Customer Reviews:
Winning isn't everything..........2007-05-06
Although this book is a little outdated, the authors make a convincing case as to the spiraling salaries of Fortune 500 CEO's, sought-after-free-agent-superstar-athletes, box-office movie stars and the like. Winning begets winning, that's the gold standard of life. "In order for top CEO's to capture their full economic value, a second factor must also be present-namely, there must be open competition for their services." For what high level profession doesn't this rule apply? Pursuit of success is intrinsically woven into the tapestry of this nation and history has always been faithful to the winner; thus, the past is a recording of HIS STORY! It's unfortunate that vanity prevents so many people from accurately assessing their talents, but I don't thinks it calls for the reshaping of national policy as the authors suggest.
Brilliant book.......2007-01-09
Brilliant book, though the practical outlines of reversing the trends that drive our society towards a winner-takes-all-society may not be easy, or simply feasible. The argumentation is very solid and based on different literature, which makes the bibliography equally interesting. Though the numbers are outdated, one can only see that in current society the numbers for the winners have only - and extremely - augmented. Which proves the book was right but the ideas haven't made the political agenda.
A thought-provoking book that goes steadily downhill.......2006-09-25
The first half to 2/3 of this book makes some very good points that have escaped most of the popular discussions of economic issues. The authors point out, persuasively in my opinion, that certain industries and professions have "winner-take-all" characteristics that pervert the usual reward/punishment consequences of free-market economic policies.
The markets for which the authors have the strongest evidence of "winner take all" characteristics are presented earliest. As the book goes on, however, it falls into the same pattern of thousands of books before it: the authors have made one important and interesting observation, and they proceed to claim that virtually everything in the world that they disapprove of can be accounted for by this one observation. They assume, without plausible evidence, that the declines in education and popular culture are the direct consequence of winner-take-all markets. In a couple of cases they even admit that the evidence for winner-take-all characteristics in a particular industry or occupation is scanty or even nonexistent. But that doesn't prevent them from offering further arguments and policy recommendations based on the assumption that every one of these markets is dominated by winner-take-all distortions.
By the end of this book, where the authors make policy recommendations, they come close to leaving reality behind. They make these recommendations based on the assumptions that the **entire economy** is dominated by winner-take-all characteristics - a proposition for which they offer no evidence whatever. It is hard to escape the impression that their goal in writing this book was to justify a more socialistic economic policy on the part of the government, rather than to evenhandedly examine and explain an important issue.
In short: read the first of half of this book, because it makes a lot of worthwhile points and observations. Read most of the rest if you're retired or have a lot of free time. Skip the last chapter, with their policy recommendations.
Interesting Book by 2 Top Notch Economists.......2006-08-12
This book basically says that the rat race is harmful and we should constrain spending, because happiness isn't really what we have, but what our neighbor has; therefore, by creating incentives to spend less, we can create a trickle-down effect of less consumption and have more time and less coarseness in culture. The only problem is that the authors--as bright as they are--do not spend much time explaining exactly how a consumption tax would work. One gets the feeling that they felt going into specific details was inappropriate for a mass-market book. Along the way, we also learn about fun variations on game theory, the predecessor to Paris Hilton, and some prescient warnings on steroids. Despite the negative comments about lawyers in the book, I enjoyed it very much. The author reminds his readers, through facts and research, to be more humble and to remember that because the number of top positions is few in the U.S., it cannot be the case that all our dreams will be realized. While depressing on the surface, one may wish the participants on American Idol had read this book before appearing on national television.
An Explanation for the Growing Economic Inequality.......2002-10-02
The basic premise of this book is that the U.S. has too many markets where the "star" or top performer gets a large percentage of the proceeds. Examples are the sports market, the movie star market and the publishing market; The reasons given are;
-Technology. National distribution channels such as network television make it easier for an individual to penetrate the market. For example, at one time villages and towns had their own musicians. Now a singer can make a CD and sell it nationally.
-Falling transportation and tariff costs. Goods have gotten lighter. It is easier to send computer discs all over the world than books. CD's are lighter than phonograph records
-- Mental shelf space constraints. We have a limit to the number of items we can keep in our head..."the amount of information we can actually use is thus a declining fraction of the total information available."
-Weakening of regulations and civil society. At one time, informal and formal rules limited the winner take all markets. Now, like free agents in baseball, the top performers have the leverage to demand high prices.
-Self-reinforcing processes. This is another way of saying "success begets success." For example, a sales person does well and gets bigger customers. A person does well and the word of mouth referral causes them to saturate the market. This virtuous cycle increases the income and power of top performers.
The author argues that winner take all markets are not good for society. People are unrealistically optimistic about their own chances of winning "a prize." Thus they are siphoned off from other productive endeavors.
This book was helpful to me in understanding today's economy and job market. If anything, the winners are doing better than ever today, long after the book was published. Just take a look at the latest article on CEO salaries.
Book Description
Marcus Glenwood’s stunning legal victory over the New Horizons corporation (in the best-selling thriller, The Great Divide) came with a severe personal price. Now, barely a year later, Glenwood is slowly getting back on his feet, back into his legal practice, and back into a deeper relationship with Kirsten Stansted.
