Worse to Worst

Serious effort in the humorous series is a good effort but hardly revelatory

BY RICHARD PACHTER

The Worst-Case Scenario Business Survival Guide: How to Survive the Recession, Handle Layoffs, Raise Emergency Cash, Thwart an Employee Coup, and Avoid Other Potential Disasters. David Borgenicht, Mark Joyner. Wiley. 208 pages

How about starting a new job and on the third day, you arrive at work to discover that the building is surrounded by police cars? Shocked, you wonder if the joint was robbed but soon learn from a stern cop that the company is accused of criminal activities. Or another gig where the owner ushers you into his office and asks you to accompany him to a business meeting with a competitor. On the car ride to their site, he announces that he’s going to pitch them on acquiring his company! Those are two screwy situations that yours truly encountered that may not be “worst-case” scenarios, but neither are most of the relatively typical business problems depicted in this short and amusing little book.
Previously, books in the “Worst-Case” series offered humorous and straight-faced advice for dealing with obviously over-the-top situations — how to jump from a bridge or a cliff into a river; how to survive if trapped in a lion’s cage; how to escape from a giant octopus — accompanied by retro-ish illustrations that evoked hokey how-to manuals from eras past.

It was a winning formula, apparently, as a stream of follow-ups and brand extensions appeared, including a TV special. I haven’t read every volume, but my sense is that each took a similarly light and frivolous approach to the issues, even if some weren’t very serious themselves, like surviving a zombie attack.

This new volume is VERY SERIOUS, however, and emphatically states so in both forwards by each of the authors of record. With no less than 25 “experts” weighing in with their advice, the pair, I’d guess, probably did the book’s outline and final rewrites. But this veritable Justice League Unlimited of kibitzers must’ve come up with a lot of stuff that was sliced, diced and concentrated to fit snugly into a book of just under 200 pages of text. But that’s still a lot of serious!

Regardless, the book is divided into five chapters of “emergencies”: Financial, HR, Productivity, Sales and Marketing, and Executive, with a “Basic Training” summation at the end of each chapter. The presentation is pleasant enough and the intermittent appearance of Colin Hayes’ beautifully deadpan line art will elicit a chuckle or two. The advice is solid, simple and un-surprising. If you possess a minimal amount of common sense, you’ll know this stuff cold. If you’re just starting out in the world, this might be a useful book to study or one to bequeath upon a clueless co-worker who aspires toward management. Please be careful; if you hand it to an actual manager they may be insulted — and you could be mortally wounded — or your career will be. But it’s immeasurably more constructive than any cheesy, rodent-infested pop parable or other well meaning but quintessentially vapid folderol. And if you need a stocking stuffer or a present for a holiday office gift exchange, you can pick up a copy for under 12 bucks on Amazon.com, which will undoubtedly aid in surviving, at the very least, that potential disaster.

Janis Joplin's Spirit Eludes Detailed Biography

SCARS OF SWEET PARADISE: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin. Alice Echols. Metropolitan Books.

By RICHARD PACHTER

The only Janis Joplin songs on the radio these days are Me and Bobby McGee, and maybe Piece Of My Heart. But her image — larger than life — endures. Alice Echols' new biography of Joplin thoroughly examines her life and image, but the result is wholly unsatisfying.

Born in 1943 and raised in claustrophobic Port Arthur, Texas, Joplin grew into an "ugly duckling" teen. A vivacious, outgoing child ostracized by her classmates, who cruelly voted her "Ugliest Man On Campus," the preternaturally bright young woman became a social outcast. Purposely cultivating an unsavory reputation, she pushed the limits of propriety and parental authority by hanging with the town's lowlifes and beatniks until she escaped to college.

A self-professed folkie who gravitated to the music of Odetta and Leadbelly, Joplin barely attended classes, devoting all of her time to nearly nonstop partying and sexual explorations. She began singing at clubs and coffeehouses and nurtured her growing talent, which was sometimes fueled by copious amounts of legal and illegal substances.

