Category: Reviews (Books & DVD)

Posted on

Review: Wedge–The Secret War Between the FBI and CIA

5 Star, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Intelligence (Government/Secret)

Amazon Page
Amazon Page

5.0 out of 5 stars FBI and CIA at War With One Another–Hurting America,

April 8, 2000
Mark Riebling
I cannot do this book justice, other than to say that I had never understood the depth and stupidity of the bureaucratic hostility between the FBI and the CIA-mostly the fault of the CIA these days but certainly inspired in part by Hoover in the early days-until I read this book; and that it should be required reading for every senior CIA manager. From the FBI's failure to communicate its very early knowledge of Japanese collection requirement on Pearl Harbor via the Germans, to the assassination of President Kennedy, the World Trade Center bombing and the Aldrich Ames case, this book makes me ashamed and angry about how bureaucracy and secrecy subvert loyalty, integrity, and common professional sense on both sides of this “wedgie” contest.
Vote on Review
Vote on Review
Posted on

Review: War by Other Means–Economic Espionage in America

5 Star, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Intelligence (Government/Secret)

Amazon Page
Amazon Page

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview of Allied and Other Economic Espionage,

April 8, 2000
John J. Fialka
John is a distinguished correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, their lead reporter during the Gulf War, and an award-winning investigative journalist in the fields of national security, politics, and financial scandal. The Chinese, Japanese, French and Russians are featured here, together with useful cross-overs into criminal gangs doing espionage on U.S. corporations, as well as overt data mining and other quasi-legal activities that yield far more economic intelligence than most business leaders understand.
Vote on Review
Vote on Review
Posted on

Reviews: Cyberwars

3 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Intelligence (Government/Secret)

Amazon Page
Amazon Page

3.0 out of 5 stars European Perspective on Cyberwar,

April 8, 2000
Jean Guisnel
Jean, a nationally-respected journalist in France who has covered espionage matters for decades, is the author of one of those rare French books that make it into the U.S. marketplace. Translated into English after great reviews in Europe, it charts the migration of European and Anglo-Saxon intelligence professionals into cyber-space.
Vote on Review
Vote on Review
Posted on

Review: Business @ the Speed of Thought –Using a Digital Nervous System

4 Star, Best Practices in Management, Change & Innovation, Economics, Information Society, Information Technology

Amazon Page
Amazon Page

4.0 out of 5 stars 900 Pound Gorilla Speaks–Worth Listening,

April 8, 2000
Bill Gates
No doubt largely written by staff assistants, this book can be considered a watered-down version of Microsoft's game plan for taking over the world, i.e. being the operating system for everything. Each chapter has a useful figure that sums up business lessons and methods for diagnosing one of the aspect's of one's digital nervous system. This is a great airplane book.
Vote on Review
Vote on Review
Posted on

Review: Net Gain–Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities

5 Star, Best Practices in Management, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Change & Innovation, Civil Society, Information Society, Information Technology

Amazon Page
Amazon Page

5.0 out of 5 stars Community Building in Cyberspace–Cuts to Core Values,

April 8, 2000
John Hagel III

This is a very serious handbook for how to create communities of interest, provide value that keeps the members there, and establish a foundation for growing exponentially from day one.

Vote on Review
Vote on Review
Posted on

Review: The New New Thing –A Silicon Valley Story

4 Star, Change & Innovation, Culture, Research, Information Society, Information Technology

Amazon Page
Amazon Page

4.0 out of 5 stars Documents Power Shifts from Wall Street to VCs to Ideas,

April 8, 2000
Michael Lewis

Great airplane book. The story of Jim Clarke, the only man to have created three billion-dollar ventures-Netscape, Silicon Graphics, and Healtheon. Documents the shifting of power from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, and offers some wonderful insights into the culture. Does not, by virtue of focusing on the one really big success story out of the Valley, begin to address the human waste and carnage from all the failed start-ups.

Vote on Review
Vote on Review
Posted on

Review: Real Time–Preparing for the Age of the Never Satisfied Customer

5 Star, Best Practices in Management, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Change & Innovation, Information Operations, Information Society, Information Technology

Amazon Page
Amazon Page

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond 5 Stars–This is a Very Deep Pool,

April 8, 2000
Regis McKenna

This may be one of the top three books I've read in the last couple of years. It is simply packed with insights that are applicable to both the classified intelligence community as well as the larger national information community. The following is a tiny taste from this very deep pool: “Instead of fruitlessly trying to predict the future course of a competitive or market trend, customer behavior or demand, managers should be trying to find and deploy all the tools that will enable them, in some sense, to be ever-present, ever-vigilant, and ever-ready in the brave new marketplace in gestation, where information and knowledge are ceaselessly exchanged.”

Vote on Review
Vote on Review