But when the new CEO of New Horizons–the company that once attempted to have Marcus killed–comes to him seeking representation in a personal matter, Marcus is stunned. Dale Steadman’s story is heart wrenching, but Marcus’s instincts for self-preservation urge him to turn down the case. Steadman’s one-year-old daughter has been kidnapped–by his ex-wife, the baby’s mother, world-renowned opera diva Erin Brandt. Kirsten finally convinces Marcus to help Steadman, and soon the case becomes a media sensation. And before long, someone is after Marcus–and Kirsten–using deadly scare tactics.
T. Davis Bunn carefully crafts his novels to include a strong spiritual dimension, plumbing the depths of his characters’ faith under crisis. Intercut with edge-of-your-seat courtroom scenes, his riveting new thriller takes readers from the American South to London and Germany…and from the depths of the soul to the heights of the spirit.
Customer Reviews:
I do not recommend the Audiobook version.......2006-07-04
This review pertains to the abridged Audiobook version of this novel. I listened to it recently and found it rushed, the plot hard to follow, and missing depth. I didn't really understand the characters and their relationships, and found myself lacking emotional involvement in the climactic scene involving Marcus and Kirsten. Reading the rest of these reviews, I realized that most of what readers have commented about (the courtroom drama, the relationship between Kirsten and Marcus, the parallel between the pasts of Kirsten and Erin) was taken out in the abridged audio version. And the audiobook really gives no indication of why this would be called Christian Fiction at all. These seem to be essential parts that would have made the book much more enjoyable- so, I recommend that you read the book (which sounds good, now that I read more about it) rather than listening to the abridged audiobook!
Worth a Read.......2005-03-27
The story is essentially about an embattled corporate CEO who has his daughter kidnapped by his ex wife and taken off to Germany. The CEO, Dale Steadman, hires attorney Marcus Glenwood to help get her back.
The action takes place on both sides of the Atlantic with an interesting cast. Bunn did a very good job at developing the characters in particular. Two of the characters that are very well done are Erin Brandt who is an international opera diva and the ex wife of Steadman. She has never bonded with the child and is an overall bad apple. The other main female character is Kirsten Stansted, who is Glenwood's fiancee. She has a similar rough background to Brandt, but has developed into a positive person.
Bunn takes some diverse elements such as opera (which would probably top my list of boring subjects) and is able to make them reasonably interesting.
Although it is a 'Christian' novel, it touches very little on the spiritual side of things. I think it would have been better if there was some more of that.
Overall, this was an entertaining book. I don't think it is as good as Bunn's previous novel 'The Great Divide', but it is worth a read.
I hope there is a sequel..........2004-08-23
I was so happy to have a continuation of "The Great Divide" that I dove right into this book. While I did enjoy it, I was left with a sense of incompleteness. It did answer so many questions about Kirsten and her relationship with Marcus; but, it did not give the reader a sense of closure. It ended too abruptly and I was shocked to find that there was not another chapter or an epilogue to give a glimpse into the future. Yes, the reader supposes that Kirsten and Marcus have their long awaited talk about her past and the wedding then takes place. However, it would have been nice to at least have a page that simply skipped ahead to perhaps the day of their wedding and made mention of the attendants and a sentence as to how their lives had changed in the meantime. At least a page saying that the wedding was in fact taking place, such as the mention of the funeral in the epilogue of "The Great Divide".
Perhaps the author was just setting us up for a third in what would be a series about Marcus Glenwood. I certainly hope so. It would also be nice to have a third book where Glenwood has a better outlook and doesn't seem so defeated all the time. Now that he and Kirsten are together maybe he can stop being such a victim and stop obsessing about her so much.
Quality Continues.......2004-04-14
I have enjoyed every one of T. Davis Bunn's books. I've bought his books from the beginning. I continue to enjoy his books, and this one is great as usual. Without getting into details, Winner Take All continues to give me a very interesting, fast paced story with great characters.
Mr. D I get a bonus.......2004-01-15
Winner Take all is an awesome example of courage and boldness. The beginning for me was a little slow to get me interested but about half to three quarters of the way through it got more intense and exciting. Since Bunn is a christain author I do think that he could of added a bit more of Jesus, But to an extent he did show how much evil is in the world and how good always prevails. Even in the hard times. I would read another of Bunns novels.Definately
Book Description
High Tech-based markets move so fast that getting things right becomes infinitely more important than it used to be. Category winners increasingly take it all (market share, revenues, profits, growth, market valuation) while others fight for whatever is left. The good news is that there are 9 really simple rules that companies can follow to help them be successful in tough times. These rules have been used by companies such as Google, Apple, Symantec, Salesforce.com, Netflix, Intel, Dell, Texas Instruments, and Microsoft. This book shows how these winners have applied these rules strategically to gain competitive advantage. It also shows practical tools that the entrepreneur and the product and corporate managers can use to implement the rules. These 9 Rules apply to small and large companies; product, service, web, and innovation-based companies; consumer and enterprise-oriented companies. They apply at the beginning,middle, and end of the product lifecycle.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent blueprint for technology entrepreneurs.......2006-10-05
Finally, a "Good to Great" book for the technology sector. High time. It's been a long time since we "crossed the chasm" and that chasm has gotten vastly wider and deeper. "Winners Take All" provides a proven framework and "just-in-time" knowledge entrepreneurs can start applying immediately.
Practical Silicon Valley high tech marketing that actually works.......2006-10-04
What a great book! The clear concepts and current examples rooted in the streets of Silicon Valley make this book instantly usable by entrepreneurs, CEOs and marketing managers. I'm sure it will go on to become a classic for practitioners/entrepreneurs and required reading in high tech courses everywhere.
