Survival of the Savvy: High-Integrity Political Tactics for Career and Company Success by Rick Brandon, Marty Seldman (2004)

has a catchy title, but I quickly went through it, as it does not seem to offer much (or maybe the authors live in a different world ...). The basic premise seems to be that you can remain ethical (meaning that you do not hurt others much), and still get business done and move your career. The one chapter I somewhat liked was on Conversational Aikido. Following the advice the authors give in the book about reading other business books, if you have no time to spare, you maybe better off reading this book as summary at Executive Book Summaries.

Double Tap by Steve Martini (2005)

is a murder mystery featuring Paul Madriani and a not very talkative defendant with a seven years gap on his military resume, maybe even suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The name of the book comes from a military shooting tactic of two bullets fired in rapid succession. The victim's company receives significant contract from 3 letter government agencies. Doors are being closed on many things in the name of "national security". The description of court room proceedings is excellent, featuring a midget DA, who yet to lose a capital murder conviction. And the conclusion is very surprising (although one may consider it a bit abrupt).

More Than You Know by Michael J. Mauboussin (2006)

I'm not sure what to make of this book. Although it is a good introduction to some behavioral finance topics, unless you done some other reading, it maybe hard to correlate the behaviour of guppies, zebras, fruit flies, ant and bees with the happenings in the financial markets. The obligatory is also present, together with fat tails and the like. What is missing is how to use the information presented in the book can be used for making money in the market. The book offers 45 pages of references and notes, which can definitely be used by a student of this subject.

Sites discussing/rating medical providers (doctors/dentists)

Many of these sites are anonymous, because many medical providers are actively working on removing bad reviews.

• National Doctor Database


• HealthGrades


• Dr. Oogle (known to remove bad reviews)


• Rate MDs


• Aetna Docfind

Person-to-person lending

Person-to-person lending (or peer-to-peer finance) provides a way for person-to-person lending of limited funds. The risk is spread by requiring a good number of lenders for each loan. Some of the borrowers cannot go the "traditional" route, as banks will not extend credit to them, some hope to receive a better rate through peer-to-peer finance. Historical references are given to these circles of lending/borrowing in local settings with the participants knowing each other fairly well, although in my mind this is a significant difference as for the impersonal nature of the Internet, where you likely will not have a personal relationship with the other party. The concept is somewhat similar to microlending, which is has more of a charity angle, but offers fairly high repayment rate. The two companies noted are Prosper in the US and Zopa currently in UK, but coming to US. As per Information Week the charge-off rate for Zopa is only 0.05%, which is significantly lower than predicted, and also significantly lower than charge off rate for credit cards. The other interesting number from the article is the average return of 7%, which is below the average return in the stock market, making the concept somewhat less desirable (considering that these are unsecured loans).
There is also Kiva, offering market based lending for small business in the developing world.