Difference between revisions of "Newest Business and Finance Reviews"

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[[Category:Business and Finance|*]]
 
[[Category:Business and Finance|*]]
 
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{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|author=Anne Boden
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|isbn=0241636604
|title=The Money Revolution
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|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
|rating=4
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|author=Gary Stevenson
|genre= Business and Finance
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|rating=4.5
|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’’, it’s not really about this either. Instead it’s about the ‘’management’’ of your finances, and how to take control.
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|genre=Autobiography
|isbn=1789660610
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|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.  A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy.  He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid.  It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank.  Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Fiona Parashar
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|title=A Beautiful Way to Coach
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|rating=5
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|genre=Business and Finance
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|summary= So what am I doing reading this book, using this book, and being audacious enough to review it? Truth is I bought it out of curiosity.  I was at an on-line launch for the  book and Fiona’s description of her Vision Days appealed to me.  I wanted to see if there were things in there that I could use with someone I am currently helping / supporting / trying to mentor – without committing them to a full day, which I know would send them scurrying for their burrow.  I also wanted to see if I could give myself a Vision Day, to bring me away from their vision and back to my own.
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|isbn=103211603X
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=303091657X
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|title=Disaster in the Boardroom: Six Dysfunctions Everyone Should Understand
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|author=Gerry Brown and Randall S Peterson
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|rating=5
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|genre=Business and Finance
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|summary=Boards must act in the best interests of their stakeholders and ensure that they are well-managed and financially secure.  This might seem obvious but a series of disasters - some of which have resulted in death or the collapse of a major company - have left interested parties asking what the board was doing. Where were they?  Occasionally the boards were unaware of what was happening or they preferred to turn a blind eye, leaving watchers wondering which was worse - ignorance or criminality.  The 21st century has delivered some major company scandals but what has happened is nothing new: Gerry Brown and Randall S Peterson give us a very readable trip through such major debacles as railway mania, the South Sea Bubble and even tulip mania.  Over three centuries we seem to have learned very little.
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1529393930
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|title=Making a Living: How to Craft Your Business
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|author=Sophie Rochester
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|rating=5
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|genre=Crafts
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|summary=''Starting a creative business has never been easier.''
  
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" 
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''If not now, when?''
<!-- Kalpesh Ashar -->
 
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[[image:1949395324.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1949395324/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
  
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I know that I'm not alone in having wondered whether or not I could turn my hobby into a business.  There's a lot of motivation to do so: I make more items than we can sensibly use and there are a lot of people who have been delighted to accept what I make as gifts.  Selling would offset the costs, which can be quite considerable and it could be fun to do, couldn't it?  But where to start?  What do I need to think about?  Well, the first thing anyone who is considering turning a crafting hobby into a business should do is to read ''Making a Living''.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=suppl_stafl
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|title=Supply Chain 20/20: A Clear View  on the Local Multiplier Effect for Book Lovers
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|author=Kim Staflund
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Reference
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|summary=So, you've finished writing your book and you think the hard work is all done?  You're convinced that all you need to do now is get it published and the money will start rolling in?
  
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
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Wrong and wrong again.  You presumably wrote the book because you wanted to - and you had a talent for delivering the written word.  You knew your subject back to front.  Now you're going to have to get to grips with the book supply chain, which even parts of the publishing industry believe to be wrong but it's too difficult to change and no one wants to be the first to try.  Then, when you ''finally'' have a copy of the book in your hands, you're going to have to work out how to sell it - because it ''is'' going to be down to you.
===[[Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted To Know: 4th Edition by Kalpesh Ashar]]===
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}}
  
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]]
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0008350388
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|title=We Need to Talk About Money
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|author=Otegha Uwagba
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|rating=5
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|genre=Politics and Society
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|summary=''To be a dark-skinned Black woman is to be seen as less desirable, less hireable, less intelligent and ultimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts...''  ''We Need to Talk About Money'' by Otegha Uwagba
  
''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 usedWe then look in detail at the balance sheet, the income statement and the statement of cash flows...[[Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted To Know: 4th Edition by Kalpesh Ashar|Full Review]]
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''0.7% of English Literature GCSE students in England study a book by a writer of colour while only 7% study a book by a woman.'' ''The Bookseller'' 29 June 2021
  