This book is in the class of great marketing strategy books by Al Ries and Jack Trout. I say this because like Ries and Trout, Tony has the intense practical experience as CEO of a startup and the courage of conviction to distill his knowledge/experience into clear, easy to understand, and easy to implement methods, concepts, and frameworks. Tony forces you to focus on only a few concepts and skip the remaining because he differentiates between what works and what does not. He gives you answers that solve problems today to get success in the market.
Tony shows that the competition is maddeningly intense and the winner takes all while losers hardly survive.
The book takes you on a marketing strategy tour of many current success stories including Google, Craigslist, Symantec, Netflix, Salesforce.com, and Apple. You learn which rules played significant role in each success and how you too can apply the rules for your own company's success.
Tony has distilled 9 fundamental rules of high tech strategy that can help you navigate the treacherous waters of high-tech marketing, made all the more difficult by Geoffrey Moore's terms "Crossing the Chasm", tornado, gorilla, chimps, etc.
These 9 rules bring the essence of marketing in general and high tech marketing in particular within the easy grasp of a marketing-novice CEO or entrepreneur and enable them to apply them to their own specific situation and move towards success. The experienced practitioners will also find the rules guide in deciding what to focus on and what to pay attention to within the seemingly chaotic high-tech marketing scene.
The rules are simple, easy-to-understand, and almost intuitive. Once you buy into a rule and understand the easy examples, implementing a rule in your own specific situation should be simple (though not necessarily easy).
The 9 rules will appear as simple and common sense to many experienced practitioners (remember the saying, "The right answer when found will be simple").
* These rules, illustrated with current examples, are very powerful and contain within them the essence of high tech marketing strategy
MBA students can use Tony's book as supplementary text for their general marketing course to understand "what works" in high-tech marketing as against Philip Kotler's most popular text detailing all the options and approaches available in marketing, only some of which work.
I personally know Tony and have worked with him. I attended Tony's course "Strategic Marketing of High Technology Products and Innovations" at Stanford University and like many other entrepreneurs I respect him for his experience and wisdom in marketing strategy.
I have lived in Silicon Valley as entrepreneur during the post-2000 period and I can relate with what Tony says. If you work in high-tech industry (or any industry for that matter) or if you are interested in starting your own company, this book is certainly worth your time. Read it. Study it.
I am personally recommending this book to all my friends and clients in high-tech as well as non high-tech companies because these rules will work both in hyper-competitive fast-moving world of high-tech and in all other kinds of industries.
Customer Reviews:
Nora Roberts Travel/Vacation reading.......2007-05-31
I read this on a cross country flight. There are two Silhouette romance stories Ms Roberts wrote in the 80's bound into this one "book".
It was a good quick read. I prefered the first story over the second.
Two Classic 1980's Nora Roberts in book........2005-07-19
Rules of the Game (1984) is a story about Brooke Gordon an advertising producer who finds herself directing Parks Jones a famous baseball player. It is a cute story of how two strong willed people merge.
The Name of the Game (1988) is also based in LA about Johanna game show producer who has a connection with Sam a hunky actor when is agrees to do her trivia game show. There are some similarities in the stories and both are classic Harlequin love stories.
If you are looking for some great romance novels I would suggest Nantucket Nights by Elin Hilderbrand, Bubbles series by Sarah Strohmeyer, Crazy For You by Kate Angell or Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie.
Overall Good.......2004-11-27
This was my first time reading both of these books as I was too young the first time they were released. Personally, I thought the first one was disappointing, but the second was more than worth the money.
In Rules of the Game, Brooke Gordon is a commercial producer who is reluctantly accepting baseball star Parks Jones as spokesperson of a clothing line. All it takes is just one look and they both are smitten. All in all, I found this story trite and a little confusing as both run hot and cold in their emotions.
In Name of the Game, Johanna Paterson is a game show producer and Sam Weaver is the hunky actor pitted to guest star on her hit show. Sparks flare immediately and each find themselves slowly sliding into love. I LOVED this story and it more than makes up for the first one.
Book Description
The futures industry is unique, entertaining and, for far too many people, ultimately heartbreaking. What other industry possesses such an entertaining cast of soothsayers, self-proclaimed experts and charlatans? Where else do people become fabulously wealthy simply by acting on their own convictions? And where else does the possibility of failure loom so large and so constant? No other book captures the essence of the futures industry better than Winner Take All. With a penetrating intelligence and a sharp wit, Bill Gallacher dissects many of the industry's leading lights, exposing the frauds, deflating the pompous and poking fun at the seers who believe they can predict the future. Along the way, he demonstrates why most traders lose and, most importantly, what it takes to win. Winner Take All is a book for all traders. For those who believe in easy-money trading systems, it is a sobering antidote. For those who think the markets can't be beaten, it is a work of great inspiration. And for those who are trading profitably, it is an affirmation of the trading success principles. Winner Take All is a wise and profound book. But it is also perhaps the wittiest book on trading ever written. Read Mr. Gallacher on Fibonacci numbers: "Surely the medieval mathematician would be astounded at his impact on the twentieth-century commodity man. His mathematical series was constructed from observations on the incestuous copulation patterns of rabbits. Let's see, you start with a male and a female, then you take the first female offspring and you...well, better not get into it". Mr. Gallacher, a successful private trader, questions all conventional wisdom. He exposes the false premises that underliemuch of technical analysis, and he demonstrates why mechanical trading approaches - while sometimes producing marginal profits - can never provide truly superior results. Although out-of-favor in today's computer age, Mr. Gallacher shows why fundamental analysis, if con
Customer Reviews:
Extremely Informative.......2005-12-29
I have hundred of books on the markets and this is one of the best. Gallacher debunks many falsehoods in the futures markets and, quite frankly, after reading the book one is uncertain whether or not trading futures makes any sense at all. That having been said, this book has things about money management that you will not find anywhere else. Gallacher swings his sledgehammer at Ralph Vince's "Optimal f" as well as money management systems involving fixed percentages of capital. Although I did not agree with some of Gallacher's conclusions, this is a well-written book that no serious student of the markets should be without.
