THE ESSENTIAL GALBRAITH includes key selections from the mostimportant works of John Kenneth Galbraith, one of the mostdistinguished writers of our time - from THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY, thegroundbreaking book in which he conined the tern "conventionalwisdom," to THE GREAT CRASH, an unsurpassed account of the eventsthat triggered America's worst economic crisis. Galbraith's newintroductions place the works in their historical moment and makeclear their enduring relevance for the new century. THE ESSENTIALGALBRAITH will delight old admirers and introduce one of our mostbeloved writers to a new generation of readers. It is also anindispensable resource for scholars and students of economics,history, and politics, offering unparalleled access to the seminalwritings of an extraordinary thinker.

John Kenneth Galbraith has long been at the center of Americaneconomics, in key positions of responsibility during the New Deal,World War II, and since, guiding policy and debate. His trenchantnew book distills this lifetime of experience in the public andprivate sectors; it is a scathing critique of matters as they standtoday. Sounding the alarm about the increasing gap between realityand "conventional wisdom" -- a phrase he coined -- Galbraith tells,along with much else, how we have reached a point where the privatesector has unprecedented control over the public sector. We havegiven ourselves over to self-serving belief and "contrivednonsense" or, more simply, fraud. This has come at the expense ofthe economy, effective government, and the business world.Particularly noted is the central power of the corporation and theshift in authority from shareholders and board members tomanagement. In an intense exercise of fraud, the pretense ofshareholder power is still maintained, even with the immediatepart

Before I became “Phil Town, teacher of investing principles tomore than 500,000 people a year,” I was a lot like you: someone whoviewed individual stock investing as way too hard to dosuccessfully. As a guy who barely made a living as a river guide, Iconsidered the whole process pretty impenetrable, and I wasconvinced that to do it right you had to make it a full-time job.Me, I was more interested in having full-time fun. So I was tempted to do what you’re probably doing right now:letting some mutual fund manager worry about growing your nest egg.Let me tell you why that decision could one day make you absolutelymiserable.

From America's liveliest writer on mathematics, a witty andinsightful book on the stock market and the irrepressibility of ourdreams of wealth. In A Mathematician Plays the Stock Marketbest-selling author John Allen Paulos demonstrates what the toolsof mathematics can tell us about the vagaries of the stock market.Employing his trademark stories, vignettes, paradoxes, and puzzles(and even a film treatment), Paulos addresses every thinkingreader's curiosity about the market: Is it efficient? Is itrational? Is there anything to technical analysis, fundamentalanalysis, and other supposedly time-tested methods of pickingstocks? How can one quantify risk? What are the most common scams?What light do fractals, network theory, and common psychologicalfoibles shed on investor behavior? Are there any approaches toinvesting that truly outperform the major indexes? Can a deeperknowledge of mathematics help beat the odds? All of these questionsare explored with the engaging erudition that made Paulos's AMathematic

From Rin Tin Tin to Casablanca to HarryPotter , the Warner Bros. story is the history of Hollywood.Eighty-five years of screen icons, legendary films, andhistory-making achievements are detailed in this comprehensive,photo-filled treasure trove, fully authorized by the studio. No production company has had more legendary films, stars, orinfluence on the course of Hollywood than Warner Bros. Among thesuperstars who worked for the studio are Bette Davis, HumphreyBogart, Lauren Bacall, Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando, James Dean,and John Wayne. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Stanley Kubrickmade history for the studio, and it has been home to blockbusterfranchises like Superman , Batman , LethalWeapon , and Harry Potter . Produced in conjunction with Warner Bros., this volume is theultimate guide to the greatest movie studio in history. You MustRemember This: The Warner Bros. Story is also the companion toa five part documentary in the PBS American Masters series byauthor Richard Schickel that will

The classic guide to the securities markets, revised to reflectthe realities of a new millennium. In the past decade, thecomplicated world of investing has changed--dramatically. Stocks,Bonds, Options, Futures is now thoroughly revised and updated tohelp novice financial professionals as well as individualinvestors, who want a better understanding of the securitiesmarket, navigate this daunting new financial terrain withconfidence. Stuart Veale, an investment industry veteran andrespected author, provides an insider's look at the marketrealities of today and tomorrow. This reliable resource examines the impact of recentdevelopments and current trends in the various securities markets.Among the topics Veale covers and has updated in this secondedition are: Internet-based trading and analysis The adoption ofthe Euro Changes in the way OTC orders are executed The varioustypes of securities, including money market instruments, USTreasury Securities, bonds, mortgage-backed securities, and stocksReal world applic

