by Anna Bernasek & D.T. Mongan ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2015
Well informed and useful. The authors stress that the ultimate answer is “you,” but will you read all the fine print to...
There have been plenty of warnings about corporations profiting from data and compromising privacy, but this straightforward analysis never succumbs to alarmism while letting the facts speak for themselves.
New York Times “Datapoints” columnist Bernasek (The Economics of Integrity, 2010, etc.) and finance lawyer Mongan are plainly well-versed in their topic, but once they get past some macroeconomic table setting, they build a case that will hit home with the personal finances of any reader who has ever done anything online. The authors understand how to write about specialized topics for a general readership, and they deliver their most frightening news in the most understated, straightforward manner: “Virtually everything about us is known and collected by someone,” they write. And if that weren’t enough: “The most detailed report prepared by analysts working for the Stasi or the KGB…doesn’t begin to compare with the comprehensive data wake shed by each consumer. Every minute of the day we shed data in profusion.” As our devices reveal what we want, what we buy, where we are, and who we are, we are caught in “the trend from mass markets to mass customization,” one for which we pay a cost in loss of privacy and often in actual dollars. Those who benefit are the Big Ten of corporations that collect data (Amazon, Google, Facebook et al.), engaging in what the authors term a “world-wide data war, ‘World War D.’ ” The problem is that the book does such an effective job of stating the significance, depth, and expanse of the threat that the solutions seem like closing the barn door after the horse is gone. Hope lies in what the authors call “Data Environmentalism,” raising the consciousness about this threat the way Silent Spring sparked the environmental movement.
Well informed and useful. The authors stress that the ultimate answer is “you,” but will you read all the fine print to educate yourself?Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-56858-474-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Nation Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
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by Daniel Kahneman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW
by Erin Meyer ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2014
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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