A Top Rated Traders Book.......2005-12-20
This book should be on the essential reading list for every aspiring Trader.
Trading is an extremely difficult business. It is often difficult to identify charlatans and myth from genuine journeymen and truth. Everywhere there is someone hawking a product with the promise of an easy path to success and riches. A primary focus of "Winner Takes All" is to debunk these people and their products. The real value in this book is that it is written by an insider - someone who has been a broker but who now trades his own account. It is rare to find a writer in this business who is not pushing some personal (and often concealed) agenda. Gallacher is one of those rarities. He is not trying to improve his station or business. He simply sets out to write an entertaining book that sets straight a few solid (and, for some, unpalateable) truths.
The hardcover edition is subtitled " A Top Commodity Trader Tells It Like It Is" . The paperback edition is half the price of the hardback and doesn't suffer the unnecessary hype; instead the subtitle here is " A Brutally Honest and Irreverent Look ..." . This subtitle is much more in keeping with the spirit of the book. Gallacher makes no claims about his own "success", he merely informs us that he has been trading for 20 years and that he has never wiped-out nor has he had to send additional funds to bolster up his account. At the least this makes him a survivor, which already puts him in the top 1% as far as I'm concerned. In any event one of the things that impressed me most in this book is that Gallacher makes no effort to bignote himself.
He readily tells us that he is very conservative (12 trades per year!) and that he strongly favors a fundamental approach. Having said this, and knowing he won't win any votes, he goes on to effortlessly bring a few big-name technicians (and other vendors) down a few pegs. Remember, here is a guy who at least walks the talk.
It is worth reading all the reviews because this book has elicited some extreme reactions( from 1 star to 5 stars). I believe the poor reviews tell us more about the people writing them than about the issues they raise:
The most detailed negative review is by maclee33 (1 star) who goes to much trouble to demonstrate an apparently incorrect argument in the book.
But it is the review that is fallacious, not the book, and here's why. Gallacher uses a chart from Murphy's book "Technical Analysis of the Futures Markets" (and I have this book too, so I can verify the chart) to show that Murphy's use of trendlines is after-the-fact and superficial. There is no discussion here about active and inactive contracts etc. Gallacher simply takes a chart that Murphy himself has used and shows how misleading it is to draw trendlines with 20:20 hindsight. As Alexander Elder points out it is easy to trade the middle of the chart but, in the real world, we have to trade the extreme right of the chart.
"The lesson? All examples of the alleged uselfulness of trendlines, flags, pennants etc. will, under scrutiny, be shown to be the product of hindsight, perceived after the occurrence of the events they are alleged to foresee...Chartists see what they want to see, not what is really there."
Admittedly this is a polemic statement (and I do not personally agree with it) nonetheless this was the point that Gallacher was making and I cannot see anything "egregious and inexcusable"(maclee) in that.
Another reviewer defends Larry Williams (who gets a caning by Gallacher) stating that he (Williams) " made a million in a year" not once but twice ... and then taught his daughter (how to do it)". This anonymous reviewer gave the book 1 star while pointedly overlooking the fact that Gallacher's actual criticism was based on Williams losing more than $6million in one account while "making" the so-called $1million in another account - an event for which both Williams and Robbins Trading Company were taken to court and convicted by the NFA.
Another 1 star reviewer was upset with Gallacher's harsh treatment of neural net systems. Another didn't like the criticism of Elliot.
I think all of these negative reviews miss the point which is that it is very easy to mislead people in this business and we should be thankful for good watchdogs like Gallacher.
The book is humorous, insightful and well-written. I usually prejudge a book through Amazon by how many Customer Rating stars it gets. Sometimes these ratings mislead or disappoint. In this case I think 4 stars is honestly earned.
If you read this book with an open mind you will treasure it.
What's the Point?.......2005-10-01
The author attempts to degrade technical methods of market analysis? Why bother? If they don't work for him, why get so emotional about them? There is maybe one in ten people in the population smart enough to even want to attempt to learn methods like Elliott. Of those who try, maybe only one quarter will apply it properly and not give up. Of course such details will be useless to most traders but it does not mean that they are useless to the handful with the discipline to study and master them.
He doth protest too much. This author is a mental midget compared with Fibonacci, Elliott and Neely. Maybe in time he can learn and be enlighted. But for now, his mind is closed.
Must have for systems traders.......2005-01-09
Two hundred pages into "Winner Take All", you'll find Gallacher dissecting Ralph Vince's optimal F strategy for position sizing, pointing out the obvious ways in which it can result in dangerous levels of overtrading that can put you out of business. At the end is an illustration of a trader aiming a gun at his own head and blowing his brains out, with the caption "optimally f'd". While it sounds kind of tasteless written down this way, when I came across it the first time I was laughing so hard I had to put the book down and catch my breath for a minute.
