Young Entrepreneurs Readers Digest

Keeping Better Company: Corporate Governance Ten Years On

by: Jonathan Charkham

Editorial Review:
From Library Journal
Called "Mr. Corporate Governance" by the Financial Times , Charkham has chosen to compare the governance strategies of companies in Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The book is arranged by country, with the last chapter serving as a discussion of which is the best system. An appendix includes the "Code of Best Practice (Cadbury Code)" used by many corporations. Charkham clarifies not only corporate governance but other aspects of doing business with these countries. In Japan, for example, corporate litigation is almost unheard of, as it implies personal failure on the part of both parties, who failed to negotiate successfully. There is also a discussion of what goes on at a shareholders' meeting of a French company. The text is enhanced by several graphs and charts, as well as a substantial bibliography. An essential purchase for international business collections.
- Lisa K. Miller, Paradise Valley Community Coll. Lib., Phoenix
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Amazon Price: $39.95 (as of 12/05/2009)

Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing

by: Harry Beckwith

Amazon Price: $15.61 (as of 12/05/2009)

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

by: Seth Godin

Editorial Review:
From Publishers Weekly
The world is changing ever more rapidly, and the rules of marketing are no different, writes Godin, the field's reigning guru. The old ways-run-of-the-mill TV commercials, ads in the Wall Street Journal and so on-don't work like they used to, because such messages are so plentiful that consumers have tuned them out. This means you have to toss out everything you know and do something "remarkable" (the way a purple cow in a field of Guernseys would be remarkable) to have any effect at all, writes Godin (Permission Marketing; Unleashing the Ideavirus). He cites companies like HBO, Starbucks and JetBlue, all of which created new ways of doing old businesses and saw their brands sizzle as a result. Godin's style is punchy and irreverent, using short, sharp messages to drive his points home. As a result the book is fiery, but not entirely cohesive; at times it resembles a stream-of-consciousness monologue. Still, his wide-ranging advice-be outrageous, tell the truth, test the limits and never settle for just "very good"-is solid and timely.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Amazon Price: $13.62 (as of 12/05/2009)

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

by: Seth Godin

From Publishers Weekly
Yet another easily digestible social marketplace commentary from the blogger/author who penned Purple Cow and Small is the New Big, Godin prescribes a cleverly counter-intuitive way to approach one's potential for success. Smart, honest, and refreshingly free of self-help posturing, this primer on winning-through-quitting is at once motivational and comically indifferent, making the lofty goal of "becoming the best in the world" an achievable proposition-all you need is to "start doing some quitting." The secret to "strategic quitting" is seeking, understanding and embracing "the Dip," "the long slog between starting and mastery" in which those without the determination or will find themselves burning out. As such, Godin demonstrates how to identify and quit your "Cul-de-Sac" and "Cliff" situations, in which no amount of work will lead to success. Godin provides tips for finding your Dip, taking advantage of it and becoming one of the few (inevitably valuable) players to emerge on the other side; he also provides guidelines for quitting with confidence. Quick, hilarious and happily irreverent, Godin's truth-that "we fail when we get distracted by tasks we don't have the guts to quit"-makes excellent sense of an often-difficult career move.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Amazon Price: $9.32 (as of 12/05/2009)

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything

by: Guy Kawasaki

From Publishers Weekly
Kawasaki (Rules for Revolutionaries) draws upon his dual background as an evangelist for Apple's Macintosh computer and as a Silicon Valley venture capitalist in this how-to for launching any type of business project. Each chapter begins with "GIST" ("great ideas for starting things"), covering a variety of facets to consider, from identifying your customer base and writing a business plan to establishing partnerships and building brand identity. Minichapters zero in on particular jobs that will need doing, while FAQ sections address the questions readers are most likely to have: Kawasaki covers the basics in an effectively casual tone. Much of the advice, however, consists of generic banalities-start your company's name with a letter that comes early in the alphabet, use big type in presentation slides for older businessmen with declining eyesight, and avoid writing e-mails in all capital letters-that can be found in any mediocre guide. Fortunately, Kawasaki does rise to the occasion here and there. He goes into great detail when it comes to raising capital and offers effective methods for sorting through the nonsense associated with interviewing prospective employees.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Amazon Price: $17.79 (as of 12/05/2009)

