|rating=5
|genre= Politics and Society
|summary=''Women are economically disadvantaged in every country in the world''. It's a bold statement for an opening chapter, but it's far from hyperbole as the following pages explain. This book shines a light on what is happening in different places, and the impact on the local and world economy. What can be learnt from the great strides in gender-equalising legislation in the west? What can be done about the selling of young women into marriage, and what can chimpanzees and bonobos teach us about mothering?
|isbn=0571353606
}}
|rating=5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=Do you have a guaranteed and more-than-adequate income which will last the rest of your life? Do you have no need to work, either for income or fulfilment? If you even hesitate over either of those questions then you really ought to read ''Life's Work': 12 Proven Ways to Fast-Track Your Career''. If you're not yet in work or considering that you might need to make some changes then this is the book you need. James Reed is the chairman and chief executive of REED, Britain's biggest and best-known name in the recruitment industry. Who better to give you the advice you need?
}}
{{Frontpage
|rating=4
|genre= Business and Finance
|summary= Money is changing. It might not be in the ways you think. We’re not suddenly getting a 3p or £3 coin (and have you ever even found a country that offers anything different to the 1, 2, 5 model?) We’re getting a lot more digital with payments, which seems to suit most people apart from charity collectors and the homeless on the street, but although this book has the subtitle that includes the word ‘’digital’’''digital'', it’s not really about this either. Instead it’s , it's about the ‘’management’’ ''management'' of your finances, and how to take control.
|isbn=1789660610
}}
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
<!-- Kalpesh Ashar -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:1949395324.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1949395324/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1949395324
|title=Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted To Know: 4th Edition
|author=Kalpesh Ashar
|rating=4
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=''Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted to Know ''gives people without an accounting background who have risen in a company the knowledge to understand the accounts which show how the company is doing. The book begins by looking at why financial accounting systems are necessary, then moves on to give an excellent overview of the types of accounting systems which will be encountered and the terms used. We then look in detail at the balance sheet, the income statement and the statement of cash flows...
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1946383627
|title=Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know
|author=Vibrant Publishers
|rating=4.5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=I'm capable of drawing up a profit and loss account (income statement in the USA) and a balance sheet and I do so for my own business and for another organisation. The accounts give me ''broadly'' what I need: I know whether we're making a profit or a loss and I can look at the expenses and see what looks as though it could be trimmed back in future years. My problem was that the accounts didn't really give me any help in making decisions, which was why I turned to ''Cost Accounting and Management'', part of Vibrant Publishers' Self-Learning and Management series...
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1072549271
|title=The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide
|author=Georgianne Landy-Kordis
|rating=4.5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=I frequently meet authors who are struggling to be published by the traditional houses, but when I suggest self-publishing they explain that they don't have the big bucks required to go down that road with Author Solutions or Matador or their like. I then ask if they've considered Kindle and the answer is, inevitably, that they wouldn't know where to start. I can empathise with that. Despite having used a computer for about thirty years, running most of my life ''and'' a website online, I'm still nervous when it comes to starting something new. I like someone to hold my hand as I go through it for the first time. That was why I was very interested when ''The Simple Act of Self Publishing With Amazon'' came across my desk...
