A short, pithy, sometimes-trite assemblage of optimistic and funny sayings.
An unremarkable book of uplifting quotes and tidbits.
Gesmundo’s slim nonfiction debut is a collection of inspirational mottoes the author has accumulated over time—sayings and jokes that have worked to help him through all kinds of difficulties, including the loss of loved ones, the challenges of running a business, and the major and minor obstacles he’s faced during 40-plus years in the hospitality industry. The book isn’t strictly an anthology; the quotes on every page are truisms that anyone in any culture in any time period could say as a matter of course. Gesmundo ends the collection with humorous observations (“Mothers’ menu consisted of two choices / Take it or leave it,” he writes, adding the kind of brief autobiographical note that happens throughout the book: “I can remember this during my early years during World War 2 when most times you did not even have two choices”), but the bulk of the work offers broad morale boosters. “Nothing changes / If nothing changes,” for instance, or “When you don’t know what you are talking about / You won’t know when to stop,” or “Angels exist but sometimes they don’t have wings and are called Friends.” There’s little complexity here; the reader is generally left alone with the author’s distilled, greeting-card-esque ideas: “Everyone smiles in the same language.” The author’s personal reminiscences interspersed throughout the book are straightforward and sometimes touching, like when he recalls his stern but fair father, and the advice he offers throughout often has a kindly, paternal tone to it: “Worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s / Opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.” Readers looking for a bucking-up shot in the arm will find plenty here.
A short, pithy, sometimes-trite assemblage of optimistic and funny sayings.Pub Date: June 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-984500-55-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: XlibrisAU
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's...
A fresh, provocative analysis of the debate on education and employment.
Up-and-coming economist Moretti (Economics/Univ. of California, Berkeley) takes issue with the “[w]idespread misconception…that the problem of inequality in the United States is all about the gap between the top one percent and the remaining 99 percent.” The most important aspect of inequality today, he writes, is the widening gap between the 45 million workers with college degrees and the 80 million without—a difference he claims affects every area of peoples' lives. The college-educated part of the population underpins the growth of America's economy of innovation in life sciences, information technology, media and other areas of globally leading research work. Moretti studies the relationship among geographic concentration, innovation and workplace education levels to identify the direct and indirect benefits. He shows that this clustering favors the promotion of self-feeding processes of growth, directly affecting wage levels, both in the innovative industries as well as the sectors that service them. Indirect benefits also accrue from knowledge and other spillovers, which accompany clustering in innovation hubs. Moretti presents research-based evidence supporting his view that the public and private economic benefits of education and research are such that increased federal subsidies would more than pay for themselves. The author fears the development of geographic segregation and Balkanization along education lines if these issues of long-term economic benefits are left inadequately addressed.
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's more profound problems.Pub Date: May 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-75011-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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