Reviewing Reviews: Part II

I have a few more links for you all before I leave for the weekend. There are only two actual reviews among them, but it's the end of the day on a Friday afternoon, and I had to name this post something. First up, BusinessWeek's Jessica Scanlon penned an interesting profile of the incomparable Seth Godin--maketing guru, friend of the company, and the man who just today taught me the difference between Stephen R. Covey and Stephen M.R. Covey. I still can't believe I didn't figure that one out on my own. In case you missed it earlier this week, Daniel Akst wrote this glowing review of Billion Dollar Lessons in The Wall Street Journal. Ankst writes:

Billion-Dollar Lessons is an insightful and crisply written book, one that offers wisely chosen and well- narrated case studies but also good advice, such as urging companies to appoint an in-house "devil's advocate" to challenge the unhealthy unanimity that accompanies many major decisions.

Guy Kawasaki (Art of the Start) has also interviewed one of the book's coauthors, Chunka Mui, over at the American Express Open Forum blog. Two brilliant human beings in conversation... how could that not be worth your time? Chris Erikson of The New York Post recently sat down with the author of The 4-Hour Work Week, Timothy Ferris, and got this job description from him:

I view my job these days as a sort of professional experimentalist. I experiment with things I think are interesting, including investing, and then report my findings, generally through the blog.

Sounds like a sweet gig. You can read the entire interview here. For the second time today, I came across a reference to "Big Brother" in a review. This time, it was in the Economist's review of Planet Google, and the language is remarkably similar to Roger Lowenstein's review of The Numerati I linked to earlier today:

From books to health records and videos, from your friendships to your click patterns and physical location, Google wants to know. To some people this sounds uplifting, with promises of free access to knowledge and help in managing our daily lives. To others, it smacks of another Big Brother, no less frightening than its totalitarian ancestors for being in the private sector.

Finally, we have an opinion piece on the magic trick that is the American Dollar by James Grant. He is author of Mr. Market Miscalculates: The Bubble Years and Beyond, being published by Axios Press in November. His is one of many books due out this Fall on the financial crisis and its causes. Next week, we'll take a closer look at some books that are already out on the topic and turn our eyes to some of the upcoming titles. Have a great weekend everyone!