The assignment was to find two best sellers published prior to 1975 and report a professional review and a reader's review and comment on the work's lasting relevance.
Book 2
Bettger, Frank. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. New York: Cornerstone Library, 1949.
Search Procedure
Once again, I may have taken a “slightly out of the norm” approach in my search. This was driven by my location and lack of print materials. Searching for an alternative source, I went to Google and searched for “Publishers Weekly Bestsellers Lists”, and found this website at the top of the results, http://www.caderbooks.com/bestintro.html. It displays PW bestsellers lists for the 20th Century. I searched there by decade and located the business title reported here. Wanting to know more about this source, I looked for information about Cader Books, but I only found their website. Apparently, there are only 4 employees. Cader Books is a book producer located in Bronxville, NY. Each year in partnership with People Magazine, they produce a recap of the year, which includes the Publisher’s Weekly Bestsellers List of Hardcover Books. From that effort, they created and posted the webpage cited above. I cross checked the latest years, and it appears accurate and legitimate.
This selected book by Bettger was the #4 non-fiction best seller in 1950 on the Publisher’s Weekly year-end list.
Review Citation
The quoted review below can be found on Amazon’s product page for this book: http://www.amazon.com/Raised-Myself-Failure-Success-Selling/dp/067179437X/ref=dp_return_2?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books.
Highlights from Review
Dale Carnegie’s review is sort and to the point: “How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling will be helping salesmen, regardless of whether they are selling insurance, or shoes, or ships, or sealing wax, long after Frank Bettger has passed away.”
Relevance in 2010
Quite a few readers and Amazon patrons posted their reviews on the Amazon product page in strong support of the book’s relevance in 2010. Several of these reviews cited specific reasons from the book’s content as to why it is still relevant. I have not read the book. But, there is no doubt that developing solid sales skills is still necessary and relevant in today’s world. The reviewers all suggest that this book espouses principles and ideas that are universally applicable in any sales setting. That is difficult to do, but not unheard of or impossible. I’ll have to take their word for it and accept the book’s relevance.
Book 3
Keynes, John Maynard. The Economic Consequences of the Peace. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1919.
Search Procedure
Once again, I may have taken a “slightly out of the norm” approach in my search. This was driven by my location and lack of print materials. Searching for an alternative source, I went to Google and searched for “Publishers Weekly Bestsellers Lists”, and found this website at the top of the results, http://www.caderbooks.com/bestintro.html. It displays PW bestsellers lists for the 20th Century. I searched there by decade and located the business title reported here. Wanting to know more about this source, I looked for information about Cader Books, but I only found their website. Apparently, there are only 4 employees. Cader Books is a book producer located in Bronxville, NY. Each year in partnership with People Magazine, they produce a recap of the year, which includes the Publisher’s Weekly Bestsellers List of Hardcover Books. From that effort, they created and posted the webpage cited above. I cross checked the latest years, and it appears accurate and legitimate.
This selected book by Keynes was the #2 non-fiction best seller in 1920 on the Publisher’s Weekly year-end list.
Review Citation
The quoted review below can be found on Amazon’s product page for this book: http://www.amazon.com/economic-consequences-peace-Maynard-Keynes/dp/1171892551/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291352161&sr=1-1-spell
Highlights from ReviewA modern reviewer, Paul A. Volcker, said, “The Economic Consequences of Peace marked the entrance into the world scene of the twentieth century’s most influential economist. It should be in the library of every serious student of world affairs.”
Relevance in 2010
Keynes, considered the father of macroeconomics, and the originator of a widely studied and followed school of economic thought called Keynesian Economics, is most assuredly relevant to us in 2010. The fact is that, in spite of falling out of favor in the 1980’s and 1990’s, Keynesian theories have returned to acceptance and even prominence in the late 2000’s. His insights and theories remain at the heart of political economic debate throughout the world. This book is an early contribution that brought John Maynard Keynes to the forefront of economic theory and debate and established his springboard into world prominence. I think that makes it rather relevant in today‘s world. (How could I argue with Paul Volcker?)
No comments:
Post a Comment