“All men see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.” I usually summarize and review books, and develop general insights, but for The Art of War, I will instead relate Sun Tzu’s advice to business strategy and organizational management. The book is over two […]
Month: April 2017
April
Book 14: The Art of War The Art of War has been called “the Swiss army knife of military theory.” According to Amazon, “Sun Tzu is thought to have been a military general and adviser to the king of the southern Chinese state of Wu during the sixth century BCE. Although some modern scholars have called […]
What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America
Mysteries of the Great Plains What’s the Matter with Kansas is an interesting, fun book. Tomas Frank wrote this fiery polemic in 2004, but it remains relevant today. The crux of the argument is that conservatives (“Cons”) are voting against their own economic interests. They do this, he insists, because they prefer socially conservative policies (they’re staunchly […]
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Overview Just Mercy chronicles preeminent attorney Bryan Stevenson’s fight against injustice in America’s legal system. The focal point of the work is the case of Walter McMillian, a black man who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a white woman in Monroeville, Alabama. Stevenson intersperses Walter’s tale with chapters focusing on […]
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Overview To begin with, this is probably the most difficult book I’ve ever read. It’s extremely academic and required note-taking to understand. If you decide to read Capital, keep that in mind. Nevertheless, it’s intriguing, well-thought-out (it took fifteen years to write) and somewhat provocative. We all have heard about the dangers of skyrocketing income and […]