Nicely structured and insightful but by no means comprehensive.
A well-written, simple—at times too simple—treatise on investing, with an emphasis on the value of financial planning.
There’s a legitimate point in this compact book by Curran, a certified financial planner: Financial advice need not be filled with technical mumbo jumbo; rather, it should be conveyed in forthright, straightforward terms. The author does so with skill, doling out bits of wisdom about stocks, bonds, cash and asset allocation. Curran writes engagingly, spouting one truism after another. For example, about investment strategy, he writes, “the decision of the balance between stocks, bonds, and cash is one of the most, if not the most important portfolio decision you can make.” When it comes to stocks, the author believes that “what matters is how long you are in the market, thus the phrase that ‘it’s not timing the market, but time in the market.’ ” As for using a financial planner, Curran advises the reader to “find one that is not encumbered by systemic conflicts of interest.” Some of the content, however, is a bit unusual for an investment book. In a chapter entitled “Let the Woman Make the Decisions,” for instance, Curran suggests that “men tend to be more susceptible to fear and greed—the two primary emotions that pervade every aspect of finances, especially when it comes to the stock market.” In discussing estate planning, the author adds to a traditional list of estate documents something he calls a “loving letter”—a letter he suggests writing to one or more loved ones in which he urges readers to “take the opportunity to tell them what you truly cherished about them.” Curran doesn’t spare the rod in discussing some of his financial colleagues, skewering Wall Street investment firms who offer investment advice with “add-no-value layers of management.” The author’s breezy style makes for a pleasurable, easy reading experience, as does his clever technique of ending each chapter with a sentence that neatly transitions to the title of the next chapter. Still, this short overview is less useful as an in-depth investment guide than as an endorsement for consulting a financial planner.
Nicely structured and insightful but by no means comprehensive.Pub Date: May 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482012743
Page Count: 102
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
IN THE NEWS
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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