Book Shelf: 2002 Books

This web page lists all books appearing on the pages of Executive Times during 2002. You can click on the title to jump to the detailed book review. Click on the picture of the jacket cover to jump to amazon.com where you can purchase a copy of the book. You can jump to an issue of Executive Times by hitting the date in the “Issue Date” column.

Key to Ratings:

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Outstanding book-read it now

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Highly recommended

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Recommended

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Mildly recommended

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Read if your interest is strong

DNR

Do Not Read: Take a Pass

Title (Click on Link to go to Book Review)	Author(s)	Rating	Issue Date	Comments	Click on Picture to Purchase at amazon.com
A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs	Adams, Rob	•••	Oct 02	Swagger. Austin-based Adams presents drill sergeant attitude and practical advice, especially to those starting or expanding a business.
Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election	Allen, John L., Jr.	•••	Aug 02	Learn through the eyes of a talented, balanced and authoritative writer what will happen behind closed doors when the next pope is chosen. Breezy, conversational writing style makes this book easy to read.
The Long Firm	Arnott, Jake	•	Feb 02	Multiple narrators describe gay English gangster Harry Starks’ life of crime, violence and sex. No compelling reason to read this novel.
The Shelters of Stone	Auel, Jean M.	•	Jul 02	Ayla and Jondalar go to his home to meet the parents and get married in this 750-page fifth volume in Auel’s Earth’s Children series of novels about prehistoric life.
Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing	Badaracco, Jr., Joseph L.	••••	Apr 02	Lots of leadership books focus on heroes. Badaracco presents those everyday challenges that ordinary people face with all life’s ambiguity. Useful and realistic.
See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism	Baer, Robert	•••	Jun 02	Disgruntled CIA agent’s story of his work life and how the CIA and White House devalues field and foreign agents and sources, weakening the ability of the U.S. to know what’s going on around the world.
Last Man Standing	Baldacci, David	••	Jan 02	The plot is creative, and contains enough twists to keep a reader somewhat interested, despite the weak dialogue and limited use of the language.
Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate	Baldwin, Neil	•••	May 02	Baldwin traces how Henry Ford personally fed the flames of anti-Semitism around the world during the 20^th century.
The Sweet Hell Inside: A Family History	Ball, Edward	••	Mar 02	Slave descendents become wealthy undertakers as family faces life’s challenges from Civil War to today. One family’s story can be everyone’s story.
Servants of the Map	Barrett, Andrea	•••	Mar 02	Masterful short stories that transport readers to the time and place she captures and to the well-developed characters she presents.
Tricky Business	Barry, Dave	•	Dec 02	Treading Water. 12 funny pages out of 300, the best of which are sidebars to the plot. Barry does better when brief. Eclectic cast of South Florida weirdos.
Coming Soon!!!	Barth, John	•	Feb 02	Postmodern novel that’s hard to follow but frequently clever and witty.
The Doctor’s House	Beattie, Ann	•••	Apr 02	Three characters, a daughter, her mother, and a son, narrate different perspectives of life in this well-written novel.
True to Form	Berg, Elizabeth	•••	Jul 02	Katie Nash returns and presents the anxieties of adolescence and friendship with a delicacy and poignancy that will ring true for most readers.
Criminal Intent	Bernhardt, William	••	Nov 02	Renegade Priest. Mystery fans will appreciate that William Bernhardt has reprised attorney Ben Kincaid to defend another client accused of murder. Father Dan helped Ben years ago, and now it’s Ben’s turn. Good plot, weak writing.
Final Round	Bernhardt, William	•	May 02	Author leaves familiar setting of Oklahoma and criminal justice system for Georgia and the Masters. Weak dialogue and little character development.
Natural Suspect: A Collaborative Novel of Suspense	Bernhardt, William	••	Jan 02	Cute and funny mystery by eleven authors who collaborated to twist and turn plot and characters with whimsy.
Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson’s Secret White House Tapes, 1964-1965	Beschloss, Michael	•••	Jan 02	Eavesdrop on selected conversations between Lyndon Johnson and a wide cast of characters to gain insight into how a manipulative President operated.
What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness	Bing, Stanley	••	Apr 02	A funny reflection on bad bosses by Fortune columnist and CBS executive. Dilbert without the cartoons.
Class Action	Bingham, Clara and Laura Leedy Gansler	•••	Sep 02	Mesmerizing story about a hostile work environment at Eveleth Mines in Minnesota, a landmark lawsuit, and the behavior of all participants.
