A collection of true stories about money, the stock market, and high finance. For decades, author and New Yorker staff writer John Brooks was renowned for his keen intelligence, in-depth knowledge, and uniquely engaging approach to the dramas and personalities of the financial and business worlds. Brooks proved that even the bottom line can be moving, hilarious, and infuriating all at once. Here are three of his most fascinating works, which still resonate today. Business Adventures: This collection of entertaining short features is a brilliant example of Brooks's talents, covering subjects such as the Edsel disaster, the rise of Xerox, and how corruption may be an irreparable part of the corporate world.
"More than two decades after Warren [Buffett] lent it to me-and more than four decades after it was first published-Business Adventures remains the best business book I've ever read."
Bill Gates, The Wall Street Journal
"The prose is superb. Reading Brooks is a supreme pleasure. His writing turns potentially eye-glazing topics (e.g., price-fixing scandals in the industrial electronics market) into rollicking narratives. He's also funny… He tells entertaining stories replete with richly drawn characters, setting them during heightened moments within the world of commerce."
Slate
"[Brooks] provides the early version of what we think of as Malcolm Gladwell-style or Freakonomics-style lessons… But Brooks features another trait that modern business writers, whether James Stewart, Malcolm Gladwell, or Michael Lewis, do not. Brooks is truly willing to give up his own views to get inside the mind of all his subjects."