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1729621953
|title=Fast-track the I.T Journey - How to move from Supplier to Partner
|author=Alok Tripathy
|rating=3.5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=So, what brought me to this book? As the owner of a small business and a buyer of IT services I should be the senior partner in the relationship with my suppliers, but I've frequently found myself the junior partner and I've regularly been let down by them. I needed to know where I could improve that relationship and, by looking at the situation from the supplier's point of view, what steps I needed to take. Alok Tripathy's book looked as though it might provide help and possibly some of the answers as to how my suppliers could better help me.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1789552354
|title=Storytelling: The Presenter's Secret Weapon
|author=John Clare
|rating=4
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=I was a little bit nervous when I picked up ''Storytelling: The Presenter's Secret Weapon''. After all, the majority of presentations which I've seen or given were in a business context and what was required was absolute professionalism, not an act put on for light entertainment. I needn't have worried though: the book is an essential guide to preparing and giving your presentation, with or without what has now come to be known as The Dreaded PowerPoint. I've been making presentations successfully (but I'll say more about this later) in various professional situations for some forty or more years and I did wonder if the book would be able to teach me anything. It did.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1472938062
|title=Boards That Dare: How to Future-proof Today's Corporate Boards
|author=Marc Stigter and Sir Cary Cooper
|rating=5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=I wasn't optimistic when I started reading ''Boards That Dare''. I feared that I would encounter new ways of minimising tax liabilities, of getting as much as possible out of employees whilst paying them the legal minimum and constant reminders that the ''shareholders'' own the company and of the necessity of maximising their return. In the event, I was only a few pages in before I discovered that I couldn't have been more wrong, that we were looking at ways of future-proofing the company. I began to feel hopeful...
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Mackay_Trials
|title=Trials and Tribulations of a Travelling Prostitute
|author=Andrew Mackay
|rating=3.5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=Just chance you think that you're picking up a book about what can go wrong in life for an itinerant sex worker I'd better explain exactly what it was that author Andrew Mackay did for thirty-three years. A travelling prostitute is a worker who is employed by one company but his services are sold out to other countries, usually at a substantial profit to the employing company and a lot of inconvenience to the employee. Mackay was an engineer who knew all that there was to be know about turbines and generators, or if he didn't could soon be up to speed to the extent of being able to teach other people. Occasionally his skills were used in the UK, but frequently he was abroad. Just every now and again he would be in those parts of the world which has the rest of us green with envy, but then there were those areas which feature heavily in the news and not in a good way.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Bell_DIY
|title=The DIY Investor: How to take control of your investments and plan for a financially secure future
|author=Andy Bell
|rating=5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=Investments are confusing. They're also rather frightening unless you have a background in finance: you could invest in equities which seem likely to make your fortune, only to find that you've lost all your money. On the other hand, you could put all your savings into a nice, safe building society or bank account only to find that the interest is so derisory that your capital doesn't actually have the same buying power that it did when you opened the account. You could, of course, spend the money, but what about when you want to buy a house, replace the roof or retire? The roof might be relatively cheap but the other two are going to need a substantial investment pot.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=WilliamsNelson_Time
|title=Time is Money
|author=T K Williams-Nelson
|rating=4
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=Whatever your age it's frustrating to have to work for someone else. If you're under twenty-five there's a strong chance that you'll be under-valued and probably not paid very well. There is though, a certain security in employment, usually because there's a reasonable certainty of income and a possibility of paid holidays: when you're self-employed neither of those are guaranteed. It is, though, a big step to leap into the world of self-employment. ''Time is Money'' is a self-development tool aimed at young people, creatives and people in business.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Duhigg_Smarter
|title=Smarter Faster Better
|author=Charles Duhigg
|rating=5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=''Smarter Faster Better'' is the ideal book for someone who loves both stories and career-related self-improvement. Readers looking for quick answers, bullet points or sound bites may be disappointed as Duhigg's approach is to focus on case studies, told with the flair of a short story, and then extrapolate from these rather than listing tips and exercises. However, if you have the time and patience to get to the point of each chapter slowly (and surely this is a subject matter worth devoting time to), you will doubtless find that Duhigg is an excellent storyteller and cleverly articulates the key message from each story so that they stick.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Coles_Brexit
|title=The Great Brexit Swindle: Why the Mega-Rich and Free Market Fanatics Conspired to Force Britain from the European Union
|author=T J Coles
|rating=3.5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=''Have you been mis-sold Brexit by posh men in sharp suits promising you free healthcare? If so, you might be entitled to compensation...''
