Jacks and Jokers by Matthew Condon

Matthew Condon, Jacks and Jokers (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press; Kindle edition, 2014), 466 pages.

Jacks and Jokers is the second book in a three book series about police corruption in Queensland, Australia from the 1960s through the late 1980s. This book covers the mid 1970s through the mid 1980s. It provides exquisitely detailed accounts of various illegal and criminal activities in Queensland during that time and the manner in which some of these activities proceeded without police or State government interference. The numerous stories of illegal and criminal behavior demonstrated various degrees of police (and at time government) complicity, co-operation, approval and involvement. The author goes beyond explaining the scope of the crimes and the level of police corruption to show how elements of the Queensland became a law unto themselves, having changed from being a tool in the administration of justice to being a political arm of government and an organizer or overseer of various protection rackets involving narcotics, prostitution and illegal gaming.

Crime has been around for a long time, since the times of Cain and Abel, or if you prefer, Romulus and Remus. Baring some dramatic shift in human nature, its likely to continue. We shouldn't be surprised then to read of it in its various forms, including murder, bribery, corruption, prostitution, drugs and gambling. THis book covers a lot of these sorts of crimes. What surprises this reader is the scale of these activities the in one region of Australia, and the extent of police involvement and government blindness to the police force's involvement in its operation, control and management. This book does very well in documenting these activities. Some of these crimes have been reported in other book and publications, and others have come to light by involved persons disclosing them to the author following the publication of the author's first book in this series. This second book by Condon shines a light on these troubled time in Queensland, Australia. Its well written, but readers should be cautioned that after a while they may tire of continuos chapters of illegal and criminal activities with no opportunity for catharsis of the emergence of an heroic figure. For this, we will have to wait for the third book in the series to be published.

Payroll Accounting by Bernard Bieg and Judith Toland

Bernard Bieg and Judith Toland, Payroll Accounting (Cengage Learning; Independence, KY; 2014) 496 pages.

This is a college textbook for students of payroll accounting. It covers all of the topics related to the subject of payroll accounting, as it applies in the United States. The topics covered include:

• Social Security taxes
• Medicare taxes
• Federal and State unemployment taxes, and
• Federal individual income tax withholding.

Also included with this book is a CD-ROM with payroll templates, and the relevant templates students can use to complete a payroll project. Some editions of this book come with an electronic key for on-line assignments and graded quizzes. Be careful if you buy this book to ensure that the electron key is included, and if your particular course requires it. In short, this is a good example of a comprehensive textbook on United States payroll accounting..

A virtue of this book is that all chapters are of a similar length with each devoted to a specific topic. All topics are covered in sufficient detail for a college level payroll accounting class. He explanations of concepts are clear. Each chapter has a useful review section. The on-line grading and assessment consisted of weekly quizzes, plus med-term and end of term exams. The quizzes were straight forward application of material covered in the text. Quiz and exam format comprised true/false questions and multiple choice questions. Some of these questions used imprecise language that are likely to confuse students who struggle with English grammar, or have a first language other than English. The exams can be a source of frustration confuse due to their reliance on grammar, double-negatives and deliberately imprecise language.

Overall, this is an adequate entry-level payroll accounting textbook, even if it is somewhat expensive. But what textbook isn't expensive these days?

Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, Notes from A Big Country (New York: Doubleday; 1998), 318 pages.

In 1996 or thereabouts, Bryson relocated with his family from England to a small college town in New Hampshire. Soon after his arrival, he was convinced by a colleague at an English newspaper (The Mail on Sunday Night and Day Magazine) to write a weekly column about America. This book is a collection of these articles that were written between October 1996 and May 1998. The articles are printed chronologically and cover a wide range of topics of potential interest to English readers. The book’s chapters include articles on baseball (written during the time of the World Series), the intellectual poverty of American television programs, the pervasiveness of drugs, advertising, congress, food, politics, obesity (how could there be a book on America without this topic being broached), the unique American holidays and how Americans celebrate them, and the rituals of fare welling a child going off to college. Bryson’s articles also contain a few articles on the oppressive bureaucracies one encounters in America (no doubted more oppressive these days), as well as numerous articles on the strangeness of returning to America after being away for a long time and finding that many things have changed and are not as they once were.

Bryson’s books are known for containing generous portions of smart-arse comments, complaints about stupidity and stupid people, and cruel humor often directed towards people simply doing their job. This book does not disappoint those Bryson fans expecting that kind of writing. You have to give credit to the man: he knows his audience. Nonetheless, this humor is at times forced, especially in articles dealing with new technology and having to file income taxes. Bryson complains a lot – he even quotes his wife who accuses him of writing columns that bitch, moan and complain. She is correct, partly. We should be mindful that these articles were written for an English newspaper and Bryson does well to pick the low hanging fruits of complaining about America in a way that appeals to English superiority and their apparent repulsion of American vulgarity. These are easy targets. Where Bryson really excels is in his descriptions of aspects of America that delight and surprise him. These articles are where Bryson’s writing excels. Smart-arse complainers are common: writers that can convey delight wonder and enthusiasm are rare. This is where Bryson’s real talents lie. In this book he shows glimpses of this special talent. As we now know, it took Bryson a few more years and a few more books for him to develop this talent and leave behind completely the callow smart-arse humor that appears here. This book is enjoyable nonetheless. The short chapters make it an ideal book for commuters looking for something to make their daily journeys quickly pass, as well as for men who like to do their reading in the smallest room in the house. Time has dated a few of the chapters, but on balance, this is an enjoyable book that has something for all adults.

Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey by William Least Heat-Moon

William Least Heat-Moon, Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey, (New York: Little, Brown and Company; 2008),  581 pages.

When William Least Heat-Moon published Blue Highways, he established a reputation as a writer who knew that off the beaten track places offer big surprises. In this book, the author again chronicles his road travels in and around the small towns of the United States of America in search of "Quoz," things strange, incongruous, or peculiar. To Heat-Moon, "Quoz" can be history, hereditary stories retold or invented, or places and locations with a past often in danger of being forgotten or destroyed. The author travelled far and wide with an anonymous attorney friend in search of "Quoz." Within the continental United States, he travelled to the Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, the Northwest and numerous places in between. He did not take one single journey, but a series of journeys over an indeterminate period of time. He traveled to swamps in Florida, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, along an abandoned railway in Idaho on a bicycle adapted for riding on rails, engaged interesting characters in Wyoming, and investigated the so-called mysterious Quapaw Ghost Light of Oklahoma. He re-examined an old cold blooded murder in Joplin Missouri. He also traveled down an old waterway along the east costs of the United States, and to my surprise and enjoyment, wrote in great detail about the Starrucca Viaduct in Lanesboro Pennsylvania, a disused elevated masonry railway bridge of considerable size.

Heat-Moon is a skilled writer. The dust cover to this book does not exaggerate when it describes him as being a chronicler of rare genius and empathy. He has an ear for a good story, the personality to engage  strangers to extract information, and the ability to share it with others in writing. But sharing is too bland a description. Heat-Moon thoroughly investigated backgrounds and facts. He conveys to the reader some real gems of stories. He breathes life into forgotten facts, scandals and history. He makes the ordinary seem exciting. The author should be commended for making the "Quoz" the subject of his book. He avoids the habit so often seen in travel books of making himself and his reaction to his new environment the subject. Rather, Heat-Moon stands in the background highlighting the "Quoz" and by doing so, enriching our lives.

I've read two of the author's other works, Blue Highways and River-Horse, and like those books, I enjoyed this book immensely. I didn't want this book to end. I wanted Heat-Hoon to continue his travels and telling interesting and fascinating stories about the forgotten and overlooked parts of the United States of America. At times slow-paced and detailed, readers should be cautioned to not expect a "rollicking good read." This book is a mosey, a slow-paced and thoughtful examination of interesting and mostly forgotten places and discarded stories. I think this is a wonderful book, and expect many others will think the same after they read it.

The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, "The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America," (London: Abacus Books; 1990), 293 pages.

In the late 1908s, Bill Bryson, an England-based American writer, returned to the United States to retrace the travels taken on family vacations during his youth. The travels he took were the material for this book. Bryson wanted to visit what he called the magical places of his youth, or perhaps more accurately, the places he visited on family vacations of his youth that formed magical memories for him. Motivated by the recent passing of his father, a semi-famous baseball writer, and looming middle-age, Bryson returned to his home town, borrowed a car, and set out to see small town America. His journey was not just a retracing footsteps of old trips, it also took on a quest to find the dreamy small town of the movie of his youth, a timeless place where Bing Crosby would be the priest, Jimmy Stewart the major, Fred Macmurray the high school principal, and Henry Fonda the owner of the gas station. Bryson called this fictional town Amalgam, a mixture of the picturesque towns encountered in fiction.

Bryson traveled from Des Moines, Iowa to all corners of the lower 48 states of the United States. The book contains detailed descriptions of the places he visited, together with reflections from his childhood. Bryson writes with perception, accuracy and wit. He captures the vast contrasts in the United States, the gaps between the wealthy and the poor, the prevalence of violent crime, and America's large scale abandonment of small town "high street" commercial life in favor of large scale commerce of big box stores and shopping malls. Bryson praises the staggering physical beauty of the United States while simultaneously recoiling at the homogenization of its look alike suburban developments, gas stations, motels and fast food outlets frequented by overweight hicks wearing bad clothes.

The Lost Continent established Bryson's reputation as a humorous travel writer. At times he is a rude smart-alec that prompts deep belly laughs in reader. At times he is cruel when he makes fun of the local residents of the small towns he visits. At the time of the writing of this book, Bryson has lived outside the United States for a long time. This book shows that the America of his youth is gone; Americans' way of life and their towns and cities have changes from how he remembers them. It’s as though Bryson is a foreigner in his own country and he is disgusted with a lot of what he sees. Despite his smart-alec outrage and humorous put-downs, Bryson writes quite beautifully about the places he visits, most notably the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, and numerous small towns in New England and the Mid West. The book also contains many historical fact that enable Bryson to provide a back story to the places he visited thereby acting as a story teller and educator for the reader. Bryson's eye for detail, love of useful facts, historical details, and good yarns are his great strength. His gift is to tell great stories about significant human achievements and follies that move and excite people. In The Lost Continent we see the potential he developed later on in more serious and scholarly books.

