20/20 Hindsight: From Starting Up to Successful Entrepreneur, by Those Who'Ve Been There (Virgin Business Guides)

Average customer rating:

Read before you dive in

20/20 Gold dust

20/20 Hindsight: From Starting Up to Successful Entrepreneur, by Those Who'Ve Been There (Virgin Business Guides)
Rachel Thackray
Manufacturer: Virgin Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Doing the Business: Boost Your Companies Fortunes (Virgin Business Guides)

It's Not About Size: Bigger Brands for Smaller Businesses (Virgin Business Guides)

The Best-Laid Business Plans: How to Write Them, How to Pitch Them (Virgin Business Guides)

The Bottom Line: Business Finance: Your Questions Answered (Virgin Business Guides)

Customer is King: How to Exceed Their Expectation (Virgin Business Guides)

ASIN: 0753505479

Book Description

Do you often wonder how the most innovative entrepreneurs made it to where they are today? Would you like to know how they did what they did - and what it cost?

In 20/20 Hindsight, Rachelle Thackray follows the stories of some of these entrepreneurs as they tell, in their own words, what drove them to set up the businesses they did, and what helped them trust in their own ideas.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews covering a variety of sectors - retail, finance, technology, design, consultancy -she includes snapshot accounts of:

The initial brainwave

Growth and expansion

Setting up offices

Forming partnerships

Overcoming difficulties along the way

What comes next?

Every entrepreneur wishes they knew then what they know now. With plenty of first-person advice and checklists to chart your progress through the issues raised at each stage, with 20/20 Hindsight you can start one jump ahead.

Customer Reviews:

Read before you dive in.......2002-07-17

A must for anyone considering starting up a business however large or small. The author has interviewed entrepreneurs who have started their own companies - tiny ones you still haven't heard of, all the way up to Domino's Pizza. The insights they give into the pitfalls of company start-ups are priceless and take the reader through from the initial back-of-an-envelope ideas for their businesses right up to their launch and the first faltering footsteps. Even if you avoid one major start-up clanger by reading this book, it will have paid for itself many times over. Invaluable.

20/20 Gold dust.......2002-05-30

It would be hard to find someone better qualified for a book about successful business practise than Rachelle Thackray. Anyone who has followed her columns in the Independent Newspaper over the last four years - Me and My Partner, The Digerati, My Biggest Mistake - will be familiar with the breadth of the interviewees she has covered, from the music business to deep sea salvage, from hotel designing to ethical farming. She clearly has the ability to not only ask the crucial question but formulate the replies into a priceless objective wisdom. Thoroughly recommended for all prospective or seasoned entrepeneurs, whether to study in one gulp or to pick up intermitently for bite-sized quotes and thoughts. If the book teaches anything, it is that in business you stop learning at your peril.

Book Description

World wealth creation exceeded $2 trillion per month in 1999. The potential for world wealth might be as high as $500 trillion or $83,333 for each person on Earth. This rapid and increasing accumulation has the capacity to touch every aspect of economic development and exchange. The Wealthy World explains the reasons for this increase and its implications in a world whose financial systems are becoming increasingly unified. Written by an author with worldwide credentials, this fascinating book lays out a key component of the approaching world economy, including the impact of the global rise of technology and interconnectivity and the implications of these factors on global wealth.

Customer Reviews:

Cloud cuckoo guide to the future.......2004-08-01

This book is a prime example of the myopic focus of conventional economics.

According to Edmunds, we can apparently look forward to unbridled economic growth for the indefinite future without having to worry about its effect on the environment - which is not mentioned at all until chapter 11, and then only in passing. Oh, happy day, globalisation will save us all. I did wonder if this book was a spoof, but there aren't even any good jokes, unless you count the fact that it was rendered largely obsolete three months after publication by the tragic events of September 11th (the author evidently didn't think terrorism was important enough to mention, either).

Simple and Provocative Explication of Modern Wealth.......2001-01-27

The author makes a simple and readable, but provocative and compelling, explication of the modern mechanism of wealth creation. Dr. Edmunds' great breadth of experience with the economies of First and Third World countries enriches his analysis and raises it above the purely theoretical. Read this book and contemplate its ramifications for the wealth of nations.