That's the sort of work you'll find throughout this very contrarian text whose nominal focus is on commodities trading. The scathing commentary wouldn't be so helpful were it just being sensationalist, but the analysis throughout this book is spot on in addition to being extremely funny at times.
While Gallacher's coverage of commodities is solid, albeit fairly pedestrian, his discussion of trading gurus is simultaneously informative, entertaining, and controversial. Ralph Vince gets off pretty easy compared with how other revered industry fellows are lampooned. You'll find plenty of dirt on popular trading role models like John Murphy, W. D. Gann, Elliot, Larry Williams, Richard Dennis (and the turtles), Bruce Babcock, and Welles Wilder (not to mention a thoroughly deserved bashing of Neural Networks). Anyone who is following techniques proposed by those gentleman should consider reading "Winner Take All" just to make sure you're seasoning their claims with a healthy enough skepticism. As other reviews here claim, Gallacher may be doing his own manipulation on the data in order to prove his own points in this area, and you'd be wise to apply the same level of skepticism he brings to other figures to his own claims. Very interesting reading, and written in a thoroughly enjoyable style.
The centerpiece of the book is one of the most real-world discussions of an working trading system I've found. A standard trend-following breakout system is presented and shown to make 385% annually; pretty good, right? It's then shown rather realistically how commissions, slippage, and stop order issues will eat into that. Then, he analyzes the real capital required to actually run that system through its expected drawdowns. When
it's all done, that magic winning system is lucky to hit 17% across the amount of capital actually required to run it. Having built multiple trading systems myself with multi-hundred percent per year predicted results that actually lost money once the entirety of actual trading and money management was factored in, I'm shocked that more books on trading systems don't cover this topic. Note that some of the things that really bash the profits in the examples down are specific to commodities (like the limit down/up problem), but stocks have their own issues that are of equal magnitude (in my own systems, I've noted that the bid/ask difference on stocks going through a breakout on volume are dramatically higher than any model I've ever seen suggests).
In short, those looking for a healthy dose of anti-holy grail trading advice might do well to read "Winner Take All", and those building any sort of trading system should consider it essential. You won't get much advise on what to do unless you're specifically looking for information on trading commodities on fundamentals, but there's a lot of solid material on what to make sure you don't do.
For thinker and veteran type of traders, not for novices.......2004-08-03
I was really surprised by the hard core negative stance taken by the author, presumably a successful commodity trader who prescribed fundamental analysis as the only means to "not luck driven" survival in commodities trading. He had used 76 out of his 229 page book to elaborate the "real failure stories" of Gann, Larry Williams, Richard Dennis, and the absurdities of Elliot waves and Fibonacci numbers.
I am not going to judge this book by its controversial opinion which most TA traders would disagree (please refer to the spotlight review by trader75. It's excellent). I just want to warn all novice trader readers that in case you dont know well about your own trading style or trading edge, dont read this book. In my opinion, both TA and FA are simply tools for profit making, the choice of it depending much on the traders' own personalitites, strengths and weaknesses that nobody else can really tell. Unless you had been completely ripped off twice (the author's standard of a successful trader, if the trader can still persist), I am afraid that you might not truly understand what your true nature is and may get confused by the author's very sophisticated arguments. Afterall, reading is meant for profitable trading, isnt it?
To me, this book is quite a fun read with good coverage on money management and trading psychology (discipline/technical (not TA)/mechanical trading), a good reminder of the limit of TA and a mind cleansing tool for the unwanted residue of my unplesant trading life. If you enjoy reading something really skeptical, go for it. Otherwise, please give it a pass.
Book Description
Rose and the Doctor return to present-day Earth to visit Rose's mum, and become intrigued by the latest craze -- the video game, Death to Mantodeans. Is it as harmless as it seems? And why are so many local people going on holiday and never returning? Meanwhile, on another world, an alien war is raging. The Quevvils need to find a new means of attacking the ruthless Mantodeans. Searching the galaxy for cunning, warlike but gullible allies, they find the ideal soldiers - on Earth. Will Rose be able to save her family and friends from the alien threat? And can the Doctor play the game to the end - and win?
Customer Reviews:
A lot of fun!.......2007-08-09
THIS was more like it! After the bad characterization in Clockwise Man, I wasn't sure about the Doctor Who books anymore. This one was a lot of fun though! The Doctor and Rose were much more "in character", and I really enjoyed all the pop culture references, the joking around, and the bad puns! Plus, it was good to "see" Mickey again.
While there were a few "huh?" things about the plot (porcupine aliens kidnap humans in order to mind-control them through an enemy aliens' stronghold) I still really enjoyed the character interactions, including those of the younger boy who was caught up in the mess and kidnapped by the aliens. In his mind, he kept building himself a story where he was the hero, but in the end he DID get to help the Doctor save everyone.
It was a lot of fun, and really truly only "fluff" reading, but I enjoyed it a lot because I still really miss the Ninth Doctor and Rose.
"Winner Takes All" a great book!!.......2007-08-01
So far I've been pleased with most of the new Doctor Who books but not particularly amazed or anything, except by this book and "Stealer of Dreams."
This book was awesome, what every fan should be looking for. It has real emotions, cool fight scenes, wicked technology and the fighting against wrong. I especially liked the part with the Doctor being mad at having to use Rose, something we don't get to see in the series very often but something we can all relate too. This is a very good book, I do not understand the mixed or even bad reviews at all. If you Like The Doctor and Rose this is a absolute must read.