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted To Know: 4th Edition by Kalpesh Ashar]]=== [[image:4starThere wasn't much could make me laugh on the morning after the EU referendum but this spoof advert on Twitter managed it.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] Only, it seems that it wasn't completely a joke - well apart from the bit about compensation. In ''Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted to Know The Great Brexit Scandal''gives people without an accounting background who have risen T J Coles looks at the substantial core of free marketeers in a company the knowledge Conservative party who were determined to understand rid the UK of the accounts Brussels red tape which show how the company is doing. The book begins by looking at why financial accounting systems are necessarywas putting a brake on their activities. You might also know these views as neoliberalism, then moves on to give an excellent overview of the types of accounting systems ideology which will be encountered looks to deregulate markets and the terms usedmaximise profits. We then look in detail at On the balance sheetsurface that doesn't sound bad, until you realise that the income statement and benefit will go to the statement of cash flows..people who are already in the group which Coles refers to as the mega-rich and the losers will be working people.[[Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted To Know: 4th Edition by Kalpesh Ashar|Full Review]]}}<!-- Vibrant Publishers -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=Baldwin_Great| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Great Convergence[[image:1946383627.jpg|linkauthor=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1946383627/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Richard Baldwin| stylerating="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers]]===4[[image:4.5star.jpg|linkgenre=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]], [[:Category:Reference|Reference]] I'm capable summary=The globalisation of drawing up the world economy is a profit and loss account (income statement central factor in the USA) life and a balance sheet and I do so for my own business and for another organisation. politics today. 'The accounts give me Great Convergence''broadly'' what I need: I know whether we're making attempts to explain the current driving forces behind the phenomena and the likely consequences. It is well-argued and supported by a profit or a loss wealth of data and I can look at the expenses and see what looks as though research, but it could is not one for a general reader. A background in economic principles and an understanding of some key concepts would be trimmed back a key requisite in future years. My problem was that getting the accounts didn't really give me any help in making decisions, which was why I turned to ''Cost Accounting and Management'', part most out of Vibrant Publishers' Self-Learning and Management seriesthis book... [[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers|Full Review]] <!-- Georgianne Landy-Kordis -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; Without this background, the reader will be constantly switching from the textand cross-align: center;"|[[image:1072549271referencing the meaning of some of the vocabulary used.jpg|link=http://wwwWith that note of caution and the required understanding, Richard Baldwin's analysis is compelling.amazon.co.uk/dp/1072549271/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Wiles_Thinking| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Thinking Allowed|author=Julian Wiles|rating=4|genre=Business and Finance|summary=[[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis ]]=== [[image:4''Thinking Allowed? Hmm'', I thought, ''what has that got to do with building a thriving optical lens business?'' But within a few pages of starting to read, I was convinced that it was perfect.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]]You see, this isn't a book which you read, rather like a Delia Smith book, [[:Category:Reference|Reference]], [[:Category:Self-Publishing|Self Publishing]] I frequently meet authors who are struggling to be published by the traditional houses, but when I suggest self-publishing they explain that they don't have the big bucks required give you a precise recipe for how you must proceed to go down that road with Author Solutions or Matador or their likeachieve a perfect result. I then ask if they've considered Kindle No two businesses are alike, any more than any two owners are alike and the answer is inevitably that they wouldn't know where Julian Wiles allows you to start. I can empathise with thatapproach your business from all angles: there are even ways you can get his personal advice. Despite having used a computer for about thirty years, running most of my life This is no ordinary 'how-to'book. There are no chapter numbers (you pick from the menu) andit'' a website on line, I'm still nervous when it comes s not even necessary to starting something new. I like someone to hold my hand as I go through it for the first timeread the book in any particular order. That was why I was very interested when ''The Simple Act of Self Publishing With Amazon'' came across my desk... [[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis |Full Review]] <!-- Alok Tripathy -->|-}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Fraser_Forestry| styletitle="widthForestry Flavours of the Month: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Changing Face of World Forestry|author=Alastair Fraser[[image:1729621953.