Good to Great

In Good to Great, Jim Collins investigates 11 large companies that displayed a significant long-term turnaround. Those companies had stock returns comparable to the general market before their transitions, but significantly outperformed the market for fifteen years after their transition. In each case, Collins and his research team examined comparison companies in the same industry that started in about the same place but were unable to take off. For example, Walgreens grew and became more profitable while Eckerd deteriorated.

The research team identified various similarities among the successful companies. They had exceptional leaders who hired a first-rate team. They faced the brutal facts while seeking out a path to greatness. They focused on an area that they cared about passionately, could be the best in the world at, and could drive their economic engine. They were disciplined about determining the correct course of action and carrying out the necessary tasks. They applied technology to accelerate their momentum, without viewing technology as a panacea.

The book is very well written and accessible, even to someone like me who doesn't follow financial news. Each chapter ends with a listing of key points and unexpected findings, which helps crystallize the main ideas. It's an above-average book in a subject area that doesn't interest me much. Anyone who is particularly interested in the business world would get a lot out of it.

Four book reviews

Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife is the best novel I've read this year. It's a non-traditional love story in which the guy has a propensity to jump forward or backwards in time. When Henry and Clare encounter each other, sometimes he's older than she is and sometimes he's younger. Consequently, he has memories of events she hasn't experienced yet and visa-versa. Niffenegger does an excellent job of revealing the story, making it easy to suspend disbelief and care about the characters.

The Best Software Writing I, edited by Joel Spolsky, is all right. I had previously read the best of those essays online, such as Paul Graham's Great Hackers, Clay Shirky's A Group is its Own Worst Enemy, and Aaron Swartz's PowerPoint Remix. The other essays were decent, but not sufficient to justify purchasing the book.

In get me out of here: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder, Rachel Reiland paints a vivid picture of her struggle with that affliction. She describes the circumstances that led her into a mental institution and the laborious therapy that she went through in order to get better. Though I don't know anyone who suffered from BPD, her narrative is compelling.

In Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond examines the impact of major environmental changes on various societies, some of which managed to overcome the problems and some which ended collapsing. Part of the book's appeal is learning about the collapsed societies, such as the Anasazi, the Norse settlements in Greenland, and the people of Easter Island. He also analyzes contemporary societies, ranging from China, whose industrialization and rising standard of living have a global environmental impact, to Japan, which remains mostly forested despite its high population density. Collapse includes a lot of interesting material, though it doesn't rise to the level of Diamond's Guns, Germs, Steel.