Merry Christmas! Books I’ve picked up lately, for me (and hubby) to read. Some might help with last-minute gift shopping? Happy reading!
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Amazon writes, “Ten years in the making, this engaging work reveals why ‘Lincoln’s road
to success was longer, more tortuous, and far less likely’ than the
other men, and why, when opportunity beckoned, Lincoln was ‘the best
prepared to answer the call.’ This multiple biography further provides
valuable background and insights into the contributions and talents of
Seward, Chase, and Bates. Lincoln may have been ‘the indispensable
ingredient of the Civil War,’ but these three men were invaluable to
Lincoln and they played key roles in keeping the nation intact.”
How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq by Matthew Alexander. Publisher’s Weekly writes, “Alexander, a pseudonymous air force officer, and writer Bruning (House to House),
collaborate to tell the stranger-than-fiction story of the intelligence
operation that located and ultimately killed Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the
head of al-Qaeda in Iraq. An Air Force investigator turned
interrogator, Alexander was trained in the post–Abu Ghraib
interrogation techniques that replace fear and control with respect,
rapport, hope, cunning and deception. He arrived in Iraq in March 2006,
a month after al-Qaeda bombed the Golden Dome Mosque in Samarra in an
effort to incite sectarian violence, and Zarqawi became the most wanted
man in Iraq and the primary focus of U.S. intelligence efforts. Using
the new methods, Alexander interrogated five captured al-Qaeda members
and tracked down Zarqawi’s personal spiritual adviser, who unwittingly
led U.S. Special Forces to Zarqawi’s hideout; this vindicated
Alexander’s methods and eliminated the key terrorist leader. Alexander
provides a front-row seat to the intelligence war inside the Global War
on Terrorism in a riveting, fast-paced account that reads like a
first-rate thriller.”
The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg. Publisher’s Weekly writes, “This modern-day business parable, a quick read in the spirit of The
Greatest Salesman in the World and The One Minute Manager, should do
well with eager corporate-ladder climbers, who may at first be confused
by its focus: on putting the other guy first-be it a colleague,
competitor, customer, friend or family member. Told through the
fictitious story of an ambitious young salesman named Joe, Burg and
Mann communicate their points through the advice of an enigmatic (and
highly likeable) mentor character known as Pindar. Rather than help Joe
snag a fast sale, the consultant introduces him to series of ‘go-givers’ who personify the ‘Five Laws of Stratospheric Success.’
Over the course of five days, a restaurateur, a CEO, a financial
advisor, a real-estate broker and the mysterious ‘Connector’ teach Joe
about the laws of value, compensation, influence, authenticity and
receptivity-concepts that make more immediate sense in this fictional
context than they would in a formal business book. Burg (Endless
Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales) and Mann (You
Call the Shots) write with a simple, informal style that offers a
working-person’s interpretation of the old adage ‘give, and you shall
receive.’”
Churchill, Hitler and “The Unnecessary War”: How Britian Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World by Patrick J. Buchanan. Amazon writes, “Were World Wars I and II—which can now be seen as a thirty-year
paroxysm of slaughter and destruction—inevitable? Were they necessary
wars? Were the bloodiest and most devastating conflicts ever suffered
by mankind fated by forces beyond men’s control? Or were they products
of calamitous failures of judgment? In this monumental and provocative
history, Patrick Buchanan makes the case that, if not for the blunders
of British statesmen—Winston Churchill first among them—the horrors of
two world wars and the Holocaust might have been avoided and the
British Empire might never have collapsed into ruins. Half a century of
murderous oppression of scores of millions under the iron boot of
Communist tyranny might never have happened, and Europe’s central role
in world affairs might have been sustained for many generations.”
The Contrarian Effect by Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall. Amazon writes, “Take the traditional sales model, which is outdated and needs a serious
makeover, and turn it on its head by applying the advice in The Contrarian Effect: Why It Pays (Big) to Take Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite.
Find an entirely sound approach to building better client relationships
and closing more sales by doing the exact opposite that conventional
sales advice dictates. Re-examine the most well-worn sales tactics in
the business and discover specific and actionable strategies and
principles that will help you close more sales today.”
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