<!-- Vibrant Publishers -->
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Otegha Uwagba came to the UK from Kenya when she was five years old.  Her sisters were seven and nine.  It was her mother who came first, with her father joining them later.  The family was hard-working, principled and determined that their children would have the best education possible. There was always a painful awareness of money although this did not translate into a shortage of anything: it was simply carefully harvested. When Otegha was ten the family acquired a car. For Otegha, education meant a scholarship to a private school in London and then a place at New College, Oxford.
|-
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[[image:1946383627.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1946383627/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
  
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=reed3
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|title=Why You? 101 Interview Questions You'll Never Fear Again (3rd Edition)
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|author=James Reed
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|rating=5
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|genre=Business and Finance
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|summary=Six years on from the original edition, the book is being re-issued with a bonus chapter entitled ''The Future of Work'' which includes an additional 10 questions.  I've come to this some 6 years after reviewing the original book and my life has changed significantly in the meantime. I'm no longer working in middle-management having opted for a down-shift into reduced hours freelancing to enable me to focus on other (not necessarily paying) work.  I can therefore relate to the first point made in this chapter namely that independence and flexibility are core skills that employees need to have.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=3110706075
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|title=Making a Difference: Leadership, Change and Giving Back the Independent Director Way
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|author=Gerry Brown
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|rating=4
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|genre=Business and Finance
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|summary=''You're not there to run the organisation.  You are there to make sure that it is run properly.''
  
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
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Gerry Brown is passionate about the benefits which Independent Directors can bring to a board - not just a corporate board, but the board of an NHS Trust, a university, a sports organisation or a charity.  He's particularly keen that there's increased diversity on these boards and feels that this would help to avoid some of the scandals (Oxfam, Kids Company - we're thinking about you) which have occurred in recent years.  For this to happen, boards need to have a wider field of people to choose from when they're looking for an ID.
===[[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers]]===
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=3030513025
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|title=The Independent Director in Society: Our current crisis of governance and what to do
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|author=Gerry Brown, Andrew Kakabadse and Filipe Morais
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|rating=5
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|genre=Business and Finance
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|summary=Independent Director: ''a job for which no one is qualified''  (''Financial Times'')
  
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]], [[:Category:Reference|Reference]]
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Independent Director: ''An independent director is a member of the board of directors who (1) do not have a material relationship with the company, (2) is not part of the company's executive team, and (3) is not involved with the day-to-day operations of the company. (Corporate Finance Institute)
  
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 yearsMy 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... [[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers|Full Review]]
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Gerry Brown, Andrew Kakabadse and Filipe Morais feel that the relationship between the executive members of boards and the independent directors (formerly known as non-executive directors), trustees or governors of organisations is frequently unbalanced. The function of the independent director is to have general oversight of the executive side of the board - to spot when and where things are going wrong - but all too often the relationship is too cosy, too antagonistic or the independent director lacks the knowledge and/or experience to understand what's happening or to know how to intervene. Covid-19 has highlighted the failings and weaknesses of leadership and governance and you might be tempted to think that these are extraordinary times and that all will be well once we get back to 'normal' but a pandemic was predicted and modelled in the past and there has been a general failure to prepare for what has happened - and is still happening.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0241453585
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|title=Banking On It: How I Disrupted an Industry
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|author=Anne Boden
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Business and Finance
 +
|summary=Anne Boden had an impressive track record in the financial services sector: she had thirty years experience at a senior level including Group Chief Operating Officer at Allied Irish Bank.  AIB was in the throes of recovering from the 2008 financial crisis when she arrived and she was one of the first to realise that banks needed to do things differentlyAIB thought it was at the cutting edge when it proposed opening a branch which allowed customers to access their accounts via a terminal. Boden took things a step further, realising that customers could access their accounts from their homes: the old branch network, employing thousands of people, would soon become redundant.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=3110641119
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|title=The Journey Mapping Playbook: A Practical Guide to Preparing, Facilitating and Unlocking the Value of Customer Journey Mapping
 +
|author=Jerry Angrave
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Business and Finance
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|summary=I had no idea what 'journey mapping' was until I read this playbook but any business that engages with their customers will benefit from reading the book and acting on the contents.  You're going to learn how to run a workshop to discover what it feels like to be one of your own customersAt this point, please don't say 'oh (expletive deleted) not another workshop' because this is going to be fun and you're going to be surprised by what emerges.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=3110641291
 +
|title=The Radical Innovation Playbook: A Practical Guide for Harnessing New, Novel or Game-Changing Breakthroughs
 +
|author=Olga Kokshagina and Allen Alexander
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Business and Finance
 +
|summary=So, why bother?  Every time you set out to do something new you end up with the same thing in a slightly different form and quite a bit of money spent.  Why not just leave it as it is?  After all, it's ''roughly'' working, isn't it?
  