She dropped in and out of school, and attempted to live the conventional lifestyle of her parents a final time before abandoning any pretense of conformity. She explored Greenwich Village, but eventually settled in San Francisco just in time for the emergence of the hippies of Haight Ashbury.

In San Francisco, Joplin found a community that welcomed her as a kindred spirit. The burgeoning music scene was a hotbed of experimentation, socially, sexually and sometimes even musically. Bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, and the Charlatans recognized Joplin's talent and outrageous character. She hung out — and coupled — with many of those involved. Country Joe McDonald had a relatively long-term relationship with her, and memorialized the singer in his song Janis, on his 1967 album Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die.

The Bay Area's "anything goes" attitude gave Joplin license to party even more. When she joined Big Brother and The Holding Company, a ragged hippie rock band, Joplin's astounding voice became its immediate focal point. Hailed as the Caucasian reincarnation of Bessie Smith and other black blues singers, Joplin and the band inked a typically exploitative contract with a smallish record label, quickly producing a low-fi album that was ignored by radio.

At the first (and only) Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967, a now-legendary appearance by the group and its fiery vocalist attracted rabid attention from the music business. Bob Dylan's manager quickly displaced Big Brother's home-grown handler, and the rest of the band faded into the background, forever relegated to the role of Janis Joplin's first backup band. Columbia Records bought out their recording contract, and Big Brother made its real debut album under the tutelage of producer John Simon and engineer Elliot Mazer.

Though the album, dubbed Cheap Thrills, seemed like a live recording, all but one track — Ball and Chain — were cut in the studio. Simon and Mazer figured that the band's ragged playing would be more palatable if presented in a concert context, so they added fake audience tape-loops and canned applause, crafting a simulated live album.

Though the LP sold a million copies in its first month of release, Joplin was urged to abandon Big Brother by her manager, her record company and others. Subsequent musical accompaniment inarguably served her prodigious talents better. Big Brother recorded one album following her departure, before becoming a music history footnote.

Joplin's newfound celebrity and fortune enabled the acceleration of a Sybaritic lifestyle, as she made up for lost time. Her casual pansexual couplings, drug addictions, alcoholism and other passions undercut potential artistic and career growth. Echols lists many of Joplin's lovers, including Jets quarterback Joe Namath and musician Kris Kristofferson, who composed her posthumous hit, Me and Bobby McGee. But Janis felt lonely and unloved, despite the seemingly endless parade of short-term companions.

In October 1970, at the age of 27, she was found dead after an overdose of heroin, forming an immortal triumvirate of prematurely departed rock icons. Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix — Echols says Joplin had brief affairs with both — were dead within months of her.

Her enduring image as a red-hot mama and rock archetype inspired Bette Midler's film The Rose, which was originally touted as a Joplin biopic. Another Joplinesque movie is said to be under consideration, this one supposedly starring Melissa Etheridge, who says she draws inspiration from the late singer's bold life. Other women artists similarly express solidarity with Joplin's sexuality and legacy .

Echols' book is a sympathetic but nearly clinical exploration of Joplin's life. With ample research, including scores of interviews with friends, lovers and associates, it's clear that much earnest work went into this project, but the result is a scholarly tome, contrasting wildly with the subject's flamboyant life and work. The ferocious power of Janis Joplin hinted at here may be impossible to authentically convey in any non-aural medium.

Originally published on March 14, 1999 in the Sun-Sentinel

FAs without the Qs

Back when I reviewed biz books for the Miami Herald, I'd get — as you'd imagine — numerous inquiries from publishers, authors, publicists and others who wanted me to review their books.

Some were quite professional, generally because they were from professionals, but others were a bit ham-handed and many asked my help to "promote their book in the Miami Herald"(!)

Rather than respond to each entreaty, I put together a kind of boilerplate response, which I honed and revised many times, as needed.

I've never shared this online, but was thinking about it today and thought, why not?

So, here it is.

FAQ for Publicists, Publishers and Authors

Thanks for your e-mail about your book.

Here are a few things you might find helpful.

