Quick Read

The Turnaround Kid: What I Learned Rescuing America's Most Troubled Companies By Steve Miller

Steve Miller has had an extraordinary career that many of his readers may be glad they haven't shared. After making his name as Lee Iacocca's wingman during the 1979 rescue of Chrysler, he became the go-to guy for foundering companies, the CEO you hired to parachute in to save the likes of Bethlehem Steel, real-estate colossus Olympia & York and, most recently, the still-bankrupt auto-parts maker Delphi. Miller resists the temptation to burnish his own legacy, frankly examining his failures along with his successes while also sympathetically recounting the struggles of his late wife, who died of cancer as he fought to keep Delphi going.

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness By Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Despite the hypey, buzzy title, which evokes too many superficial books that purport to define the hidden forces lurking behind everyday life, there's plenty of substance here as University of Chicago economist Thaler and his law-school counterpart Sunstein immerse readers in the science of behavioral economics. The authors look at how humans make their economic choices and how those often produce disappointing results. But what's most provocative is their belief that "choice architects"—everyone from divorce lawyers to cafeteria managers—can subtly steer choices toward happier results while still leaving people, as another Chicago professor once said, "Free to Choose."

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need By Daniel Pink and Rob Ten Pas

The publication date of April 1 set off alarm bells. Surely best-selling author ("A Whole New Mind") and former Clinton-administration staffer Pink was playing a prank by dressing a handful of rules for workplace advancement in the kimono of a manga graphic novel. Turns out it's real enough, and the idea of targeting business books at a new, nontraditional audience is a fine one. But is this the first step toward a world in which Peter Drucker must be filtered through the sensibility of Hello Kitty?

© 2008