If this book has a weakness it’s the uneven pace. Bryson starts slowly, describing in great detail his travels on the Iowa and Illinois back roads. It’s as though he is travelling slowly, but writing a lot. By the end of the book, Bryson covers great distances with less detail. As times it appears as though he is racing across the western states as though he is on a deadline to traverse these great distances in a short period of time and in as few pages as possible so he can flop over the finish line in time for his return flight to England. The pace is that of a sprinter compared to the leisurely stroll at the start of the book. If you can get past this minor blemish, Bryson's "culture shock" and humorous self-obsession with how America has changed, you should enjoy this book for its moments of serious reflection and first-rate story telling about things that both tarnish and make America great. These alone are worth the purchase price of this book.

Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief by Bill a Mason and Lee Gruenfeld

Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief by Bill Mason and Lee Gruenfeld, (New York: Villard Books; 2005), 365 pages.

Confessions always make good reading. From the times of Saint Augustine we've read them in great number. Those of us that live quiet lives seem always willing to pay for the confessions of Saints and sinners. Bill Mason fits into the sinner camp. He was an exceptional jewel thief that plied his specialized craft in Cleveland and South Florida. During the day, Mason worked a a successful property manager and real estate investor. On the side, he was a jewel thief that over his career stole more than $35 million worth of jewels from wealthy industrialists, actors, show business personalities, and wealthy socialites. This book reflects on his early life and early crimes, his growing confidence as he successfully completed more dangerous robberies, his relocation to Florida and fresh crop of new targets, his embarrassment of the Florida police, the five years he spent as a fugitive, his time in jail and prison, and the events that led to him retiring from a life of crime.

Mason's confessions show how the life of crime does not pay. We read of his excitement of successfully completing a succession of heists, and the highs of completing a range of jobs. But we also read of his brush with death after being shot by a security guard, the dogged pursuit of him by the Florida police, the misery he caused his family by long absences in jail and being a fugitive from the law for five years, as well as the stress and strain he caused his wife by her not knowing whether he will come home from a job. Mason paints a pretty good picture of the highs and lows of his criminal life and appears genuine when he apologizes for all the misery and pain he inflicted on his wives and children. He regrets the life that he lived, but shows that even though he had a lot of fun for a while, in the long run his live as a master jewel thief was not worth the suffering he inflicted on himself and those he loved. Let's hope that any potential criminals that read this book learn from Mason's experience and heed his advice.

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (New York: Little, Brown and Company; 2013), 305 pages.

The Malcolm Gladwell publishing enterprise’s latest installment is David and Goliath. The format is similar to his previous efforts: a volume of essays with a theme. This volume is about what happens when ordinary people are confronted by giants. By giants, he means powerful opponents of all kinds from armies and mighty warriors to physical and intellectual disability, misfortune, and oppression. Each chapter tells the story of a person that faced an oversized challenge and was forced to choose to respond. Each person Gladwell covers was challenged to play by the rules or give up, strike back, or forgive. In exploring these stories, Gladwell tries to explore two ideas. First, he explores the idea that lopsided conflicts, like that between David and Goliath, produce greatness and beauty. Second, he believes that we consistently get these kinds of David and Goliath conflicts wrong. To Gladwell, we misread them or misinterpret them. The same qualities that give one side great strength and an overwhelming advantage are often sources of great weakness. Being an underdog can change people in ways that we often fail to appreciate: it can open doors, create opportunities, educate and enlighten, and make possible what might otherwise have seemed un-thinkable.

Gladwell uses examples to make his case. For example, he examines a sporting team with a novice coach and novice players that achieve amazing success against more experienced opponents by using unorthodox tactics. Gladwell examines school class sizes and student family wealth to show the positive relationship between wealth up to a certain point, after which there is a negative relationship between wealth and success. Parents of college-age children will find the chapter of college achievement very interesting. Gladwell explored research into success rates of students interested in science in non-prestigious colleges versus achievement of similar children at prestigious colleges. Gladwell reported that on average, it is better to be a big fish (bright kid) in a small pond (non-prestigious college) than it is to be a small fish in a large pond (a bright kid among very many bright kids at a large prestigious college). Gladwell also examined research into the productivity of faculty that graduated from non-prestigious colleges versus faculty that graduated from prestigious colleges and found that the faculty that graduated from less prestigious colleges were more productive (on average) than graduates of prestigious schools. Gladwell also examines how people that face great difficulties and sufferings often develop great skills and accomplishments in spite of these difficulties. The book contains three chapters on the limits to power, namely, how great power can act to sew the seeds of its own defeat, or result in tan expensive and fruitless use of power by the State.

While very readable, and at time quite engaging, Gladwell’s latest book lacks the gravity, punch or impact of his earlier works. It’s adequately entertaining enough for this reader to finish it, but only just. This is a book I looked forward to finishing: it started well, but faded badly. It starts well with what you would expect in a book with this title, but after the first third, starts to fade to the extent that it is not readily apparent how the final third fits the author’s purpose. Perhaps this is due to our interest in stories about David’s success, rather than Goliath-type failures. No book is perfect. Galdwell has written a book worth reading with brief moments of great insight, but overall, somewhat disappointing compared to his other works.

New Ideas From Dead CEOs by Todd Buchholz

New Ideas From Dead CEOs: lasting Lessons from the Corner Office by Todd Buchholz, (New York: MJF Books; 2007), 300 pages.

