].Only if both w and w' are equal to 1 does one obtain the results claimed by Friedman and Lucas.This is why Lucas asserts that macroeconomics must be based on a concept of risk represented by the normal probability distribution,as does Friedman,who also asserts that there is no such thing as liquidity preference(only a transactions demand for money).Friedman thus asserts that there is no such thing as ambiguity.Friedman must make such an assertion because he is a lifelong advocate of the Ramsey-De Finetti-Savage subjective probability approach that asserts that it is not possible to incorporate uncertainty(Savage's vagueness)in a decision rule. Friedman's claim that the GT is based on excessive liquidity preference follows from his acceptance of the LJ Savage approach to probability.Unfortunately for Friedman,there is vast empirical evidence to support the existence of decision making under conditions of uncertainty or ambiguity.One can see the progress Keynes made by comparing the Tract with chapter 21 of the GT.Friedman works with the standard equation of exchange,MV=PO.This is misspecified.The correct generalized equation is M(Vw)=PO,where w is the weight of the evidence.Friedman has a special theory based on the assertion that w=1.Only risk considerations determine the demand for money.



3. The Preface of Monetary Reform by John Maynard Keynes is dated October 1923, in a time when there were few economists. As the Preface of this book states this dire aspect of the situation:

   "Nowhere do conservative notions consider themselves more in place than in currency ; yet nowhere is the need of innovation more urgent. One is often warned that a scientific treatment of currency questions is impossible because the banking world is intellectually incapable of understanding its own problems. If this is true, the order of Society, which they stand for, will decay. But I do not believe it. What we have lacked is a clear analysis of the real facts, . . ." (p. vi).

   There are charts in this book to provide the facts which Keynes was concerned about. Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices Expressed as a Percentage of 1913 on page 5 covers the years 1913 to 1923 (First half-year) for nine nations, looking most outstandingly bad for Germany, which has a final number of 765,000 for half of 1923, far larger than the maximum number of any other country. Italy was at 624 in 1920 and declined to 577 in 1921, still higher than the 510 monthly average that France had in 1920.

   A chart at the top of page 18 with dates from 1815 to 1922 is supposed to illustrate "what a splendid investment gilt-edged stocks had been through the century from Waterloo to Mons, even if we omit altogether the abnormal values of 1896-97. Our table shows how the epoch of Diamond Jubilee was the culminating moment in the prosperity of the British middle class." (p. 18). But for people who were concerned about the tumble taken after 1914, things were not so great. "The whole of the improvement of the nineteenth century had been obliterated," (I'm looking at an old edition, so my page numbers might be way off from whatever book you might be able to buy today).

   The basic information that is most important to Society as a whole is contained in Chapter I, The Consequences To Society of Changes in the Value of Money, considering separately the interests of the Investing Class, the Business Class, and the Earner. The power of any government which can produce money merely by printing it is considered in Chapter II, Public Finance and Changes in the Value of Money, particularly with respect to Inflation as a Method of Taxation. In order to show that a government might have some choice in such matters, Keynes also considers "Currency Depreciation versus Capital Levy." If this seems like an odd topic now, Keynes is reassuring that such a move might only be considered "when the State's contractual liabilities, fixed in terms of money, have reached an excessive proportion of the national income." This might happen (sooner or later) to any country which stops producing anything except educational opportunities, medical bills, entertainment and banking, in years when a high national debt must be refinanced at high interest rates.

   Chapter III gives us The Theory of Money and of the Foreign Exchanges. Recently INFECTIOUS GREED by Frank Partnoy provided an example, early in his book, of how bankers still don't have any yardstick for figuring out how much they are making when Bankers Trust was trying to figure out how much profit it could declare on trading in the foreign-exchange markets by Andy Krieger in 1987. Being able to bet the assets of a large bank on the direction that a currency would go in 1987 allowed Andy Krieger to get a job with George Soros in April, 1988, where turnabout became his main play. "Krieger reversed the position, and bet against the pound. A single trade with Chemical Bank was for more than $1.8 billion." (Portnoy, p. 33). Really and truly, I think Partnoy blames Krieger for taking stable currencies and earning large bonuses by making them worth much less than they had been worth before he had the option to sell it at a given price. Part IV. The Forward Market in Exchanges in Chapter III of Keynes's MONETARY REFORM attempts to state three practical conclusions. First, hedging a risk won't work when the situation is so bad that there is "a fear of a sudden implosion of exchange regulations or of a moratorium." Partnoy seemed to think that the private trading in derivative contracts was where the big money was made, and public positions in an exchange could be fake positions hedging a bet in the opposite direction, but that there was no law against this kind of manipulation of the market for money. Keynes was more interested in stability. "With free forward markets thus established no merchant need run an exchange risk unless he wishes to, and business might find a stable footing even in a fluctuating world."

