Originally written in 1984, Fire in the Valley is an excellent synopsis of the beginnings of the computer industry, the devices, the people, and the egos that drive Silicon Valley in it’s early days. The book is filled with details about the early computers, the hobbyists, and the fledging corporations (often three guys in a basement) that were building a mega-industry seemingly overnight. While filled with details, the book flows well and reads quickly thanks to generally lucid prose. The authors do a good job of conveying the enthusiasm and idealism of those times and interviewed many of the key participants including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates for their perspective on those days. This version of the book brings the story essentially up to date, documenting the rise of the World Wide Web and the various wars over browsers that eventually got Microsoft into trouble. If you like computers pick this up. If you like historical books about great periods of history (and don’t kid yourself, the rise of the personal computer and the world wide web qualify) pick this up. If you want to know why the machine you currently have is designed the way it is pick this up, it’s an enjoyable read.

Competent overview but no depth, This breezy read lightly covers the evolution of the personal computer mostly from the introduction of Altair until Steve Jobs’ departure from Apple Computer. Covering as many people, machines and companies as possible the authors don’t have time for a in-depth look at anything. The result seems like a 400 plus page newspaper or magazine article.

http://www.fireinthevalley.com/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071358927/ref=ase_fireinthevalleth/002-1102286-1579203?s=books&v=glance&n=283155&tagActionCode=fireinthevalleth

本书旨在试图打破如今普遍存在于众多公司的不具创造力的传统思维模式，这些公司十分努力，拥有高素质的员工和高质量的产品，但它们的经营方式却让我想起足球比赛，足球在赛场上踢来踢去仅仅为了维持比赛的进行，就像是两个队以0：0结局收场，整个过程没有任何速度上的变化，没有激情，甚至没有要赢球的信心。

这本书的一个建设性的目的，是想为正在奋斗前行的公司提供更加具有推动力的动态方法。并非某种研究成果的总结，而是关于态度和理念的阐述，是关于从根本上决定一个公司的优势和劣势的理念,是关于决定一个公司必须如何去行动和组织自己的理念。

丹麦人的商业读本和美国人写的风格不同,由译本快速翻阅,内容不甚了了,有些无味,除品牌建设外,无"实质"内容,全是"精神"层面.

 well written, easy to read with examples, and quite innovative - but the more experienced pratitioner or well read academic will probably be familiar with much of the ideas presented.

 This book will appeal to those who prefer the visualisation of models and concepts alongside short examples, and the format will be particularly liked by those whom have followed an MBA degree or similar training. Main stream academics looking for well researched material may be a little disappointed, for by the authors own admission this book is "a constructive attempt to show another, more dynamic way, for companies to move forward. This book is not about research results, but about attitudes". The center has received feedback from many practitioners and managers tackling live corporate branding projects whom seem to like this book, and it is a fairly easy and somewhat innovative read for non-specialists or general managers, but perhaps less so for the well practiced or academic experts in the field.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0273643800/qid=1150986432/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/002-1102286-1579203?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

 本来因为要看碟,于是先选择了阅读.看上去文字是浅白易懂的,至少比Harry Potter里怪名词好让人明白,结果发现除了日本人名的奇怪英文外,读了将近一半,一直都是个小女孩的独白.Arthur Golden这个西洋鬼子学上了琐碎的东洋娘娘腔,讲来讲去就那么一点事,看来连观碟的兴致也闷闷而无.

看了下西洋鬼子的书评,评价甚高,估计都是些对东方全无概念的偷窥者,想从这样一本小说里来体验比魔幻世界更奇特的经历.暂且以小人之心堵君子之腹,等哪天读完下半部再继续.看来读完还不知何年何月.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400096898/qid=1150982646/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-1102286-1579203?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Amazon.com is probably the most cited online business of all times, and it will certainly be the case for the next ten years or so. Therefore, this little yellow paperback book is a must-read for those who do not know that the "e" at the beginning of e-commerce does not stand for "easy". Indeed, similar to its counterparts, Amazon.com was also born in a garage and then became an e-commerce giant in less than five years. This extraordinary story also proves that the industry clock-speed of e-commerce markets is really high, as demonstrated by Haim Mendelson in his novel book "Survival of the Smartest".

In his book, Robert Spector starts the history of Amazon.com from where it all began-the garage, and takes the reader smoothly to where it stands now-the peak. After reading this book, the reader learns about the customer-centric view of this company, the advantages of the so-called "get big fast strategy" in e-commerce, and finally why profit should not be the first priority of an online company during its initial years of operation.