We all believe that the present time is the peak time for knowledge and wisdom. This book explicitly challenges that proposition or belief by suggesting that iconic business leaders and business founders from the past can provide valuable life and business lessons to people today. In this short book, Buchholz examines the lives and and business challenges of a dozen business leaders. The people he examines are self-made successes that faced numerous ups and owns on their way to making business history. The book is divided into chapters that, for the most part, chronicle one business leader and the business they built. For example, he reviews the life of A.P. Giannini and how he built the Bank of America, Sam Walton and Walmart, Ray Croc at McDonalds, Walt Disney at Disney, Akio Morita at Sony, and Estee Lauder at the company that bears her name. Two chapters cover two people: one covers Thomas Watson Sr. and Jr. at IBM, and another covers Mary Kay Ash and Estee Lauder before he writes a separate chapter on both women. Each chapter provides biographic material including their upbringing, their early careers, decisions they made., and events that forged their distinct goals and aspirations, as well as challenges they faced during the establishment of their business and how they overcame obstacles.

The strength of this book is the wide range of lessons it covers. For example, the story of Walt Disney's loss of ownership of his creative content in the 1920s as an animator formed his resolve to retain ownership of Mickey Mouse, the character the built the Disney corporation. By contrast, the author also shows the importance of concentrating on low prices to the development of Walmart, the use of research and development in the growth of Sony, and the willingness for franchisees to experiment in the development of McDonalds.

This short book is a good introduction in to the lives of successful business founders, and their unique and varied experiences that led to their growth and ability to dominate their various industries.  The book contains a useful end notes section for readers interested in getting more detailed works of the people covered in this book, for example, biographies, autobiographies and studies. It is a book suitable for the curious reader and business owner alike, or student interested in the factors that led to some major businesses becoming what they are today.

Batavia by Peter Fitzsimons

Peter Fitzsimons, Batavia, (Sydney: William Heinemann; 2011), 490 pages.

This book tells the story of the Batavia, the prize ship of the fleet of the Dutch East India Company. In 1629, the Batavia sailed on her maiden voyage from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). The ship was carrying the treasure of the Dutch East India Company to be used to expand the company's operations in the Dutch East Indies. The voyage to the Dutch East Indies was via the Cape of Good Hope. Due to a navigation error, the Batavia stuck an unseen reef off Western Australia in the middle of the night. The captain evacuated the ship and crew to the uninhabited islands that formed part of the reef, and also salvaged provisions and treasure. The captain then decided to get help by taking an open longboat to travel across 2000 miles of open sea to their port in what we now call Indonesia. The captain left his second in command to manage operations until he returned.  The second in command, who was planning a mutiny before Batavia hit the reef, decided that 220 people on a small reef island was too many for their limited supplies. Quietly he put in place a plan for him and 40 other mutineers to save themselves by killing most of the others. Many innocent people were murdered including women and children. A wave of terror started on this deserted atoll. A few managed to escape the genocide by escaping to a neighboring island where they found fresh water and were able to resist and survive until the captain returned with a rescue ship. Once the captain returned, a salvage was undertaken and the mutiny and other crimes exposed. The perpetrators were dealt with swiftly: some were hung, while others were taken to Indonesia to face justice.

This book is not strictly a history. It was written in the present tense, like a novel based on documents of the Batavia's surgeons, the captain's journal, and other historical documents. The author's intention was to rely on historical facts to accurately convey the unprecedented drama of the Batavia shipwreck by making it read like a novel, while not limiting himself to only the few precise details of the story that have survived. For example, to read like a novel, the author invented conversations and dialogues between various people with little or any knowledge of whether those conversations actually occurred. Given the few historical accounts from which this story is drawn, it's at best a blend of history/fact and fiction. Faction perhaps? The author's style was annoying at times to this reader, but was consistent with his intention of having history told like a novel. The book was at times a gripping account of a terrifying shipwreck and appealing mass murder an deign of terror. It  was a thoroughly entertaining work of faction/historical narrative. The book also has a useful index of other books and sources for persons interested in reading about the wreck of the Batavia in more detail. The book also contains useful color photographs of relics, the island atoll and reef, a full size replica if the Batavia, and other symbols and pictures. 

Truck: A Love Story by Michael Perry

Truck: A Love Story, by Michael Perry, (New York: Harper Perennial; 2007), 320 pages.

This is not a love story about a man that falls in love with his International Harvester pick-up truck, as the title and cover may suggest. Rather, it is a book about the year in the life of a writer living in rural Wisconsin. This is not as dull a subject as it may seem at first glance. Please be assured that it’s also not a book of endless pages about a man (Perry) sitting at a desk pecking away at a keyboard. Perry has an active life: he grows his own vegetables, volunteers for the local fire brigade, travels around the United States promoting his books; is active in the community and falls in love. With the changing of the seasons, Perry’s garden grows, his love of a woman develops and deepens, and the restoration of his International Harvester pick-up truck inches towards completion. By the end of the book the author manages to leave the reader strangely satisfied: the truck is restored, and Perry gets married and lives happily ever after in rural Wisconsin living his charmed life developing more material for his next autobiographical book.