The Buffalo Soldier	Bohjalian, Chris	•••	May 02	Powerful novel of loss and recovery with real tension and deep feelings. The physical surroundings have a life of their own.
From the Dust Returned	Bradbury, Ray	•••	Jan 02	Creative and well-written novel that could be read aloud to frighten pre-adolescents, while creating enjoyment for the adult reader.
The Strange Death of American Liberalism	Brands, H.W.	•••	Mar 02	Lively and interesting short book that posits that the end of the Cold War caused the end of American Liberalism. Read about Nixon as a liberal.
A False Sense of Well Being	Braselton, Jeanne	•••	Feb 02	Finely written first novel of the adventures of a woman of the New South in her middle years struggle.
The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Guiterrez	Breslin, Jimmy	•••	Jul 02	Illegal Mexican immigrant arrives in New York looking for a better life and finds work with an unscrupulous builder. In the end, neither get what they deserve.
P.G. County	Briscoe, Connie	••	Dec 02	Appearances. Briscoe uses all the demographics of the real D.C. suburb, Princes Georges County, Maryland, to portray characters who fit the locale and for whom appearances make all the difference.
No Way to Treat a First Lady	Buckley, Christopher	•••	Dec 02	Chuckles. Laugh out loud as Buckley returns to DC and the trial of Lady Bethmac, who’s on trial for the murder of her husband, a philandering U.S. President. Sex, lawyers, media, and the Lincoln bedroom.
Nuremberg: The Reckoning	Buckley, Jr., William F.	••	Jul 02	Neither good history nor good fiction. As always, Buckley writes well, but in this novel too quickly and without much depth.
Another Planet: A Year in the Life of a Suburban High School	Burkett, Elinor	••••	Feb 02	Well-written chronology of Burkett’s participant-observation at Prior Lake H.S. outside Minneapolis from 9/99 through 6/00. Breaks stereotypes and helps readers think.
The Baby Boon: How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless	Burkett, Elinor	•••	Jan 02	Burkett calls attention to all the ways that government and companies favor in their policies those with children over the childfree.
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate	Caro, Robert A.	••••	Oct 02	Hands On. At 4 pounds and 1,040 pages of text, there are ample stories and examples in this well written presentation of how Lyndon Johnson transformed the use of power in the United States Senate.
Christmas in Plains: Memories	Carter, Jimmy	•	Jan 02	Brief, nostalgic snapshots of memories of Christmases past, with “folk art” illustrations by Amy Carter.
The Emperor of Ocean Park	Carter, Stephen L.	•••	Oct 02	No Clothes. Narrator Talcott Garland takes readers into a 650 page legal thriller trying to unravel various mysteries following the death of The Emperor, Tal’s father, conservative Black Judge Oliver Garland. Interesting structure, but too wordy and plodding, especially in the first half.
Summerland	Chabon, Michael	•••	Dec 02	Take Me Out. Master writer Chabon tries a children’s book, fails to reach the heights of E.B. White or J.R.R. Tolkien, but delivers a enjoyable, magical story of baseball, good and evil, and coming of age. Great to read aloud to kids over many weeks.
What the CEO Wants You to Know: How Your Company Really Works	Charan, Ram	•••	Feb 02	Basic training for any employee on the fundamentals of business that apply from the smallest organization to the largest. Clearly written and brief.
The Power of Six Sigma: An Inspiring Tale of How Six Sigma Is Transforming the Way We Work	Chowdhury, Subir	••	Jun 02	Primer suitable for any employee that explains the buzzwords of Six Sigma and presents an easy-to-read story that explains Six Sigma clearly.
Red Rabbit	Clancy, Tom	•	Oct 02	Tame Retro Stew. Clancy returns to the 1980s and reprises Jack Ryan who escorts a Soviet defector, a “rabbit,” to the West. The rabbit became disillusioned with Russian leadership when he learned of a plot to kill the Pope. Few plot twists, and a slow and repetitious pace over twice as many pages as needed.
The Good The Bad & The Difference: How to Tell Right From Wrong in Everyday Situations	Cohen, Randy	••	May 02	Collection of “The Ethicist” columns from The New York Times, many of which are practical, clear, and witty.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t	Collins, Jim	••••	Mar 02	“Much of what we’re doing is at best a waste of time.” Read Good to Great and find out from this well-researched book what works and what’s a waste of energy.
Cosbyology: Essays and Other Observations from the Doctor of Comedy	Cosby, Bill	••	Jan 02	Cosby gets it right on many pages in this book. It’s an entertaining hour’s reading. If you’re looking for Cosby’s best, look elsewhere; this little book is amusing, but not gut splitting.