First of all, I review business books usually intended for a general business audience. I avoid technical volumes, most business-to-business books, self-help, diets, pop psychology, inspirational, religious, spiritual, sports, celebrity bios, novels, fables, humor, parables and such. (There are exceptions, but not often!) CEO memoirs and the like are iffy, but not entirely out of the question.

I love books and language, and am endlessly interested in all forms of business, as it's a vital aspect of human culture.

That's why I review business books.

If you want your book considered for review, you need not ask me before sending a copy. It's an extra and unnecessary step.

I receive many books every day — more than I can possibly review — so if you think yours is a candidate, just send it. My address is below.

If you are not sure if the book is right, please take a moment to scan my previous reviews. The links are below. The Miami Herald site requires registration. My own (admittedly incomplete) sites, http://www.wordsonwords.com and http://www.richardpachter.com do not.

I like books offering fresh ideas that can be applied to a variety of businesses and situations.

Your book must be new, and available in bookstores and from normal online merchants (Amazon.com, BN.com etc.) and not just through your own web site or 800 number. 

I'll sometimes review a book AND the CD audio version. Feel free to send both, if you like.

I don't (can't) return phone calls. You may always follow up with me by e-mail. I try to respond promptly, but this is not my full-time gig, unfortunately, and my "real" job takes up the majority of my time and attention.

I don't review unpublished manuscripts or provide my "professional opinion" about something I'm not reviewing, and can offer no advice on agents, publishers, editors etc.

I rarely do author interviews unless there are strong local South Florida connections, and even that's no guarantee.

I don't need any canned reviews, have no say about anything else in the paper and think that poetry is a huge scam, so don't send me any poems (pretty please!)

I also review graphic novels on a monthly basis for The Herald. From time to time, I write about other stuff, but it's not worth pitching me on anything, since I have more ideas than time to execute them.

Thanks for reading. (Any implied grouchiness herein is certainly not directed at you! I promise.)


xxx
rap
Richard Pachter
----
This FAQ is covered by a Creative Commons license.

Avoid the Horrors of E-Mail Marketing

E-Mail Marketing: The Complete Guide to Creating Successful Campaigns. Herschell Gordon Lewis. AMACOM. 304 pages. $24.95.

Let's check our e-mail. Hmm. . . In addition to a few messages from clients, colleagues, managers and readers, there's a solicitation from an heir of an overthrown African politician offering a "business opportunity" (but he wants my bank account number to get started); a sale on toner cartridges from a company I've never heard of; several links to pornographic websites; an offer to purchase a condominium in Calgary; a number of cryptic messages with attached files (removed by my company's virus prevention software); poetry from a local writer; a newsletter; a few more commercial solicitations (some of which pretend to be responses to inquiries and requests I've never made), and a bunch of other things that were routed directly to the trash, since they contain certain keywords that flag them for that purpose by my e-mail program.

So what's the deal with the unsolicited commercial e-mail — fondly known as "spam"?

You and I may consider it spam, but e-mail as a marketing tool is a powerful new medium. Herschell Gordon Lewis is one of its biggest advocates, and that makes sense. Lewis, a Fort Lauderdale-based advertising veteran, has long been a creative guru in the direct marketing arena. To some, it's mere junk mail, but Lewis cast his sharp eye toward the creativity and effectiveness of the work, mostly stuff that appeared in his own mail box.

His long running column in a trade publication wittily skewered a number of ill-advised campaigns and sales pieces — and complimented a few that worked, in his opinion. In this new book, he does the same with the sales pitches and special offers sent to the in-box of his e-maile account.

If you're an average recipient of e-mail who's annoyed by the endless amount of unsolicited commercial messages, this is not the book for you. No way, because Lewis assumes that there is such a thing as good e-mail of the unsolicited commercial variety. And really, if you think of it as a digital cousin of the material that shows up in your home mailbox every day, this is not a difficult leap to make.

But if your home is assaulted with dozens of daily come-ons for hot farm girls, Viagra and other unwelcome products and services, chances are you'd have negative feelings attached to these solicitations. Lewis apparently believes that since e-mail is, after all, in its infancy, the bad things will fade away as the medium matures. And, if these offers cease being effective (the marketing, not the products!), senders will stop flooding every e-mail address with it. The problem, of course, is that conducting e-mail marketing campaigns is cheaper than any other similar effort, so the bottom-feeders will probably be around forever.

