Take a critical view of the institutions that affect our everyday lives with this extended essay. The most important of these is the modern-day corporation, which continues to resist social control despite an ability to adapt to the environment like no other entity in human history.

Corporations continue to explode with power, and religious, educational, and governmental organizations are looking to them as examples. An increasing number of entities are learning how to conduct themselves by looking at their corporate counterparts, and, as a result, they're no longer fulfilling their true purposes.

Author Francis X. Healy Jr. examines the implications of these disturbing developments. Discover why institutions continue to miss expectations, why society suffers as a result of corporate models, and how money and power interact in problematic ways.

The pursuit of money and power is stifling the true purposes of institutions with honorable objectives. Many groups that once carried at least a facade of being above it all are now stuck in the moneypower continuum; if something doesn't change soon, the consequences will be devastating.

""Skyrm makes complex financial scenarios accessible to all interested readers in an informative and entertaining manner. We can all learn something from this book." -Thomas Peterffy, Chairman, CEO, and President of Interactive Brokers "Skyrm put together the story of MF Global like no one else could in providing the ultimate autopsy covering destructive financial engineering that's played such a big role in our capital markets." -Lawrence G. McDonald, New York Times best selling author of A Colossal Failure of Common Sense "God is in the details...first come the reporters, then the lawyers. Skyrm's book is the necessary antidote. Only someone who has 'done' it can explain it. Perhaps the best 'counterfactual' rationale for reading The Money Noose: If John Corzine had been able to before, there would likely have been no after." -Stan Jonas, Managing Partner, Axiom Management Partners In 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. MF Global was bankrupt less than a year after the law's passage. THE MONEY NOOSE is a general accounting of the facts that led to MF Global's collapse, as well as the story of the major players involved. It is a chaotic story, one in which individual actions taken in and of themselves are relatively minor. But the sum of those individual actions equal the same end result. How, then, can investors protect themselves from this outcome? The best answer is education. Investors need to be fully aware of what is involved in the investment process, and that includes an understanding of seg funds. It is, after all, their money. This book is designed to tell the story of MF Global, what went wrong and how things came to an abrupt end. In those regards, it's an incredible story. Scott E.D. Skyrm is one of the leading figures in the repo and securities finance markets today, and regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Bloomberg News Service, Reuters, Market News, and Dow Jones. He is highly regarded as a former salesman, trader, trading desk manager, and global business head in fixed-income, securities finance, and securities clearing and settlement. He recently left Newedge, where he was their "Global Head of Repo, Money Markets, and Fixed Income Clearing." He now is writing commentaries on the repo market, the short-end of the Treasury market, Federal Reserve policy and general Wall Street topics. He has worked on Wall Street for over 22 years and has taken billion-dollar risks on the trading floor, managed a multi-billion dollar balance sheet, and consistently ran one of the most profitable trading groups at every firm where he worked. Prior to Newedge, he managed the repo desk at ING Barings, worked summers at Shearson Lehman/American Express and started his full-time career at The Bank of Tokyo.

Originally Published as Bulletin 22 from the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, Gold Camps and Silver Cities is the most historically significant publication on Nineteenth Century Mining in Central and Southern Idaho. The Author describes the history and production of the districts in vivid detail and over 130 historical photo's many never seen before this publication help to give the reader an accurate history of what mining was like back then. Must have book for the Mining Historian and modern prospector alike. Now back in Print by Miningbooks.com

INSIDE APPLE reveals the secret systems, tactics and leadership strategies that allowed Steve Jobs and his company to churn out hit after hit and inspire a cult-like following for its products.
If Apple is Silicon Valley's answer to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, then author Adam Lashinsky provides readers with a golden ticket to step inside. In this primer on leadership and innovation, the author will introduce readers to concepts like the "DRI" (Apple's practice of assigning a Directly Responsible Individual to every task) and the Top 100 (an annual ritual in which 100 up-and-coming executives are tapped a la Skull & Bones for a secret retreat with company founder Steve Jobs).
Based on numerous interviews, the book offers exclusive new information about how Apple innovates, deals with its suppliers and is handling the transition into the Post Jobs Era. Lashinsky, a Senior Editor at Large for Fortune, knows the subject cold: In a 2008 cover story for the magazine entitled The Genius Behind Steve: Could Operations Whiz Tim Cook Run The Company Someday he predicted that Tim Cook, then an unknown, would eventually succeed Steve Jobs as CEO.
While Inside Apple is ostensibly a deep dive into one, unique company (and its ecosystem of suppliers, investors, employees and competitors), the lessons about Jobs, leadership, product design and marketing are universal. They should appeal to anyone hoping to bring some of that Apple magic to their own company, career, or creative endeavor.