20/20 Foresight: Crafting Strategy in an Uncertain World	Courtney, Hugh	••••	Jan 02	McKinsey and Company consultant Hugh Courtney proposes ways to develop strategy within a context of four levels of uncertainty. He presents approaches to answering five key questions.
The Bondwoman’s Narrative	Crafts, Hannah	••	Sep 02	Proposed by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as the first novel written by a black woman. Female slave describes life from a point of view only another slave could know.
The Good Men	Craig, Charmaine	•••	Apr 02	Absorbing and well-written first novel. Life in 14^th century rural France includes strong women, a sinful priest and a rigorous Inquisition.
Anatomy of Greed: The Unshredded Truth from an Enron Insider	Cruver, Brian	••	Nov 02	Pinky’s View. A coming of age story about a recent MBA and the year he spent at Enron as it died. Equivalent to a pinky’s view of human anatomy, given Cruver’s job level within Enron.
Fire Ice	Cussler, Clive	••	Aug 02	Lukewarm action novel starring one-dimensional character Kurt Austin who foils a Russian’s plot to terrorize America.
Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork and the Myth of Total Efficiency	DeMarco, Tom	•••	Jun 02	Diatribe against those who overdo efficiency and proposal for understanding the value of slack.
Unnatural Leadership: Going Against Instinct and Experience to Develop Ten New Leadership Instincts	Dotlich, David L. and Peter C. Cairo	••	Dec 02	Buzz. Long on the what, short on the how, but some solid concepts and thought-stimulating ideas. Up to you to figure out how to accomplish what they suggest, and what doesn’t come naturally.
Citizen McCain	Drew, Elizabeth	•••	Oct 02	Chronicle. Drew follows McCain from January 2001 through March 2002 as he shepherds campaign finance reform bill through Congress. Drew adds insight as she takes us inside politics and into the life of a Senator who leads with courage and skill.
Managing in the Next Society	Drucker, Peter F.	•••	Nov 02	Sampler. Compilation of Drucker essays from recent years contain candid opinions that are always thoughtful, rarely conventional. Drucker predicts that coming social changes will be more important than economic ones.
Showdown	Elder, Larry	••	Dec 02	Jeffersonian. If you’re looking to read an articulate, clear and direct presentation of Libertarian ideas on race, education, welfare and politics, this is the book for you.
The Ten Things You Can’t Say in America	Elder, Larry	••	Jan 02	Foes of political correctness will enjoy the libertarian manifesto in this book, whether you agree or disagree with Elder’s point of view.
Snobbery: The American Version	Epstein, Joseph	••	Nov 02	What Kind of Snob Are You? Epstein finds some form or other of snobbery everywhere. Read this book and find the snob in yourself and others.
Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician	Everitt, Anthony	••	Oct 02	Eloquent. Everitt’s prose brings Cicero to life, and readers interested in ancient Rome, philosophy, lawyers or politics, will find this book informative.
The Monk Downstairs	Farrington, Tim	•••	Sep 02	Blooming romance develops between ex-monk and his landlady. Written well with good dialogue and perfect plot momentum.
Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players	Fatsis, Stefan	•••	Aug 02	Addictive book presenting the strange people who pay competitive Scrabble, including the author who went from novice to expert in the two years he spent researching the book.
Everything is Illuminated	Foer, Jonathan Safran	•••	Aug 02	Clever and talented writing including witty voices and dialect.
Lord Hornblower	Forester, C.S.	•••	Feb 02	Next-to-last book in the Hornblower series. Great relaxation reading and some lessons on executive demeanor and risk taking.
Lucky Man: A Memoir	Fox, Michael J.	•••	Oct 02	Becoming Oneself. Finding meaning in life through Parkinson’s disease, Fox takes readers through a story of his perspective on his life and what’s important.
Martin Luther King, Jr.	Frady, Marshall	•••	Jun 02	200-page, well-written biography covers King in both “the transcendently spiritual and the convulsing carnal.”
Oh, the Things I Know	Franken, Al	•	Nov 02	Oh, No! Loyal Al Franken fans might like this short book, but for the rest of us, this book may be better to give as a gift to a non-reader than to read oneself.
Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11^th	Friedman, Thomas L.	•••	Nov 02	All About Walls. Selection of Friedman’s New York Times columns from shortly before 9/11 through six months after, with about eighty pages of diary. Leaves readers thinking, whether agreeing or disagreeing with Friedman.
Revenge	Fry, Stephen	•••	Sep 02	Fry delves deep into human nature exploring love, betrayal, alienation, friendship, recovery and, of course, revenge.
Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution	Fukuyama, Francis	•••	Aug 02	Read about how developments in genetic engineering and neuropharmacology endanger who we are as humans.