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1729621953/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Business and Finance| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fast-track Alastair Fraser's experience of forestry spans more than five decades and having the benefit of the I.T Journey - How long view he's ideally placed to move from Supplier to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy]]=== [[image:3consider the changes which have occurred over the course of his career.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] SoHe also has the ability, what brought me not as common as it ought to this book? As be amongst professionals, of being able to look at what he does both from the owner point of view of a small the business and a buyer of IT services I should be the senior partner people who work in the relationship with my suppliers, but I've frequently found myself the junior partner it and I've regularly been let down are affected by themit. I needed to know where I could improve that relationship and, by looking at the situation from the supplierThere's point a lack of view, tunnel vision too: he sees what steps I needed to take. Alok Tripathy's book looked happening in forestry both in the narrow focus and where it sits globally so far as though it might provide help economics and possibly some of the answers as to how my suppliers could better help mepolitics are concerned. [[Fast-track the I.T Journey - How to move from Supplier to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy|Full Review]] <!-- John Clare -->}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=Voss Never| styletitle="widthNever Split the Difference: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It[[image:1789552354.jpg|linkauthor=http://www.amazon.coChris Voss and Tahl Raz|rating=4.uk/dp/1789552354/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Business and Finance|summary===[[Storytelling: The PresenterNegotiation is ''s Secret Weapon by John Clare]]=== [[image:4starnothing more than communication with results'', according to Chris Voss.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] I was a little bit nervous when I picked up ''Never Split the Difference''Storytelling: The Presenter's Secret Weapon''. After is all, about maximising the majority chances of presentations which I've seen or given were these results being in your favour. Drawing upon years of experience as a business context crisis and what was required was absolute professionalismkidnapping negotiator, not an act put on for light entertainment. I needn't have worried though: the book is an essential guide to preparing and giving your presentationVoss has developed a set of highly honed tools, with or without what has now come field-tested in numerous high-stakes negotiation situations involving the FBI. In contrast to be known as The Dreaded PowerPoint. I've been making presentations successfully (but I'll say more about the widely accepted paradigm for negotiation taught in schools and universities, this later) toolkit throws aside complex game theory and dense mathematical considerations in various professional situations for some forty or more years and I did wonder if the book would be able to teach me anythingfavour of an approach that places emotional intelligence, empathy and subtle communication techniques at its core. It did. <!-- Marc Stigter and Sir Cary Cooper -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1472938062The focus is on developing an understanding of the thought process of individuals during any given discussion.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472938062/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Effective communication not only helps derive these insights but allows them to be used to move a negotiation in the direction you want it to go, while simultaneously resolving a discussion with minimal conflict.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Byrne_Dragons|title===[[Boards That DareDragons: How to Future-proof Today's Corporate Boards by Marc Stigter and Sir Cary Cooper]]Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain|author=Liam Byrne|rating=4|genre=Business and Finance [[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] I wasn't optimistic when I started reading ''Boards That Dare''. I feared that I would encounter new ways Liam Byrne MP, a minister in the last Labour government, has come up with a novel way of minimising tax liabilities, of getting as much as possible out telling British history through the ages in this book. His approach is not one of employees whilst paying them the legal minimum Kings and constant reminders that Queens, wars or scientific discoveries, but through the ''shareholders'' own the company business world and several of the necessity of maximising their returnkey – and often unsung – entrepreneurs and commercial venturers from medieval times to the twentieth century. In As he says in his preface, the event I was only a few pages in before I discovered that I couldn't have been more wrong, that we were looking at ways of future proofing people through whose lives he has chosen to narrate the saga reveal the company. I began to feel hopeful... [[Boards That Dare: How to Future-proof Today's Corporate Boards by Marc Stigter best and Sir Cary Cooper|Full Review]] <!-- Mackay -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Mackay_Trialsworst of human endeavours, as he serves us up several explorers, inventors and moral leaders alongside a motley crew of fraudsters, warmongers and unembarrassed imperialists.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1524683094?