A book even gamers will appreciate.......2007-05-18
This was an excellent book in the series. I especially liked the portrayal of Mickey ('cause you can just see this guy being a gamer!) and the Ninth Doctor ('cause you can just see the Doctor pwning Mickey in whatever video game he picks up >=D ). Rose was lovely and helpful as always. I'd have to say that, of the Ninth Doctor books out there, this one is my favourite, right up there with Jacqueline Rayner's other Who novel, The Stone Rose, another brilliant must buy.
It's a "winner" but does it take all? .......2006-08-08
After having read all the Doctor Who books in which the 9th Doctor appears, I will admit I had some problems with the dilemmas the Doctor & Rose faced in this particular book. Overall, it was fast paced and enjoyable but I don't expect to be picking this one up to read & reread as often as the other books.
I only have one real issue with another reviewer - making the comment about Rose being able to call from the TARDIS. I thought the telephone/cell phone fact was well established in the TV Series.
I recommend that you read this title...it will not be the worst book you've ever read.
The End of the World.......2005-11-07
As long as I've been a "Doctor Who" fan -- coming up on 21 years -- I've actually been reading the original novels, under both the Virgin and BBC banners, for almost three-quarters of that time. I started reading the Target novelizations of the TV episodes when I was 11, and started reading the New Adventures at 18. Now, deep into my early thirties, I am being asked to start again, with what for the "Doctor Who" book world is an interesting hybrid experiment: Original novels based on the first season of Russell T. Davies' "Doctor Who" revival, written in the old Target novelization writing style.
If you loved the NAs, this book will seem like a major step back. If you thought the NAs were self-indulgent and corrosive, you will probably love "Winner Takes All".
Jac Rayner's first "Doctor Who" novel, "EarthWorld", and the only other book of her's that I've read, had its moments, most of them related to her characters and dialogue rather than her storytelling. "Winner Takes All" is the same way. Any dialogue written for the four TV characters (the Doctor, Rose, Jackie and Mickey) captures Russell T. Davies' truncated dialogue style, and the actors' respective voices, admirably. You won't find familiar characters behaving in weird ways, or getting lost in over-long internal monologues. If you read the books only for adherence to the TV show, and not for original insights, this book is definitely a success.
The original characters aren't quite as enjoyable, but Rayner manages to save each of them from being annoying. The alien Quevvils are pretty ridiculous, but then you can excuse the writer on that, because the TV aliens were pretty silly too (the Slitheen, the Gelth, et cetera). The book's human toadie, Darren Pye, isn't really on screen long enough to generate much contempt, but the way Rayner reflects loathing for him through Rose's thoughts works well. Finally, the kid who assists the Doctor in the book's second half is introduced with a lengthy Harry Potter-style dream sequence, and that's kind of cute.
"Winner Takes All" is a silly plot, and a harmless bit of fluff. You can tell it's not in the style of the New Adventures because it's missing "B" and "C" plots. This book is all about the Quevvils' video game and how it affects the residents of Rose's housing project. There are only three or four aliens in total, and even when the book takes us to another planet, all we see of that planet are a couple of rooms. However, it captures the style of Season 1 of the Russell T. Davies' "Doctor Who" pretty well, and since Christopher Eccleston only gave us the one season as the 9th Doctor, this book will stand well in padding out his tenure.
Book Description
In this provocative, witty, and revealing polemic, Daniel Brook argues that the exploding income gapa product of the conservative ascendanceis systematically dismantling the American dream, as debt-laden, well-educated young people are torn between their passions and the pressure to earn six-figure incomes. Rising education, housing, and health-care costs have made it virtually impossible for all but the corporate elite to enjoy what were once considered middle-class comforts. Thousands are afflicted with a wrenching choice: take up residence on Americas financial and social margins or sell out. And its not just impoverished teachers and social workers, struggling to pay their rent, who are hurt. From the activist who works to give others a living wage but isnt paid one himself, to the universal health-care advocate who becomes a management consultant for Big Pharma, Brook presents a damning indictment of the economic and political landscape that traps young Americans. When the best and the brightest cannot afford to serve the public good, Brook asks, what are we selling out: an individuals career, or the very promise of American democracy?
Customer Reviews:
Toward an American Meritocracy.......2007-08-17
For me, the main point of this book is to support a meritocracy of creative people in America at a crucial point in history when it should be a national imperative. Brook clearly outlines the systemic economic, and political barriers to creativity that impede America's single strategic and global advantage - good ole' Yankee ingenuity. While freedom vs. equality is an important debate- and essential to a real meritocracy - the larger debate now is about promoting American innovation and international relationships in a global context. American leadership needs a full strategic audit that requires a good look at our national social contract to promote creative merit. Rich kids getting richer on inheritence and conventional thinking (like our current commander-in-chief) is not the answer. I don't mind at all that Brook seems to have a chip on his shoulder. We all should. Look around! It's a new world. We need a new strategic America. Achieve that, and it just may become a more humane America too.