Blood of Victory	Furst, Alan	•••	Oct 02	Dripping. Master novelist Alan Furst brings readers to the atmosphere of 1940, and presents images of intrigue, complicated characters, and high suspense as a spy tries to disrupt Germany’s oil supply, known as the blood of victory.
Agapē Agape	Gaddis, William	•	Dec 02	Last Words. Stream of consciousness and multi-page run-on sentences by late author who saw player piano as harmful to artists.
Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet	Gardner, Howard	••	Apr 02	Lessons from professionals in genetics and journalism facing technological or market changes applied to all of us.
Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science	Gawande, Atul	•••	Aug 02	Case stories from skilled writer and senior resident surgeon take readers for an insider and rare view of medicine.
In America’s Court	Geoghegan, Thomas	•••	Dec 02	Quirky. Civil lawyer Geoghegan agrees to help a criminal attorney with a case. Despite a writing style that’s often distracting, Geoghegan’s observations and reflections leaves readers thinking about society.
The Last American Man	Gilbert, Elizabeth	•••	Sep 02	Eustace Conway wants us all to join him in a return to nature. Read about this charismatic, unique and hard-to-get-along-with man.
Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News	Goldberg, Bernard	••	Mar 02	Author tells us what we already know: there’s a liberal bias in network TV news. Repetitive often, but also interesting and well-written.
Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence	Goleman, Daniel, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee	•••••	Jun 02	Outstanding presentation of the effective use of leadership styles. Authors present a strong case for why organizations need resonant leaders, and provide practical, usable information to help one become a better leader.
Q is for Quarry	Grafton, Sue	•••	Dec 02	Junk Food. Detective Kinsey Millhone returns to eat loads of junk food an solve an old murder that leads her to connections with her own family.
Irish Stew!	Greeley, Andrew M.	•	Apr 02	Two parallel stories don’t add up to one good mystery novel.
The Bishop in the West Wing	Greeley, Andrew M.	•••	Oct 02	Unnecessarily Gracious. Feel-good mystery in which Bishop Blackie Ryan helps newly elected Democratic and populist President Jack McGurn get off to a good start.
The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island	Greenlaw, Linda	•••	Sep 02	Well-written stories of interactions with close and distant relations, fellow lobster catchers, neighbors and outsiders.
Skipping Christmas	Grisham, John	•	Jan 02	If Jimmy Stewart were alive, he’d recognize Bedford Falls in this sentimental drivel. Unless you really like Grisham or Christmas, take a pass.
The Summons	Grisham, John	•	Mar 02	Typical Grisham weak character development and clumsy dialogue. Less of a page turner than his earlier books.
Mortal Allies	Haig, Brian	•••	Jul 02	JAG Sean Drummond returns to defend an Army officer accused of murder. Great plot momentum for 500 pages.
The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell	Harari, Oren	••	May 02	Few secrets and not much new about leadership. Motivating and inspirational, but not necessarily useful.
A Love of My Own	Harris, E. Lynn	•	Oct 02	Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places. Poorly written romance with alternating narrators, cardboard characters and odd relationships among unlikable upper class Black Americans.
The Staggerford Flood	Hassler, Jon	•••	Nov 02	Community Life. Hassler captures rural life, friendship and the challenge of making moral decisions for the greater good. His writing is always crisp and clear, with well-selected images, and flawless dialogue.
The Professional	Heinz, W.C.	•••	Mar 02	Published in 1958; released recently in paperback; great dialogue and character development in story of a middleweight fighter and his training for a championship fight.
Hesselbein on Leadership	Hesselbein, Frances	•••	Dec 02	Few and Powerful Words. Collection of essays full of thoughtful and provoking, clear-headed thinking, well-grounded in values.
Basket Case	Hiaasen, Carl	••	Mar 02	Novel with some laughs from South Florida weird people. Rock music fans may enjoy the many references to music and musicians.
The Wailing Wind	Hillerman, Tony	•	Jul 02	Predictable, formulaic mystery set in the desert Southwest.
Captain Saturday	Inman, Robert	••	Apr 02	Raleigh TV weatherman loses his job, leading to an unraveling and rebuilding of his life. A not very well-written novel of a New South midlife crisis.
Moral Hazard	Jennings, Kate	••	Sep 02	Novel stretches from glimpses of life as Wall Street speechwriter for buzzword-afflicted executives to caring for sick husband.
Work 2.0: Rewriting the Contract	Jensen, Bill	•	Jul 02	If you like poor writing and a preachy message, this is the book for you.
The Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years	Johnson, Haynes	•••	Feb 02	Falling somewhere between journalism and history, Johnson presents economic prosperity alongside scandal and celebrity obsession.