More than 4 years after the dotcom crash, we should be getting some perspective on internet companies. Perhaps most fundamentally, what does it take to build a highly profitable internet company? Which companies are still overvalued? Are they 50% overvalued, 10x overvalued or what? Sadly, books offering such wisdom do not seem to be around. There are plenty of books about the disasters, but much more interesting would be an analysis of the handful of successes or maybe-successes.
In the absence of such a work, this is respectable. It is well-written and carefully researched. It was finished in 2000, when things were starting to fall, but still had a long way to go. So you had to be unusually perceptive to see things clearly. Spector does seem to have seen most of the issues, he just does not push them far enough.
There is much fascinating detail and much to learn, although you sometimes have to read between the lines. For example, Amazon’s software should be an engineering case study in the difference between effective and efficient. It was incredibly inefficient, because the original designers (by their own admission, according to Spector) knew nothing about the finer points of relational databases, but it was effective - it rarely went down. Since Amazon was able to raise money on absurdly favourable terms, the fact that poor software design gave a huge hardware bill maybe did not matter much.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0066620422/sr=8-1/qid=1147075790/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0139341-3723008?%5Fencoding=UTF8

David Cohen argues that far from being influenced by logical, rational considerations, stock markets are driven by deep-seated emotions such as fear, greed, panic and the herd instinct.

Written in a jargon-free style, this book contains fascinating case histories on companies and individuals and includes an amusing psychological quiz which will help you to understand your own attitude to risk and therefore guide you when making investment decisions.

Essential reading for anyone with an interest in how markets actually work.

• A fun, topical read
• Contains a psychological quiz to test attitude towards risk
• Includes a useful glossary of psychological and investment terms

"George Bernard Shaw provides the essential insight into one’s purpose. He said, "This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mightily one." writes Smilor. But it’s more than a dream; there is responsibility. "Ownership, however is a two way street. Those who own have the responsibility to perform. Fulfillment and actualization of dreams come only with performance and achievement."

 Skim the book like the first class taken in a post-graduate degree program. Make this book the first step in the long and winding process. I can assure you that many issues covered will not be fully absorbed the first time. Then, before presenting the start-up to investors, carefully review the book again, as the last step, to make sure you covered all the bases. You will get a new outlook and gain an entirely new appreciation for this book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580624766/qid=1145789951/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-0681067-9775320?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

The book is written from authorized interviews with MS employees including Gates, Ballmer and senior executives. That perspective is apparent.

The changes the author discusses at length and amount to the "rebooting" are:
- Promoting Ballmer to CEO
- Reorganizing into 7 divisisons
- Dropping employee stock options
- Bringing in a bunch of Human Resources people
- Settling the anti-trust law suits with payoffs
- Gates Foundation and his widely-publicized visits to Africa and India

…

Bottom line: Is the book worth reading? Probably, if only to learn the party line coming out of Redmond. If you want objectivity, look elsewhere.

In this volume, Slater explains how Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer reinvented their company. Microsoft? Yes, even one of the world’s most profitable and valuable companies reached a point at which significant transformation was necessary. Slater organizes his material within five Parts: The Four-Year Crisis, Emerging from the Crisis, How Bill Gates Reinvented Microsoft, How Steve Ballmer Reinvented Microsoft, and The Rebooting of Microsoft.

Slater responds to questions such as these:

1. What was the nature and extent of what he calls "the four-year crisis"?

2. Why did it last for as long as it did?

3. What did Gates and Ballmer learn from it?

4. To what extent (if any) did they disagree on what to do in response to it?

5. If there were differences between them, how were they resolved?

6. In Leading Change, Jim O’Toole has much of value to say about resistance to change. He claims that much of it is the result of what he calls "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." To what extent was there such resistance within the Microsoft organization?

7. What was done to overcome it? Were those efforts successful?

8. According to Slater, what lessons can be learned from the entire process which included but was not limited to Microsoft’s rebooting?

9. Given his direct and extensive access to Gates and Ballmer (interviewing them separately as well as together), what does he think of each?

10. In Slater’s opinion, what must be done to complete the reforms at Microsoft now underway?

Slater is the author of more than 25 books, most of which I have read and reviewed. In my opinion, this is his most important work thus far, in part because of what it reveals about Gates, Ballmer, and their company but also because it reminds all of us that even a Microsoft will always be a "work in progress"…and that only hard and smart "work" will achieve the "progress" on which success depends.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00080W3IE/ref=sr_11_1/102-0681067-9775320?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Given that everything in the book was from public sources, I could not understand how the author could call her points "secrets." But here they are:

(1) Understand e-commerce

(2) Build an entrepreneurial team

(3) Focus

 (4) Brand the site

(5) Get and keep customers by offering value

(6) Set up a distribution network

 (7) practice frugality

(8) practice technoleverage (improve your performance with technology)

 (9) constantly reinvent your business model

(10) add strategic alliances and acquisitions.

What does that tell you that you didn’t know before?

On the interesting question of whether Amazon.com will be able to sustain the cashflow losses, the author says nothing other than that the harvesting period is still ahead.

• It seems like more and more these days books are being written by horrible authors that companies could pick up off the streets and have them write a book entirely about their company, but hide it as being a guide to successful e-commerce. If your looking at e-commerce, you don’t just focus on one "semi-successful business", you focus on the many different e-commerce companies out there and you compare and contrast at their success. This book skims the surface on Amazon…but you are looking for more.
• This book was dry, and completely empty. Considering the author didnt even speak to anyone from the company, this book is just a shell of ideas with nothing cohesive or interesting to save it. WASTE of time and money.
• Thankfully I had borowwed it from the library and not bought it. Please save your money for something else. Or give it away to the Salvation army. At least some good might come out of it.

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/184112155X/qid=1143022551/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-3515009-6335212?s=books&v=glance&n=283155