The Wealthy World - On value creation, growth, and wealth.......2001-01-11

The author eloquently brings together forces that shape today's equity markets; and in an easy to understand way discusses the how's and why's of value creation through ownership of financial assets and how this has affected the population at large. Definitely add to your reading list if you're curious about economics, finance, political policies, world markets, production, how value creation leads to wealth creation through ownership of financial assets.

prose that leaves no doubt about the author's intent.......2001-01-10

lays out the mechanics of financial wealth creation piece by piece, with simple examples, showing how the enormous pile of paper wealth has been created, and how it keeps growing so fast. Crisp and elegant prose; the erudite author grabs your attention and demands your respect

Refreshing New Viewpoint.......2001-01-09

Readable and original -- shows how financial wealth can grow much faster than production. Shows how corporations can create financial wealth, how wealth propagates from one country or region to another, how the people with financial assets will probably accumulate much more. Makes the current debate about growth, recession, income distribution, tax cuts, etc. sound narrow and unimaginative. I opened this book and found myself in the middle of an illustration that was something I'd been curious about for a long time. The book pulled me right in. It's cute and clear.

The Wealthy World - The Growth and Implications of Global Prosperity

Average customer rating:

The Wealthy World - The Growth and Implications of Global Prosperity
John C. Edmunds
Manufacturer: Wiley, London
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VZJEDI

Book Description

This unique and authoratitive work is set to become the essential first point of reference on English private law for lawyers in the UK and throughout the world. Packed within its 1,800 pages, users will find a lucid, concise yet immensely authoritative account of all of the key areas of private law. Edited by the Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford University, Peter Birks, each section is written by an acknowledged expert, bringing to bear their experience and understanding to provide a clear distillation and analysis of the relevant subject. The work is uniquely ambitious in its coverage, with chapters grouped into five main parts: sources of law; law of persons; law of property; law of obligations; and litigation. In each case, leading experts expound the law in their own specialist area, for instance: Dr Stephen Cretney - Family Law; Prof. W.R. Cornish - Intellectual Property; Prof. Sir Guenter Treitel - Contract; Prof. Mark Freedland - Employment; Prof. Norman Palmer - Bailment; Prof. Francis Reynolds - Agency, and Carriage of Goods; Prof. Peter Birks - Unjust Enrichment. English Private Law will become a cornerstone of all legal reference libraries, both practitioner and academic, in the UK and around the world. Practitioners will come to rely upon it as an authoritative yet accessible first source of reference on substantive English law. Academics will turn to it as a distillation of the learning of many of the leading English law scholars. Overseas lawyers will find it a convenient 'one-stop' solution to their need for a holding on English law. The two handsomely-bound volumes are presented in a slip case that will also accommodate the cumulative paperback supplements that will be published to keep English Private Law up to date between editions.

English Private Law: First Updating Supplement (Oxford English Law)

Average customer rating:

English Private Law: First Updating Supplement (Oxford English Law)

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Law | Subjects | Books

General | English Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0199247544

Book Description

The first cumulative supplement to this essential first point of reference on English private law covers all developments in the key areas of this subject up to December 2001. It will be an essential purchase for all who have already bought the main work, and maintains the currency of the (two volume) main work itself. Edited by the Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford University, Peter Birks, each updating section is written by an acknowledged expert, bringing to bear their experience and understanding to provide a clear distillation and analysis of the relevant subject. The format of the supplement complements the main work, with chapters grouped into five main parts: sources of law; law of persons; law of property; law of obligations; and litigation. In each case, leading experts have detailed developments in their own specialist area of the law, for instance: Dr Stephen Cretney - Family Law; Prof. Sir Guenter Treitel - Contract; Prof. Francis Reynolds - Agency, and Carriage of Goods; and Prof. Peter Birks - Unjust Enrichment. This cumulative supplement will fit neatly into the slip case which houses the two handsomely-bound volumes of the main work. The main work and first cumulative supplement are also available together as a set (ISBN 0199255768: L170).