Dont listen to the disingenious detractors, this book makes a lot of sense.......2007-08-02
Many of the things mentioned in this book are enough to anger most conservative defenders of the status quo in America. And honestly, they have a right to oppose these claims. The thought that the values in america have changed from hard work and doing an important job like teaching equating to decent (or at the very least livable) pay, to the new neocon standard of 'The job is worth whatever the market will give it, regardless of its value to society' is a tough sell to a lot of people. Especially the well off people who could care less about their kids education, or the healthcare of the poor, or even how many police officers protect their homes. The message of this book is lost to them. But then, its not they who need to pay attention to this. Its the younger generation. The millions of college graduates who are entering a market were no educated person wants to teach, or be a police officer or health care provider (whos not a well paid doctor) because the pay isnt worth it. The young people above all should read this book and see how bad the extreme-right self-proclaimed-libertarians have made life in this country. This is now a place where the same people who complain about illegal immigrants taking their jobs applaud the outsourcing of their families careers, where the value of a person is determined on their income, regardless of whether they are putting the fires out on your house, treating your wounds in the hospital, or teaching your kids.
I recommend this book to anyone entering or preparing for entering the job market in america. IGNORE the critics on these pages. Much like many on the right nowadays in america, they blindly support their political mentality to the bain of their and their childrens futures. A metaphor for what this book is telling.
Trumpets the reasons US is in dire danger!.......2007-07-30
The US is losing to China, India, et al because our bright kids cannot make it to engineering, the sciences, mathematics, teaching, etc. If they are to have a decent family life, they must go into business and then will hasten the day when the world's only source of strength comes from overseas. We are the losers today and the only chance our children will have to stay out of penury is to hear and heed thinkers like Daniel Brook. This is the best analysis of our society and the damage conservatism has done to it that I have yet to read. Thank you Daniel.
The Elusive American Dream.......2007-07-23
It is evident that a number of these reviewers have not read the book. The Trap is not about the selfish rants of idealistic recent college grads seeking a life of starving activism. It is about a pervasive crisis facing America, where it is becoming ever harder to live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle and pursue a meaningful career, even after graduating from a top-class college and holding a steady professional job.
The book begins discussing a national PR director who took a job she doesn't enjoy in order to make enough money just to raise a family, "feel comfortable and have a sense of security." Chapter one profiles a computer programmer with a six-figure income who qualified for affordable housing in the town where he works. We also meet a teacher who, like many, can no longer afford to live in his own school district.
Chapter two features a "master's degree-toting professional married to a Harvard-educated lawyer" in Washington D.C. who is worried about how she will afford to have a house and raise a family in the nation's hyper-gentrified capital. Born in Denmark she "grew up thinking that part of social justice is you can...afford some pretty basic things like decent schooling."
In Chapter five we meet an aspiring tech industry entrepreneur in California, a government-hands-off libertarian, who is finding the path of starting his own business (the bread an butter of a free-market economy) almost impossible because of the high costs of entry including prohibitively expensive health insurance.
The Trap also discusses lawyers and investment bankers, many of whom hoped to do more productive things with their lives, finding no other way to raise a family and pay off their colossal college loans than to join a corporate firm. There they work as essentially glorified secretaries doing menial tasks, working every waking hour in a job they hate, unable to enjoy their lives.
The Trap explains, with substantive data, that today's struggles of all but the wealthy is a pervasive problem. Today's America makes entrepreneurship ever more difficult, and forces the nation's best and brightest into a select few professions where their skills, intellect and creativity are barely put to use.
But it was not always this way, The Trap explains. Our current crisis is the result of generations of new tax policy, reducing the burden of the wealthy, and putting greater and greater burden upon the middle class. College tuition, healthcare, home prices and other basic expenses have risen exponentially, while middle-class incomes have been simultaneously falling.
The Trap also discusses how this crisis does not just affect the middle class. Understanding the nature of the crisis raises critical concerns about how we can even begin to think that America can provide opportunity for those born into poverty if those privileged enough to attain a good education and professional career have trouble making ends meet. After reading The Trap, it becomes clear that the solutions of reversing the failed tax policies of recent generations will be necessary to bring the American dream back within reach of all hard-working Americans.
This book struck a strong chord for me personally. I have plenty of friends in this position, trapped in the "golden handcuffs." I also find myself in "the trap," having graduated from a US News and World Report top-ten college, holding a professional job with a decent salary and benefits, and yet living in an efficiency apartment, finding it difficult just to pay my bills each month, including exorbitant college loans. I come from a middle-class family, I do not have a trust fund, and in my mid-twenties I see no economic feasibility in the near future of buying a house or raising a family.
The Trap is for all the members of my generation who cannot figure out why the American dream is eluding us. It is also for the boomer generation, like my friends' parents, who cannot figure out why their children are making decent incomes and cannot afford a home--why it is so much harder today than it was for them.
The Trap is surely one of the most important pieces of social criticism to be written in the past decade. I hope it is only the beginning of a true discussion about the crisis imposed on America by now several generations of failed social and economic policies. I also hope it starts us on the road to rethinking those policies and ushering in a new and more hopeful era.
Our Middle Class has shot itself in the foot........2007-07-22
What some reviewers have missed is the main point of The Trap; It should be possible for a salary to cover a comfortable lifestyle, medical coverage, education and security in old age. Now, thanks to the corporate takeover of our society (unlike other first world societies) we are loosing ground faster than we can recover it. Our middle class has been under persistent siege and has been flattened. Our children face a bleak future while too many Americans have been blinded by rightwing rhetoric about American individualism. Americans were community based barn-builders.
Get a job? Where? All our jobs have been sold to the lowest bidder overseas.