But that's not our problem, nor is it Lewis', other than factoring it in to the effectiveness of e-mail marketing as a whole. He's not an advocate of spam; he just thinks it is, for the most part, lame.

Instead, he's a proponent of sending messages to prospects who are disposed toward particular products and services, have opted to receive e-mail, or are on lists supplied by companies gathering such information to sell them to companies in the same manner as traditional (postal) mailing lists.

So Lewis devotes most of his book to discussing his general creative principles and showing how they apply to this unique medium, illustrated with plenty of real examples from the things he has received. If you are so inclined to conduct an e-mail marketing campaign, this book is invaluable. Writing may be deceptively simple, but crafting a message in a powerful and persuasive manner is extremely difficult. Herschell Gordon Lewis is a Jedi master of mail marketing -- snail or electronic -- so heeding his lessons all but guarantees success.

But please, don't give into the dark — and spammy — side of The Force.

originally published in The Miami Herald

Guest Review: Bob Lefsetz on Derek Sivers' "Anything You Want"

The great Bob Lefsetz graciously alowed us to repost his review. For more Lefsetz, please visit his blog, here. To subscribe to the Lefsetz Letter by e-mail, click here.


Anything You Want. Derek Sivers. Domino Project. 88 pages.

This book is so good, so chock full of nuggets, that I had to stop reading it and e-mail you, even though Derek says it will only take an hour to finish.

Derek is you. An outsider. Who’s not trying to be an insider, just looking to find a way to make his life work.

In case you don’t know, Derek started CD Baby. And sold it ten years later for $22 million.

Minus startup costs…

THERE WERE NO STARTUP COSTS!  CD BABY WAS STARTED BY ACCIDENT! IT WAS PROFITABLE FROM DAY ONE!

You’re gonna like this book because it’s deals with something you’re familiar with, the music business. It’s not like buying a business book written by a corporate kingpin or an entrepreneur with a personality brighter than a 100-watt bulb who could sell ice to Inuits.  This is a musician, telling his story.

And his story is so different from the one being told by everybody else.

First and foremost, he made money.

And he did it by himself.  His way.

Let’s start with a few lessons…

1. "Start Now. No funding needed

Watch out when anyone (including you) says he wants to do something big, but can’t until he raises money.

It usually means the person is more in love with the idea of being big big big than with actually doing something useful. For an idea to get big big big, it has to be useful. And being useful doesn’t need funding."

In other words, START TODAY! NO WAITING NECESSARY!

If you’ve got a good idea.

Every day I get e-mail from people waiting to start, getting their ducks in order, bitching that they can’t get funded. All you’ve got to do is begin.


2. "Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what’s not working.

We all have lots of ideas, creations, and projects.  When you present one to the world, and it’s not a hit, don’t keep pushing it as-is. Instead get back to improving and inventing."

If no one reacts to your music, write new tunes.  If you still don’t get traction, change styles.

People hate to hear this. BUT WHAT ABOUT MY INVESTMENT!

You never forget what you’ve learned. Yes, read "What Color Is Your Parachute?", you’re developing transferable skills.  Don’t be married to failure. This doesn’t only apply to the music business. If you can’t make it as a lawyer or a doctor…change course!  Doesn’t matter if someone else is successful, they’re not you.


3. "A business plan should never take more than a few hours of work. Hopefully no more than a few minutes. The best plans start simple. A quick glance and common sense should tell you if the numbers will work. The rest are details."

You can do the business plan in your head.  It should be just that simple. If you’re paying an MBA to write it, you’re just justifying the price of his education. As for impressing investors, Derek didn’t take any money. He built upon his success. If you’ve got no success, stop.


4. "Any time you think you know what your new business will be doing, remember this quote from Steve Blank: No plan survives first contact with customers."

Voila!

