Quick Read

How to Get Rich: One of the World ' s Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets
By Felix Dennis

Too bad his U.S. publisher opted to retitle Dennis' chart-topping U.K. best seller "The Getting of Money." The original nicely captured both the author's single-mindedness in pursuing wealth and the quirky raconteur's voice that makes the Maxim publisher's tome a better read than the typical rags-to-riches saga. Whether he's condemning the debilitating effects of a regular paycheck or praising the virtues of inexperience, Dennis is an enthusiastic contrarian and voluble storyteller, though given the recent flap over his claim (now recanted) that he once pushed a rival to his death from a cliff, readers may prefer to season his tales with a few grains of salt.

Executricks: Or How to Retire While You ' re Still Working
By Stanley Bing

Bing, the pseudonymous alter ego of CBS PR chief Gil Schwartz, is a familiar name to connoisseurs of corporate satire. But in purporting to reveal how to slack successfully at the top of the corporate food chain—using your BlackBerry to fake omniscience, traveling in lieu of working—he also reveals a timid side. Instead of hiding behind a nom de plume, why not forthrightly explain just how he and his fellow bigwigs have used these tricks in building brilliant careers? Instead of a C-suite version of Ben Hamper's "Rivethead"—the out-of-control classic that celebrated the schemes and scams wrought by the denizens of a General Motors truck plant—what Bing dishes is at its heart the kind of overcautious behavior he pretends to expose.

Good Guys & Bad Guys: Behind the Scenes With the Saints and Scoundrels of American Business (and Everything in Between)
By Joe Nocera

In his three decades at media outlets including Fortune, NPR and The New York Times, Nocera has seen—and foreseen—many of the most memorable stories in American business. This collection of profiles of boldfaced names like Michael Milken, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett showcases some of his best work. It also displays his best qualities as a columnist—a preference for reportage over pontificating and a willingness to find both good and bad in unexpected places.

© 2008