   Second, there must be money from speculators in such a market for the market to function. "The wide fluctuations . . . have been due, not to the presence of speculation, but to the absence of a sufficient volume of it relatively to the volume of trade."

   Third, high interest rates don't matter as much "unless the change in relative money-rates is comparable in magnitude (as it used to be but no longer is) with the possible range of exchange fluctuations.)" Possibly things have changed so much in the last 80 years that Keynes would phrase that differently today.

   Chapter IV turns to "the United States, which has enjoyed a gold standard throughout, has suffered as severely as many other countries," but not as badly as Germany and Austria back then.

5 comments about The Man Who Made Wall Street: Anthony J. Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance.

1. If your teacher wanted you to find reseach about business biography. This is the book for you. Because Wall street is part of trade center today. And finding about who's invented the system, and how life is hard back than. This book tell one of the most important History.



2. I am glad to see that such a good book was written on such an important figure in American Finance. The book kept me wanting to read more and more. From beginning to end. Read it, for it's a must have for any one interested in Finance and it's worth every penny.



3. As a great-great-great grandson of A.J. Drexel, it was a pleasure to read this book and to learn about my famous ancestors. It is crazy to think that many of his progeny have a difficult time balancing their checkbooks today. Before this book, my knowlege of the Drexels had been limited to family lore.



4. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dan Rottenberg's informative book The Man Who Made Wall Street. The book contains all there is to know about the wise and amazingly successful nineteenth century financier Anthony Drexel and the profound role he played as a mentor to the young J. Pierpont Morgan. I especially enjoyed reading about financial systems and processes in nineteenth century America that author Rottenberg describes so well in his new book.



5. "The Man Who Made Wall Street" is exceptionally written. Not an esoteric financial biography, yet deep enough for an intellectual discussion. Within the folds of 200 pages, you get a sense of the real person behind the financial machine. It is a brilliant biographical account of the leading figure in the financial world of the nineteenth century. There are many things you can take from this book. For me, it revealed that even 'starving' artists can find creative ways to make it and that there is often more to the person who chooses to remain behind the scenes.

1 comments about Thirty Years of Sausage, Fifty Years of Ham.

1. A great insight look into the life of Jimmy Dean. The king of sausage! Jimmy is responsible for the success and exposure of Jim Henson and The Muppet's. Big Bad John is jimmy's most famous hits. Read his life and you will be amused and entertained.

4 comments about Success on the Step: Flying with Kenmore Air.

1. I saw this book in the bookstore by the Friday Harbor ferry landing, but didn't buy it. Didn't see it again, but couldn't forget it. So, when we got home I ordered from [...]. I was so impressed with the book I wrote the author a fan letter (that is a first for me!)
   
   I have lived in Seattle for over fifty years, but didn't know the story of Kenmore Air. The past few years, I've seen more and more of their planes--especially while boating 'up north.' I finally got curious.
   
   This book is as much about starting and running a business, as about the small float planes and I found it fascinating. I recommend it as a good, and informative read. Meaty enough for the boardroom and easy enough for the beach.



2. I recently moved to Seattle to work for Boeing, who employs the author of this book, Marin Faure. Mr. Faure did a great job of turning extensive interviews into a coherent and engaging story of aeronautical entreprenurialism during the post-WW2 era, and beyond. Kenmore Air is indeed a Seattle icon like Pike Market and the Space Needle.
   