You’ve got no idea what’s gonna happen until you open your store, until the audience hears the first note. Turns out people like a different track than you do. Turns out that little thing you do that embarrasses you audiences love. Maybe your instrumental passage is the highlight of the show. Or vice versa, maybe it’s when you sing a cappella. You won’t know until you try.

Last night Jim e-mailed me to ask if I too wouldn’t take the $1.3 million paid to Nathan Hubbard. If they offered me that gig.

They’re never gonna offer me that gig. I’m not the right person. I don’t play well with others. You’ve got to kiss a lot of ass to succeed in the corporation. You’ve got to hold your tongue when the President acts like an idiot. It’s about being a member of the team, and you’re not the coach, you’re not even the star player.

I don’t work that way.  I’m in an endless pursuit of the truth. I can’t suffer incompetency. Even worse, I can’t handle when people don’t work. I’m paying you, PAY ATTENTION!

But if you run your own business…

I know Derek Sivers. He’s not like the people at Live Nation.  He confided personal information to me right off the bat, unafraid I would use it against him, that I would hurt his career by revealing it to his superiors. When you run your own operation, you can be free!

And Derek is nice. But he’s not Steve Jobs. He’s not so charismatic that you’d follow him anywhere, he’s not a super-salesman. He’s a musician who thinks. Who is willing to get his hands dirty. Who will try something new and make mistakes. We all hate making mistakes, but when we own the company we’re not worried about retribution, we’re not worried about losing our jobs. And we learn from our mistakes.

5. "Five years after I started CD Baby, when it was a big success, the media said I had revolutionized the music business.

But ‘revolution’ is a term that people use only when you’re successful. Before that, you’re just a quirky person who does things differently."

And there’s no room for the quirky person who does it differently at the corporation. They call that person an artist. Maybe that’s why Derek could be so successful, at his heart he’s an artist, willing to take his own path, not susceptible to corporate reviews and not beholden to the HR department.

AND FINALLY:

6. "Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and for yourself.

Making a company is a great way to improve the world while improving yourself."

That ain’t Wall Street. That ain’t Pandora or LinkedIn.

Do you know how boring it is to work for Goldman Sachs? How unfulfilling? Working with numbers just so you can make enough coin to vacation in a first class way, buy tickets to the shows of people you wish you could be if you could only take a risk?

Life isn’t about money. It’s about personal fulfillment.

But you can’t do it without money. And Derek Sivers acknowledges this.

Just like I could never be Nathan Hubbard, I could never be those people writing business books. Which is why I’ve completely given up on self-help tomes.  They’re not me. Yeah, that guy could become rich, BUT ME?

But reading Sivers’s book I feel like I’m listening to a soul brother. It gives me hope.

Read it. It’ll inspire you too.

Oh, behave!

The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About ItTwo new books examine the importance of accountability and civility in the workplace

BY RICHARD PACHTER

As President John F. Kennedy said, "Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.'' When good things happen, there's usually no problem identifying the responsible party. But we've all encountered situations where there are few clues at the scene of a crime — or business problem — that would readily indicate responsibility. Funny how some "leaders'' have never made mistakes or are never involved when their subordinates screw up.

Regardless, one doesn't have to be a leader to act responsibly. Good behavior involves accountability and civility. If I may have your permission, with the able assistance of my editors and this newspaper, I'd like to humbly present two new books that consider these important issues.



How Did That Happen? Holding People Accountable for Results the Positive, Principled Way. Roger Connors and Tom Smith. Portfolio. 272 pages.

Connors and Smith are consultants who provide "accountability training'' for individuals and organizations. The notion that such a thing is not only necessary but is apparently a thriving enterprise disturbs me greatly. But after leafing through their book, I'm impressed by the thoughtfulness, intelligence and pragmatism they bring to bear on this sticky matter. It's not a matter of "blame,'' which is simplistic and can be divisive and unproductive. Instead, they view the issue holistically and systemically, which is a far more productive approach.

The requisite examples and anecdotes are included, which work well, but their assessment tools are worth the price of admission, along with the remedies they suggest. But, as with most problems, recognition of the situation and a willingness to deal with it are the first steps toward a solution.