This is not a book solely about restoring a truck, nor is it solely about romantic love: its more nuanced and sublime than that. These subjects are major parts of the book, but are not the sole story lines. This book is a reflection on life in rural America by a man with deep roots in his community. Perry lives an active and full life. His work, both volunteered and paid keeps him busy as does his participation in social life of his small town and his engagement with his family. Perry’s life has many facets, and all of them shine in this surprisingly enjoyable book. Perry has no claim to fame to propel sales of this book; he has no widely known notable achievements other than his ability to write autobiographical books that sell well due to them being good books. This touching and humorous book demonstrates the nobility of a man’s ordinary life lived in a small rural Wisconsin community, the virtue of work and marriage, and the love of family, friends and community.

Three Crooked Kings by Matthew Condon

Matthew Condon, Three Crooked Kings (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press; 2012), 352 pages.

This book, the first of two by the author on the subject, details the corruption in the Queensland (Australia) Police Force from the post-World War Two era through to the 1970s. The corruption is centered on three ambitious but corrupt policemen: Terry Lewis, Tony Murphy and Glen Hallahan who through intimidation, guile and other various means operated as a protected but corrupt core of officers throughout the police force. Condon writes about their rise from their positions as raw recruits, patrol officers, detectives and (in Lewis's case) management positions including ultimately the office of commissioner. Condon's book accounts for their rise through the force, their role in various illegal activities and protection rackets, the mentoring and protection they received from other corrupt officers, in particular, former Commissioner Francis Bishoff. The book concludes with Lewis's ascendancy to the position of Police Commissioner. The pending second book in the series is expected to cover his time in this office, and his eventual downfall and prosecution.

Many of the facts in this book have been covered in other books, most recently by Steve Bishop in "The Most Dangerous Detective." Many of the facts are repeated, but in less detail than in Bishop's book. The biggest innovation or revelation in this book are the facts revealed by Condon’s access to Lewis's personal diaries. Lewis kept detailed diaries throughout his entire career. Condon's exclusive access to these records enabled him to give a broader accounting of Lewis’s career. For example, Condon details Lewis’s impressive record as an ambitious patrol officer, Lewis's record in securing convictions, and his success as a detective in clearing cases. Condon also writes about Lewis's meeting with other important police and political figures, providing accounts of what was discussed. These facts enable Condon to confirm facts alleged by others, and point to contradictory or differing accounts of various events in the careers of the three principal officers (Lewis, Murphy and Hallahan).

Condon's book is aimed at a wide audience. It covers most of the subject matter in sufficient detail; however, it lacks the depth of Bishop's book. Nonetheless it is an excellent primer into the extent of police and political corruption in Queensland in the post-World War Two era. This book would best be read prior to Bishop's more detailed and scholarly work, and Condon's forthcoming second book in the series.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson, "The Long Tail: Why The Future of Business is Selling Less of More," (New York: Hyperion; 2006), 267 pages.

Wired Magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson sums up in this book how commerce is changing due to the internet. He callas his critique "the theory of the long tail," and it boils down to this: society's purchases are shifting away from mainstream products and markets toward a huge number of niches. Without the constraints of physical shelf-space in traditional retail outlets, and without the other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly targeted goods and services can be economically attractive as traditional retailing. In the age of the internet or the long-tail, business should acknowledge the following:

• There are more niche goods than hits.
• The costs of reaching those niches is falling dramatically, making it possible to offer a massively expanded variety of products.
• Consumers must be given ways to find these niches to cause demand for products in these niches.
• Once there is massively expanded variety and ways to find it, there will be hits and niches but the hits relatively less popular and the niches more specialized.
• There are so many niche products that collectively they can comprise a market rivaling the hits.
• The demand for goods and products is diverse as the population itself.

Anderson's argument is well thought out and convincing. The book is based on an article that he wrote for Wired Magazine. It is rational and supported by many examples, diagrams and charts. It works in that it shows how the internet expanded the range of options for consumers by having a vast range of goods made available to them at wholesale prices. For businessmen, the interest is in recognizing that there are many profitable niches for then to sell to people via the internet. If the book has a flaw it is that it labors the point. Anderson takes up a lot of pages in a book to make his point previously made in a magazine article. I'm not sure that we learn all that much more by reading the book. It does, however, explain the new phenomenon of internet retailing, and is surely be a must-read book for internet marketers and business owners interested in making the most of the opportunities that the internet provides.

The Most Dangerous Detective by Steve Bishop

Steve Bishop, The Most Dangerous Detective, (Amazon Create Space Books, 2012), 369 pages.

Corruption occurs in all sorts of places, and manifests itself in different ways. This book exposes the police and political corruption that occurred in the Australian state of Queensland from the late 1950s through the late 1980s. According to Steve Bishop, a core of official corruption existed in Queensland, from police on the beat all the way through the state police force through to two separate police commissioners, judges, politicians, barristers, and members of the executive branch of government. This systemic corruption was eventually exposed in a judicial inquiry that exposed the extent of the corruption that forced the prosecution and eventual conviction of numerous police and politicians including a police commissioner.