<!-- Georgianne Landy-Kordis -->
+
You might not have said it, but you've probably thought it. You've also thought the small, incremental improvements which you have been able to make - the optimisation of your core business with cost efficiencies wherever possible, the extension of your existing products into new areas - haven't really delivered in terms of ''growth''. It's been manageable and largely risk-free but you could easily be challenged by a competitor who takes a more radical approach. You've merely kept the business ticking over and there's a nagging suspicion in the back of your mind that an organisation designed for the twentieth century might not survive in the twenty-first.  What you need is innovation - ''radical'' innovation.
|-
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}}
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{{Frontpage
[[image:1072549271.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1072549271/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
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|isbn=1472962044
 
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|title=Creating Value Through Technology: Discover the Tech that Can Transform Your Business
 
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|author=Andrew Hampshire
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
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|rating=4.5
===[[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis ]]===
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|genre=Business and Finance
 
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|summary=I was once told that 'technology' is anything that happens after you're eighteen, so there's been a lot of technology in my life.  I once worked for a manager who judged if an accountant was reputable by establishing whether or not they had a typewriter.  Times  - thankfully - have moved on.  Nowadays the problem is that someone running a business doesn't have the time to keep up with constant innovation and they might also be scared because previous IT investments haven't delivered as expectedIt's also a fact that no one develops a business because they have the knowledge of the required technology, so they start off in conversations about technology feeling that they're at a disadvantage. They need help, but they frequently don't know what help they need.
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]], [[:Category:Reference|Reference]], [[:Category:Self-Publishing|Self Publishing]]
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
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 likeI 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 on line, 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.  Author Georgianne Landy-Kordis doesn't profess to be a computer expert: she's simply someone who has done this many times and she's giving us the benefit of her experience and without any added chitchat. [[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis |Full Review]]
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|isbn=1526362759
 
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|title=Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It
<!-- Alok Tripathy -->
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|author=Rashmi Sirdeshpande
|-
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|rating=5
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
[[image:1729621953.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1729621953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
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|summary=What a relief! A book about money, for children, with clear explanations of what it is, why it matters, how to acquire more of it (nope - robbing banks is out) and what you can do with it when you've managed to get hold of it.  Your reasons for wanting money don't matter: we all need it to some extent. You might want to go into business, be a clever shopper, a saver (you might even become an ''investor'') and there might be something you really, ''really'' want to buy.  There's also the possibility of using to do good in the world.
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Linda Scott
===[[Fast-track  the I.T Journey - How to move from Supplier to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy]]===
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|title= The Double X Economy
 
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|rating=5
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]]
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|genre= Politics and Society
 
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|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?
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. [[Fast-track the I.T Journey - How to move from Supplier to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy|Full Review]]
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|isbn=0571353606
 
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}}
<!-- John Clare -->
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{{Frontpage
|-
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|isbn=0349424926
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
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|title=Life's Work: 12 Proven Ways to Fast-Track Your Career
[[image:1789552354.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789552354/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
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|author=James Reed
 
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|rating=5
 
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|genre=Business and Finance
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
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|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?
===[[Storytelling: The Presenter's Secret Weapon by John Clare]]===
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]]
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|author=Anne Boden
 
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|title=The Money Revolution
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.
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|rating=4
 
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|genre= Business and Finance
<!-- Marc Stigter and Sir Cary Cooper -->
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|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'', it’s not really about this either. Instead, it's about the ''management'' of your finances, and how to take control.
|-
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|isbn=1789660610
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
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}}
[[image:1472938062.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472938062/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
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{{Frontpage
 
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|isbn=1949395324
 
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|title=Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted To Know: 4th Edition
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
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|author=Kalpesh Ashar
===[[Boards That Dare: How to Future-proof Today's Corporate Boards by Marc Stigter and Sir Cary Cooper]]===
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|rating=4
 
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|genre=Business and Finance
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]]
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|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...
 
