This penetrating interview with dominant financial philosopher and philanthropist Soros (Underwriting Democracy, 1991, etc.) is unfortunately hindered by repetition, obscurity, and occasionally forced contrariness. A book of conversations with a successful investor automatically suggests the Market Wizards collection, the seminal pair of books containing interviews with financiers who fit the title. Like those works, Soros on Soros sinks or swims with the ability of its subject to shed light on the methods that have made him the second most successful money manager in history (after Warren Buffett). The reflective and talkative Soros provides three interviews. The first, conducted by investment strategist and Soros friend Wien, concentrates on the Hungarian immigrant's upbringing and investment style. Hungarian journalist Koenen poses the questions in the second interview, which explores Soros's philanthropic efforts and global political interests. The final interview, again by Wien, delves more deeply into Soros's philosophy as it informs his life outside of investing. Untangling the man's uniquely philosophical approach to market prognostication, the first section is by far the most tantalizing. Since 1969, Soros has managed the Quantum Fund, the superior precursor to today's hedge funds, which, by employing a greater deal of leverage than most funds dare, has grown at a pace that would have turned a $1,000 investment in 1969 into over $2 million today. Soros is perhaps best known for Quantum's attack on the British pound in 1992, a maneuver that netted Quantum shareholders over $2 billion but is viewed with hostility by many who fear the trader's power. The play-by-play of this wrangle and others best grabs the attention of readers not intimidated by concepts such as derivatives and currency speculation. Call it messianic or ballsy, there's a courage to this interviewee that makes for both an educational and entertaining read, though one dampened by the constraints of the question-and- answer format. (First serial to Fortune Magazine; $250,000 ad/promo)
Pub Date: Sept. 19, 1995
ISBN: 0-471-12014-6
Page Count: 321
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An English journalist's judicious, albeit limited, take on the shape of things to come over the next generation. In evaluating what the future might hold, McRae, an associate editor of the British periodical Independent, all but ignores large areas of the Global Village, most notably the Middle East, to focus on North America, Western Europe, and East Asia. Before venturing any predictions, however, the author offers savvy status reports on the three economically consequential and committedly capitalist regions he has singled out for attention. McRae then assesses the forces that promise to change the developed world in the next 30 years or so. Cases in point range from demography (which tops his short list) through financial services, governance, natural resources, sociopolitical organization, technology, and trade. The accessible text (published last year in the UK) has helpful graphics and tabular material throughout. Getting down to business, the author provides plausibly detailed briefings on his trio of industrialized locales two decades into the next millennium. In McRae's informed opinion, for example, a vibrant US will have moved further down the road toward becoming a truly multicultural society, one whose living standards may depend on its capacity to reduce the costs of broken homes, crime, a decline in personal responsibility, and excessive litigiousness. By contrast, he suggest that the EU's economic ties could have come undone as a result of cultural diversity and issues of sovereignty. In the meantime, he concludes, an aging Japan could be hard put to keep pace with populous mainland China, whose economic potential is just now being realized. Whether or not McRae has 20/20 foresight, his short-run scenarios for free enterprise's showcase venues are both thought- provoking and credible. (Illustrations)
Pub Date: March 31, 1995
ISBN: 0-87584-604-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1995
Jungian analyst Hillman (coauthor, Freud's Own Cookbook, 1985, etc.) rambles on about a new, and hopefully healthier, paradigm of power for the business world. Hillman believes that business offers the closest thing our civilization has to a universal theology, and with that in mind he tries to destroy some old idols in the temple. In the first part of this book, he views two traditional notions of business health- -growth and efficiency—as limiting and even dangerous (Treblinka, he notes, resulted from the Nazis' push to kill with maximum efficiency). In contrast, he argues, the next century will need to stress service and maintenance, which place a premium on the personal dimension of life often devalued in the drive for growth and efficiency. Hillman then examines 20 different kinds of power, including prestige, exhibitionism, tyranny, concentration, authority, fearsomeness, purism, charisma, and subtle power. In the last section, he explores the power of myths on ideas, positing the existence of, and then characterizing, an armful of worldviews: the ``cyclical return'' of history; ``gloom and doom''; ``hopeful greening''; and ``apocalyptic catastrophe.'' Instead of dehumanizing control, he aims for ``maximizing through discretion, rather than direction.'' Well and good. The problem comes with his method of analysis, which is long on examining the etymology of words and the classical myths that illustrate forms of power, but is short on applying any of this to contemporary business. His tactic is ``to keep the ideas brief, quick, heated and scattered.'' The result is often psychobabble (``The intelligent exercise of power begins in the mind that has insight into the deeper structures of actions''). In his gnomic one-liners, Hillman comes across as part latter- day Emerson and part Sensitive New Age Guy, but the reader is likely to view the whole as flapdoodle.
Pub Date: April 20, 1995
ISBN: 0-385-46964-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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