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1524683094]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Trials and Tribulations All of a Travelling Prostitute by Andrew Mackay]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]]them took risks, [[:Category:Business some made fortunes and Finance|Business and Finance]] Just chance you think that you're picking up a book about what can go wrong in life for an itinerant sex worker I'd better explain exactly what it was that author Andrew Mackay did for thirty three years. A travelling prostitute is a worker who is employed by one company but his services are sold out to other countries, usually at a substantial profit to the employing company and a lot of inconvenience to the employee. Mackay was an engineer who knew all that there was to be know about turbines and generators, or if he didn't could soon be up to speed to the extent of being able to teach other people. Occasionally his skills were used in the UK, but frequently he was abroad. Just every now and again he would be in those parts of the world which has the rest of us green with envy, but then there were those areas which feature heavily in the news and not in a good way. [[Trials and Tribulations of a Travelling Prostitute by Andrew Mackay|Full Review]] <!-- Bell -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Bell_DIY.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0857196014?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0857196014]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The DIY Investor: How to take control of your investments and plan for a financially secure future by Andy Bell]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] Investments are confusing. They're also rather frightening unless you have a background in finance: you could invest in equities which seem likely to make your fortune, only to find that you've lost all your money. On the other hand you could put all your savings into a nice, safe building society or bank account only to find that the interest is so derisory that your capital doesn't actually have the same buying power that it did when you opened the account. You could, of course, spend the money, but what about when you want to buy a house, replace the roof or retire? The roof might be relatively cheap but the other two are going to need a substantial investment pot. [[The DIY Investor: How to take control of your investments and plan for a financially secure future by Andy Bell|Full Review]] <!-- Williams_Nelson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:WilliamsNelson_Time.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1524666483?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1524666483]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Time is Money by T K Williams-Nelson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] Whatever your age it's frustrating to have to work for someone else. If you're under twenty five there's a strong chance that you'll be under-valued and probably not paid very well. There is though, a certain security in employment, usually because there's a reasonable certainty of income and a possibility of paid holidays: when you're self-employed neither of those are guaranteed. It is, though, a big step to leap into the world of self-employment. ''Time is Money'' is a self-development tool aimed at young people, creatives and people in business. [[Time is Money by T K Williams-Nelson|Full Review]] <!-- Duhigg -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Duhigg_Smarter.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1847947433?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1847947433]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] ''Smarter Faster Better'' is ideal book for someone who loves both stories and career-related self-improvement. Readers looking for quick answers, bullet points or sound bites may be disappointed as Duhigg's approach is to focus on case studies, told with the flair of a short story, and then extrapolate from these rather than listing tips and exercises. However, if you have the time and patience to get to the point of each chapter slowly (and surely this is a subject matter worth devoting time to), you will doubtless find that Duhigg is an excellent storyteller and cleverly articulates the key message from each story so that they stick. [[Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg|Full Review]] <!-- Coles -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Coles_Brexit.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1905570813?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1905570813]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Great Brexit Swindle: Why the Mega-Rich and Free Market Fanatics Conspired to Force Britain from the European Union by T J Coles]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] ''Have you been mis-sold Brexit by posh men in sharp suits promising you free healthcare? If so, you might be entitled to compensation...'' There wasn't much could make me laugh on the morning after the EU referendum but this spoof advert on Twitter managed it. Only, it seems that it wasn't completely a joke - well apart from the bit about compensation. In ''The Great Brexit Scandal'' T J Coles looks at the substantial core of free marketeers in the Conservative party who were determined to rid the UK of the Brussels red tape which was putting a brake on their activities. You might also know these views as neoliberalism, an ideology which looks to deregulate markets and maximise profits. On the surface that doesn't sound bad, until you realise that the benefit will go to the people who are already in the group which Coles refers to as the mega-rich and the losers will be working people. [[The Great Brexit Swindle: Why the Mega-Rich and Free Market Fanatics Conspired to Force Britain from the European Union by T J Coles|Full Review]] <!-- Baldwin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Baldwin_Great.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/067466048X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=067466048X]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Great Convergence by Richard Baldwin]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] The globalisation of the world economy is a central factor in life and politics today. 