Globonomics!

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffett-CEO-Berkshire-Hathaway/dp/0471430455

How often do you wonder how Warren Buffett manages to be a hands-off manager or how hands-on he really is. His empire is over $37 billion (2009 figures as quoted on Wikipedia) and he is my guru and one of the most enigmatic figures you would find. But, have you wondered how his businesses run? How does he manage such a large empire so efficiently? His annual report mentioned Ajit Jain who is heading several reinsurance businesses for Buffett and his name even found a mention on the 2008 copy of the Berkshire Hathaway annual report  – http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2008ar/2008ar.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Jain

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Man-Standing-JPMorgan-ebook/dp/B002QJZ9ZY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259222095&sr=1-1

Downloaded this book on the kindle some days back. Yet to start reading it.

I admire the way Jamie Dimon steered JPMChase out of the woods back in 2008 and kept it profitable till date and in the process making some spectacular acqusitions. I had read a FORTUNE article on him back then as well which was really informative so am sure this biography will be enthralling.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/29/news/companies/tully_dimon.fortune/

Source: http://www.amazon.com/

amazon.com released a major software update to the kindle2 which I installed on my kindle2 today.
This one will help my kindle2 do the following below but the one I liked most is this:
- Support PDF’s natively without all those hassles of sending emails to @kindle.com etc. – this is a big plus. I can now read all my e-books which are PDF’s as well on my kindle2! So far, this was a feature available only on the kindle DX. Read the rest of this entry »

Who says Elephants can't dance

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Says-Elephants-Cant-Dance-ebook/dp/B000FCKL6G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258177332&sr=8-1-catcorr

I read this book on my kindle and it was the first book completed and was really a good reading experience overall – no frills, just does the job – effectively.

Lou Gerstner turned around IBM in the 1990’s before the current Chairman and CEO, Sam Palmisano, took over. IBM was a goliath that was being eaten raw by the huge Microsoft’s and the Intel’s and all the other David’s back then and it led to his historic turnaround which in many ways reminds me of reading up Jack Welch’s book on GE’s turnaround (I read it in 2002).

Scintillating book filled with common sense, candor, facing reality and a clear book on how strategy decisions can be taken to make even ‘Elephant’s dance’ and turn the big Blue to a nimble footed giant. This is a must read for Manager’s and aspiring CEO’s.

I highly recommend this book!

Watch this space closely as I collate information and present an analysis on this shortly. Someone left a feedback for me that I was totally deviating from the primary objective of this blog – Economics and Finance and I think their point is indeed valid. I have been all over the place again. I need to refocus my priorities on this blog’s original objective with which it was setup 3 years ago and that is to concentrate on Economics and Finance.

Just look at the competition in this field:

1. amazon.com kindle e-book reader

2. Barnes and Noble Nook e-book reader

3. iRex, (a Royal Philips spin-off in 2005) e-book reader

4. PlasticLogic e-book reader

5. Sony e-book reader

and many more!

This will be an interesting analysis.

This was my fourth book on my kindle. At the rate I am downloading books on my kindle through amazon.com’s Whispernet, I have to control my reading habits!

HBR - High Performance Manager

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Business-Becoming-Performance-Manager/dp/B0027ISANC/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257486249&sr=1-10

This was the third book on my kindle2. It downloaded effortlessly on my kindle using Whispernet in less than 4 minutes. Given the EDGE (Enhanced data rates for GSM evolution) we get in India, this is very good.

The Toyota Way

Source: http://www.amazon.com/The-Toyota-Way/dp/B000SEGIVS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257433076&sr=8-1

I was researching excerpts of this book way back in 2006 for my Project Report on General Motors (GM) and Toyota and was enthralled with it since then so it’s after three long years that I have managed to lay my hands on this piece of beauty!

Since we are on the subject of Toyota, I must say that I am quite disappointed that Toyota pulled out of Formula 1 – they were only one of the four engine manufacturers left in F1 – the other three being, FIAT, Mercedes Benz, Renault with the pull out of BMW earlier this season and of Honda last season. Read the rest of this entry »

How cool is this? I came across this on some blog and decided to check it out. It works – flawlessly! The first word I searched for on my kindle was, well, you guessed it, “kindle”! The web browser functionality of the kindle is still disabled as it’s not enabled for International editions of the kindle anyway – this is a known point.

Meanwhile I had some issues downloading a book and called amazon.com kindle support and they immediately reversed the charges on that book because it showed the wireless download status on their systems as “pending” as well. For some reason the book just did not download despite all my tries! Read the rest of this entry »

The Presentation secrets of Steve Jobs – Source: http://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Secrets-Steve-Jobs-Insanely/dp/B002NPC0QC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257221443&sr=1-1

Steve Jobs is my business guru after Jack Welch and Warren Buffett and I count him as among my top favorite business leaders who can make insanely great products and better still, showcase them insanely. I must have seen his 2007 iPhone keynote at least a dozen times and have memorized the sentences – such is his aura! Anything he does only adds to his charm! This HAD TO be the first book on my kindle book reader. Reviews follow.

The Intelligent investor – Source: http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Revised-ebook/dp/B000FC12C8

This book is so heavy on the head with it’s concepts that I had read a few hundred pages and took almost a 1-year sabbatical from it. This had to be the second book on my kindle in order of my Guru’s – Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett.

Needless to say, this book was my second purchase on amazon.com kindle device via amazon.com kindle’s Whispernet service which is flawless. I also liked the level of personalization that the kindle device provides to avid book readers like me and this itself makes for the switch from the deadtree version to the kindle version more effortless! Thanks amazon.com for this nice touch!

I will post reviews as I read up the next hundred pages from where I left off last year (Oct 2008).

Older posts on this book read can be found here and here