Friday, November 21, 2014

No Fear



I bought a management book the other day. Very specialized. Highly praised. Far from cheap. Ordered it from Amazon due to its top ratings.

The book is painfully bad. 

Now let me be generous. There are perhaps four or five reasonably good chapters in its 400-plus pages. 

On second thought, make that three.

But who knows? I'm still slogging through it with the raw enthusiasm of Humphrey Bogart dragging The African Queen.

The abomination was written by a large assortment of contributors - I should have heard that warning bell - but its creative process needed a cigar-chewing, knuckle-cracking, ill-tempered editor to tell most of them that their essays, such as they are, would have to improve immensely to achieve the status of being no damned good. Every time I stare at a page, it's like being trapped in a corner at a family reunion by a relative who wants to tell you about a pet turtle.

There is a bright spot in the haze. One of my new classes will focus on this specialized topic. Upon learning about the book, I groaned, "Oh, no, the subject has been covered."

My fears have fled.

4 comments:

Kurt Harden said...

On your cue, I pulled out Durant's The Story of Philosophy and started to reread it two nights ago. The writing is crisp and to the point; it conveys not-so-simple stories exceptionally well.

Business book writers need to mimic good prose. Who knows, people might read more business books as a result.

Kurt

Michael Wade said...

Kurt,

That book is beautifully written.

Michael

Eclecticity said...

And you are too much of a gentleman to name the tome. But if you did, you could prevent some of us from the agony you experience, as well, our loss of coin.

But I do understand. E.

Michael Wade said...

E,

I understand your point. Fortunately, the book is so specialized that it is highly unlikely that you or 99 percent of the other people I know would buy it.

Michael