The Ultimate Business Library

by Stuart Crainer

Book Overview

Designed for those who need to keep abreast of important management thinking, this work summarizes fifty influential titles in the field, clarifying the concepts of the originals. Features include a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814403956
• ISBN13: 9780814403952
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Amacom
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Introductions into 50 great management and business classics

Stuart Crainer is business and management writer, who quite often appears in The Financial Times. Gary Hamel is a top business writer/management guru, fellow at Harvard Business School, visiting professor at the London Business School, and chairman of California-based consulting firm Strategos. Both have written several business-related books.The book starts with an introduction by Gary Hamel, who lists the books featured per issues - management, leadership, complexity, people, customerd, global, the future, renewal, competition, efficiency, strategy, and fun. Then, Stuart Crainer describes 50 management and business classics in alphabetical order of the authors. The classics featured range from Sun Tzu's Art of War (500 BC) and Machiavelli's The Prince (1513) through to modern works from Gary Hamel, Michael Porter, Peter Senge and Tom Peters. I do not think that anybody will argue the author's selection, since all books are truly greats. Since the complete book consists about 300 pages, each classic receives about 4-6 pages (introduction by Gary Hamel, biography of author(s), and a description of the main ideas and issues). This is enough for a quick insight and description, but do not expect to become a specialist in any of the issues.The breakdown into issues makes it easy for readers to choose a subject/books. You can then have a quick flick through the particular summary/summaries. If you like the summary/summaries, you will still require to purchase or borrow the book(s) since the summaries are not that detailed. I used this book during my MBA-course (in particular during the earlier part), where I used it as a type of tool since it pointed me to the best book(s) for a particular subject. (I must admit that I also bought Stuart Crainer's 110 Ultimate Book of Business Gurus, but I do much more prefer/use this one.) The book is simple to use and is written in simple US-English.

50 Books That Changed the World

This book gives you a tantalizing sense of business history and a context in which to hone your own wisdom. Few books give you the opportunity to sample the nuggets of the time-tested thought of 50 mentors like this one. One or more of its trains of thought could be just what you need to help you grow the roots of solutions and grease your strategic and visionary gears.

Great historical review

This book can be seen as a great condensation of management literature. The selection can obviously be discussed but the beaty is to be able to get the main points from 50 milestones in management thinking. Moreover, some books could be a discovering and prompt you to read them. The only weakness is that some books are out of date (which doesn't mean old but overcome by time) and I would have prefered 50 "still alive" books.

Many of these books are must reading for MBA students

This is a very useful book for anyone interested in the study of management. While the books listed are personal selections of the author, I think he did a respectable job given the enormity of the task. I applaud the author for including popular and academic works both new and old. One could challenge some of the entries, but again, they are personal selections. Some titles are out of the mainstream literature and new finds to me--I'm sure anyone will find some useful books they were previously unaware of. One notable omission, in my opinion, is lack of any works on EVA. This is an important topic for any manager and should have at least made the "2nd 50" listed in the appendix. Overall, a very useful book for anyone wishing to pursue the literature on management.