The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It. Christine Pearson and Christine Porath. Portfolio. 240 pages.

You can rationalize and excuse all you want, but rudeness can hurt business. It's not just bad manners, according to Pearson and Porath, but incivility in general can be damaging -- if not disastrous. Customers, naturally, can be lost, but the deleterious effects of unkind and thoughtless words and deeds can have a major impact on all stakeholders. Life is too short to deal with nasty people but when there are choices, competitors gain an extra edge just by providing a respite from the rudeness.

The authors have ample data to back up their contentions, though almost anyone could intuit the fact that humans tend to void unpleasantness. They cite 12 percent of the workforce who say they've left jobs at which they were treated badly, but given the ability of some people to withstand pain and others' desire to remain employed at all costs, the actual number of those who've endured hostile workplaces might represent a much higher number. But some managers may not believe they have a problem, especially during this time of high and sustained unemployment. Regardless, this is a solid and thoughtful look at the little things that can make a big difference. The two Christines, Pearson and Porath, provide a useful summary at the end of each chapter and suggestions for assessing and addressing a variety of problems.

While every company may not be suffering from incivility, this book could help them avoid any such problems in the future.

published 8/17/09 in The Miami Herald

Cross Marketing

In conjunction with his forthcoming novel, Vanished, author Joseph Finder produced a comic featuring his creation, The Cowl.

From his site: The Cowl is written by Brian Azzarello, one of the greats in the comics world and the author of 100 Bullets and the bestselling Joker, and drawn by talented new comic artist Benito Gallego. There are limited quantities of the comic book available in print. This is an exclusive offer for fans who pre-order VANISHED. (Click here) for a letter from Joe explaining the origin of The Cowl.

Brand Yourself

Build your brand and spread the word to succeed.
To get a job and keep it, market yourself effectively

BY RICHARD PACHTER

In traditional Japanese culture, conventional wisdom dictates that you shouldn't stand out, invoking the metaphor of the nail that gets beaten down because it's higher than the rest. That may no longer be true, but in the United States, success is often determined by individual achievements. Even in team settings, we invariably gravitate toward individual performers and stars.

To have a successful career, one must cultivate an individual identity a brand, if you will. Yet it's vitally important to build a network of connections to make it happen. Three new books attempt to explain how it's done.


Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success. Dan Schawbel. Kaplan Publishing. 256 pages.
Dan Schawbel's title suggests reinvention, but it's really about refining one's identity (and the perception of it) to align with who you are and what you do. He presents a very detailed and comprehensive guide to employing a full arsenal of mostly online tools — including social networking — to develop a public persona that will enable you to be the go-to person for your area of expertise. In addition, he provides a very thoughtful set of self-assessments and bullet points for evaluating and acting upon the appropriate combination of tactics to ensure that top of mind attention is paid.

Much of what he writes may be obvious to regular (and mature) participants of social networking sites, though it's also a brave (and cowardly) new world out there and the risk of tainting one's reputation and poisoning the well in other ways has increased exponentially, at the very least. But Schawbel also throws in a bunch of fundamental tips for career development and life in general that make his book a valuable one-stop source of practical wisdom.


Career Building: Your Total Handbook for Finding a Job and Making It Work. The editors of Careerbuilder.com. Collins Business. 288 pages.
With this book, the recruitment website CareerBuilder does a better job than rival Monster.com did in their effort a few years back in offering an accelerated course in virtual and actual job hunting. The dirty truth is that most online job applications rarely elicit responses. It's a buyers' market right now, so few employers apparently feel the need to respond to or acknowledge receipt of an e-mailed or online application — or are so swamped that they simply do not have the time to just set up an autoresponder. But rudeness aside, there are right and wrong ways to conduct an employment campaign, and it's worth understanding the process regardless of which side of the desk you sit on.

Though other books like Sweaty Palms and What Color Is Your Parachute provide similar tutelage, this is an excellent and very current primer for those starting out — or starting over.


