Goodbye and Good Luck!
Farewell, dear students.
We say goodbye to Fuqua students, and extend our best wishes to those graduating at the close the 2010-11 academic year. We hope that in the coming months, you will discover quiet moments to enjoy reading something refreshing – in airport terminals, at the beach or before turning in for the night.
As a parting gift, below are quick summaries of 10 new books, covering topics from advertising to work. You can download this list along with reviews of 10 additional titles in this PDF document. I hope you enjoy them.
Good luck, everyone!
The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate our Culture
By Terry O’Reilly and Mike Tennant
Witty creators of the Age of Persuasion radio series explain why some ads work and some don’t; how marketing and advertising depend on each other; and how they affect our everyday lives.
Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader
By Linda A. Hill and Kent Lineback
Becoming a good boss takes years of learning and practice. This book shows how to manage yourself, your network and your team.
Bought and Paid For: The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street
By Charles Gasparino
Fox News reporter Gasparino argues that the White House rewarded its most powerful campaign donors in the financial industry by structuring the bailout in a way that let the biggest banks earn massive profits.
Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age
By Clay Shirky
For two generations, TV absorbed people’s extra time, energy and intellect, e.g. “cognitive surplus.” Now as young people watch less TV and collaborate more online, both the individual and society are benefiting. Also available as an audiobook.
Dead Ringers: How Outsourcing is changing the Way Indians Understand Themselves
By Shehzad Nadeem
While wages are relatively high in local terms, much of the work outsourced to India is rote and low-skill, with long hours on night shifts that lead to health and social problems for Indian workers. Also available as an e-book.
Diary of a Very Bad Year: Confessions of an Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager
By Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager
A real-time account of the 2008 Wall Street crisis as viewed by a self-absorbed hedge fund manager.
The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader’s Guide to building Inner Excellence
By Richard Daft
Leaders learn to recognize their impulsive and emotional inner selves and to choose wiser courses of action.
Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World
By William D. Cohan
In this company history, a Duke alumnus presents Goldman as a secretive moneymaking machine, which makes legitimate deals as well as unsavory transactions with conflict of interest.
Ruthless: How Enraged Investors Reclaimed their Investments and Beat Wall Street
By Phil Trupp
After a reporter’s ”safe-as-cash” retirement investments in ARS instruments are wiped out, he organizes with other victims through blogs to pressure Wachovia/Wall Street to give their money back.
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work
By Matthew B. Crawford
A PhD from Univ. of Chicago argues that manual work – making and fixing things with our hands — is more engaging intellectually, provides more intrinsic satisfaction, and fosters a greater sense of agency and competency than “knowledge work.” Also available as an audiobook.