If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Brian Cruver first entered the “Death Star,” Enron’s office complex, in March 2001.

He was twenty-nine years old, an eager MBA ready to cash in as a new hire with one of America’s most highly valued companies.

But, from his first day - when his new boss warned him, “there was a mix-up in the hiring process,” but that it was “no big deal…just think of it like you’re adopted” - to his last, when he and his colleagues were given thirty minutes to leave the building, Cruver found himself enmeshed in a business cult that each day grew only more bizarre.

With dark humor and page-turning momentum, Cruver lays out firsthand: the giddy group-think nurtured by Enron’s leadership, whose incessant cheerleading for the company’s stock price rendered many Enronians unable to believe that they were routinely being spoon-fed lies; the “rank and yank” peer review process that fostered horse-trading among managers over which employees would be given poor evaluations; the traders who made dubious deals to ensure their own lucrative bonuses; and the sinister designs and funding of Enron’s fraudulent off-the-books partnerships.

As Cruver probes the sleazy escapades that Enron executives milked for personal gain, he introduces us, up close and personal, to such storied figures as Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andy Fastow, along with other important Enron personalities like Rebecca Mark; Lou Pai; Thomas White, George W. Bush’s Secretary of the Army; Joe Sutton; the “Mr. Blue”, a disillusioned Enron executive; and Cruver’s trading floor neighbor, a machine he christened “Sherman the Shredder” - who was always working overtime.

Cruver’s day-by-day chronicle, which includes a running stock ticker to show the trajectory of Enron’s collapse, is instantly reminiscent of such bestsellers as Liar’s Poker and Barbarians at the Gate.

Told in a fresh, empathetic voice, Anatomy of Greed is brimming with grist for political pundits and comic relief for victims of corporate collateral damage. It is also the personal story of a young executive, a Houston native, whose dream job and dream company crashed around him in an avalanche of lies and greed.

From the wreckage, this newly hardened veteran of the corporate wars has written a cautionary tale that our leaders must heed - or imperil us all to future disasters.

===============================
This blog post is sponsored by the following:
Cheap Car Insurance
Healthy Eating Tips
Individual Health Insurance
Term Life Insurance
Home Mortgage Lender

It has been over thirty years since the publication of this classic science fiction novel that changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves.

From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man adventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other.

This allegory about humanity’s exploration of the universe, and the universe’s reaction to humanity, was the basis for director Stanley Kubrick’s immortal film, and lives on as a hallmark achievement in storytelling.

“No matter where you live… No matter what your financial situation… In all kinds of varied environments…You CAN Chart Your Own Course to Success!”

Discover how controlling and harnessing the predictable in your everyday life brings dramatic results with minimal effort.

Napoleon said “Luck is the ability to exploit accidents”. Implement these time-tested methods and you’ll see that “Success is the ability to exploit luck!”

Success is a science and an art - you can’t buy, inherit or steal it - it is non-transferable and never acquired by wishing or hoping, but it is predictable through education. You study of success absolutely predicts your results.

Magnetize your compass for success

Learn the laws of success - for a lifetime of outstanding profits! Discover how to magnetize your internal positive and negative poles - to win the internal war and focus in a positive direction.

Get the ‘push’ you need at just the right time

Everything you need to break through the barriers and discover, at last, the success that is waiting for you;

- Uncover this secret of the Critical 10%
- Maintain the Proper Altitude and Attitude - create the life you deserve
- Confidently cross the line of mediocrity into the light of success

Develop the knowledge of success

Find, retain and utilize successful ideas to consistently feed your brain. Break the lease with your own “Mr. Hyde”, to drive out negative thinking with a step-by-step process. You, too, can gain control of your heart, your tongue and your ambition - enflame your burning desire with effects that last a lifetime!

At a time when America debates its values and the world braces for religious war, Bruce Feiler, author of the New York Times bestsellers Walking the Bible and Abraham, travels ten thousand miles through the Middle East to examine the question.

Is Religion Tearing Us Apart… Or Can it Bring Us Together?

Where God Was Born combines the adventure of a wartime chronicle and an archaeological detective story with an inspiring journey of spiritual exploration. Taking readers to biblical sites not seen by Westerners for decades, it uncovers little-known details about the common roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and affirms the importance of the Bible in today’s world.

Where God Was Born observes that at the birth moment of the biblical religions, all of the faiths took from one another, exchanged ideas, recognized their commonalities, and were open to peaceful coexistence.

Offering a rare vision of God that can unite different faiths into a shared allegiance of hope, this is a brave, challenging, and profound work that addresses the most important issues of our time.