Who's Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships that Create Success and Won't Let You Fail. Keith Ferrazzi. Broadway Business. 336 pages.
Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi's previous book, is often lauded by networking gurus, though I disagreed with its title, since I prefer solitude for lunch, at least occasionally. In terms of networking, however, this forthcoming book (due next month) takes it to the next step. Instead of going wide, the author narrows his focus and advocates establishing a few super strong ''lifeline relationships.'' This team will guide and support you through the ebb and flow of your career — and life. The idea of mentoring is certainly not a new one, though in this age, when some of our strongest relationships are virtual and not face-to-face, Ferrazzi's update is a valuable and useful contribution.

published in The Miami Herald on 4/20/09

Book Marketing 2009: Take it where you get it

E-mail from author Edwin Black:
Hello all... at about 8:25 today Good Morning America was doing a segment on how to burglar proof your house. Then they showed a hollowed out book to hide jewelry in. It was Banking on Baghdad by Edwin Black, which they showed a close-up of for a long time. The reporter said, "Now nobody is going to look in Banking on Baghdad for jewelry!" I have long argued that my books have lasting value. This proves it. Also see the book on the icon link at bottom right. The book question shows up at around the 3:30 minute mark for 30-seconds in this 4-minute. You can't wrap jewelry in a newspaper. Books are always your best value. Enjoy.


My review of Banking on Baghdad is here.

Last Night in Twisted River

Here's a synopsis of the forthcoming John Irving novel, due October 27, 2009 from Random House (or a week earlier in Canada), ganked from his Canadian agent:

Last Night in Twisted River is the newest novel — John Irving’s twelfth — from one of the best-known and best-loved authors in the English language.

In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable’s girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County — to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto — pursued by the implacable constable. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them.

In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River depicts the recent half-century in the United States as “a living replica of Coos County, where lethal hatreds were generally permitted to run their course.” From the novel’s taut opening sentence — “The young Canadian, who could not have been more than fifteen, had hesitated too long” — to its elegiac final chapter, Last Night in Twisted River is written with the historical authenticity and emotional authority of The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany. It is also as violent and disturbing a story as John Irving’s breakthrough bestseller, The World According to Garp. What further distinguishes Last Night in Twisted River is the author’s unmistakable voice — the inimitable voice of an accomplished storyteller. Near the end of this moving novel, John Irving writes: “We don’t always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly — as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth — the same sudden way we lose people, who once seemed they would always be part of our lives.”

And here's a British TV interview from May 2008

Coming soon

New book from the author of IBM and the Holocaust, Internal Combustion etc.

Book review: Play nice

Working together doesn't always work out
Teamwork is important, but two new books show how the workplace can be a dugout or a battlefield
by Richard Pachter

It’s a thin line between skepticism and cynicism. It’s also a constant challenge to remain open to all possibilities, which is why “Trust, then verify” is still the best policy for just about everything.

Sundry business books claim to have uncovered heretofore hidden secrets to success yet they usually describe idyllic companies that apparently function in alternate dimensions which seem very similar to our own, except that most inhabitants exhibit genuine passion toward their enterprises and always operate in clear, unambiguous bursts of altruistic energy.

I’m certainly willing to conditionally suspend my disbelief as I wade through these patently revelatory tomes, but it’s difficult to reconcile their science fictional scenarios with my own observations and experiences in the contemporary workplace. Yet case studies of successful business operations invariably provide inspirational glimpse of the possibilities, like a shining high-tech cinematic space opera, or rodent-infested and oversimplified parables.

Here are two new books that examine these brave new worlds of work, as well as the real world that many of us occupy most of the time.
Great Business Teams: Cracking the Code for Standout Performance. Howard M. Guttman. Wiley. 239 pages.

Teamwork is important, although it usually happens for authoritarian reasons rather than as a function of unselfishness or professionalism. Guttman, a management consultant specializing in team building, examines a number of successful and not-so-successful units and seeks to identify consistent threads and reasons for each.

His findings can generally be expressed by the Tolstoy quote, ''Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.'' Successful and dysfunctional work teams appear to behave in a similar fashion: The good ones empower members, share responsibilities and goals, demand accountability and perform pretty much the way you would expect, especially in high-pressure situations. The bad ones each have their own ways of screwing up just about any project, as you can imagine or, perhaps, have experienced.