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

by: Seth Godin

From Publishers Weekly
Yet another easily digestible social marketplace commentary from the blogger/author who penned Purple Cow and Small is the New Big, Godin prescribes a cleverly counter-intuitive way to approach one's potential for success. Smart, honest, and refreshingly free of self-help posturing, this primer on winning-through-quitting is at once motivational and comically indifferent, making the lofty goal of "becoming the best in the world" an achievable proposition-all you need is to "start doing some quitting." The secret to "strategic quitting" is seeking, understanding and embracing "the Dip," "the long slog between starting and mastery" in which those without the determination or will find themselves burning out. As such, Godin demonstrates how to identify and quit your "Cul-de-Sac" and "Cliff" situations, in which no amount of work will lead to success. Godin provides tips for finding your Dip, taking advantage of it and becoming one of the few (inevitably valuable) players to emerge on the other side; he also provides guidelines for quitting with confidence. Quick, hilarious and happily irreverent, Godin's truth-that "we fail when we get distracted by tasks we don't have the guts to quit"-makes excellent sense of an often-difficult career move.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Amazon Price: $9.32 (as of 12/05/2009)

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth

by: T. Harv Eker

From Publishers Weekly
Eker's claim to fame is that he took a $2,000 credit card loan, opened "one of the first fitness stores in North America," turned it into a chain of 10 within two and a half years and sold it in 1987 for a cool (but somewhat modest-seeming) $1.6 million. Now the Vancouver-based entrepreneur traverses the continent with his "Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar," on which this debut motivational business manual is based. What sets it apart is Eker's focus on the way people think and feel about money and his canny, class-based analyses of broad differences among groups. In rat-a-tat, "Let me explain" seminar-speak, Eker asks readers to think back to their childhoods and pick apart the lessons they passively absorbed from parents and others about money. With such psychological nuggets as "Rich people focus on opportunities/ Poor people focus on obstacles," Eker puts a positive spin on stereotypes, arguing that poverty begins, or rather, is allowed to continue, in one's imagination first, with actual material life becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. To that end, Eker counsels for admiration and against resentment, for positivity, self-promotion and thinking big and against wallowing, self-abnegation and small-mindedness. While much of the advice is self-evident, Eker's contribution is permission to think of one's financial foibles as a kind of mental illness-one, he says, that has a ready set of cures.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 12/05/2009)

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

by: Malcolm Gladwell

Amazon.com Review
"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.

For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston," he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day--think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.

Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point," like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows--or at least knows by name. --Ron Hogan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Amazon Price: $8.97 (as of 12/05/2009)

Blink

by: Malcolm Gladwell

GladwAmazon.com Review
Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. ell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea.

Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making. In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like. --Barbara Mackoff --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/05/2009)

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

by: Timothy Ferris

Review
"It's about time this book was written. It is a long-overdue manifesto for the mobile lifestyle, and Tim Ferriss is the ideal ambassador. This will be huge."
-Jack Canfield
Co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul®, 100+ million copies sold

"This is a whole new ball game. Highly recommended."
-Dr. Stewart D. Friedman
Adviser to Jack Welch and Former Vice President Al Gore on Work/Family Issues
Director of the Work/Life Integration Project, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

"Stunning and amazing. From mini-retirements to outsourcing your life,
it's all here. Whether you're a wage slave or a Fortune 500 CEO, this
book will change your life!"
-Phil Town
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Rule #1

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 12/05/2009)

Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are As Timely And Important Today As Five Centuries Ago

by: Michael A. Ledeen

Amazon.com Review
American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Michael A. Ledeen sees the same parallels today between human nature, power, and the state of our institutions that venerable Renaissance writer Niccolò Machiavelli established and expounded upon in Italy nearly 500 years earlier. In Machiavelli on Modern Leadership, he examines a variety of political, religious, economic, and even athletic leaders from the last days of the 20th century according to the exceptional tenets originally laid out in classic works such as The Prince and The Discourses.