Average customer rating:

English Private Law: First Updating Supplement (Oxford English Law)
Peter Birks
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OOLWNG

Oxford English Law: English Private Law & First Updating Supplement and English Public Law 4-Volume Set (Oxford English Law)

Average customer rating:

Oxford English Law: English Private Law & First Updating Supplement and English Public Law 4-Volume Set (Oxford English Law)

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Comparative | Perspectives on Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Non-US Legal Systems | Perspectives on Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

General | International Law | Law | Subjects | Books

International Law | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The publication of English Public Law sees the completion of Oxford English Law, the essential first point of reference on English law for lawyers in the UK and throughout the world. English Private Law and English Public Law are now available together as a set at a special pack price. The set includes the First Supplement to English Private Law.

Book Description

Ostracoda (Crustacea) are potentially excellent model organisms for evolutionary studies, because they combine an extensive fossil record with a wide recent distribution and therefore allow studies on both patterns and processes leading to extant diversity. The main scientific domains contributing theories, concepts, and data to evolutionary biology are morphology (including ontogeny), palaeontology, genetics, and ecology, and to all of these aspects ostracods can contribute. This is clearly illustrated by the fifteen papers presented under Theme 3 of the 13th International Symposium on Ostracoda (Chatham, UK) in 1997 which are grouped in the present proceedings, one of three volumes resulting from this meeting. The contributions deal with the evolution of both extant and fossil forms (including most of the Phanaerozoic), ecology of both marine and freshwater taxa, and (developmental) morphology of both soft parts and valves. Although the canvas is wide, each paper clearly shows how studies on Ostracoda can be relevant to general theory on evolutionary biology and ecology.

Ostracodology - Linking Bio- and Geosciences: Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Ostracoda, Berlin, 2005 (Developments in Hydrobiology) (Developments in Hydrobiology)

Average customer rating:

Ostracodology - Linking Bio- and Geosciences: Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Ostracoda, Berlin, 2005 (Developments in Hydrobiology) (Developments in Hydrobiology)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Lakes & Ponds | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1402064179

Product Description

Ostracods, small aquatic Crustacea, occur in almost every marine, brackish and freshwater habitat. Their calcified bivalved carapaces readily fossilize and their record in earth history is long, dense and diverse. Ostracod species are particularly useful as tools in marine and limnic (palaeo-) ecology, in (palaeo-) biogeography, and biostratigraphy. Their reproductive morphology is as extraordinary as their reproductive modes, and many of their physiological peculiarities remain mysterious. Ostracod taxonomy and phylogeny contribute to general studies of crustacean evolution.

The diversity of ostracod applications in both biology and palaeontology is clearly illustrated by the eighteen papers of the 15th International Symposium on Ostracoda (Berlin, Germany) in 2005, which are grouped in the present proceedings, one of three volumes resulting from this meeting.

Book Description

Excellent refrence book on the basics of sequence stratigraphy for new students and researchers on the concepts of sequence startigraphy developed by Exxon Production Research Company.

Book Description

This book covers the physics of magneto-optical recording, beginning with first principles, and working through to contemporary state-of-the-art topics. The first half of the book teaches the theory of diffraction using an original unified approach. It also covers the optics of multilayers, polarization optics, noise in photodetection, and thermal aspects. The second half of the book describes the basics of magnetism and magnetic materials, magneto-static field calculations, domains and domain walls, the mean-field theory, magnetization dynamics, the theory of coercivity, and the process of thermomagnetic recording. Numerous examples based on real-world problems encountered in the engineering design of magneto-optical media and systems will give the reader valuable insights into the science and technology of optical recording. Extensive problem sets are included.

Customer Reviews:

A very good introduction on magneto-optical recording........2006-06-09

The author is very good at giving an overall picture of the principles of magneto-optical recording. This is a very readable book and the pictures are awesome in explaining the concepts. I used this book to help me satisfy a term paper requirement for a graduate level course. Even though I am a newbie to the field of optics and magnetism, the book is self-contained enough for me to understand. A book highly recommended for anyone who wants to know what happens in your magneto-optical drive. It also includes review chapters on diffraction optics, Gaussian beams, and magnetism.

Book Description

From one of the great literary classics of the world — a carefully chosen selection of 20 stories told by ten young people who have retreated to the countryside to escape the plague raging in 14th-century Florence. Includes "The Pot of Basil," "Patient Griselda," and the bawdy "Putting the Devil Back in Hell."