   Part of the reason I moved here was to earn my seaplane rating and learn about "bush" flying into mountain lakes. Their cadre of instructors and line pilots certainly have the "right stuff" when it comes to providing a safe airline service, as well as memorable scenic adventures. I certainly recommend "Sucess on the Step" to anyone interested in seeing how iron-clad ethical principles can contribute to success in any business endeavour, and definitely to anyone planning to get their rating at Kenmore Air Harbor.



3. Interesting book but thought they could have dedicated at least a paragraph to the fatal crash on October 1, 1977. Pilot Greg Thompson and 6 passengers lost their lives.



4. I recently read Success on the Step - Flying with Kenmore Air by C. Marin Faure and it definitely makes my list of Five Star books for Entrepreneurs. I picked this up at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
   
   If you've ever been to Seattle, more than likely you've seen a Kenmore Air float plane fly overhead. You might of thought that they are just a sightseeing company, but they are much more than that. Many people have depended on Kenmore Air since 1945 when it was founded by Reginald Collins, Jack Mines and Robert Munro.
   
   Success on the Step tells a true story of entrepreneurship, bush planes and Alaskan and Canadian adventure. If like me you love great stories about people who just won't quit, airplanes and anything having to do with the water, then this book is for you.
   
   With the company only about a year old they lost their pilot when Jack Mines was killed in an accident. It would have been easy for Collins and Munro to quit at that point, get nice safe jobs at Boeing and live comfortable lives. They didn't though, and now the world has another great company that's been built on integrity and doing what is right for the customer.
   
   I have never flown with Kenmore Air, but the next time I'm in Seattle I'm going to take a flight with them. I only wish that Bob Monroe was still flying - I think we'd have a lot to talk about.

5 comments about Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner.

1. Although I'm a Connie Bruck fan, I came away from Master of the Game disappointed. Perhaps my expectations were too great from having wanted to read the book for a long time. It's a good book and has interesting points, but you walk away without a real feeling of who Steve Ross was and what made him tick.



2. This book gives a good understanding of the history of Warner from Kinney to the creation of Time Warner. This is an excellent book to give an understanding of how a media empire is built.



3. Connie Bruck, along with Joe Nocera is probably American's best living business writer and this is another great work from her.

   A good story about a man who starts off running his father in law's funeral palor and winds up the head of one the world's biggest companies.

   Bruck spends a lot of time discussing the charm and the personality of Ross and admits that Ross is someone that she really likes. The book does not have the balance of her previous book, The Predators Ball, but does not Michael Milken as subject matter like that book did too.

   I would definitely recommend owning a copy of this book.

   Don McNay...




4. Anyone in media or entertainment has to read this book. It was, by far, the strangest story I read during two years of business school and it will help Time Warner employees understand how the company & culture was created. M&A people should also check this out since the merger of Time & Warner is the most interesting part of the book. Time was supposedly buying Warner Bros yet the Warner top brass ended up in charge.



5. This is a so-so book about the life of one businessman. It kept me interested but it was no "Father, Son & Company". It was great how it followed through from the funeral home days up to the biggest events in Mr Ross' life.

5 comments about Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture.

1. While I didn't purchase the book for me, my boyfriend (who never reads anything) loves this book. He can't put it down and told me it's one of the best books he's ever read. Coming from someone who never reads, you think that doesn't mean a lot, but the fact that he's finished it speaks volumes!
   
   He loves this book. He says the realism puts you right there with them and that even the littlest details gives you a great story. He likes the depth of detail within the book.
   
   So if you can't get your man to read- buy this book. Besides, Game Informer put this book among the best video game books ever. So my boyfriend isn't the only one who likes it!



2. If you ever played DOOM in its heyday, you need to pick up this book. This is a captivating account of the story of ID Software from John Romero and John Carmack's childhood, through their programming for another company, and the story behind each game that they made up to Doom 3. Honestly, of all the hundreds of books that I've read in my time, this has to be the best one -- I simply could not put it down until I had finished it, and when I did, I wanted to start it all over again. This is how histories should be told, and if I ever write a book, I want it to be like this one.