His purpose now, Ledeen writes, is essentially the same as his subject's was then: "to present the basic principles of the proper and successful use of power in language that contemporary leaders can understand, the better to advance the common good." Although somewhat brief at less than 200 pages, this spirited book nonetheless manages to measure successfully the characters of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Ted Turner, Caspar Weinberger, Colin Powell, Yasir Arafat, and many others against the exceedingly rigorous (and often controversial) standards set by one of the most enduring of all leadership theorists. Despite following a string of moral philosophers and political analysts who have previously produced extensive material on both the man and his ideas, Ledeen shows in a fresh way precisely why Machiavelli's precepts remain as valid as when they were first penned. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Amazon Price: $15.38 (as of 12/05/2009)

How to Get Rich: One of the World's Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets

by: Felix Dennis

From Publishers Weekly
This is not your usual get-rich-quick manual. Though Dennis, a poet (When Jack Sued Jill: Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times) and the founder of a publishing empire (including Maxim magazine), wants to help the reader rank at least among the lesser rich (equal to a net worth of $30 million-$80 million by his definition), he isn't himself motivated by money. With his own fortune estimated at between $400 million and $900 million, he doesn't have to be. Instead, Dennis wants to demystify the money-getting process, and his straight-talking, honest advice makes a refreshing change in this oversaturated field. Using humorous examples from his own business life, Dennis's advice, from The Five Most Common Start-Up Errors to The Power of Focus, might sound like conventional fare, but delivered in his signature bawdy, British style, it's altogether more entertaining-and more practical. Dennis highlights the right strategies and mindset to get readers their millions, but he won't air-brush his story or soften the bitter truth along the way. As he says, when it comes to acquiring wealth, being a bit of a shit helps. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 12/05/2009)

The One Minute Entrepreneur: The Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business

by: Ken Blanchard, Don Hutson, Ethan Willis

"The One Minute Entrepreneur will help you understand that while success might be easier said than done, focusing on a few essentials will dramatically increase your probability of success-and help you have fun doing it."
-Michael E. Gerber, entrepreneur and author of The E-Myth, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Fail and What to Do About It, and Awakening the Entrepreneur Within

Advance Praise for The One Minute Entrepreneur

"Don Hutson and Ken Blanchard have done a beautiful job teaching the essence of entrepreneurship."
-Zig Ziglar, author and motivational teacher

"Filled with gems of wisdom. Read it if you're serious about reinventing your life."
-Mark Sanborn, president, Sanborn and Associates, and author of The Fred Factor and You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader

"There is much said about stewardship in life and business%u2026however, the greatest stewardship is of influence. The One Minute Entrepreneur will teach you the importance of influence and inspire you to choose mentors wisely."
-Jim Amos, chairman emeritus, UPS

"We each have a lot more to learn and a lot more to teach. The One Minute Entrepreneur will help you do both."
-R. Brad Martin, chairman of the board, Saks Incorporated
--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/05/2009)

The Republic of Tea: The Story of the Creation of a Business, as Told Through the Personal Letters of Its Founders

by: Mel Ziegler, Patricia Ziegler

Through a 20-month exchange of faxes, this book chronicles the feelings and emotions of three partners as they confront their fears and dreams to create an enormously successful start-up company. "(Allows) us to observe a new business unfold."--Inc. Magazine.

From the Publisher
Almost all of us have at some point dreamed of starting our own business but have not been able to get past our fear, anxiety, and uncertainty about pursuing those dreams. Through a 20-month exchange of faxes, The Republic Of Tea chronicles the feelings and emotions of three partners as they confront their fears and dreams to create an enormously successful start-up company. The book shows the budding entrepreneur how to start a successful business that embodies his or her own soul and economic realities. The insightful correspondence between Mel Ziegler and Patricia Ziegler, co-founders of The Banana Republic chain, and their new partner Bill Rosenzweig provides a map for the entrepreneur. It tells of the day-to-day breakthroughs and breakdowns of the creative process--inventing a product, developing a plan, and structuring a business partnership--and even provides the actual business plan used to raise money for the venture. As part of the new Currency paperback line, the book includes a "User's Guide"--an introduction and discussion guide created for the paperback by the authors to help readers make practical use of the book's ideas.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/05/2009)

Sharing the Wealth : My Story

by: Alex Spanos

Sharing the Wealth is the incredible true story of how a $40 a week baker became a multi-millionaire owner of a Super Bowl NFL team and an unprecedented philanthropist. The road Alex Spanos took to riches was not a common one. Without the advantages of money, background, education, or connections, Spanos relied on his own heart and determination to achieve success.

Spanos recounts how his first gamble was his hardest and most important. As a husband and father of one child, with a second on the way, Spanos was barely making ends meet working in his father's bakery. When his father refused to give him a raise to equal the going rate for bakers, he walked out, vowing never to return to his father's employ. His first venture, selling bologna sandwiches to migrant workers, was earning $700,000 annually just five years after he left the bakery. He ultimately made his fortune in the construction business, becoming the #1 builder of apartments in America.