+
}}
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 returnIn 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 companyI began to feel hopeful... [[Boards That Dare: How to Future-proof Today's Corporate Boards by Marc Stigter and Sir Cary Cooper|Full Review]]
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{{Frontpage
 
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|isbn=1946383627
 
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|title=Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know
<!-- Mackay  -->
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|author=Vibrant Publishers
|-
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|rating=4.5
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
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|genre=Business and Finance
[[image:Mackay_Trials.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1524683094?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1524683094]]
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|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 organisationThe 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 yearsMy 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...
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1072549271
===[[Trials and Tribulations of a Travelling Prostitute by Andrew Mackay]]===
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|title=The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide
 
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|author=Georgianne Landy-Kordis
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]]
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|rating=4.5
 
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|genre=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]]
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|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...
 
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}}
<!-- Bell  -->
 
|-
 
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[[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]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[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 -->
 
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===[[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]]
 
 
 
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===[[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]]
 
 
 
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===[[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]]
 
 
 
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===[[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]]
 
 
 
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===[[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]]
 
 
 
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===[[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]]
 
 
 
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===[[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]]
 
 
 
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===[[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 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]]
 
 
 
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===[[How Music Got Free: The Inventor, the Music Man, and the Thief by Stephen Witt]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]]
 
 
 
'How Music Got Free', as the title ironically suggests, tells us how the industry fell victim to the digital age and, it seems, became fatally devalued in the process. It starts more or less in the mid-1990s with German technological wizard Karlheinz Brandenburg and the development of the mp3, in brief a coding format for digital audio. The convoluted story is one of various formats and technologies, of loading music on to the internet and making it a free-for-all, in more senses than one. [[How Music Got Free: The Inventor, the Music Man, and the Thief by Stephen Witt|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[One Second Ahead: Enhance Your Performance at Work with Mindfulness by Rasmus Hougaard, Jacqueline Carter and Gillian Coutts]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]]
 
 
 
Have you ever worked at a task and found your mind wandering to something else? Do you find yourself breaking off what you're doing to answer an email? Do you try to multitask, thinking that you're being more efficient? Do you have far too much to attend to, to complete and nowhere near enough time to do it all?
 
 
 
You do? Me too. You need this book. [[One Second Ahead: Enhance Your Performance at Work with Mindfulness by Rasmus Hougaard, Jacqueline Carter and Gillian Coutts|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Campaigns that Shook the World: The Evolution of Public Relations by Danny Rogers]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]]
 
 
 
I dithered about how to begin this review. On one hand I thought I should probably start by saying that I have a work related interest in marketing and communications. On the other hand, Danny Rogers has written a book which appealed to me on several levels. Campaigns are about psychology and storytelling – which of course leads us into branding but also feature critical issues around concept delivery. In short, I was looking forward to reading this for many reasons – and it didn’t disappoint. [[Campaigns that Shook the World: The Evolution of Public Relations by Danny Rogers|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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Move on to [[Newest Children's Non-Fiction Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 11:17, 27 March 2024


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Review of

The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader. Full Review

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Review of

A Beautiful Way to Coach by Fiona Parashar

5star.jpg Business and Finance

So what am I doing reading this book, using this book, and being audacious enough to review it? Truth is I bought it out of curiosity. I was at an on-line launch for the book and Fiona’s description of her Vision Days appealed to me. I wanted to see if there were things in there that I could use with someone I am currently helping / supporting / trying to mentor – without committing them to a full day, which I know would send them scurrying for their burrow. I also wanted to see if I could give myself a Vision Day, to bring me away from their vision and back to my own. Full Review

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Review of

Disaster in the Boardroom: Six Dysfunctions Everyone Should Understand by Gerry Brown and Randall S Peterson

5star.jpg Business and Finance

Boards must act in the best interests of their stakeholders and ensure that they are well-managed and financially secure. This might seem obvious but a series of disasters - some of which have resulted in death or the collapse of a major company - have left interested parties asking what the board was doing. Where were they? Occasionally the boards were unaware of what was happening or they preferred to turn a blind eye, leaving watchers wondering which was worse - ignorance or criminality. The 21st century has delivered some major company scandals but what has happened is nothing new: Gerry Brown and Randall S Peterson give us a very readable trip through such major debacles as railway mania, the South Sea Bubble and even tulip mania. Over three centuries we seem to have learned very little. Full Review

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Review of

Making a Living: How to Craft Your Business by Sophie Rochester

5star.jpg Crafts

Starting a creative business has never been easier.