Customer Reviews:

Bawdy tales of love.......2007-05-01

This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.
The "Decameron" is a collection of 100 novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, probably begun in 1350 and finished in 1353. It is a medieval allegorical work best known for its bawdy tales of love, appearing in all its possibilities from the erotic to the tragic. Other topics such as wit and witticism, practical jokes and worldly initiation also form part of the mosaic. Beyond its entertainment and literary popularity, it remains an important historical document of life in the fourteenth century.

Decameron is structured in a frame narrative, or frame tale. Boccaccio begins with a description of the Black Death and leads into an introduction of a group of seven young women and three young men who flee from plague-ridden Florence to a villa in the (then) countryside of Fiesole for two weeks. To pass the time, each member of the party tells one story for each one of the nights spent at the villa. Although fourteen days pass, two days each week are set aside: one day for chores and one holy day during which no work is done. In this manner, 100 stories are told by the end of the ten days. Each of the ten characters is charged as King or Queen of the company for one of the ten days in turn. This charge extends to choosing the theme of the stories for that day, and all but two days have topics assigned: examples of the power of fortune; examples of the power of human will; love tales that end tragically; love tales that end happily; clever replies that save the speaker; tricks that women play on men; tricks that people play on each other in general; examples of virtue. Only Dioneo, who usually tells the tenth tale each day, has the right to tell a tale on any topic he wishes, due to his wit. Each day also includes a short introduction and conclusion to continue the frame of the tales by describing other daily activities besides story telling. These frame tale interludes frequently include transcriptions of Italian folk songs. The interactions among tales in a day, or across days, as Boccaccio spins variations and reversals of previous material, forms a whole and not just a collection of stories. The basic plots of the stories including mocking the lust and greed of the clergy; tensions in Italian society between the new wealthy commercial class and noble families; the perils and adventures of traveling merchants. The title is a portmanteau, or combination of two Greek words meaning "ten" and "day". Boccacio made similar Greek etymological plays of words in his other works. The subtitle is Prencipe Galeotto, which derives from the opening material in which Boccaccio dedicates the work to ladies of the day who did not have the diversions of men (hunting, fishing, riding, falconry) who were forced to conceal their amorous passions and stay idle and concealed in their rooms. Thus, the book is subtitled Prencipe Galeotto, that is Galehaut, the go-between of Lancelot and Guinevere, a nod to Dante's allusion to Galeotto in "Inferno V", who was blamed for the arousal of lust in the episode of Paolo and Francesca.

Throughout Decameron, the mercantile ethic prevails and predominates. The commercial and urban values of quick wit, sophistication, and intelligence are treasured, while the vices of stupidity and dullness are cured, or punished. While these traits and values will seem obvious to the modern reader, they were an emerging feature in Europe with the rise of urban centers and a monetized economic system beyond the traditional rural feudal and monastery systems, which placed greater value on piety and loyalty. Beyond the unity provided by the frame narrative, Decameron provides a unity in philosophical outlook. Throughout runs the common medieval theme of Lady Fortune, and how quickly one can rise and fall through the external influences of the "Wheel of Fortune". Boccaccio had been educated in the tradition of Dante's Divine Comedy, which used various levels of allegory to show the connections between the literal events of the story and the hidden Christian message. However, Decameron uses Dante's model not to educate the reader, but to satirize this method of learning. The Roman Catholic Church, priests, and religious belief become the satirical source of comedy throughout. This was part of a wider historical trend in the aftermath of the Black Death, which saw widespread discontent with the church. Many details of the Decameron are infused with a medieval sense of numerological and mystical significance. For example, it is widely believed that the seven young women are meant to represent the Four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude) and the Three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity). It is further supposed that the three men represent the classical Greek tripartite division of the soul (Reason, Spirit, and Lust, see Book IV of Republic). Boccaccio himself notes that the names he gives for these ten characters are in fact pseudonyms chosen as "appropriate to the qualities of each". The Italian names of the seven women, in the same (most likely significant) order as given in the text, are: Pampinea, Fiammetta, Filomena, Emilia, Lauretta, Neifile, and Elissa. The men, in order, are: Panfilo, Filostrato, and Dioneo.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books