Sharing the Wealth also shares the personal side of Alex Spanos. He struck lasting friendships with such celebrities as Bob Hope and Telly Savalas. He was given the key to the city of San Francisco, he provided relief funds after floods ravaged Northern California, and assisted with humanitarian aid when an earthquake struck Greece. Whenever a need arose, Alex Spanos was there to help. Finally, Spanos shares his odyssey of first buying an NFL team, and then ultimately reaching the Super Bowl.

Amazon Price: $23.20 (as of 12/05/2009)

Maximum Linux Security (2nd Edition)

by: John Ray, Anonymous

Amazon.com Review
As we've all become well aware lately, every complex system has flaws. When the complex system is a computer operating system, such as Linux, or a piece of software running under it, those flaws can provide black-hat hackers with the access they need to steal your data, damage your system, or use your computing resources as a base for attacking other computers. Maximum Linux Security reveals security holes in Linux and does so explicitly. You can follow instructions in this book and break into unsecured Linux machines in a variety of ways. The newest edition of this book includes newer information about Linux security exploits and updated links to information and tools.

The anonymous author of this book has done a fine job of recognizing that his readers, despite the fact that they're probably pretty accomplished power users just because they're messing around with Linux, aren't really experienced with Linux or with computer security. He's careful to explain his subjects precisely. For example, he goes to considerable effort to explain how to set up user accounts properly (with emphasis on preventing obvious security holes), in addition to documenting offensive and defensive weapons like SAINT and Crack. Most entries on software include URL references to the latest versions, as well as cross-references to related programs. --David Wall

Topics covered: Good Linux security practice, as well as specific malicious software packages and ways to defend against them.

Amazon Price: $34.99 (as of 12/05/2009)

Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller--Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

by: Napoleon Hill, Arthur Pell

Product Description
The bestselling success book of all time is updated and revised with contemporary ideas and examples.

Think and Grow Rich has been called the "Granddaddy of All Motivational Literature." It was the first book to boldly ask, "What makes a winner?" The man who asked and listened for the answer, Napoleon Hill, is now counted in the top ranks of the world's winners himself.

The most famous of all teachers of success spent "a fortune and the better part of a lifetime of effort" to produce the "Law of Success" philosophy that forms the basis of his books and that is so powerfully summarized in this one.

In the original Think and Grow Rich, published in 1937, Hill draws on stories of Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and other millionaires of his generation to illustrate his principles. In the updated version, Arthur R. Pell, Ph.D., a nationally known author, lecturer, and consultant in human resources management and an expert in applying Hill's thought, deftly interweaves anecdotes of how contemporary millionaires and billionaires, such as Bill Gates, Mary Kay Ash, Dave Thomas, and Sir John Templeton, achieved their wealth. Outmoded or arcane terminology and examples are faithfully refreshed to preclude any stumbling blocks to a new generation of readers.

Amazon Price: $8.00 (as of 12/05/2009)

Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

by: Robert T. Kiyosaki

"If you want all insider wisdom on how to personally get and STAY rich, read this book! Bribe your kids (financially, if you have to) to do the same." -- --Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the #1 Chicken Soup for the Soul series

"To get over the top financially, you must read RICH DAD, POOR DAD. It's common sense and market savvy for your financial future." -- --Zig Ziglar, world-renowned author and lecturer

"If you want all insider wisdom on how to personally get and STAY rich, read this book! Bribe your kids (financially, if you have to) to do the same." -- --Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the #1 Chicken Soup for the Soul series

"To get over the top financially, you must read RICH DAD, POOR DAD. It's common sense and market savvy for your financial future." -- --Zig Ziglar, world-renowned author and lecturer --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Amazon Price: $4.95 (as of 12/05/2009)

How to Win Friends & Influence People

by: Dale Carnegie

Amazon.com Review
This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people." He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person's point of view and "arousing in the other person an eager want." You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment. For instance, "let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers," and "talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person." Carnegie illustrates his points with anecdotes of historical figures, leaders of the business world, and everyday folks. --Joan Price --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 12/05/2009)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

by: Stephen R. Covey

Amazon.com Review
Anyone who thinks the audiocassette adaptation of Stephen Covey's bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is a shortcut to reading the book has another thing coming. As a preview, the cassette is worth every one of its 90 minutes; as a substitute for the original, it will only leave you wishing for the rest. There's a reason 7 Habits has sold more than 5 million copies and been translated into 32 languages. Serious work has obviously gone into it, and serious change can likely come out of it--but only with constant discipline and steadfast commitment. As the densely packed tape makes immediately clear, this is no quick fix for what's ailing us in our personal and professional lives.

