In this sturdy if sometimes long-winded account of tobacco in America, high-toned moralizing on the plight of the ``millions enslaved by nicotine'' accompanies level-headed analysis of the evils of cigarettes. We are ``creatures of folly and victims of our darker nature,'' writes journalist Kluger (The Paper, 1986, etc.), citing as evidence the fact that humans have embraced tobacco and die in appalling numbers because of it. Kluger takes the reader on a historical tour of tobacco, ``one of the treasured and unanticipated gifts of the Old World to the New,'' before settling into an account of tobacco production and marketing in 20th-century America. He is a master at ferreting out intriguing information—by 1891, he notes, cigarette makers were clearing a 27 percent profit margin, an investor's dream that remains constant today—and he has the eye of a John McPhee for piling on data to arrive at a point. That talent sometimes threatens to undo Kluger's narrative; he takes a couple of hundred pages, for instance, to document medicine's quest to determine that cigarette smoking is unhealthy. Bent on exposing the evil of cigarette industrialists, however, the author produces ample rope with which they can hang themselves; one villain among many is Robert Heimann, the head of American Brands in the 1970s, who confessed that his company ``had never bothered'' to assemble a panel of doctors or scientists to advise on the potential health hazards of cigarettes, but who nonetheless tried to be a good corporate citizen by not dumping toxic chemicals into the James River. Rich in long asides on taxation, federal regulation, power politics, and the complexities of international trade, Kluger's endlessly interesting book closes with a discussion of recent liability lawsuits brought against cigarette manufacturers, especially Philip Morris, the greatest villain in Kluger's gallery, and of the ever-lengthening ``shadow of litigation, that chronic potential spoiler of their financial well-being.'' Put this in your pipe and prepare for a richly rewarding read.
Pub Date: April 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-394-57076-6
Page Count: 832
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
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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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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