The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, which houses the extensive ExxonMobil Historical Collection, is honored to publish the fifth volume of Exxon's corporate history, which extends the history of Exxon and its predecessors to more than 125 years, the longest in-depth account of a private company in existence. ExxonMobil's history stretches from the time of kerosene lamps to the era of jet travel, from the days of finding oil by searching for surface indications to the days of 3-D seismic, which uses powerful computers to create images of oil deep underground. Its learning curve was particularly steep in the years covered by this book, 1973-2005, when the company adapted to new realities that confronted it at every turn. ExxonMobil has remained among the most profitable concerns in the history of modern capitalism by showing flexibility when faced with the need to adapt to changing conditions. As the company responded to sweeping changes in global markets, its decisions reflected a deeply held corporate culture that rested on the key operating values of engineering efficiency and financial discipline. This extensively researched volume demonstrates how Exxon's core values and management enabled the company to adapt and succeed during a period of dramatic changes for the energy industry. Pratt and Hale provide readers a historical perspective from inside one of the most powerful corporations in the world.

"The world's largest company, Wal-Mart Stores, has revenues higher than the GDP of all but twenty-five of the world's countries. Its employees outnumber the populations of almost a hundred nations. The world's largest asset manager, a secretive New York company called Black Rock, controls assets greater than the national reserves of any country on the planet. A private philanthropy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, spends as much worldwide on health care as the World Health Organization. "

The rise of private power may be the most important and least understood trend of our time. David Rothkopf provides a fresh, timely look at how we have reached a point where thousands of companies have greater power than all but a handful of states. Beginning with the story of an inquisitive Swedish goat wandering off from his master and inadvertently triggering the birth of the oldest company still in existence, "Power, Inc." follows the rise and fall of kings and empires, the making of great fortunes, and the chaos of bloody revolutions. A fast-paced tale in which champions of liberty are revealed to be paid pamphleteers of moneyed interests and greedy scoundrels trigger changes that lift billions from deprivation, "Power, Inc." traces the bruising jockeying for influence right up to today's financial crises, growing inequality, broken international system, and battles over the proper role of government and markets.

Rothkopf argues that these recent developments, coupled with the rise of powers like China and India, may not lead to the triumph of American capitalism that was celebrated just a few years ago. Instead, he considers an unexpected scenario, a contest among competing capitalisms offering different visions for how the world should work, a global ideological struggle in which European and Asian models may have advantages. An important look at the power struggle that is defining our times, "Power, Inc." also offers critical insights into how to navigate the tumultuous years ahead.

Nothing is impossible if you have unlimited time, resources, and flexible objectives. Project managers never find themselves in such a situation. Our projects are impossible if they can't be done within the constraints... but sometimes there's a way around even the most challenging barrier. What can you do when the situation looks hopeless? In this exciting journey through history, you'll learn how the greatest leaders and project managers of the past took on impossible challenges...and succeeded. Here are only three examples: When he wanted to be first to fly nonstop to Paris, Charles Lindbergh was up against competitors with more funding, more experience, and over a year's head start. His strategy? Rethink the thresholds of risk. The other generals laughed at George Patton when he offered to send two divisions to rescue the Battle of the Bulge in only 48 hours. His strategy? See the future and get ready for it early. For mission director Gene Kranz, the odds against a successful rescue of Apollo 13 were daunting at best. His strategy? The Kranz Dictum, a powerful strategy to deal with crises even before they occur. In PROJECT: IMPOSSIBLE, you'll learn a step-by-step methodology to succeed when facing even the most difficult projects. You'll learn Dobson's Laws of Project Management and discover the Godzilla Principle. From redefining the problem to challenging the project parameters, you'll know how to attack a seemingly impossible project... and get the job done.

Atari Inc. - Business is Fun, the book that goes behind the company that was synonymous with the popularization of 'video games.'
Nearly 8 years in the making, Atari Inc. - Business is Fun is comprised of thousands of researched documents, hundreds of interviews, and access to materials never before available.
An amazing 800 pages (including nearly 300 pages of rare, never before seen photos, memos and court documents), this book details Atari's genesis from an idea between an engineer and a visionary in 1969 to a nearly $2 billion dollar juggernaut, and ending with a $538 million death spiral during 1984. A testament to the people that worked at this beloved company, the book is full of their personal stories and insights. Learn about topics like:
* All the behind the scenes stories surrounding the creation of the company's now iconic games and products.
* The amazing story of Atari's very own "Xerox PARC" research facility up in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains
* The full recounting of Steve Jobs's time at Atari, with comments from the people he worked with on projects and the detailed story of the creation of Atari Breakout, including input by Steve Wozniak on his development of the prototype, and how it couldn't be used and another Atari engineer would have to make the final production Breakout arcade game instead.
* The creation of "Rick Rats Big Cheese Restaurants" which later became "Chuck E. Cheese's"
* How Atari Inc. faltered and took down an entire industry with it before being put on the chopping block.
If you've ever wanted to learn about the truth behind the creation of this iconic company told directly by the people who made FUN for a living, then this is the book for you

"Gelding Goliath: An Insider's Account of the Destruction of AT&T" AT&T, once the most powerful company in the world, died in 2005. Another company bought what was left of it and now uses its name. The series of "colossal failures" by internal managers as well as the inane government policies that contributed to the collapse are collected for the first time in this personal journey through corporate hell by a former high-ranking AT&T attorney.

