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Using the same engrossing anecdotal format that has proved so popular in Profiles in Audacity, Alan Axelrod now turns to the dark side of audacious decision-making: those choices that, in retrospect, were shockingly wrongheaded. Although Axelrod investigates some dumb decisions by stupid people and some evil decisions by evil people, the overwhelming majority of these decisions were made by good, smart people whose poor judgment produced disastrous, often irreversible results. The 35 compelling and often poignant stories, which range from ancient times to today, include: The Trojan Horse; the Children’s Crusade; the sailing of the Titanic, and the false belief that it just couldn’t sink; Edward Bernays’s 1929 campaign to recruit women smokers; Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of the Nazis; Ken Lay’s deception with Enron; and even the choice to create a “New Coke” and fix what wasn’t broke. As with Profiles in Audacity, the deftly drawn vignettes will pique interest, satisfy curiosity, give pleasure, and present valuable lessons. And in addition to offering the same insightful analysis of the decision-making process, Folly also includes objective post-mortems that explain what went wrong and why. These are cautionary tales—albeit with exquisite twists ranging from acerbic to horrific.… (más)
4672. Profiles in Folly History's Worst Decisions and Why They Went Wrong, by Alan Axelrod (read 13 Feb 2010) This is a not overly profound book on some 33 blunders in history, ranging from the Trojans stupid mistake in taking the wooden horse into Troy to George W. Bush's Iraq War and mishandling of Katrina. The accounts, while consistently attention-holding and fairly well researched, are designed for one not interested in an in depth study of the events. ( )
It's a mildly interesting read — but an absolute lightweight in terms of real analysis. I was surprised at some of the decisions left out - Napoleon's invasion of Russia, the Gallipoli campaign in WW1 leap to mind. Stephen Weir's Encyclopedia Idiotica is better and doesn't burden the reader with Axelrod's obvious liberal bias.
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
—Puck, in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Dedicatoria
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
The unflinchingly unsentimental Katherine Anne Porter called her one full-length novel Ship of Fools (1962), after an allegorical figure that was frequently rendered in European woodcuts, paintings, and literature of the Middle Ages. (Author's Note)
These days, uttering the phrase Trojan horse is likely to elicit a response such as, "Did you lose any data?" (Chapter 1)
Citas
Últimas palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
To rest short of this aspiration, with whatever degree of contentment, complacency, or confidence, is folly.
Using the same engrossing anecdotal format that has proved so popular in Profiles in Audacity, Alan Axelrod now turns to the dark side of audacious decision-making: those choices that, in retrospect, were shockingly wrongheaded. Although Axelrod investigates some dumb decisions by stupid people and some evil decisions by evil people, the overwhelming majority of these decisions were made by good, smart people whose poor judgment produced disastrous, often irreversible results. The 35 compelling and often poignant stories, which range from ancient times to today, include: The Trojan Horse; the Children’s Crusade; the sailing of the Titanic, and the false belief that it just couldn’t sink; Edward Bernays’s 1929 campaign to recruit women smokers; Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of the Nazis; Ken Lay’s deception with Enron; and even the choice to create a “New Coke” and fix what wasn’t broke. As with Profiles in Audacity, the deftly drawn vignettes will pique interest, satisfy curiosity, give pleasure, and present valuable lessons. And in addition to offering the same insightful analysis of the decision-making process, Folly also includes objective post-mortems that explain what went wrong and why. These are cautionary tales—albeit with exquisite twists ranging from acerbic to horrific.
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