The tape opens to the silky-smooth, overtrained voice of the female narrator, who's responsible for tying together audio clips from actual Covey seminars. Leaving aside the occasional attempts at promoting Covey and his institute, her script does a first-rate job of making sense of Covey's own intense, analogy-rich style of explaining his habits. There's nothing simple about his approach to becoming an effective person. The first three habits alone--which have to do with personal responsibility, leadership, and self-management--could take years to master. Yet the last four are unattainable, the narrator insists, if you can't acquire the personal security--the "inner core," says Covey--that presumably comes from a mastery of the foundation.

Throughout our lessons, Covey's presence is both learned and thoroughly appealing. He drops references to the likes of Socrates, T.S. Eliot, and Robert Frost with the aplomb of an English professor. And his knack for mixing everyday stories with abstract concepts manages to clarify difficult issues while respecting our intelligence. You could argue that the cassette is nothing more than a clever marketing tool for selling another few million copies of the book. But, even at that, it's worth the investment in time and concentration: in the end, we're moved to learn more about integrating all seven habits in our struggle to become better and, yes, more effective people. (Running time: 1.5 hours, one cassette) --Ann Senechal --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Amazon Price: $9.32 (as of 12/05/2009)

Who Moved My Cheese: The 10th Anniversary Edition

by: Spencer Johnson

Amazon.com Review
Change can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. The message of Who Moved My Cheese? is that all can come to see it as a blessing, if they understand the nature of cheese and the role it plays in their lives. Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable that takes place in a maze. Four beings live in that maze: Sniff and Scurry are mice--nonanalytical and nonjudgmental, they just want cheese and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Hem and Haw are "littlepeople," mouse-size humans who have an entirely different relationship with cheese. It's not just sustenance to them; it's their self-image. Their lives and belief systems are built around the cheese they've found. Most of us reading the story will see the cheese as something related to our livelihoods--our jobs, our career paths, the industries we work in--although it can stand for anything, from health to relationships. The point of the story is that we have to be alert to changes in the cheese, and be prepared to go running off in search of new sources of cheese when the cheese we have runs out.

Dr. Johnson, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and many other books, presents this parable to business, church groups, schools, military organizations--anyplace where you find people who may fear or resist change. And although more analytical and skeptical readers may find the tale a little too simplistic, its beauty is that it sums up all natural history in just 94 pages: Things change. They always have changed and always will change. And while there's no single way to deal with change, the consequence of pretending change won't happen is always the same: The cheese runs out. --Lou Schuler --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Amazon Price: $13.99 (as of 12/05/2009)

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

by: Michael E. Gerber

Product Description
In this first new and totally revised edition of the over two million copy bestseller, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business. Next, he walks you through the steps in the life of a business -- from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed -- and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether it is a franchise or not. Finally, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business. After you have read The E-Myth Revisited, you will truly be able to grow your business in a predictable and productive way.

Amazon Price: $12.91 (as of 12/05/2009)

Internet Riches: The Simple Money-Making Secrets of Online Millionaires

by: Scott Fox

Amazon.com Review
In this strategy-packed guide, top e-business consultant Scott Fox reveals the powerful but simple methods for strik­ing it rich on the Net. Exclusive interviews with dozens of "mom and pop" entrepreneurs prove how easy it is to get started and build a million-dollar enterprise. Readers get:

An inspiring guide to e-business opportunities, including "instant e-businesses" that require no start-up capital or technical training * proven strategies for making money from home and turning hobbies into businesses * low cost web marketing and product tips * legal and financial advice * detailed vendor recommendations * years of expertise and experience in one easy-to-use book Internet Riches also offers an innovative action plan for brain­storming new business ideas, and fun exercises to help readers determine the best moves for their particular situa­tions. Filled with practical pointers and motivational inter­views, it's the most powerful guide ever to finding financial freedom online!

Amazon Price: $12.21 (as of 12/05/2009)