Business & Finance Books > S Business & Finance Books

Advantages: A highly interesting, frank and motivational read
Disadvantages: Sometimes Branson's over enthusiasm becomes annoying

I will readily admit that I have never been what you could call a fan of Richard Branson, with his outrageous self publicity and his record attempts I have often found him rather annoying. But then part of me admires him, as anyone who can create such a hugely successful business as Virgin must be doing something right. So when I got the opportunity to read his book "Screw it, Let's do it" I thought why not, maybe I will learn something interesting ...
...maybe a bit of his drive will rub off on me. "Screw it, Let's do it" was written by Richard Branson when he was approached to write a book for World Book Day 2006, since then it has become an International best seller and recently been expanded to include a new chapter on environmentally friendly business. The book is not so much an autobiography, although it does touch on many aspects of Richard's personal life, but a look at how Richard goes about ... Read review

Advantages: Simple character forming habits are easy to understand and apply.
Disadvantages: NONE what so ever

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Published by Franklin Covey Co. and costs up to £10.99. Easily obtained at very low cost from ebay. This is the most amazing life changing book I have ever read and I have read many. Most of the others seem to focus on one aspect of self-improvement whereas this provides a fully comprehensive approach. I started reading this a year or two ago but didn’t ...
...rather than obstacles. habit 7 - sharpen the saw Covey interprets the self into four parts: the spiritual, mental, physical and the social/emotional, which all need feeding and developing. This is the habit of self renewal, says Covey, and it necessarily surrounds all the other habits, enabling and encouraging them to happen and grow. I would say that reading this book will literally change your life!This is powerful stuff and highly recommended. ... Read review

Advantages: Interesting, captivating and very motivational
Disadvantages: N/A

This book is a must read if you feel you are stuck in rut with your career. It is both inspiring and extremely interesting. Fish is extremely well writen and really draws you into the story. As a business tool it is very motivating and will help you identify problems and come up with ways of sorting them. Im not a great reader but I have read fish twice in the three months since i bought it, even if you are not so interested in the work and motivation ... Read review

Advantages: Fascinating mixture of history, science, business and espionage
Disadvantages: Some may find some political bias

Not everyone likes to read non-fiction books, and I'm someone who will almost always pick up a novel before grabbing something factual. But when my son told me about this book, I couldn't resist and even went so far as to order it from Amazon in Hardcover! Perhaps my love of James Bond movies came into play in my purchase. Maybe I bought it because this book is about an elite division of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), and being Israeli it struck ...
...was probably both - combined with my son's nagging, of course - but I'm glad I put out the extra pennies for this one. So what's this about? Firstly, its about espionage. This book will tell you about how a tiny country kept itself from being destroyed several times over again by using mostly its wits. And since all is fair in love and war, you can't expect a country that's been surrounded by enemies for over 50 years to always play nice. Whatever ... Read review

Advantages: Good advice, balanced
Disadvantages: Sometimes sounds a little patronising; not much regarding pensions

...know exactly how to sort your life out" tone, there is a wealth of valuable information in this book. I found the balance of the book about right in terms of debt management, savings, investments and other financial problems. A lot of books tend to focus on investments, when for a lot of people, this is a long way off being realistic. In terms of practical advice, a major theme is changing your mindset to becoming more financially responsible and ...
...the first chapter "Money and Your Mind". Alvin proceeds to discuss consumer debt and how to get out of it, how to make a start at saving, and how (or whether) to get onto the property ladder. The latter is really useful as it made me realise the various expenses involved in buying a house - there's a few that many people wouldn't think of. The advice about saving a decent deposit is particularly salient in the current credit crunch. There's a 2 ... Read review