[6 Aug 2023] Although I'm still a huge fan of Nathan Lowell and Ishmael Wang, I felt somewhat disappointed with this book. The first part of the book w[6 Aug 2023] Although I'm still a huge fan of Nathan Lowell and Ishmael Wang, I felt somewhat disappointed with this book. The first part of the book was good, with a series of equipment failures putting the Marva Collins and it's crew in serious danger. But in the last part of the book, after they return safely to Port Newmar, Ish makes some decisions that I was disappointed in. I can understand why Lowell took that direction. Much of the last two trilogies has been focused on Ish's developing understanding that he was not really in control of his life. Rather he felt that others, mainly Pip, but also the other ship captains he had served with, pushed him into decisions that he wasn't wholly committed to. The change he makes in this book is understandable. It's just that it was little bit of an easy way out. ...more
[30 July 2023] This is the second in the SC Marva Collins trilogy, which continues the adventures of Ishmael and Pip in the Toe-Holds, as started in th[30 July 2023] This is the second in the SC Marva Collins trilogy, which continues the adventures of Ishmael and Pip in the Toe-Holds, as started in the Seeker's Tale trilogy. Like the first book in this trilogy (School Days), nothing much happens. They have in fact started their travels to the Toe-Hold stations, to indoctrinate the Academy cadets they're carrying, but they're fairly routine trips. This book consists mainly of conversations.
Still I enjoyed this book, because Ish is such a favorite of mine. And many of the conversations are about interesting topics. And because I fully expect that the third book of the trilogy will build on the foundation of the first two books and contain a lot more action. ...more
[13 Aug 2023] This was an interesting and well written book about corporate America. Gelles briefly describes the period between 1935 and 1970, which h[13 Aug 2023] This was an interesting and well written book about corporate America. Gelles briefly describes the period between 1935 and 1970, which he calls the Golden Age of Capitalism. It was a time when businesses served their communities and their employees, as well as their owners. Working people and businesses both thrived. Then Reagan was elected and Milton Friedman became a popular economist. In the 80s and 90s, capitalism changed. Workers were no longer partners with owners. Instead they became the enemy, an expense that should be minimized as much as possible. Likewise, corporations no longer felt any obligation to the community where they operated nor to society at large. Profit at any cost became the objective, and it was profit that benefited only the shareholders and executives. The results of this change was communities all but destroyed, crushing inequality and unemployment, and failing corporations which no longer focused on innovation or quality products. It also resulted in the crash of 2008, and the recession that followed.
It was interesting to see how this all happened. Gelles primarily blames Jack Welch who was the CEO of General Electric during the 80s and 90s and who made GE into the largest, richest company in the world for a time. He also influenced many other business leaders to follow his example. But all of them traded long term growth for short term profit.
Gelles, who is an investigative reporter, not an economist or historian, has a very clear bias in this book. The unrestrained profit-taking of these American corporations is bad. The socially responsible capitalism of the post War years is infinitely preferable. I frankly share his bias, even though I'm currently living on my retirement plan investments. However, when a writer is so overwhelmingly one-sided, I can't help but wonder what he's leaving out. I also feel he did not spend enough coverage of the political changes in the 70s which enabled the business changes of the 80s and 90s. I don't have the knowledge to evaluate his historiography, but I would not call this a scholarly work. Probably more of reportage than history.
Still I enjoyed it and would not hesitate to recommend it. It's short -- less than 250 pages of actual text -- and an easy read. ...more
[25 Aug 2022] I had to force myself to finish this book. Through most of it I was very frustrated, feeling that I had no idea what was going on. It is [25 Aug 2022] I had to force myself to finish this book. Through most of it I was very frustrated, feeling that I had no idea what was going on. It is a continuation of the story of Jethri Gobelyn van'Deelin and assumes that you have read the previous books. Well, I had read those previous books, but it had been a couple years and I didn't remember much about them. And the authors, unlike most authors I read, made practically no effort to refresh my memory. Not only that, I'm absolutely sure that some of what happens in the early part of this book -- about the norbears -- is a continuation of something that they must have written about in one of their short stories that are published separately. One that I definitely had not read. I don't like short stories and a resent being expected to read everything an author publishes just on the off chance that it may start a plot thread that will show up in a later work.
So I felt like I spent at least two thirds of the book at a loss. After I finally figured out what was going on, it got better, but not much. It seemed to be mostly political wrangling and not much action. And it certainly did not come to a resolution.
[28 Feb 2022; edited 2 Mar 2022] I read this book because I own some GE shares that I inherited from my brother in 2008. He had them because he worked [28 Feb 2022; edited 2 Mar 2022] I read this book because I own some GE shares that I inherited from my brother in 2008. He had them because he worked for GE for a few years in the 70s. Also, we grew up near a large GE manufacturing plant and the company always seemed to be safe and profitable. But I'm not really a business person. I noticed that the price of the stock went down in recent years but I had no idea why.
This book explains why.
GE has a long history of success in business but in the early years of this century their management team, and especially the president Jeffrey Immelt, began to believe they could do no wrong. They made a number of bad decisions but refused to change their philosophy and simply compounded the situation. They were of course affected by the Great Recession but they made it worse than it needed to be. Gradually they started losing money and value, as reflected by their stock price.
This is well written by two Wall Street Journal reporters, and is entirely accessible by the non-business savvy reader. I had no trouble understanding what happened. Sure there were a few details of transactions that were a little opaque but I still understood that what GE did was wrong.
The authors concentrated a lot on the people in management during that time and the general GE culture of profit at any cost. But they made it clear it was not stupidity nor was it really an issue of venality. Each of the people involved loved the company and really thought they were doing the best thing for it. However, GE ended up losing billions of dollars in value -- more than Enron, more than Lehman. It's a very sad story. Definitely worth reading....more
[7 Feb 2021] This installment of the Liaden saga has a little too much woo-woo for me to really like it. Plus I get annoyed when an author introduces p[7 Feb 2021] This installment of the Liaden saga has a little too much woo-woo for me to really like it. Plus I get annoyed when an author introduces people and groups into the story without explaining who they are until nearly the end. Still it was a pretty good tale. Not much real conflict but lots of character development. It also wraps up a number of the loose ends from previous books. Almost felt like a "final" chapter kind of book....more
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