3. Is it worth reading? Yes. Could it have been a lot better? Certainly.
   
   Masters of Doom tells the tale of John Romero and John Carmack, the primary forces behind the creation of id Software, the primary force behind the creation of the First-Person-Shooter (FPS) gaming phenomenon. With some biography and a lot of first-person accounts (pun intended) you'll follow these guys from their earliest jobs to their ultimately diverging paths.
   
   The first half of the book is far more entertaining than the second, which while appropriate does gloss over some of the more telling aspects of their personalities in light of a very different atmosphere. The side characters get short bios but are referenced far too often without telling us more about them through the changes or some of the deeper information that was surely behind their constant inclusion in the first place.
   
   If you come into the book with some knowledge of the characters and situations as I did some of the tale will seem lacking in the detail you were hoping for. Without spoiling it for those less familiar the denouement of one of the pair could have been more detailed while remaining dispassionate.
   
   *** SPOILER SUMMARY ***
   
   Romero was (is) a joke yet the author doesn't brutalize him as much as he should have through the collapse of ION Storm. This is fine as a journalistic approach, but telling this as a chronokogy for the most part is boring. Carmack's descent and idiocy is revealed but without a more biographical approach you don't get the flavor of the ripples he splashed into waves. The related tales of the rise of 3D Realms and Epic are equally missing despite their relevance to the world of Quake and Carmack's refusal to humanize his games.
   
   *** END SPOILER ***
   
   As a droning historical account the book works, but as an exciting tales of the heady days of id and the acts of its primary creators it was quite boring and lacking in the area of commentary by the side characters the author obviously had access to.



4. As an amateur game developer I found the story very compelling, and the way it's told (with the hilarious anecdotes packed in) helps to digest a lot of information. This is a must-read for anyone who has ever wanted to make a game and thought that one or two people wasn't enough.



5. This will be a short review and I must start off by saying that I DONT READ BOOKS.
   
   But... I got this book because of a class and when I started this book, I couldnt put it down. Its very informative and it actually inspired me quit a bit to be a game developer.

5 comments about Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter.

1. I watched the "Door to Door" movie and ran to buy this book, anxious to read more about this remarkable man.
   
   Ha! I was disillusioned very quickly, when I realized that not only is the book very poorly written (it feels like nobody even bothered to edit it before sending it to print), but it features the life of Ms. Brady. At times, it seems that all she had in mind was how to get more of the limelight, and if Mr. Porter was feeling unwell, well - she'll just go on her own, and get the spotlight to herself. All that while whining how tough it was for her to have it all.
   
   Is this book yet another way to get attention on account of Bill Porter?



2. This book arrived quickly. I ordered others the same day from another company and I am still waiting for them.
   Book was new as stated in description.
   The story of Bill Porter is a Great One! It shows if you are Patient and Persistant you can accomplish whatever you want.



3. I laughed and I cried. I first heard of this book because it was on the New York Times Bestseller list. Also I watched clips of the movie "Door to Door" when my kids checked the video out from the library. I've become fascinated with Bill who has physical limitations and knew no limit. Despite physical challenges, he is such an inspiration to all of us who take daily tasks for granted, like putting on a tying our shoes, putting on a tie, or simply typing. Bill could only type one finger at a time. His assistant, Shelly Brady weaves her personal connection with Bill throughout. The book is a welcome addition to all middle school and high school libraries.



4. This is in my top three inspirational books. The real-life work ethic and example of Bill Porter (as told by his assistant Shelly Brady) is TRUE inspiration. The old saying "you can't keep a good man down" rings true here. I picked up this little book at Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport a few years back when my flight was delayed. I read it in the terminal and finished it on the plane. THIS BOOK IS WORTH MORE THAN ALL OF THE STEPHEN COVEYS, DALE CARNEGIES and JOEL BARKERS combined (these guys wrote "Snake Oil for the Soul"). Should you need inspiration FIND IT HERE! Bill Porter is the real deal...not a thinker, but a doer. Thank you Shelley for sharing your and Bill's story.