Forget Apple and IBM. For that matter forget Silicon Valley. The first personal computer, a self-contained unit with its own programmable processor, display, keyboard, internal memory, telephone interface, and mass storage of data was born in San Antonio TX. US Patent number 224,415 was filed November 27, 1970 for a machine that is the direct lineal ancestor to the PC as we know it today. The story begins in 1968, when two Texans, Phil Ray and Gus Roche, founded a firm called Computer Terminal Corporation. As the name implies their first product was a Datapoint 3300 computer terminal replacement for a mechanical Teletype. However, they knew all the while that the 3300 was only a way to get started, and it was cover for what their real intentions were - to create a programmable mass-produced desktop computer. They brought in Jack Frassanito, Vic Poor, Jonathan Schmidt, Harry Pyle and a team of designers, engineers and programmers to create the Datapoint 2200. In an attempt to reduce the size and power requirement of the computer it became apparent that the 2200 processor could be printed on a silicon chip. Datapoint approached Intel who rejected the concept as a "dumb idea" but were willing to try for a development contract. Intel belatedly came back with their chip but by then the Datapoint 2200 was already in production. Intel added the chip to its catalog designating it the 8008. A later upgrade, the 8080 formed the heart of the Altair and IMSI in the mid-seventies. With further development it was used in the first IBM PC-the PC revolution's chip dynasty. If you're using a PC, you're using a modernized Datapoint 2000.

THIS 20 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Pamphlets: Elbert Hubbard's Selected Writings: Part 1, by Elbert Hubbard. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766103846.

The events of 9/11 presented the financial industry with the greatest operational crisis in its history. Key officials were killed; others could not be located. Primary and backup sites were unavailable or inadequate. Massive amounts of critical data were lost, and there was a crushing inability to communicate, locate or verify information. It was not known for a time which firms could participate in the markets and to what degree, nor was it clear to what extent certain markets had been damaged and when they should reopen. Nor could the human impact of the 9/11 events be divorced from the business issues. Those grappling to restore the markets had to cope with their own feelings of anxiety, shock and loss, and to deal with a uniquely horrific blend of personal and professional difficulties. This book tells of the regeneration of the U.S. markets, day by day, immediately following 9/11, with a focus on the U.S. Government securities market. The bottom line is that 9/11 brought the most important financial market in the world - the one looked to by investors globally for safety in times of trouble - to the brink of paralysis. The crisis was ultimately resolved through the willpower and wisdom of groups of disparate individuals, accompanied by an unprecedented climate of cooperation among fierce competitors that embodied the American spirit at its finest.

On April 20, 2010, the "Deepwater Horizon" oil rig exploded, killing eleven workers and creating the largest oil spill in the history of U.S. offshore drilling. But this wasn't the first time British Petroleum and its cost-cutting practices destroyed parts of the natural world. It also was not the first time that BP's negligence resulted in the loss of human life, ruined family businesses, or shattered dreams. From Alaska to Kansas to the Gulf, journalist Mike Magner has been tracking BP's reckless path for years, and in "Poisoned Legacy" he focuses, for the first time, on the human price of BP's rise to power.

"Toyota is becoming a double threat: the world's finest manufacturer and a truly great innovator . . . that formula, a combination of production prowess and technical innovation, is an unbeatable recipe for success."

-- "Fortune," February 2006

For the first time, an insider reveals the formula behind Toyota's unceasing quest to innovate and do more with less, a philosophy that has made it one of the ten most profitable companies in the world (and worth more than GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and Honda combined). In a rare look into Toyota's ability to consistently achieve breakthroughs that outperform the competition, "The Elegant Solution" explains what Toyota associates have known all along: it's not about the cars. Rather, Toyota's astounding success is just the visible result of a hidden creative process that begins with a seven-digit number.

"One million." That's how many new ideas the Toyota organization implements every year. These ideas come from every level of the organization -- from the factory floors to the corporate suites. And organizations all over the world want to learn how it's done. Now senior University of Toyota advisor Matthew May shows how any company can achieve an environment of everyday innovation and discover the kinds of elegant solutions that hold the power to change the game forever. World-class benchmarks like Lexus, Prius, Scion -- even Toyota's vaunted production system -- are simply shining examples of elegant solutions.

A tactical playbook for team-based innovation, "The Elegant Solution" delivers powerful lessons in breakthrough thinking in a provocative yet practical guide to the three core principles and ten key practices that shape successful business innovation. Innovation isn't just about technology -- it's about value, opportunity, and impact. When a company embeds a real discipline around tapping ingenuity in the pursuit of perfection, the sky is the limit. Dozens of case studies (from Toyota and other companies) illustrate the universal power and applicability of these concepts. A unique "clamshell strategy" prepares managers to successfully lead and sustain the innovation effort.

At once a thought-starter and a taskmaster, "The Elegant Solution" is a vital prescription for anyone wanting to truly master business innovation.

THE GREEDSTERS: When Enough Is Never Enough analyzes the essence of greed throughout the centuries and in modern American business culture. From small scams to billion-dollar Ponzi schemes, from insolvent local lenders to mega-bank bailouts, from fraud on Main Street to the collapse of global corporations-the greedy are preying on us from every business sector. Author Richard G. Gray, Sr. counsels us to return to sound business principles based on integrity and urges us to produce again actual goods and services that provide jobs, income and security for our country.