Bishop’s book is a roughly chronological treatment of the growth of police and political corruption in Queensland in the second half of the 20^th century. He initially focuses on the activities of a detective Glenn Hallahan, a man of considerable reputation earned by his work on solving a triple murder. Hallahan’s detective work led to the arrest, conviction, and eventual execution of the alleged murderer. According to Bishop, the conviction was won through false evidence, perjury, and a forced confession. Following this successful prosecution of an innocent man, Hallahan’s career took off under the initial guidance of corrupt detective Francis Bishoff, who later became Police Commissioner. Hallahan regularly colluded with two other officers, Tony Murphy and Terry Lewis (himself later elevated to Police Commissioner), to profit from their positions of authority. Hallahan used perjury and illegal actions to frame people for crimes. Bishop shows how Hallahan regularly committed perjury to win convictions and close cases and therefore be considered for promotion. Hallahan’s illegal activities did not stop there. He also committed and conspired with others to commit a variety of crimes, including the following:

• Running protection rackets for illegal bookmakers.
• Running protection rackets for brothels and prostitutes.
• Arranging armed robberies, including in some instances, hiring felons from other states to commit the robberies.
• Arranging for the importation of illegal narcotics from South East Asia.
• The murder of potential witnesses.

Proceeds from various protection rackets were shared with other members of the so-called Rat Pack, namely detectives Tony Murphy and Terry Lewis with approval of their mentor Francis Bishoff, who eventually was made Police Commissioner. Bishop writes in great detail how for over two decades Hallahan and his Rat Pack colleagues neutered multiple judicial inquiries into police corruption, and fought internal affairs investigations started by a new incorruptible Commissioner appointed from outside the Queensland Police, and found a battle to rid the force of this Commissioner.

Bishop’s book is a damning inditement of the political accommodation of corruption in the Queensland Police Service from the late 1950’s through to the later 1980’s. Bishop does not condemn all police and he is quick to acknowledge the work of honest police. We should not think that corruption doesn’t occur. To think that it can is naïve. People in positions of authority, such as police and their political overseers, can sometimes be tempted to act illegally, or turn a blind eye to graft and corruption. This book shows the consequences of such corruption becoming systemic, where the corrupt obtain political protection so that they brazenly carry on their illegal activities in the open, seemingly above the law. Bishop’s book shows how it was done in Queensland, and the impact of this corruption on the police and their political masters.

This is a detailed book, much more so than a regular non-fiction book. Bishop’s research is conclusive and damning. He writes with an almost prosecutorial zeal to expose the truth with the overwhelming weight of evidence. With all the previous act of perjury, cover-ups, judicial inquiry white-washes, it at times, appears that Bishop is going to do what so few have done before, namely, tell the truth about all the scandals, all the corruption, and all the lies. Bishop names names, and point fingers, and pulls no punches. So effective is he that I was left shaking my head over how bad things were. Given the impact of this book, particularly the range and scope of corruption it reveals, this book should be widely read in Australia (for obvious reasons) and in other places by people interested in the impact of unchecked police and political corruption.

"What Should I Do With My Life,” by Po Bronson

Po Bronson, "What Should I Do With My Life,” (New York: Ballantine Books; 2003), 434 pages.

In What Should I Do With My Life, Po Bronson tells the stories of people who tried to find the answer to that question. Bronson surveyed and interviewed many people that were looking to change the direction of their life, to do something more meaningful, to do the thing they were put on this earth to do. This book contains the stories of how they worked out the answer to that question. Bronson interviewed many people, and included in this book the stories of a selection of the people he interviewed.

This book’s strength is it’s sympathetic but arms-length portrayal of people working out what to do with their life. Each story is unique. Each story portrays people from a variety of backgrounds and countries, and shows how they discovered the answer to the question of what to do with their life. Some people found the answer in front of them, some travelled, some made bold changes, some make small changes, and others had to try many different jobs and professions to find the answer. The stories in this book show that there is no one answer to this question. People looking to work out what to do with their life may find an answer, but that answer is likely to come to them in one a variety of possible ways.

Readers looking for guidance should note that the author does not give specific advice to the reader. He doesn’t provide a quick self help formula or a list of things to do. Bronson teaches or guides by example. His book’s message is that if you are looking for the answer to the question “What Should I Do With My Life,” you may benefit from this collection of stories of people that asked the same question and struggled to find an answer. You too can learn from these people and work out the answer for you, but only you can answer this question.

This book will appeal to readers looking for their life’s purpose, calling, or vocation. It doesn’t provide specific answers, but it will provoke questions. Ultimately this book teaches the reader that there may not be quick fixes, that you may stumble and search to find the answer, and that you may benefit from the example of others that have also asked this question. This selection of stories benefits readers asking the same question. If you are wondering what to do with your life, this may be the book for you.

The Devil's Guide to Hollywood by Joe Eszterhas

Joe Eszterhas, The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God,  (New York: St. Martin's Griffin; 2006) 379 pages.

This unusual book by a successful screenwriter is part biography, part insider's guide for new players, part anecdote collection, and part critique. Eszterhas knows the movie business, and this book is his take on what Hollywood (as in the movie making business)  really like. He delivers detailed lessons on writing the script, selling the script, filming, and working with the producer, director, the studio, actors and critics. The book contains the wisdom and wit of others, and also also the sharp criticisms of Eszterhas's competitors such an William Goldman and Robert McKee. The lessons on these themes are not just his own, but also statements from many others in the business. Most of the books comprises quotes from others in the business, delivered in an entertaining and truthful way that is immensely entertaining.

This is a book for people interested in learning what the movie business is really like. If you read it, you will see that its a sewer full of all sorts of vices that at times can produce great art, and at other times, complete dross. Even Eszterhas is repelled by Hollywood, choosing to rear his children far away, in a very different part of the United States. The book's great strength is its honesty, comprehensiveness, and compilation of a wide variety of voices that have worked in Hollywood, both now and in years past. Esterhas uses and quotes profanity, and discusses subjects of an "adult nature," so reader discretion is advised.