5. A few things I learned from Bill Porter are the power of persistence and that there really are no obstacles. Actually, Porter seems to take persistence to the extreme, and as for obstacles, it is not that they do not exist, but that for Porter, they have never been allowed to become the reasons for his failure. In fact, he refuses to let his cerebral palsy define who he is. Rather he insists on being defined for what he has contributed - the service he has given to others through his career as a salesman.
   
   I had to reconsider that too. What is a salesman? A bothersome person who is intruding on your personal space to convince you to buy something that you didn't really want? Or can a salesman be a person who really does add value to your life by looking after your interests as a consumer and making sure you get the best deal. Well, I think everyone knows both kinds. And because of the former, most people have made the latter's ability to penetrate our defenses all the more challenging.
   
   The last thing I ever wanted to be was a salesperson. But I am learning now how much this attitude has crippled me in my own profession, which happens to be education. The fact is that the ability to approach others and expand your personal network of friends and associates is critical to bringing your unique contributions to others, and even more importantly, partnering with others so that they may offer their contributions in return. When you consider it on a grander scale, where would the world be without those luminaries in history who had to intrude upon the mental space of others and sell revolutionary ideas to the people, especially when they did not want to hear? From God's Prophets to sages and scientists, it always took courage and persistence to come out of one's own secure personal space and carry a message to people who are usually not open at first to receiving it. I do not mean to stretch the purpose of the book too far, but this is what it meant to me, as an educator seeking to improve myself in the realm of networking so that I can bring my services to more people.
   
   Shelly Brady taught me something too: the importance of friendship. While a cynical voice did nag me from time to time while reading this book, I reflected on how people with different strengths can form partnerships that allow both to go much farther than they ever could have gone alone. Without Brady, Porter would be no less courageous and inspiring, but he certainly did not have the vision Brady had to bring his story to so many other people through public speaking, books, and film. And what I think really comes through more so than any notion of self-interest is Brady's true love and concern for Porter, and her desire to share his profound impact on her life with others. Perhaps most importantly, her attitude toward Porter is characterized by awe rather than pity. Contrast that with how most of us would meet a Bill Porter and automatically assume our advantages while secretly allowing some fear or challenging circumstance to hold us back. Brady demonstrates here, that she admires Porter for never feeding his excuses for failure, and that she has drawn on his inspiration to overcome her own.
   
   A telling example is how she contrasts her memories of childhood with his. His memories were not of growing up with cerebral palsy, but rather of sunbaths, his loving mother, and other simple joys. Too many of us have buried our memories of childhood joys under Freudian self-analytical blame of our parents or other happenstance. What we learn from Bill Porter is that it matters far less why these obstacles are there than how they can be surmounted.
   
   I did not read this book in a single afternoon, although it certainly could be read that way. I took in its inspirational lessons in short spurts and experienced a small portion at a time. It is light reading, but worth the investment of enough time to allow "Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter" to sink in.

5 comments about Henry Clay Frick.

1. One step above a vanity press endeavor. A family member's gothic tale about the wealthy business tycoon Henry Clay Frick and his two daughters, Martha and Helen. Martha dies in infancy (too many words in this book are spilt on the details of the accidental ingestion of a pin that caused her demise) setting the stage for a psychological drama playing out over decades and apparently worthy of Freud.
   
   The great works of art contained in Frick Collection are used here merely to illustrate the strangely introspective, maudlin, or near crazy behavior of this dysfunctional family.
   
   Only if you have a very deep need to know about the Frick family should you trouble yourself with this tome.



2. I found this book fascinating as it covered not only the events that made Frick stand out as a leading industrialist, but also details his painful family life, including the loss of two children, that shaped his thinking and way of life.
   In addition, this book details Frick's passion for art collecting and goes into vivid detail about the meaning behind some of his purchases as contrasted with his life events.
   I am looking forward to touring the Clayton home preserved in Pittsburgh in the future.
   Beautifully written.



3. 
   The illustrations are glorious. The text is well-researched. The narrative flows effortlessly. The book is a treasure!
   
   This is the book you want to read if you want to know more than the basics about the true stories from Mr. Frick's life, his involvement with the steel industry of Pittsburgh in all of its ramifications, the accumulation of wealth and the intricacies of running a powerful corporation in those heady days.
   
