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2005 Hopkins and Company, LLC
Note
re: links---certain hyperlinks assume that you are registered as a subscriber
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Thanks
Thanks to
revenue from Executive Times
subscriptions, buyers of books through our amazon.com links, and clients of Hopkins
& Company, we’ve continued our annual practice of making a donation
to a not-for-profit organization as a special holiday thanks to our clients
and friends. This year’s donation was made to Heifer International, a program whose goal is to help end world
hunger and poverty through self-reliance and sustainability. If you’d like to
join us in supporting this fine organization, you can send your contribution
to:
Heifer Project International
P.O. Box 8058, Little Rock,
AR 72203
You can check
out this organization on www.guidestar.org.
Guidestar is a national database of
nonprofit organizations. You can also visit Heifer’s website at http://www.heifer.org.
Triage
This month we
present our annual book issue, which many readers use to purchase holiday gifts
through our online links to amazon.com. (Another gift idea is a subscription
to Executive Times.) About
450,000 books were published in the English language over the past year, half
of which were available in the United States. We read, reviewed
and listed a total of 180 books in Executive
Times during 2005, including recent reviews beginning on page
5. On pages 2 and 3, we recap the best and worst books we read this year. These
books, plus five we read but did not review, close out our 2005 bookshelf at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2005books.html.
There were 25 books we added to the 2005 Shelf of Reproach; these are the
books we feel a little guilty for not reading. A few of those are listed on
page 4. All of them are at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2005
Shelf of Reproach.html. We gave up entirely on 190 books this year for
one reason or another and feel not a twinge of guilt. A few of those are
listed on page 4, and all of them are at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2005
Shelf of Ennui.html. In memory of Peter Drucker
who died in November, we’ve selected a few of his best books on page 4. We’ve
filled our 2006 bookshelf with 113 books, including 39 added in November. A
few of the ones we look forward to reading are on page 3, and all are at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2006books.html.
Happy
Holidays!
Best Books of 2005
|
Title (Link to
Review)
|
Author
|
Rating
|
Review Summary
|
Purchase
|
|
Hannah
Coulter
|
Berry,
Wendell
|
••••
|
Living. Poetic writing and inspirational
testament to living narrated by a woman who has welcomed the love and
losses of life fully. Could be Berry’s
best novel.
|
|
|
Confronting
Reality
|
Bossidy, Larry and Ram Charan
|
••••
|
Models.
Blunt direction to
executives to use a disciplined business model with three related elements:
external realities, internal processes and financial targets.
|
|
|
Until
I Find You
|
Irving,
John
|
••••
|
Longing. 850 well-written pages by a master
of the long form of prose, reveals a three decade journey by protagonist
Jack Burns, who searches for his father, his identity, and the truth.
Unusual characters and situations with universal emotions and complex
relationships.
|
|
|
Never
Let Me Go
|
Ishiguro,
Kazuo
|
••••
|
Purpose.
Novel set in 1990s
describes a society in which clones are created for organ harvesting.
Well-written exploration of discovering purpose in life during a time of
restrictions on personal freedom when science outran ethics.
|
|
|
Saturday
|
McEwan, Ian
|
••••
|
Diurnal. Astutely structured novel presents a
day in the life of London
neurosurgeon Henry Perowne through finely written
prose and a complicated plot that will satisfy readers who enjoy that which
stimulates thinking.
|
|
|
A
Whole New Mind
|
Pink,
Daniel
|
••••
|
Proficiency. A finely presented case for
increasing proficiency in right-brain dominance, along with resources to
help improve right brain aptitude.
|
|
|
DisneyWar
|
Stewart,
James B.
|
••••
|
Dishonesty. Disturbing story of dysfunctional
company and dishonest CEO who was rewarded highly despite colossal and
costly mistakes.
|
|
Worst
Books of 2005
|
Title (Link to
Review)
|
Author
|
Rating
|
Review Summary
|
Purchase
|
|
Bonjour
Laziness
|
Maier,
Corinne
|
DNR
|
Arrêtez. Nihilistic manifesto for workers to
disengage quietly as a protest against management abuses. Neither comic nor
provocative. Take a pass.
|
|
|
Bait
and Switch
|
Ehrenreich, Barbara
|
•
|
Tiresome. Disappointing sequel to highly
recommended 2001 book, Nickel
and Dimed. This time around, Ehrenreich half-heartedly pursues a mid-level corporate
job, pays for expensive transition advice which she usually ignores.
|
|
|
Your
Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
|
Osteen,
Joel
|
•
|
Nostrums. Preachy, simplistic, slogans and nostrums,
packed with exclamation points and smiley face stories. Author influences
wide audience, so you may find something here.