Rigged: The Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai, by Ben Mezrich

Ben Mezrich, "Rigged: The Story of an Ivy League  Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai," (Harper Collins: New York; 2007), 294 pages.

Rigged is Mezrich's latest book about kids with Ivy League university educations that go on to make fortunes. In this relatively unexciting and unexceptional story, a Harvard University graduate goes to work for the New York Mercantile Exchange to establish the Dubai Mercantile Exchange.

The most revealing aspect of this book is its expose of the itty-gritty details on how the Dubai Mercantile Exchange was founded, as well as the broader subject of establishing a new business in the Arab world. Readers will discover the importance of working with an Arab partner familiar with the business practices in the West and the Arab world. Readers will also see how such partners can help negotiate difficulties with obtaining approval of religious leaders in circumstances where business practices have some conflict, or potential conflict, with Islamic law. Finally, we see how it is sometimes necessary to appeal to the lower instincts of established industry stalwarts in order to develop new operations.

If this book has any shortcomings, it would be Mezrich's tendency to stray into hagiography and hyperbole. He praises almost without criticism and glorifies the protagonist's success without much broad perspective. Michael Lewis fails spectacularly in writing books that discourage bright young kids from going to Wall Street to get rich. Mezrich has no such moral imperative: he writes books like Rigged that are sufficiently entertaining to encourage bright kids to go to Ivy League school so they can "change the world," which means, find new ways, or new twists on old ways, to make a fortune working on Wall Street.

"Investment Biker: Around the World with Jim Rogers," by Jim Rogers

Investment Biker: Around the World with Jim Rogers, (Hollbrook, MA: Adams Media Corporation; 1994), 402 pages.

From March 1990 through August 1992, the author and his girlfriend travelled around the world on their BMW motorcycles. Starting in New York City, they flew to Ireland and travelled through southern Europe to China and Japan, then turned around and went through northern Europe back to Ireland. They then drove the length of Africa from north to south, almost circumnavigated Australia, rode through New Zealand,  rode through the Americas from Cape Horn in the south to New York in the north east through to Anchorage, Alaska, traveling a total of 65,000 miles. The book is a record of his travels including observations of the countries he visited. Most but not all of the book is devoted to his travels. We learn of the difficulties of riding a bike around the world though conditions ranging from first class roads to bumpy dirt tracks. The book also casts a keen observer's eye at the countries through which he travels. He comments on the living conditions of every country he visits, and gets to the heart of what makes each country successful or unsuccessful. As a professional investor, Rogers also comments on the economic conditions of many countries, primarily based on his observations and interactions with the people he meets. He gets to the heart of what makes a county successful, what makes life good for its citizens, what makes currencies more valuable, and others less valuable. In light of his observations about the countries he visits, he returns to a repeating theme, namely the similarity between the direction of the U.S.A.'s economy and that of failed third-world countries around the globe.

This is a gem of a book. It is s both a record of an amazing round-the-world motorcycle trip, and a reflection on what makes a country successful. Rogers's analysis and writing is direct and honest. It is  unencumbered with flowery introspection or self-doubt. It is full of practical advice and commonsense for the traveller and to a lesser extent the international investor.  If the book has a weakness its his failure to give any detailed observations of his travels through the United States. He also writes comparatively little of his travels through Australia. This limited treatment of two large countries surprised me. I think the book is the poorer than it could have been due to so little coverage of these large countries. Nonetheless, this is a very good book that should be enjoyed by readers interested in travel, investing, and motorcycle travel journeys.

"Warren Buffett and the Art of Stock Arbitrage," by Mary Buffett and David Clark

"Warren Buffett and the Art of Stock Arbitrage," by Mary Buffett and David Clark, (New York: Scribner; 2010), 153 pages.

This book is another addition to the expanding category of books about Warren Buffett's approach to profitable investing. The unique feature of this book is that one of the authors shares the surname of the subject (because she was once married to one of his sons). This small book explains arbitrage, with occasional references to actual Buffett arbitrages. It also goes over topics of interest to the novice investor, such as what arbitrage is, types of arbitrage, how it can be used with great certainty to increase annual investment returns, how leverage (or borrowings) can greatly improve investment returns when it is used effectively (and the opposite - risk of loss or low profits in certain situations) and overviews of various real-world examples where Buffett used arbitrage to earn outsized investment returns. For example, the authors discuss the following:

·               friendly mergers

·               hostile takeovers

·               buy-backs and self-tender offers

·               corporate liquidations

·               corporate spin-offs, and 

·               stubs.

This is not a book for experts; on the contrary it is an introductory book on the subject of arbitrage. Experts should by-pass this book for I doubt they will benefit from the contents. It is mostly a book for novices on how arbitrage situations can be very profitable if executed properly. The spice or spin is added by the references to Warren Buffett through frequent reference to his success as an arbitrager, and example of situations were he profitably engaged in arbitrage. The message of the book is that the reader can profit, just like Warren Buffett, if you follow the guidelines provided in this book.

"Travels With Charley," by John Steinbeck

“Travels With Charley: In Search of America,” by John Steinbeck, (New York: The Viking Press 1962, Penguin Books edition 1980), 210 pages.