The Weather in Berlin	Just, Ward	•••	Jul 02	Tightly written novel of filmmaker’s return to Berlin for inspiration. Images, mood and weather changes deftly.
F’d Companies: Spectaculr dot-com flameouts	Kaplan, Philip J.	DNR	Sep 02	Superficial chronicle of stupid things companies did by author with juvenile potty mouth writing style.
Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos	Kaplan, Robert D.	••	Apr 02	150-page timely and thoughtful essay on how the lessons of the past via the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes and Kant, influences how America conducts itself with global adversaries.
Make Your Own Luck: Success Tactics You Won’t Learn in Business School	Kash, Peter Morgan	••	Jun 02	Motivational stories from Kash’s life and others. Interesting and upbeat. Good section on values.
Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire	Kaufman, Michael T.	•••	Oct 02	Applied Philosophy. All his life, Soros tried to apply a philosophy that he was also refining and defining. Kaufman takes readers on a journey that observes and explores this complicated man, and creates the image of a complex and complicated character.
Profiles in Courage for Out Time	Kennedy, Caroline	•••	Aug 02	Fourteen essays about Profiles in Courage award winners. Some will bring tears to your eyes; all will inspire you.
Roscoe	Kennedy, William	•••	Mar 02	Lyrical narrative of tangled relationships, politics, love, and loss in Albany in the mid-20^th century. A mature writer with great skills and wisdom presents memorable characters.
When I Was a Young Man: A Memoir	Kerrey, Bob	••••	Jul 02	When you read this book, you’ll understand why and how a patriotic, loyal Republican, became a Democrat, and how a war changed the attitudes of a generation about their government and its policies.
Biz Dev 3.0: Changing Business As We Know It	Keywell, Brad	•	Feb 02	Annoying book with little helpful information, except for those immersed in bus dev, or those who want to visit the cages of the animals who live there.
The Secret Life of Bees	Kidd, Sue Monk	•••	Sep 02	Richly written first novel set in South Carolina-1964, full of love, loss, grief, friendship, and the coming of age of a young girl who finds mothers who love her.
Mr. Potter	Kincaid, Jamaica	••	Aug 02	Using poetic images, haunting repetition, and odd time sequences, Kincaid’s new novel describes her estranged father.
Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales	King, Stephen	•••	May 02	Well-crafted, strange and macabre stories from a master of the short story genre. Great bedtime reading: take one a night for two weeks.
Small Wonder	Kingsolver, Barbara	•••	Jun 02	23 essays begin to provide an artist’s response to 9/11. Author at her best in displaying her passion for natural history and biology.
The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton	Klein, Joe	••	May 02	Attempt at analysis and perspective may be too soon. Readers will know Klein’s point of view and not much else after reading this small book.
Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929	Klein, Maury	••	Feb 02	A historian’s perspective on the stock market crash of 1929, full of fascinating characters and the context of those interesting times.
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry	Kornfield, Jack	•••	Apr 02	Kornfield brings his experience as a Buddhist monk and clinical psychologist to this book. Loved the messages of tolerance.
The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations	Kotter, John P. and Dan S. Cohen	••••	Oct 02	Pumping. Kotter proposes more feeling and less thinking to accomplish large-scale change. Lots of brief and memorable stories from real workers and managers to show how each proposed step can be carried out.
Accountability Leadership: How to Strengthen Productivity through Sound Managerial Leadership	Kraines, Gerald A.	•	Feb 02	It’s the boss’s fault. If you’re in charge, read this, feel a little guilty, and think twice about adopting Kraines’ system.
Extravagance	Krist, Gary	•••	Dec 02	To Market, To Market. Masterful story of the market and players in 1690s London and 1990s New York. Clever, timely, witty presentation of character and moral behavior.
dot.bomb: My Days and Nights at an Internet Goliath	Kuo, J. David	••••	Feb 02	Entertaining tale of how Craig Winn led Value America toward success and failure, with Kuo trying to help.
The Miracle	L’Heureux, John	•••	Dec 02	Journeys. Superb writing with multiple levels of meaning, rich cadences of language and clear images. Readers looking for a story of life and death, redemption and transformation will enjoy every page.
Fragrant Harbor	Lanchester, John	•••	Oct 02	Refuge. Well-written novel that captures the atmosphere, culture, power, and contradictions of Hong Kong from the 1930s to the present.
Crow Lake	Lawson, Mary	••••	May 02	Terrific first novel full of taut emotions, complicated relationships, life and love set in Northern Ontario.