|
|
|
Hard Sell:
The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman
|
Reidy, Jamie
|
•
|
Slacker. Few readers need Reidy’s
prescription: how to con your employer, not do your job and quit when on
the brink of achieving success. Take a pass.
|
|
Selected
Books for 2006
The
Shelf of Reproach 2005
Selected books we should have read, but
didn’t, and feel a little guilty about, from http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2005
Shelf of Reproach.html
The Shelf of Ennui 2005
Selected books we didn’t read because
we got bored, and don’t care, from
http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2005
Shelf of Ennui.html
Legacy:
Best of Peter Drucker
Latest
Books Read and Reviewed:
(Note: readers of the web version of Executive Times
can click on the book covers to order copies directly from amazon.com. When you order through these links, Hopkins
& Company receives a small payment from amazon.com. Click on the title to read the review or
visit our 2005 bookshelf at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2005books.html).
|
Title (Link to
Review)
|
Author
|
Rating
|
Review Summary
|
Purchase
|
|
The
City of Falling Angels
|
Berendt, John
|
•••
|
Personality.
Journalist presents
the character of Venice
through introducing readers to some of the people who live there and how
they engage in the life of the place.
|
|
|
Man Camp
|
Brodeur,
Adrienne
|
•
|
Rehab. Novel presents friends Martha and
Lucy who strain to fix the sensitive Manhattan
men they want in long-term relationships by sending them for masculinity
improvements at Man Camp.
|
|
|
The
Arrogance of the French: Why They Can't Stand Us--and Why the Feeling Is
Mutual
|
Chesnoff, Richard
|
••
|
Clash. Long-time Paris-based journalist for
U.S.
periodicals presents harsh rhetoric and specific examples of the problems
in French-US relations, as well as some insight into the conditions that
led to the current riots.
|
|
|
Slow Man
|
Coetzee, J.M.
|
•••
|
Caring. Finely written novel
in which a man loses his leg in a bicycle accident, struggles with life’s
key questions, becomes infatuated with his nurse, and becomes cared for by
a character from a prior Coetzee novel.
|
|
|
The March
|
Doctorow, E.L.
|
•••
|
Sweeping. Well written historical novel of
General Sherman’s destructive journey across Georgia
and the Carolinas at the end of the Civil
War. Multiple perspectives from ensemble cast of interesting characters,
both real and imagined.
|
|
|
Apple Pie
|
Edge,
John T.
|
••
|
Fruitful.
Interesting people,
places and recipes, all focused on the many varieties of apple pie. Second
in a series on iconic American foods.
|
|
|
My
Detachment
|
Kidder,
Tracy
|
•••
|
Diffident.
Finely written
memoir of experience in Vietnam:
shy, introspective, reluctant and honest. All Vietnam books create some
controversy; this one delivers great writing.
|
|
|
Mission
to America
|
Kirn, Walter
|
••
|
Isolation.
Two young
missionaries from Montana
cult leave their isolated community in search of converts to improve the
gene pool, and along the way become enticed by temptation. Some good
satire, but weak character development.
|
|
|
The
Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life
|
Leveen, Steve
|
••
|
Tips. Potpourri of
suggestions on how to enjoy books, read more, and remember better
what you’ve read.
|
|
|
Stop
That Girl
|
McKenzie,
Elizabeth
|
••
|
Unconventional.
Nine short stories,
each of which features Ann Ransom from childhood to adulthood, striving for
a normal life but following her mother’s unconventional example.
|
|
|
The
Book of Proper Names
|
Nothomb, Amelie
|
••
|
Disorder. Protagonist overcomes tragic
infancy, blooms in idyllic childhood, then withers in ballet school as the
path to artistic perfection becomes consuming.
|
|
|
School Days
|
Parker,
Jr., Robert B.
|
•••
|
Hope. Spenser returns solo to help a
grandmother’s hope that her grandson’s confession to a Columbine-style
shooting spree had to be a misunderstanding or mistake.
|
|
|
Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to
the Mother Country
|
Queenan, Joe
|
•
|
Dull.
Witty writer
provides dull prose in this account of his 2002 trip to his wife’s
homeland. What annoys Queenan is likely to bore
most readers.
|
|
|
SHAM
|
Salerno,
Steve
|
•••
|
Repercussions. Expose of the self-help and
actualization movement showcases fraud and lack of empirical results.
Alarming conclusions on the impact of quackery on health care, education
and psychology.
|
|
|
Grace
|
Ullmann, Linn
|
••
|
Ending.
Novel translated
from Norwegian presents complex and troubling end-of-life
issues, full of love and caring, with characters in ironic relationships.
|
|
|
|
ã
2005 Hopkins and Company, LLC. Executive
Times is published monthly by Hopkins and Company, LLC at the
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