The Economist World Of Business
£9.99 PROFILE BOOKS
Did you know that in 2008 the USA’s best- paid hedge fund manager was one James Simon, who had a whopping £2.5bn on his P60 that year? Or that Volvo is originally from the Latin for “I roll”? Or that the typewriter was patented in 1868 (the same year that Alfred Nobel patented dynamite)?
No? Then if you were unlucky enough not to get a copy of this book in your Christmas stocking make sure you buy it now. Although we at babusinesslife.com love good business books, some of the not so good ones can be, well, a bit dry. Here the authors, editors and contributors have conspired to create possibly the most entertaining business read ever simply by distilling all the greatest facts about global business into one small publication.
There is always something comforting about edited collections of random knowledge and The World of Business is a perfect example. It’s essentially a miscellany of business facts and figures, anecdotes and stories, quotations and nuggets of wisdom, from company mission statements to how to dress to impress in Italy.
Although the book is designed to be dipped into, you could easily find yourself riffling through its entirety in one sitting. For not only is it entertaining, there are good lessons to be learned, too, from potted biographies of the good and bad of business history and lists such as ‘games directors play’. The sections on business blunders, burst bubbles and bad boys (note that there are no bad girls) are fascinating.
Some might call this a collection of trivia but we won’t, because there’s nothing trivial about knowledge this good. The World of Business deserves a place in the bag of everyone interested in knowing how the world works — and who pays for it. In the words of American businessman Robert Townsend, quoted in the book: “If you don’t do it excellently, don’t do it at all.” 10/10
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