Among the companies Guttman examined were several Florida-based firms, including clothing retailer Chico's and Johnson & Johnson-Vision Care. Both, fortunately, exemplified good teams, as they confronted and successfully handled several large and small crises.
Executive Warfare: Pick Your Battles and Live to Get Promoted Another Day. David F. D'Alessandro. McGraw-Hill. 265 pages.

D'Alessandro, author of Brand Warfare and Career Warfare, continues his series of combat tales with this volume of business battles. Some people can play nicely, while others will gleefully shove a shiv in your posterior just to break up a dull day or for other, even less prosaic reasons. Some executives act in ways that suggest more humane traits, or at least enlightened self-interest. D'Alessandro recounts all with gusto and humor. Greed, venality, duplicity and occasional acts of kindness and maturity during a variety of mostly typical business settings are colorfully depicted, followed by D'Alessandro's pithy observations.

Usually the best parts of books like this are the anecdotes, and Executive Warfare is thankfully unencumbered by excessive pontification and interminable reflection, making it an enjoyable and interesting repository of worldly wisdom. And worldly it is. D'Alessandro's battle tales will echo with familiarity for anyone who has functioned for more than a few days in most earthbound corporate environments.

Originally published in The Miami Herald 8/4/08

Tribes

Seth Godin's new book is coming soon. He's done all kinds of cool promo stuff before, during and after the release of his previous books. This one is no exception.

FAQ for Publicists, Publishers and Authors

This is my boilerplate e-mail reply for book review inquiries. I used to send it out to everyone, but somehow, I've shown up on pitch lists for religious stuff, romance novels, kids' books and other things I don't review, and since it's become a flood, and most of those pitches are canned rather than personal, I usually just ignore 'em. But sometimes I don't. Depends.


Thanks for your e-mail about your book. Here are a few things you might find helpful.

First of all, I review business books usually intended for a general business audience. I avoid technical volumes, most business-to-business books, self-help, pop psychology, inspirational, religious, spiritual, sports, celebrity bios, novels, fables, parables and such. (There are exceptions, but not often!) CEO memoirs and the like are iffy, but not entirely out of the question.

I love books and language, and am endlessly interested in all forms of business, as it's a vital aspect of human culture.

That's why I review business books, week after week.

If you want your book considered for review, you need not ask me before sending a copy. It's an extra and unnecessary step.

I receive many books every day — more than I can possibly review — so if you think yours is a candidate, just send it. My address is below (and edited out here).

If you are not sure if the book is right, please take a moment to scan previous reviews (at http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard_pachter). The Miami Herald site requires registration. My own (admittedly incomplete) site, http://www.wordsonwords.com does not.

I like books offering fresh ideas that can be applied to a variety of businesses and situations.

Your book must be new, and available in bookstores and from normal online merchants (Amazon.com, BN.com etc.) and not just through your own web site or 800 number.

I'll sometimes review a book AND the CD audio version. Feel free to send both, if you like.

I don't (can't) return phone calls. You may always follow up with me by e-mail. I try to respond promptly, but this is not my full-time gig, unfortunately, and my "real" job takes up the majority of my time and attention.

I don't review unpublished manuscripts and can offer no advice on agents, publishers, editors etc.

I rarely do author interviews unless there are strong local South Florida connections, and even that's no guarantee.

I don't need any canned reviews, have no say about anything else in the paper and think that poetry is a huge scam, so don't send me any poems (pretty please!)

From time to time, I write about other stuff, but it's not worth pitching me on anything, since I have more ideas than time to execute them.

Thanks for reading. (Any implied grouchiness herein is certainly not directed at you! I promise.)


xxx
rap

Good book review!

I published a review of Johnny Bunko by Dan Pink a couple of weeks ago in The Miami Herald. The next week, I reviewed Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds (and two other books).

I took a look at Garr's site and discovered that he, too, reviewed Pink's book — in his own way. And here it is.

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