If not now, when?

I know that I'm not alone in having wondered whether or not I could turn my hobby into a business. There's a lot of motivation to do so: I make more items than we can sensibly use and there are a lot of people who have been delighted to accept what I make as gifts. Selling would offset the costs, which can be quite considerable and it could be fun to do, couldn't it? But where to start? What do I need to think about? Well, the first thing anyone who is considering turning a crafting hobby into a business should do is to read Making a Living. Full Review

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Review of

Supply Chain 20/20: A Clear View on the Local Multiplier Effect for Book Lovers by Kim Staflund

4.5star.jpg Reference

So, you've finished writing your book and you think the hard work is all done? You're convinced that all you need to do now is get it published and the money will start rolling in?

Wrong and wrong again. You presumably wrote the book because you wanted to - and you had a talent for delivering the written word. You knew your subject back to front. Now you're going to have to get to grips with the book supply chain, which even parts of the publishing industry believe to be wrong but it's too difficult to change and no one wants to be the first to try. Then, when you finally have a copy of the book in your hands, you're going to have to work out how to sell it - because it is going to be down to you. Full Review

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Review of

We Need to Talk About Money by Otegha Uwagba

5star.jpg Politics and Society

To be a dark-skinned Black woman is to be seen as less desirable, less hireable, less intelligent and ultimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts... We Need to Talk About Money by Otegha Uwagba

0.7% of English Literature GCSE students in England study a book by a writer of colour while only 7% study a book by a woman. The Bookseller 29 June 2021

Otegha Uwagba came to the UK from Kenya when she was five years old. Her sisters were seven and nine. It was her mother who came first, with her father joining them later. The family was hard-working, principled and determined that their children would have the best education possible. There was always a painful awareness of money although this did not translate into a shortage of anything: it was simply carefully harvested. When Otegha was ten the family acquired a car. For Otegha, education meant a scholarship to a private school in London and then a place at New College, Oxford. Full Review

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Review of

Why You? 101 Interview Questions You'll Never Fear Again (3rd Edition) by James Reed

5star.jpg Business and Finance

Six years on from the original edition, the book is being re-issued with a bonus chapter entitled The Future of Work which includes an additional 10 questions. I've come to this some 6 years after reviewing the original book and my life has changed significantly in the meantime. I'm no longer working in middle-management having opted for a down-shift into reduced hours freelancing to enable me to focus on other (not necessarily paying) work. I can therefore relate to the first point made in this chapter namely that independence and flexibility are core skills that employees need to have. Full Review

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Review of

Making a Difference: Leadership, Change and Giving Back the Independent Director Way by Gerry Brown

4star.jpg Business and Finance

You're not there to run the organisation. You are there to make sure that it is run properly.

Gerry Brown is passionate about the benefits which Independent Directors can bring to a board - not just a corporate board, but the board of an NHS Trust, a university, a sports organisation or a charity. He's particularly keen that there's increased diversity on these boards and feels that this would help to avoid some of the scandals (Oxfam, Kids Company - we're thinking about you) which have occurred in recent years. For this to happen, boards need to have a wider field of people to choose from when they're looking for an ID. Full Review

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Review of

The Independent Director in Society: Our current crisis of governance and what to do by Gerry Brown, Andrew Kakabadse and Filipe Morais

5star.jpg Business and Finance

Independent Director: a job for which no one is qualified (Financial Times)

Independent Director: An independent director is a member of the board of directors who (1) do not have a material relationship with the company, (2) is not part of the company's executive team, and (3) is not involved with the day-to-day operations of the company. (Corporate Finance Institute)