'The Great Convergence' attempts to explain the current driving forces behind the phenomena and the likely consequences. It is well argued, and supported by a wealth of data and research, but it is not one for a general reader. A background in economic principles and an understanding of some key concepts would be a key requisite in getting the most out of this book. Without this background, the reader will be constantly switching from the text and cross-referencing the meaning of some of the vocabulary used. With that note of caution, and the required understanding, Richard Baldwin's analysis is compelling. [[The Great Convergence by Richard Baldwin|Full Review]] <!-- Wiles -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Wiles_Thinking.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1524633100?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1524633100]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Thinking Allowed by Julian Wiles]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] ''Thinking Allowed? Hmm'', I thought, ''what has that got to do with building a thriving optical lens business?'' But within a few pages of starting to read, I was convinced that it was perfect. You see, this isn't a book which you read, rather like a Delia Smith book, to give you a precise recipe for how you must proceed to achieve a perfect result. No two businesses are alike, any more than any two owners are alike and Julian Wiles allows you to approach your business from all angles: there are even ways you can get his personal advice. This is no ordinary 'how to' book. There are no chapter numbers (you pick from the menu) and it's not even necessary to read the book in any particular order. [[Thinking Allowed by Julian Wiles|Full Review]] <!-- Fraser -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Fraser_Forestry.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1524628921?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1524628921]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Forestry Flavours of the Month: The Changing Face of World Forestry by Alastair Fraser]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]], [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] Alastair Fraser's experience of forestry spans more than five decades and having the benefit of the long view he's ideally placed to consider the changes which have occurred over the course of his career. He also has the ability, not as common as it ought to be amongst professionals, of being able to look at what he does both from the point of view of the business and the people who work in it and are affected by it. There's a lack of tunnel vision too: he sees what's happening in forestry both in the narrow focus and where it sits globally so far as economics and politics are concerned. [[Forestry Flavours of the Month: The Changing Face of World Forestry by Alastair Fraser|Full Review]] <!-- Voss -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Voss Never.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1847941486?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1847941486]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] Negotiation is ''nothing more than communication with results'', according to Chris Voss. ''Never Split the Difference'' is all about maximising the chances of these results being in your favour. Drawing upon years of experience as a crisis and kidnapping negotiator, Voss has developed a set of highly honed tools, field-tested in numerous high-stakes negotiation situations involving the FBI. In contrast to the widely accepted paradigm for negotiation taught in schools and universities, this toolkit throws aside complex game theory and dense mathematical considerations in favour of an approach that places emotional intelligence, empathy and subtle communication techniques at its core. The focus is on developing an understanding of the thought process of individuals during any given discussion. Effective communication not only helps derive these insights, but allows them to be used to move a negotiation in the direction you want it to go, while simultaneously resolving a discussion with minimal conflict. [[Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz|Full Review]] <!-- Byrne -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Byrne_Dragons.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1781857474?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1781857474]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Dragons: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain by Liam Byrne]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] Liam Byrne MP, a minister in the last Labour government, has come up with a novel way of telling British history through the ages in this book. His approach is not one of Kings and Queens, wars or scientific discoveries, but through the business world and several of the key – and often unsung – entrepreneurs and commercial venturers from medieval times to the twentieth century. As he says in his preface, the people through whose lives he has chosen to narrate the saga reveal the best and worst of human endeavours, as he serves us up several explorers, inventors and moral leaders alongside a motley crew of fraudsters, warmongers and unembarrassed imperialists. All of them took risks, some made fortunes and some some lost them, but for better or worse they all contributed towards the tale of British enterprise and the making of the modern world. [[Dragons: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain by Liam Byrne|Full Review]] <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE --> |}}
