A mostly solid introduction to financial topics through the lens of honeybees.
Henry and Mary Svec’s personal finance primer finds inspiration in beehives.
Beehives have served as a metaphor for capitalism and industry for centuries, and the authors lean into the comparison in this book, intended for parents and children to share. Writing from the perspective of a grandfather imparting wisdom to his grandchildren, the Svecs draw 10 lessons from his hives and show how they apply to the world of personal finance (“Being smart with your money means you have a system in place to take care of all those money problems that cause you stress. Like the healthy beehive, you thrive, are sustainable and can independently take care of your money needs”). The lessons include “Focus, Specialize and Be Efficient,” “Recycle,” “Be Strong, But Fight Only When Needed,” and “Know the Probability of Success.” Each chapter opens with a story from the world of bees, introduces a “Smart Money Lesson,” and concludes with an investment tip (Although the authors discuss specific companies they have invested in, they emphasize that the goal is for readers to understand the logic behind their choices, not follow them as an investment plan.) The beekeeping stories are scientifically sound, grounded in observation and reflecting the reality of the honeybee life cycle. They serve as effective illustrations of frugality, efficiency, and resourcefulness, and the Svecs draw clear links between what the bees do and how humans can employ similar tactics in building up savings, choosing a place to live, and developing specialized skills. However, some of the book’s assumptions about economic behavior seem to favor idealism over reality; the authors repeatedly warn against living in expensive urban areas but do not explore how the town of 4,000 they suggest as an alternative might serve the same needs. Readers in the United States may be surprised by the book’s Canadian focus, which comes up frequently in the text, but aside from a few items, like the details of government-backed bonds, the book’s financial advice is broadly applicable to readers in all parts of the world.
A mostly solid introduction to financial topics through the lens of honeybees.Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781989346983
Page Count: 92
Publisher: The Publishing Shop
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
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A passionate and accessible guide to humanizing the workplace.
Helbig and Norman present a game plan for making leadership more responsively human.
In this expanded update to The Psychological Safety Playbook: Lead More Powerfully by Being More Human (2023), the authors provide “practical strategies for responding to resistance, sparking change, embodying the change we want to see, and moving forward deliberately,” specifically in a business setting. They suggest ways to encourage what they call “changemakers” through the use of five key “plays” from their playbook: Communicate Courageously, Master the Art of Listening, Manage Your Reactions (“shift from automatic reaction to conscious response to stay better connected to yourself and others”), Embrace Risk and Failure, and Design Inclusive Rituals. The goal is to ensure that organizational cultures promote psychological safety, guided by leaders who “walk the talk” by emphasizing their own humanity at every turn. (“We must be the first to share our own failures with our teams, which will start to make it possible for others to do the same.”) This call for example-setting is sounded throughout the book as Helbig and Norman urge their target audience (leaders and would-be leaders) to go beyond mere instruction and instead embody the qualities they want to see in their subordinates, such as continuous learning, active curiosity, and self-reflection. Each chapter includes a detailed “Recommended Reading” section and text with extensive numbered and bulleted points formatted to make the core concepts more immediately digestible. The authors effectively employ clear and empathetic prose to assure readers that psychological safety is slow to build and quick to break, observing that such safety requires steady attention and delivers outsize payoffs as a result. They refreshingly ground a great deal of the material in psychology and neuroscience, pointing out, for instance, that research has demonstrated that the parasympathetic nervous system responds to honest appreciation, which improves creative thinking. Some wistful readers might consider some of the authors’ suggestions beyond the reach of their own organizations, as when group facilitators are advised to “gently intervene when someone dominates the conversation,” but hope springs eternal.
A passionate and accessible guide to humanizing the workplace.Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9798993550503
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Crazy Idea Press
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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