No Certain Rest	Lehrer, Jim	•••	Nov 02	Sins of the Fathers. Novel of 200+ brisk pages about a modern investigation into a death on the Antietam battlefield. Alternating images of past and present. Clean plot and decent dialogue.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable	Lencioni, Patrick	•••	Oct 02	Who Put the Fun in Dysfunctional? Find yourself and your team in this easy-to-read book about how executives interact. Short descriptions of each dysfunction, how to recognize it, and how to overcome it.
Tishomingo Blues	Leonard, Elmore	•••	Mar 02	Clean dialogue, unusual characters, and well-constructed plot, including the Dixie Mafia and a Civil War re-enactment.
The Sweetest Dream	Lessing, Doris	•••	Jun 02	Members of an extended family along with waifs and strays come and go from a London house where they find or give refuge. Great writing.
The Sigma Protocol	Ludlum, Robert	•••	Jan 02	Ludlum keeps us guessing who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, as the action unfolds. Ludlum followers will not be disappointed.
The Paris Option	Ludlum, Robert and Gayle Lynds	•••	Sep 02	Another suspenseful Covert-One thriller in which agent Jon Smith saves America from terrorists, with the help of familiar friends.
Life of Pi	Martel, Yann	•••	Jul 02	A memorable, well-told, unforgettable, unbelievable story of the 200 + day Pacific voyage of a shipwrecked Indian teenager and a Royal Bengal tiger.
Managing for the Short Term: The New Rules for Running a Business in a Day-to-Day World	Martin, Chuck	•	Aug 02	Useless book that parrots e-mail responses by a varying group of executives providing advice that can’t be implemented.
Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad	McCourt, Malachy	DNR	May 02	100 double-spaced pages of rambling drivel that a reader couldn’t care about. Consider as a gift to someone named Dan who you don’t like.
John Adams	McCullough	••••	Apr 02	Read this outstanding biography of the second U.S. President and watch yourself go from respect and admiration to liking him, despite how hard he was to get along with.
The Nanny Diaries	McLaughlin, Emma and Nicola Kraus	•••	Jun 02	A Park Avenue nanny tells all about the ways she was exploited and a four-year old neglected by the self-centered Mr. and Mrs. X. Sometimes funny, often sad, perspective.
Tempered Radicals: How People Use Difference to Inspire Change at Work	Meyerson, Debra E.	••	Feb 02	Some people who don’t “fit” into organizations take actions that lead to significant change. Good research and analysis by Stanford professor. Helps executives think differently about diversity.
Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God	Miles, Jack	••	Mar 02	If you liked Miles’ Pulitzer prize winning God: A Biography, you’re likely to enjoy this sequel that takes a literary perspective on the New Testament.
Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War	Miller, Judith	••••	Jan 02	A comprehensive investigative story about the development of biological weapons that have the power to destroy all human life.
French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France	Moore, Tim	•	Nov 02	Spinning. Inexperienced cyclist and writer decides to buy a bike and follow the path of the 2000 Tour de France a few weeks ahead of the pros. Sprinkled liberally with fine British humor, appeals to fans of wit, cycling and the Tour.
Power Plays: Win or Lose – How History’s Great Political Leaders Play the Game	Morris, Dick	•••	Jul 02	Six strategies and how they were successful or not when pursued by nineteen politicians around the world.
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage	Munro, Alice	•••	Jan 02	Munro’s mastery of plot, efficiency of language, and precision of structure are all evident in each of these nine short stories.
Gargoyles	Nayes, Alan	••	Aug 02	Robin Cook-like fiction makes good parallel to Fukuyama’s Our Posthuman Future, featuring made-to-order creatures.
Please Don’t Just Do What I Tell You: Do What Needs to be Done: Every Employees Guide to Making Work More Rewarding	Nelson, Bob	•	May 02	Premise is that managers and employees live in different worlds and are unlikely to communicate. Beware that people might actually do some of the things in this book.
When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan	Noonan, Peggy	•••	Apr 02	Noonan’s view of President Ronald Reagan: a happy, unpretentious, simple, well-grounded man whose character was formed by hardship, and whose goodness and kindness were felt by many.
July, July	O’Brien, Tim	•••	Dec 02	Now, and Then. Rich portraits of a dozen characters who gather in Minnesota for their 30^th college reunion, and how events from 1969 formed their characters. Realistic dialogue and poignant revelation of real people.
Living with Saints	O’Connell, Mary	••	Jan 02	Debut collection of stories placing Catholic saints in modern settings with Catholic women longing for something.
Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest	O’Connor, Sandra Day	•••	Mar 02	Dry, distant and unemotional memoir that resembles turning pages in a photo album and hearing a few sentences about each picture by an observer. Does reveal formation of character and presents an unusual place and time.
Wish You Were Here	O’Nan, Stewart	•••	Jun 02	Join a sad extended family on their last seven days at the newly sold family vacation home on Chautauqua Lake.
The Dive from Clausen’s Pier	Packer, Ann	••••	Jul 02	Packer delivers characters, scenes, and dialogue with precision in this great debut novel.
Shrink Rap	Parker, Robert B.	••	Dec 02	Therapeutic. Sunny Randall returns to protect a writer from the stalking of her ex-husband and psychiatrist. If you can overlook Parker’s male clumsiness in writing as a female narrator, give this some attention.
Widow’s Walk	Parker, Robert B.	•••	May 02	Spenser’s back as Boston’s greatest private eye, and solves another mystery. Parker crafts fine dialogue and paces the plot with just the right momentum.
Tumbling After: Pedaling Like Crazy After Life Goes Downhill	Parker, Susan	•••	Aug 02	Everything changes for Suzy Parker and her husband when he becomes a quadriplegic following a bicycle accident. Clear, poignant, short vignettes.
The Phoenix Effect: 9 Revitalizing Strategies No Business Can Do Without	Pate, Carter and Harlan Platt	••	Aug 02	Basic primer on how to improve corporate performance including interesting stories, with advice that’s conflicting and hard to implement.
The Beach House	Patterson, James	•	Jul 02	Formulaic one-dimensional characters easily forgotten and leaving a reader thinking about nothing at all.
2^nd Chance	Patterson, James with Andrew Gross	••	Jun 02	Predictable, junk-food mystery: short chapters; fast-moving, predictable action; interesting plot. Clumsy use of female first-person narrator and weak character development.
Roosevelt’s Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage	Persico, Joseph E.	••	Mar 02	All you ever wanted to know and then some about spying during WWII. Sat for a while on the Shelf of Reproach after reading the first half.
Married to the Job: Why We Life to Work and What We Can Do About It	Philipson, Ilene	•••	Nov 02	Unhealthy Attachment. Some people work so much because they’re too emotionally attached to the workplace. See full review for checklist to see if you’re one of those people.
The Pretender	Pollock, Ellen Joan	•••	Jun 02	Fast-paced true story of how Marty Frankel executed financial fraud around the world. A real page-turner, stranger than fiction.
The Cobra Event	Preston, Robert	•••	Feb 02	1997 novel presents accurate science about the real threats of biological terrorism. Scary, suspenseful, gory.
Blessings	Quindlen, Anna	•••	Nov 02	Secrets. Old and young, rich and poor, unite through the secrets that bind them. A warm story about people trying to deal with love, redemption, and creating community.
Martin Sloane	Redhill, Michael	•••	Sep 02	Well-written portrait of an artist: his recent life; formative years; a lover’s search for him.
President Nixon: Alone in the White House	Reeves, Richard	•••	Jun 02	Consistent and repeated images of Nixon working on his own from 1969 through 1973. Adds to understanding the enigmatic Richard Nixon.
Toward Commitment: A Dialogue About Marriage	Rehm, Diane and John Rehm	•	Dec 02	Eavesdropping. Listen in on reflections and dialogue about marriage from radio talk show host and retired lawyer. Unless your own relationship is in deep trouble, or unless your morbid sense of curiosity about someone else’s marital reality is strong, take a pass.
I’ll Be Short: Essentials for a Decent Working Society	Reich, Robert B.	••	Oct 02	His Long Suit. Former Labor Secretary Reich presents his straightforward, unabashed, liberal opinions in a lively way, and with great passion.
The Brother	Roberts, Sam	••	May 02	David Greenglass betrayed his sister and his country. He went to jail and she, Ethel Rosenberg, was electrocuted with her husband, Julius. Roberts tells all in 500 + pages.
Winning Decisions: Getting it Right the First Time	Russo, J. Edward	•••	Jul 02	Practical suggestions on four stages of decision-making: framing; intelligence gathering; concluding; and learning from experience.
The Whore’s Child and Other Stories	Russo, Richard	•••	Aug 02	Seven well-constructed short stories with masterful descriptive language and character development.
CIA, Inc.: Espionage and the Craft of Business Intelligence	Rustmann, Jr., F.W.	•	Sep 02	Primer on the do’s and don’ts of engaging in corporate intelligence gathering, including some shady recommendations that should be avoided.
Staying Tuned: A Life in Journalism	Schorr, Daniel	•••	Aug 02	60 years with CBS, CNN and PBS: pushing and shoving anyone and everyone to get stories.
The Lovely Bones	Sebold, Alice	•••	Sep 02	Well-written, haunting first novel narrated by murdered adolescent from a memorable heaven and visits to earth.