Bruce Feiler is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including Walking the Bible and Abraham. He is also the writer/presenter of the television miniseries Walking the Bible, a frequent contributor to NPR, and a contributing editor at Gourmet and Parade. A native of Savannah, GA, he lives in New York City with his wife and twin daughters.

Clive Merrison and Michael Williams star as Holmes and Watson in the first collection of stories from the unique fully dramatised BBC Radio 4 canon

A Scandal in Bohemia - The King of Bohemia seeks the return of a compromising photograph but the woman who has it proves more than a match for the great detective.

The Red-Headed League - Holmes and Doyle move into top gear in one of the finest stories in the canon. Why should a pawnbroker have to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica and what bearing can the knees of a man’s trousers have on the case?

A Case of Identity - A squalid little story of greed, and a solid piece of professional work on Holmes’ part in finding out why a City cashier should ditch his love on their wedding day.

The Boscombe Valley Mystery - Another dazzler with Holmes needing all his powers to solve a splendid murder case with Australian connections.

First published in 1885, ‘Huckleberry Finn’ is one of the undoubted masterpieces of American literature.

‘Cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town because he was idle, and lawless, vulgar, and bad…

….and because all their children admired him so’, Huckleberry Finn, the fourteen-year-old son of the town drunkard, joins runaway slave Jim on an exciting journey down the mighty Mississippi River on a raft.

“It’s the best book we’ve had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.” - ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Laughter is unique to man.

This delightful anthology presents some of the funniest extracts in English literature. It opens with Anglo-Saxon riddles - ‘they couldn’t keep themselves warm on a diet of Beowulf - and continues with medieval memories, Tudor comic turns and Restoration buffoonery.

The rise of the novel in the 18th century brought classic humour from Swift, Sterne and Smollett, the mantle then passing to Charles Dickens in the 19th. Included here are rarities from the antiquarian’s cupboard.

Children’s literature produced unforgettable images from Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland, while in the first half of the 20th century emerged unforgettable comic writers as diverse as Dorothy Parker and P.G. Wodehouse. Entertaining from start to finish.

The dramatic and moving account of the struggle for life inside the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, when every minute counted.

At 8: 46 AM on September 11, 2001, 14, 000 people were inside the twin towers - reading e-mails, making trades, eating croissants at Windows on the World. Over the next 102 minutes, each would become part of a drama for the ages, one witnessed only by the people who lived it - until now.

New York Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn rely on hundreds of interviews; thousands of pages of oral histories; and phone, e-mail, and emergency radio transcripts.

They cross a bridge of voices to go inside the infernos, seeing cataclysm and heroism, one person at a time, to tell the affecting, authoritative saga of the men and women - the 12, 000 who escaped and the 2, 749 who perished - who made 102 minutes count as never before.

“This is a heart-stopping, heartbreaking book. It is also an infuriating one. Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn give us vivid examples of uncommon valor in the face of approaching doom.

Nobody can read these pages without feeling a chilly surge of fear. But they also give us - in lucid, understated prose - explanations for the immensity of the calamity.

In short, this is an essential document about New York’s worst human tragedy. And it’s a terrific book.” — Pete Hamill

Fad diets - especially low-carb diets - do not work long-term. Just look at the science.

These trendy “plans” usually end up making you fat. Why?

They cause you to lose precious fat-burning lean muscle. And that slows down your metabolism and speeds up your weight gain. But with the 3-Hour Diet’” you will lose two pounds every week, starting first with belly fat.

The key is to reset your metabolism with Jorge’s revolutionary Visual Timing™ formula that has already helped millions of his online clients.

This secret allows you to eat anything by ensuring you automatically eat every three hours. Based on the latest science, this plan will also reduce the stress hormone Cortisol, which is responsible for stubborn belly fat.

No foods are off limits with the 3-Hour Diet’”. It’s time to lose weight and bring back the joy of eating.

Chinese Level I: Part 1 - Lessons 01-10 Inc User Guide

An introduction to the complete program. Includes five hours of spoken language practice in ten 30-minute lessons. Contains lessons 1-10 from the Pimsleur Comprehensive Level I program and a User’s Guide to introduce you to the Pimsleur Method.

Devised by language educator Dr Paul Pimsleur, Simon and Schuster’s Pimsleur Language courses provide the listener with a comprehensive, self instructional, step-by-step guide on how to learn a new language.

The Pimsleur approach is so effective because it is based on tried and tested techniques and principles that have proved to enable rapid and successful language learning.

The unique audio method allows the listener to learn pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar without repetitive rote learning, in a similar way to how we acquired our native language components.