Steinbeck’s “Travels With Charley” is his non-fiction account of his 1960 driving journey around the United States. His choice of vehicle was a pick-up truck with an attached camper. His sole companion was his pet poodle, Charley; hence the title "Travels with Charley." The journey began after Labor Day from Steinbeck's home on Long Island in the state of New York. After some excitement negotiating the tempestuous conflagrations from a passing hurricane, Steinbeck commenced his journey into New England. After an exploration of Maine, he turned west and headed for the west coast, breaking his journey at towns small and large including the more notable ones of Chicago (where he was visited by his wife), Minneapolis/St. Paul, and finally Seattle. He journeyed down the coast to San Francisco and visited his old home town of Monterey, and then drove to West Texas, New Orleans, and eventually back to New York.

Steinbeck's journey was neither leisurely, nor exploratory. He appeared to be in a hurry compared to the other more contemporary books of this genre, such as William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways" and Bill Bryson's "The Lost Continent" to name only a few. Nonetheless, this short odyssey provided Steinbeck with the opportunity to record his plentitude of observations about the American landscape, the people he met on his journey, and the opportunity to reflect on life in America. It was these conversations and observations that coalesced to enable Steinbeck to give his views on the country of his birth, a country in which he had not resided in for over 25 years, a country that he wanted to rediscover. His interest in rediscovery grew from is realization that he knew so little of contemporary life in America. His memories were from long ago, of an era long past, so to write about America in 1960, he had to go and see it for himself. The things he saw delighted, surprised and disturbed him. Such were the impacts that he seemed at times troubled by what he sees, and is at times dour and dire in his conclusions. He appeared to think that the wholesome certainty of the America of his youth had been replaced by a slick derivative cliché of its former self, a place devoid of higher culture more notable for fast living and ordinary food (except for breakfast).

One could argue for pages about whether Steinbeck was right; some have even argued that this book contains many fabrications or exaggerations. If you set aside these issues, it is hard to deny that "Travels With Charley" is a serious and well written book by one of America's finest writers. It is a glimpse into the mind of a man in the later years of his life reflecting on the changes to his country in his lifetime. He saw a lot of things he didn't like. There are no stupendous outbursts of excitement, or side-splitting accounts or bawdy tales. Humor, excitement and spiritedness seem to have evaporated from his pen. This book is not uplifting, but is a sober, melancholic, reflective and moody reflection on America in 1960. As we read it today, it is a journey into the past, but for Steinbeck, it’s a contemplation on his changed country, a cautionary speculation on the future of a country that he loved and whose future he fears for. It is a fine example of non-fiction writing by one the America's finest writers. For these reasons, it should be compulsory reading for all with more than a passing interest in American life.

“Teacher Man,” by Frank McCourt

“Teacher Man,” by Frank McCourt, (New York: Scribner; 2005), 258 pages.

  

In Frank McCourt’s third book, “Teacher Man,” he again writes about his favorite subject, himself; however, in this book McCourt expands upon his earlier recollections of his vocation as a teacher in the New York City public school system. This subject was covered quite nicely in the second volume of his autobiography “’Tis,” where he wrote of his experiences as a teacher as part of the journey of his life from an impoverished immigrant to an accomplished and revered high school teacher. His time as a teacher was an important component of the story of his life in that book. “Teacher Man” is different in that it puts Frank McCourt, the respected teacher, as the subject of the book, and relegates other aspects of his life into the background.

“Teacher Man,” while predominantly autobiographical, is also a commentary on the teaching profession in the public school system. McCourt notes that success is determined by the speed at which teachers abandon the classroom and seek shelter in the administrative bureaucracy. Successful teaching is admired for its own sake, but it is not rewarded like successful teacher administration. McCourt also demonstrates what teachers like him had to do to “break through” with dis-interested students. As the teacher of very ordinary students, he sometimes had to be innovative and use methods that some might think of as radical or inappropriate. For example, to get the attention of the vocational school English class, he drew upon their extensive experience of forging parental excuse notes to teach a class on writing excuse notes. With a fully attentive and engaged class, he challenged them to write an excuse note from Adam of God. Success in the classroom was not always mirrored in McCourt’s private life. He failed to fulfill his own (or his wife’s) ambitions of becoming successful: he did not become a teaching administrator, and spent two years in Ireland studying for a Ph. D without success.

This book succeeds on many levels. It is a fine memoir of the career of a teacher. It is also a critique and commentary on the successes and failures of the American public school system. It also gives us an insight into how good teachers can make a difference in the lives of students, and occasionally fail to “get through” to certain troubled students. It also goes over  McCourt’s well trodden ground of the difficulties faced by new immigrants in escaping their impoverished childhoods. For all these reasons, this is a highly commendable book. Despite such accolades, it is not without flaws. At times McCourt lapses into the habit of giving us too much detail of certain aspects of his personal life. His disclosures may offend some readers or be considered in poor taste, particular those that detail his infidelities. Nonetheless, it is honest; perhaps to a fault, but it is a very rewarding read. And now that this revered literature teacher has passed away, we can be thankful for what he has written, while speculating on what he may have written had he not passed away. One can’t help but think that there may have been another book or two in Frank McCourt on a subject other than his autobiography. Unfortunately that was not to be, and we are all the poorer for it.