Unless	Shields, Carol	••••	Jun 02	Poignant novel of a woman’s struggle with loss. Extraordinary writing about ordinary life from author dying of breast cancer.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress	Sijie, Dai	•••	Apr 02	An engaging story of two young men exiled to the countryside and the seamstress who changes their lives. Fine imagery and description.
What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States	Simon, James F.	••••	Jun 02	Fascinating and interesting book that transports readers to the crises early in U.S. history, especially Jefferson’s push for the supremacy of state’s rights, and Marshall’s position on strong central government and an independent judiciary.
December 6	Smith, Martin Cruz	•••	Dec 02	Loyalty. Fine writing revealing human nature from characters seeped in different cultures. Life in Japan prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, mostly through the eyes of the black sheep son of American missionaries.
Heart of a Soldier: A Story of Love, Heroism and September 11^th	Stewart, James B.	••••	Nov 02	He Gave His Life. Each person who died on 9/11 had a personal story. Stewart presents a biography of one man, Rick Rescorla, who died in the WTC. Finely written. If there’s only one 9/11 book you’ll read, make it this one.
The Wealth of Knowledge: Intellectual Capital and the Twenty-First Century Organization	Stewart, Thomas A.	•••	Apr 02	Stewart’s clear and entertaining writing style makes this readable. An interesting exploration of what intellectual capital means to today’s companies.
The Count and the Confession	Taylor, John	•	Sep 02	Tedious chronicle of true crime story with characters that are stranger than fiction, unlikable and behave in most unusual ways.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for a Faith	Terkel, Studs	•••	May 02	The master of oral history allows 62 people to tell the rest of us a thing or two about death and dying.
52 McGs.: The Best Obituaries from Legendary New York Times Writer Robert Mc G. Thomas, Jr.	Thomas, Jr., Robert Mc G.	•••	Feb 02	Well-written, offbeat obits lead reader toward understanding deeper truths about life and human nature.
The Story of Lucy Gault	Trevor, William	••••	Nov 02	Moving. 235 tightly written pages about love, loss, guilt and forgiveness in 20^th century Ireland. Depth of understanding of human nature combine with rich description and character development.
Tepper Isn’t Going Out	Trillin, Calvin	••••	Mar 02	Funny New York situation comedy with great dialogue, imaginative situations, memorable characters and fine writing.
Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win	Useem, Michael	•	Mar 02	50 not very useful lessons from sixteen individuals in eight engaging stories of interaction between bosses and superiors from Civil War generals to CEOs to Old Testament prophets.
Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got To Be So Hated	Vidal, Gore	•••	Aug 02	Disturbing, agitating and thought-provoking essays from a point of view not frequently heard.
The Bureau and the Mole	Vise, David A.	•••	Sep 02	Detailed description of FBI agent and spy Robert Hanssen, and how Louis Freeh lost his job as FBI director.
The Provocateur: How a Generation of Leaders Are Building Communities, Not Just Companies	Weber, Larry	DNR	Apr 02	Fact-less observations, not unlike the worst of Tom Peters: reflections on his own consumer experiences, and generalizations that the rest of us could care less about.
John Henry Days	Whitehead, Colson	•••	Feb 02	Well-written novel of parallel lives of railroad worker John Henry and writer J. Sutter.
Hoop Roots: Basketball, Race, and Love	Wideman, John Edgar	•••	Jan 02	Words and images dribbled out expertly giving insight into basketball, race, and love.
The Judges	Wiesel, Elie	•	Nov 02	Terror. Wiesel, not at his best, presents five stranded strangers who are forced by a madman to examine the meaning of their lives. Forced dialogue and obtuse language.
The Future of Life	Wilson, Edward O.	•••	May 02	Well-written primer on what’s happening to ecosystems and what can be done to sustain biodiversity, and why we should take immediate, specific actions.
What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained	Wolke, Robert L.	••	Nov 02	Smart cookin’. Retired Chemistry prof tells more than you may want to know about the science that’s going on in your kitchen. Often humorous. Always clear and understandable. Buy for your cook.
The Poet and The Murderer: A True Story of Literary Crime and the Art of Forgery	Worrall, Simon	••	Jul 02	Page-turner about master forger Mark Hofmann who swindled academics and the Mormon Church, forging 129 different people and over 1,000 documents.

Roam the virtual bookshelves at Hopkins & Company. This page includes the selections from this year's issues of Executive Times. Follow these links to roam our other book shelves:

Books Reviews 2001

Books from 2000

Non-Fiction Reviews from Executive Times in 1999

Fiction Reviews from Executive Times in 1999

Books Read in 1999 but not reviewed in Executive Times

The Shelf of Reproach: Books still unread or unfinished

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