Customer Reviews:
Flannery gets his Sea Legs!!!.......1999-04-14
The Navy has a long standing initiation rite for those who have never crossed the Equator (referred to as Polywogs). Once you have crossed the Equator and endured the initiation, you become a Shellback and earn a much sought-after certificate to atest to this fact. NSA analyst Bill Lane has a far more insidious initiation to endure as he hops back and forth across the Equator in Flannery's first installment of the Bill Lane franchise, "Winner Takes All". In this novel, Flannery's newest protagonist, Lane, must unravel the mystery surrounding the sinking of a U.S. spy ship off Russia's coast before the incident taints a planned War Game between the U.S. and Russia, called Operation Pit Bull, set to commence off the coast of Brazil.
Lane and company must contend with power-crazed Ukrainian Generals, renegade submarines, treacherous politicos, and . . . yes, assassins before he is able to defuse the powderkeg that Operation Pit Bull has become. Throughout it all Lane gets to spend time on half of the U.S. Navy's Atlantic fleet. He's hard to keep up with.
Sigh - how does this stack up to previous Flannery fare? Its AWESOME. Flannery is a master of back alley Coldwar shenannigans and he successfully brings that talent to bear on a totally believable post-Coldwar plot. He has oodles of sub-plots, most of which are attended to before he closes the novel. In previous outings he had flexed his considerable gift for military action sequences, however, he has honed that skill to crackling perfection in this novel. Not many people can make a combat simulation suspenseful. Flannery does.
The pace of Winner Takes All is very fast - much faster than previous works by Flannery. In earlier works he could be accused of redundancy as he digs in to the depths of his characters' motivations. And that redundancy tended to slow his previous works down a bit. That is not the case with this novel. There is very little redundancy - that's the good news. Unfortunately, there is very little character development, too. Perhaps in future outings with Bill Lane, we'll get to know him as well as we got to know Flannery's legend of previous works, Wallace Mahoney.
Characterization lapse aside, however, Winner Takes All is clearly one of Flannery's finest.
Sean Flannery sees big trouble in Oil City.......1997-03-23
Sean Flannery again is off to the races with an exciting book about the terrors of international relationships in a world whose relationships are based on mistrust, greed, hate, religion and compounded by too many weapons of mass distruction and twisted powerful men willing to use them to further their ambition. Sean weaves another great action tale, complete with marvelous descriptions of the weapons of war in actual use. It is non stop action. The story is slightly less than top rate only because for me, the motivation of the principal players is a bit forced, but never the less, a very good read
Book Description
Dear Diary,
Today was the worst day of my life. I tried out for the White Oak softball team, and it was a total disaster. I couldn't do anything right. I never even made it to the first base. I missed a fly ball. And I struck out--six times in a row!
But that's not the worst thing. Ashley is the new gossip columnist for the school paper--and she wrote something about me. Something I didn't want anyone else to know!
Customer Reviews:
two of a kind.......2007-09-22
This was a very good and intresting book I liked it very much. Very detailed
and alot of stuff girls can relate to and guys.
Dear Diary.......2003-12-04
Mary Kate Burke got a crush on a boy named Grant Marino, a boy who likes sports. Then, Ashley Burke teams up with mean and popular, Dana Woletsky who has so many friends and is the popular girl in White Oak. Mary Kate gets so upset yet, she and Ashley also had to go out to dinner with their dad. In the end, Mary Kate leaves White Oak and back to Chicago, where they usually live.
WiNnEr TaKEs AlL.......2002-04-18
Mary Kate wants to go out for the white Oak softball team but she was doing so badly infront of the coach because she wanted to make a good impression. So Cambell, MK's roomate, lets Mk train with her every morning.Since Marykate hasn't been training lately she was so out of shape. Can things get worse for Mary Kate?
Meanwhile Ashley became gossip reporter and has been writing things about people, but she wrote something so private about MK. What is it? Read this book to find out!
ok book!!.......2001-09-02
I think this book was ok. I liked it though because I like softball and it wasn't one of their best, but I like it because it's a diary and I really like the Olsen twins so whoever likes the olsen twins, then get this book! it's awesome. I collect them. Their all good books. I think on winner take all that it's such a cute pose on the front of winner take all!! I say it was a good book overall!
Skip it.......2001-05-20
I bought this book for my daughter during the period when I thought she liked these girls. The more of these books she read, the more she became convinced that she was wasting her time with nonsense. Buy your daughter real classics and good literature. Skip this mass culture madness and stay away from these poorly written vehicles to benefit the careers of these two girls with so little talent.
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- Uncle Bubba's Savannah Seafood: More than 100 Down-Home Southern Recipes for Good Food and Good Times
- Vamps and the City (Love at Stake, Book 2)
- Victims: THE LDS CHURCH AND THE MARK HOFMANN CASE
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- Warriors Don't Cry: Searing Memoir of Battle to Integrate Little Rock
- What Is the World Made Of? All About Solids, Liquids, and Gases (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- How To Buy Your First Home, Second Edition
- Architectural Graphic Standards, Tenth Edition
- The Understructure of Writing for Film and Television
- This Jazz Man
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Strategy & Competition
| Management & Leadership
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Luxury Fever
Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class (The Aaron Wildavsky Forum for Public Policy)
Choosing the Right Pond: Human Behavior and the Quest for Status
What Price the Moral High Ground?: Ethical Dilemmas in Competitive Environments
Passions Within Reason
