More Than Finances: A Design for Freedom (Resourceful Living Series): Larry Burkett

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Editorial Reviews

Life consists of much more than merely finances. Yet most don’t consistently live like it. To help people put their finances under the submission of God, leading financial author and nationally-syndicated radio host Larry Burkett has created More Than Finances. This great resource is a twelve-week small-group Bible study providing teaching on God’s money management principles. Burkett specifically designed this helpful study to foster and encourage financial accountability.

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Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier: Robert Axelrod, Michael D Cohen

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In a world where companies are forced to adapt to an ever more quickly changing marketplace, where people from diverse backgrounds must work together in order to solve problems rapidly and the future is hard to predict, wouldn’t it be wonderful if all this complexity could work to your advantage? Axelrod (The Evolution of the Corporation) and Cohen (a consultant to the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center), both professors at the University of Michigan, aim to draw on the principles of evolutionary biology, computer science and social design to explain the functioning of “complex adaptive systems” (specifically businesses), and how to improve them. They explore such abstract issues as whether to encourage variation in a rapidly changing situation (whether it refers to a diversity of products or problem-solving approaches, variety is defined as “the raw material for adaptation”); the impact of manipulating interactions (with respect to time as well as both physical and conceptual space) in an organization; and how to select and support the most viable individuals, teams, systems or business strategies that emerge. Although their schematic approach and well-drawn anecdotal examples yield pragmatic insights, Axelrod and Cohen rely on somewhat idiosyncratic terminology to make their key points: “Agents of a variety of types use their strategies in patterned interaction, with each other and with artifacts” (authors’ emphasis). While most managers are aware of complexity theory and are eager to learn how to adapt it to their organizations, some may be put off by the convoluted language used here. Agent, Raphael Sagalyn. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Management theorists are increasingly turning to complexity science in their search for answers to questions about organizational behavior. Axelrod and Cohen are professors of public policy. Their perspective on complexity is on building effective teams from complex groups of individuals. Axelrod is the author of the groundbreaking The Evolution of Cooperation (1984) and its follow-up, The Complexity of Cooperation (1997). Cohen has served on the external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, a leading research facility in the field of complexity. Drawing on their research done for a report on national information policy by the Highlands Forum under the aegis of the Department of Defense, the authors offer numerous business, political, and cultural applications for their model of complex adaptive systems. Clarifying the differences between complexity and chaos theories, they trace the principles of complex adaptive systems to evolutionary biology, computer science, and social design; and they outline three key processes of such systems: variation, interaction, and selection. David Rouse
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics: Eric D. Beinhocker

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Accounting for the creation of wealth has long challenged humanity’s best minds. For business readers and academics, Beinhocker is a zealous and able guide to the emerging economic paradigm shift he calls the “Complexity Economics revolution.” A fellow of the economic think tank McKinsey Global Institute, he rejects traditional economic theory, based on a physics model of closed systems, in which change is an external disruptive shock. Instead, he outlines an open, adaptive system with interlocking networks that change organically, reflecting the interaction of technological innovation, social development and business practice. Wealth is created to the degree that this interaction decreases entropy in favor of “fit order” that meets human needs, desires and preferences. Beinhocker is sufficiently comfortable with this evolutionary model to advocate a comprehensive redesigning of institutions and society to facilitate it. He argues for corporate policies that favor many small risks over a few big ones and recommends restructuring financial theory to favor growth and endurance rather than short-term gains. Though he asserts that complexity economics can reduce political partisanship and increase social capital, Beinhocker stops short of saying that it cures sexual dysfunction. By the end, the concept emerges as a great idea that the author tries to make a panacea. (June 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
“…a brilliant piece of intellectual history that deserves a prominent place on any shelf of economic literature.” — The Washington Post, September 10, 2006

“…a truly dynamic theory of the economy. Schumpeter would have approved.” — Richard R. Nelson, George Blumenthal Professor of International and Public Affairs, Business and Law, Emeritus, Columbia University

“…required reading for anyone interested in the future direction of economic thinking and its implications for business and society.” — Michael J. Mauboussin, Chief Investment Strategist, Legg Mason Capital Management, and author of More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places

“In this ambitious tome, Beinhocker jettisons the math-based canon of economic history and recasts it as a teeming evolutionary stew” — Josh McHugh, WIRED Magazine

“In this work, he’s a story teller of the first rank.” — The Globe and Mail, November 8, 2006

“The Origin of Wealth is a frontal attack on neoclassical economic theory.” — Journal of Economic Literature, December 2006

“The freshest look at modern economics in decades.” — Gregor Bailar, CIO and Executive Vice President, Capital One