   Thank you, Martha, for telling a bit more about the story of the South Fork Club and its members... And also for telling about the assassination attempt... Yes, we would have wished a bit more on the on-again, off-again relationship between Mr. Frick and Mr. Leishman. Perhaps you might consider making the story of their eventual falling-out the centerpiece to another good book?
   
   Because there is more to the story!
   
   Much of it has been discreetly hinted at in this book. The careful reader will find himself or herself looking into other books that tie in with this one, some of which I review elsewhere.
   
   One only wishes that we could eavesdrop on a long conversation between Ms Sanger, Patricia Beard ("After the Ball"), Teresa Carpenter ("The Miss Stone Affair"), Les Standiford ("Meet You In Hell") and - of course - the incomparable David McCullough ("The Johnstown Flood")!
   
   Oh what a treat that would be!
   
   It would have benn helpful had Martha chosen to describe the lives of those who interacted with Frick as members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club he established, in much more detail. They were his Pittsburgh friends and buisness colleagues, and many were related to him by marriage.
   
   If you find this review helpful, check out the others I have mentioned! Happy reading!



4. "Henry Clay Frick: An Intimate Portrait" is an excellent work of history, biography, and a stunning visual presentation of art. The result of a decade long effort by a Great Granddaughter of Mr. Frick, Martha Frick Symington Sanger, the book is a beautiful volume from its construction, to what is displayed and written within.

   This is not as scholarly a book as Simon Schama's "Rembrandt's Eyes", and so it should be judged with distinct criteria. This is a family history as related by one of its members, so in exchange for the objective view of the Historian, we trade a certain objective detachment for an intimate portrait of the man, his family, and the legacy of art he collected. I was amused to read that one person thought that some of the works bought by Mr. Frick were "Duds". I would agree that when your collection includes multiple paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Renoir, Veronese, El Greco, and Van Dyck, to name a few, some are perhaps "better" than others. I would also suggest no one would take a pass if offered a work for their own.

   Mr. Frick was a very tough businessman, at times brutal, and he never hesitated to employ these tactics when he perceived his business interests were threatened. This does not make him unique among the major Capitalists that built this Country, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Fisk, and many other were also notorious by today's standards, or were they? Private armies may no longer be used, but public welfare, and the fate of employees is not always at the top of the list today either. I do not attempt to justify what they did, rather to suggest a more dispassionate view is in order. Our "Robber Barons" are often compared to the Kleptocrats of today's Russia, and that truly is absurd.

   Fortunately many of these men amassed great collections of art whether rare books, paintings, historical documents, or something else that caught their interest, and we are the beneficiaries of their collections. The Morgan Library or The Frick Collection simply could not be duplicated today. Theoretically Mr. Bill Gates could pay the price, but where would you find a brace of Vermeer's offered for sale?

   The book is not perfect in it's history as others have pointed out, however on balance I believe the work to be excellent, and certainly the most personal insight into the life of Mr. Frick.

   Mr. Frick and others like him make easy targets, that they were flawed is not the issue, they were. They also gave back in a variety of forms a great deal of the wealth they accumulated. This may not be enough for some or even for many, but to have left no legacy other than that of brutal businessmen, I suggest, would be a great deal more disappointing.




5. Do not be fooled by the size of this book. Once you open the book you will not find it easy to close it.

   This book satisfies on many levels. If you are an art lover, you are amazed at the artwork and how beautifully the publisher reproduced it. It's the next best thing to being in Frick's art collections yourself.

   If you are interested in Frick or the post Civil-War industrial era, you will at last find a revealing biography of the man that finally acknowledges that he was a human being, albeit flawed in some ways. This book should shatter some commonly held myths about Henry Frick.

   My only complaint is some incomplete research. I have discovered several historical errors that a good editor should have caught. For example, and perhaps most blatant, many figures and stated facts relating to the 1889 Johnstown Flood are incorrect. But Frick's reaction to the Flood is an insight not known to many until now.

   Mrs. Sanger should be proud of her book. This will serve as a definitive history of both the man and his legacy. This will be a valuable addition to your library.