The Wal-Mart Effect

The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World’s Most Powerful Company Really Works–and How It’s Transforming the American Economy
by Charles Fishman

I grew up shopping at Wal-Mart, and during my time at Black & Decker, I witnessed the copany in action from a whole new perspective.

I was hesitant to read this book. I fully expected it to be a raving anti-capitalist memorandum on the “fat cats” in “big business” laying seige to decency itself. I was proved wrong. The beginning of the book is an insightful look into the humble beginnings of Wal-Mart, and it’s ernest and unwaivering efforts to live up to its mission: “Always low prices. Always.”

The picture becomes less rosy as the book wears on, though it is consistently emphasized that the “Wal-Mart Effect” is complex and nuanced, and not wholly negative.

I have a good friend who has done market research consulting work for Wal-Mart in recent months, and who has also read “The Wal-Mart Effect.” He believes that the book is already out of date, as many of the issues brought to bear in the book have changed significantly since its publishing. This may be the case, but the book speaks to an issue larger than Sam Walton’s retail machine. With only a handful of notable exceptions, Wal-Mart plays by the rules. And yet they seem to have somehow defeated the rules as they exist today. I am never an advocate of special restrictions on businesses of a certain size; I believe that all businesses, small and large, should play by the same rules. But that said, how can we ensure that the big-boxes, and Wally-World in particular, have enough competition to keep markets free and fair?

I highly recommend this book. It is eye-opening, and never one-dimensional. It is concisely written, and never presumptuous. This is not a book about the author or the author’s outlook, but on Wal-Mart and its many various implications for American capitalist society.

Why We Buy

Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping
by Paco Underhill

Chock-full of fascinating details about the behaviors of shoppers in situ. While clearly a book of shameless self-promotion for Mr. Underhill, he certainly does a good job of it! After reading this book, one is left with far more questions than answers, and an inexorable desire to sit in a shopping mall parking lot for hours on end. Paco Underhill is an academic researcher turned retail marketing guru, by painstakingly perusing through tens-of-thousands of hours of candid footage from in an attempt to glean every possible measurable characteristic about the actual behavior of shoppers. The result is astonishing.

In my opinion, the book does contain a bit too much in the way of opinion and conjecture. Though Underhill does an excellent job of convincing the reader that he is a credible source of information, the last three chapters of the book seem to reach further and further from actual analysis of behavior, and focus instead on his various ideas for practical applications in various industries. While these too are fascinating, they lack some of the impact of the more direct cause-effect relationships demonstrated by the research in earlier chapters of the book.

This book is a pleasure to read, and a quick one at that. Underhill is engaging and enthusiastic. He is a man who loves his job, and it shows. I’ve found it motivating and inspirational, and highly recommend it!

China, Inc.

China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World,
by Ted C. Fishman

This book is difficult for me to rate. The writing style is somehow both densely packed and needlessly fluffy. Fishman works very hard at dropping long strings of metaphores into each sentence, making it difficult–and somewhat annoying–to follow. The content is simultaneously profoundly interesting, confusingly disconnected, and maddeningly biased. There is no question on which side of the China debate Mr. Fishman stands. The book clearly bashes America’s increasing co-dependency with China as a catastrophe, or at least a catastrophe wating to happen. I am not so pessimistic.

While the book was not a pleasure to read, I still recommend doing so. The sheer scale of American industrial relations with China is mind-blowing, and China Inc. does an excellent job of painting that picture. The facts and figures alone are worth browsing, and the analysis, while decidedly one-sided, is still a very valid interpretation. Not many people grasp the enormity of our trade-relations with China, nor its irreversable impact on the global economy. In order to debate ways of dealing with the white elephant in the living room, we must first recognize the elephant. To this end, China Inc. aught to be of help.

Pensées

Pensees (Penguin Classics) by Blaise Pascal and A. J. Krailsheimer

A fascinating glimpse into one of history’s great minds, one that epitomised an entire school of thought. Pascal writes in defense of Christianity (and Judaism), while beautifully illustrating thought patterns in the self-declared “age of reason.” His “Letter Against Indifference” is particularly poignient, though the book also contains Pascal’s famous “Wager,” and other gloriously un-PC commentaries. By today’s standards, his logic is decidedly closed and incomplete, but the work is insightful and fun to read none-the-less, especially when taken with a generous pinch of salt.

Getting To Yes

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher, Bruce M. Patton, and William L. Ury

A smart, succinct, and empowering book covering various common-sense negotiation tactics. Full of practical and realistic case studies, and no-nonsense advice. A quick read; I read it in three easy evenings. Three thumbs up!

Wyeth at Kuerners

Wyeth at Kuerners by Andrew Wyeth

I remember sitting on a foot stool in the isle of the Columbus College of Art and Design library, perusing this book. I was in tears. The work moved me in a way that only Andrew Wyeth can, and this–his raw, unfinished studies and works–is some of his most visceral. Only the Helga Pictures come close to the level of impact he was able to achieve, but did so in a totally different way. These are Wyeth in his element, and one of my most well-thumbed books. Cliché as it may sound, for me it’s equal parts solace and inspiration.