"This is a modern classic." —Paul A. Samuelson, First AmericanNobel Prize Winner in Economics "The best book there is about the stock market and all that goeswith it." — The New York Times Book Review "Anyone whose orientation is toward where the action is, where thehappenings happen, should buy a copy of The Money Game andread it with due diligence." — Book World " 'Adam Smith' is a veteran observer and commentator on the eventsand people of Wall Street.... His thorough knowledge of financialaffairs gives his observations a great degree of authenticity. Butthe joy of reading this book comes from his delightful sense ofhumor. He is a lively and ingeniously witty writer who never stoopsto acerbity. None of the solemn, sacred cows of Wall Street escapesdebunking." — Library Journal

Although Africa has long been known to be rich in oil,extracting it hadnt seemed worth the effort and risk untilrecently. But with the price of Middle Eastern crude oilskyrocketing and advancing technology making reserves easier totap, the region has become the scene of a competition between majorpowers that recalls the nineteenth-century scramble forcolonization there. But what does this giddy new oil boom meanforAmerica, for the world, for Africans themselves? John Ghazviniantraveled through twelve African countriesfrom Sudan to Congo toAngolatalking to warlords, industry executives, bandits, activists,priests, missionaries, oil-rig workers, scientists, and ordinarypeople whose lives have been transformednot necessarily for thebetterby the riches beneath their feet. The result is a high-octanenarrative that reveals the challenges, obstacles, reasons fordespair, and reasons for hope emerging from the worlds newestenergy hot spot.

Mutual-fund superstar Peter Lynch and author John Rothchildexplain the basic principles of investing and business in a primerthat will enlighten and entertain anyone who is high-school age orolder. Many investors, including some with substantial portfolios, haveonly the sketchiest idea of how the stock market works. The reason,say Lynch and Rothchild, is that the basics of investing -- thefundamentals of our economic system and what they have to do withthe stock market -- aren't taught in school. At a time whenindividuals have to make important decisions about saving forcollege and 401(k) retirement funds, this failure to provide abasic education in investing can have tragic consequences. For those who know what to look for, investment opportunities areeverywhere. The average high-school student is familiar with Nike,Reebok, McDonald's, the Gap, and the Body Shop. Nearly everyteenager in America drinks Coke or Pepsi, but only a very few ownshares in either company or even understand how to buy them. Everystu

In this fully updated edition of Portfolio Management for NewProducts, the authors present a rigorous and practical approach tomanaging a company's product portfolio as you would a financialportfolio-investing for maximum long-term growth. With itsfield-tested, step-by-step framework, the book providescorporations and managers with the strategies they need to assessand realign their current R D operations; determine whichproducts are most worthy of resource allocation; design andimplement a portfolio management process; maximize the value oftheir portfolios; and recognize and solve challenges as they arise.This book will be an essential resource for any company whoseprofitability, and very existence, relies on the products itchooses to develop and the speed with which it brings them to themarket.

This book was written to offer encouragement and basicinformation to the individual investor. Who knew it would gothrough thirty printings and sell more than one million copies? Asthis latest edition appears eleven years beyond the first, I'mconvinced that the same principles that helped me perform well atthe Fidelity Magellan Fund still apply to investing in stockstoday. It's been a remarkable stretch since One Up on Wall Street hit thebookstores in 1989. I left Magellan in May, 1990, and pundits saidit was a brilliant move. They congratulated me for getting out atthe right time -- just before the collapse of the great bullmarket. For the moment, the pessimists looked smart. The country'smajor banks flirted with insolvency, and a few went belly up. Byearly fall, war was brewing in Iraq. Stocks suffered one of theirworst declines in recent memory. But then the war was won, thebanking system survived, and stocks rebounded. Some rebound! The Dow is up more than fourfold since October, 1990,from the 2,400 lev