The No Asshole Rule or Basic Economics

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't

Author: Robert I Sutton

The No Asshole Rule is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Business Week bestseller. It won a Quill Award for the top business book of 2007, and was recently chosen as one of audible.com's top picks as well.

Publishers Weekly

This meticulously researched book, which grew from a much buzzed-about article in the Harvard Business Review, puts into plain language an undeniable fact: the modern workplace is beset with assholes. Sutton (Weird Ideas that Work), a professor of management science at Stanford University, argues that assholes-those who deliberately make co-workers feel bad about themselves and who focus their aggression on the less powerful-poison the work environment, decrease productivity, induce qualified employees to quit and therefore are detrimental to businesses, regardless of their individual effectiveness. He also makes the solution plain: they have to go. Direct and punchy, Sutton uses accessible language and a bevy of examples to make his case, providing tests to determine if you are an asshole (and if so, advice for how to self-correct), a how-to guide to surviving environments where assholes freely roam and a carefully calibrated measure, the "Total Cost of Assholes," by which corporations can assess the damage. Although occasionally campy and glib, Sutton's work is sure to generate discussions at watercoolers around the country and deserves influence in corporate hiring and firing strategies. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Stephen Turner - Library Journal

Sutton (Weird Ideas That Work) has taught management science and engineering for more than a decade at Stanford University, where he formed his early opinions about recruiting, hiring, and retaining pleasant yet effective colleagues. Here he deals with organizational dynamics. Unlike many books (e.g., Jean A. Hollands's Red Ink Behavior and Robert Herbold's The Fiefdom Syndrome), Sutton's does not postulate that destructive behaviors need to be corrected or that the employees responsible for these behaviors need to be fired. Instead, he suggests that we are all difficult sometimes and that being difficult can, in certain scenarios, actually contribute to our effectiveness as managers. He balances this argument with the premise that some people are "certified assholes" who are difficult to fire because they are often in positions of authority and are mistakenly deemed talented and effective by their superiors. Sutton's book is very readable, and people in any type of organization with "people problems" would benefit from using it to inspire some fresh thinking. Large general circulation libraries might include it in a section about careers or management; corporate libraries with a human resources section should also consider.

New interesting book: Factory Girls or Moneyball

Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

Author: Thomas Sowell

Basic Economics is a citizen’s guide to economics-for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Sowell reveals the general principles behind any kind of economy-capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions.

George Will

Basic Economics is not only valuable for a general lay-person audience; it would also benefit lawyers, politicians and, yes, economists. . .

Deseret News

All Democrats should be required to read Thomas Sowell's book 'Basic Economics'...

American Spectator

Sowell fans will find it a good read and a good resource.

Laissez-Faire Books

Basic Economics complements Henry Hazlitt's great classic Economics in One Lesson.

Wall Street Journal

Clear and concise . . . Among economists of the past 30 years, [Sowell] stands very proud indeed.

The American Spectator

Basic Economics might do a great service in the hands of the lay voter for whom it is intended. Sowell fans will find it a good read and a good resource. His enemies will be no more inclined than usual to forgive him for deflating their most dearly held myths.

The Washington Times

Dr. Thomas Sowell has just released his latest treasure . . . Basic Economics is not only valuable for a general lay-person audience; it would also benefit lawyers, politicians, and, yes, economists, as well.

Ideas On Liberty

Thomas Sowell is one of the fine scholars of our time.

Policy

If there is a single recent book that can advance economic literacy in this country, it is Thomas Sowell's latest book, Basic Economics . . . Sowell has managed to make economics humane again, relevant and interesting to young people and ordinary citizens . . . Buy a copy and read it immediately-no: buy two, and give one to a school teacher, a journalist, or a politician near you!

Claremont Review

Badly needed . . . Anyone who has been subjected to biased and dreary economics textbooks should read Basic Economics as a bracing corrective.

Business Wire

At last there is a citizen's guide to the economy, written by an economist who uses plain English . . . A comprehensive survey.

Library Journal

Syndicated columnist Sowell (economics, Hoover Inst.) is the author of 31 books and monographs on a broad range of topics, including race, culture, education, social policy, philosophy, and economics. In this groundbreaking work, he explains the basics of economics without resorting to the graphs, equations, and jargon that typically fill the textbooks and literature in the field. Along the way, he explains exactly what economics is and what its guiding principles are. Sowell covers a broad range of topics, from scarcity, the balance of trade, and price controls to minimum-wage laws, competition, profits and losses, and the role of government. Intended as a primer for the citizen not trained in the basics of economic theory, this book is flawed only in a somewhat confusing organization that leads to repetition. Recommended for public libraries. Norm Hutcherson, California State Univ., Bakersfield Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Sowell, one of America's best-known economists and a fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, explains the economy in plain English for general readers, covering everything from rent control to the international balance of payments. He uses examples drawn from around the world and from different time periods to show how whole societies create property or poverty for their people by the way they organize their economies. Chapters are in sections on prices, industry and commerce, work and pay, time and risk, the national economy, the international economy, and popular economic fallacies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Table of Contents:

Preface     vii
What is Economics?     1
Prices and Markets     9
The Role of Prices     11
Price Controls     38
An Overview     62
Industry and Commerce     87
The Rise and Fall of Businesses     89
The Role of Profits-and Losses     108
Big Business and Government     138
An Overview     162
Work and Pay     181
Productivity and Pay     183
Controlled Labor Markets     207
An Overview     237
Time and Risk     255
Investment and Speculation     257
Risks and Insurance     282
An Overview     307
The National Economy     323
National Output     325
Money and the Banking System     342
Government Functions     364
Government Finance     393
An Overview     419
The International Economy     431
International Trade     433
International Transfers of Wealth     457
An Overview     480
Special Economic Issues     493
Myths about Markets     495
"Non-Economic" Values     518
Parting Thoughts     544
Questions     553
Sources     569
Index     615