“Unquestionably the most important business book of the year.” — John Kay, Management Today

…ambitious…convention shattering. It’s premise is novel and sweeping: don’t grow your organization, evolve it. — Josh McHugh, WIRED Magazine

Absorbing…[a] tour de force. It’s time to wake up from what Beinhocker calls ‘the dream of a clockwork universe’. — James Pressley, Bloomberg

Eric Beinhocker’s The Origin of Wealth ties risk management, incentives, and human psychology together with many other criteria, all under one philosophical framework. –The Motley Fool, December 31, 2007

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Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics: Eric D. Beinhocker

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Accounting for the creation of wealth has long challenged humanity’s best minds. For business readers and academics, Beinhocker is a zealous and able guide to the emerging economic paradigm shift he calls the “Complexity Economics revolution.” A fellow of the economic think tank McKinsey Global Institute, he rejects traditional economic theory, based on a physics model of closed systems, in which change is an external disruptive shock. Instead, he outlines an open, adaptive system with interlocking networks that change organically, reflecting the interaction of technological innovation, social development and business practice. Wealth is created to the degree that this interaction decreases entropy in favor of “fit order” that meets human needs, desires and preferences. Beinhocker is sufficiently comfortable with this evolutionary model to advocate a comprehensive redesigning of institutions and society to facilitate it. He argues for corporate policies that favor many small risks over a few big ones and recommends restructuring financial theory to favor growth and endurance rather than short-term gains. Though he asserts that complexity economics can reduce political partisanship and increase social capital, Beinhocker stops short of saying that it cures sexual dysfunction. By the end, the concept emerges as a great idea that the author tries to make a panacea. (June 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
“…a brilliant piece of intellectual history that deserves a prominent place on any shelf of economic literature.” — The Washington Post, September 10, 2006

“…a truly dynamic theory of the economy. Schumpeter would have approved.” — Richard R. Nelson, George Blumenthal Professor of International and Public Affairs, Business and Law, Emeritus, Columbia University

“…required reading for anyone interested in the future direction of economic thinking and its implications for business and society.” — Michael J. Mauboussin, Chief Investment Strategist, Legg Mason Capital Management, and author of More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places

“In this ambitious tome, Beinhocker jettisons the math-based canon of economic history and recasts it as a teeming evolutionary stew” — Josh McHugh, WIRED Magazine

“In this work, he’s a story teller of the first rank.” — The Globe and Mail, November 8, 2006

“The Origin of Wealth is a frontal attack on neoclassical economic theory.” — Journal of Economic Literature, December 2006

“The freshest look at modern economics in decades.” — Gregor Bailar, CIO and Executive Vice President, Capital One

“Unquestionably the most important business book of the year.” — John Kay, Management Today

…ambitious…convention shattering. It’s premise is novel and sweeping: don’t grow your organization, evolve it. — Josh McHugh, WIRED Magazine

Absorbing…[a] tour de force. It’s time to wake up from what Beinhocker calls ‘the dream of a clockwork universe’. — James Pressley, Bloomberg

Eric Beinhocker’s The Origin of Wealth ties risk management, incentives, and human psychology together with many other criteria, all under one philosophical framework. –The Motley Fool, December 31, 2007

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What Just Happened?: Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line: Art Linson

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this latest addition to the spate of Hollywood tell-alls, the producer of The Untouchables and Fight Club details the planning, handholding and power games involved in making movies. Each film brings its own problems, which Linson recounts in sardonic discussions of his own less-than-boffo features, including Pushing Tin and Great Expectations (the 1998 remake). His account of The Edge is particularly remarkable, as it demonstrates the difficulties of putting together a deal (De Niro had a problem with fighting a fake bear), placating the stars (Alec Baldwin didn’t want to shave his beard) and finding a title (The Bear and the Brain was a contender, as was the screenwriter’s choice, Bookworm). Linson’s insights into why some movies fail are revealing: no one wants to see John Cusack naked (which explains Pushing Tin), for one, and you don’t stand a chance if an earlier, bigger release (Titanic) uses the same erotic scene as your movie (Great Expectations). To hear Linson tell it, it’s a jungle out there, with loads of fussy, na‹ve, brazen and unlucky monkeys swinging from the trees. He reels out one conversation after another, unearthing the bar banter, telephone exchanges and studio tˆte-…-tˆtes that reveal just how much quibbling goes on behind the scenes. Although Linson’s book lacks the polish of William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade or the all-around savvy of Peter Bart and Peter Guber’s Shoot Out, it provides a decent bird’s-eye view on what a producer actually does and the pressures it involves.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
‘Wickedly funny and sardonic…It is the best user’s manual to Hollywood I know.’
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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