Gerry Brown, Andrew Kakabadse and Filipe Morais feel that the relationship between the executive members of boards and the independent directors (formerly known as non-executive directors), trustees or governors of organisations is frequently unbalanced. The function of the independent director is to have general oversight of the executive side of the board - to spot when and where things are going wrong - but all too often the relationship is too cosy, too antagonistic or the independent director lacks the knowledge and/or experience to understand what's happening or to know how to intervene. Covid-19 has highlighted the failings and weaknesses of leadership and governance and you might be tempted to think that these are extraordinary times and that all will be well once we get back to 'normal' but a pandemic was predicted and modelled in the past and there has been a general failure to prepare for what has happened - and is still happening. Full Review

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Review of

Banking On It: How I Disrupted an Industry by Anne Boden

5star.jpg Business and Finance

Anne Boden had an impressive track record in the financial services sector: she had thirty years experience at a senior level including Group Chief Operating Officer at Allied Irish Bank. AIB was in the throes of recovering from the 2008 financial crisis when she arrived and she was one of the first to realise that banks needed to do things differently. AIB thought it was at the cutting edge when it proposed opening a branch which allowed customers to access their accounts via a terminal. Boden took things a step further, realising that customers could access their accounts from their homes: the old branch network, employing thousands of people, would soon become redundant. Full Review

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Review of

The Journey Mapping Playbook: A Practical Guide to Preparing, Facilitating and Unlocking the Value of Customer Journey Mapping by Jerry Angrave

5star.jpg Business and Finance

I had no idea what 'journey mapping' was until I read this playbook but any business that engages with their customers will benefit from reading the book and acting on the contents. You're going to learn how to run a workshop to discover what it feels like to be one of your own customers. At this point, please don't say 'oh (expletive deleted) not another workshop' because this is going to be fun and you're going to be surprised by what emerges. Full Review

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Review of

The Radical Innovation Playbook: A Practical Guide for Harnessing New, Novel or Game-Changing Breakthroughs by Olga Kokshagina and Allen Alexander

5star.jpg Business and Finance

So, why bother? Every time you set out to do something new you end up with the same thing in a slightly different form and quite a bit of money spent. Why not just leave it as it is? After all, it's roughly working, isn't it?

You might not have said it, but you've probably thought it. You've also thought the small, incremental improvements which you have been able to make - the optimisation of your core business with cost efficiencies wherever possible, the extension of your existing products into new areas - haven't really delivered in terms of growth. It's been manageable and largely risk-free but you could easily be challenged by a competitor who takes a more radical approach. You've merely kept the business ticking over and there's a nagging suspicion in the back of your mind that an organisation designed for the twentieth century might not survive in the twenty-first. What you need is innovation - radical innovation. Full Review

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Review of

Creating Value Through Technology: Discover the Tech that Can Transform Your Business by Andrew Hampshire

4.5star.jpg Business and Finance

I was once told that 'technology' is anything that happens after you're eighteen, so there's been a lot of technology in my life. I once worked for a manager who judged if an accountant was reputable by establishing whether or not they had a typewriter. Times - thankfully - have moved on. Nowadays the problem is that someone running a business doesn't have the time to keep up with constant innovation and they might also be scared because previous IT investments haven't delivered as expected. It's also a fact that no one develops a business because they have the knowledge of the required technology, so they start off in conversations about technology feeling that they're at a disadvantage. They need help, but they frequently don't know what help they need. Full Review

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Review of

Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It by Rashmi Sirdeshpande

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

What a relief! A book about money, for children, with clear explanations of what it is, why it matters, how to acquire more of it (nope - robbing banks is out) and what you can do with it when you've managed to get hold of it. Your reasons for wanting money don't matter: we all need it to some extent. You might want to go into business, be a clever shopper, a saver (you might even become an investor) and there might be something you really, really want to buy. There's also the possibility of using to do good in the world. Full Review

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Review of

The Double X Economy by Linda Scott

5star.jpg Politics and Society

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? Full Review

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Review of

Life's Work: 12 Proven Ways to Fast-Track Your Career by James Reed

5star.jpg Business and Finance

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? Full Review

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Review of

The Money Revolution by Anne Boden

4star.jpg Business and Finance

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, it’s not really about this either. Instead, it's about the management of your finances, and how to take control. Full Review

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Review of

Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted To Know: 4th Edition by Kalpesh Ashar

4star.jpg Business and Finance

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... Full Review

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Review of

Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers

4.5star.jpg Business and Finance

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... Full Review

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Review of

The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis

4.5star.jpg Business and Finance

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... Full Review

Move on to Newest Children's Non-Fiction Reviews