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While free markets have brought positive change, traditional capitalism cannot solve problems of inequality and poverty because of its view of people as solely profit-driven. In fact, humans have other drives and passions, including spiritual, social, and altruistic.
Muhammad Yunus, the practical visionary who pioneered microcredit and won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his world-changing efforts, here develops his revolutionary new concept that promises to redeem the failed promise of free enterprise: social business.
We live in a time of unprecedented upheaval, when technology and so-called progress have made us richer but more uncertain than ever before. We have questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers. So, too, does the time seem to be coming to an end when we looked to economists to help us define the qualities necessary to create a successful society. We need a new movement.
"While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive visionary geniuses who remade the world in their images with sheer, almost irrational force, I've found that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition." (From the prologue)
From Paul Mason, the award-winning Channel 4 presenter, PostCapitalism is a guide to our era of seismic economic change and how we can build a more equal society. Over the past two centuries or so, capitalism has undergone continual change - economic cycles that lurch from boom to bust - and has always emerged transformed and strengthened. Surveying this turbulent history, Paul Mason wonders whether today we are on the brink of a change so big, so profound, that this time capitalism itself has reached its limits.
Paris, near the turn of 1933. Three young friends meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their friend Raymond Aron, who opens their eyes to a radical new way of thinking. Pointing to his drink, he says, 'You can make philosophy out of this cocktail!'
While free markets have brought positive change, traditional capitalism cannot solve problems of inequality and poverty because of its view of people as solely profit-driven. In fact, humans have other drives and passions, including spiritual, social, and altruistic.
Muhammad Yunus, the practical visionary who pioneered microcredit and won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his world-changing efforts, here develops his revolutionary new concept that promises to redeem the failed promise of free enterprise: social business.
We live in a time of unprecedented upheaval, when technology and so-called progress have made us richer but more uncertain than ever before. We have questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers. So, too, does the time seem to be coming to an end when we looked to economists to help us define the qualities necessary to create a successful society. We need a new movement.
"While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive visionary geniuses who remade the world in their images with sheer, almost irrational force, I've found that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition." (From the prologue)
From Paul Mason, the award-winning Channel 4 presenter, PostCapitalism is a guide to our era of seismic economic change and how we can build a more equal society. Over the past two centuries or so, capitalism has undergone continual change - economic cycles that lurch from boom to bust - and has always emerged transformed and strengthened. Surveying this turbulent history, Paul Mason wonders whether today we are on the brink of a change so big, so profound, that this time capitalism itself has reached its limits.
Paris, near the turn of 1933. Three young friends meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their friend Raymond Aron, who opens their eyes to a radical new way of thinking. Pointing to his drink, he says, 'You can make philosophy out of this cocktail!'
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
Most organizations and individuals work in the context of annual goals and plans; a 12-month execution cycle. Instead, The 12 Week Year avoids the pitfalls and low productivity of annualized thinking. This book redefines your "year" to be 12 weeks long. In 12 weeks, there just isn't enough time to get complacent, and urgency increases and intensifies. The 12 Week Year creates focus and clarity on what matters most and a sense of urgency to do it now.
Blockchains are new technology layers that rewire the Internet and threaten to side-step older legacy constructs and centrally served businesses. At its core, a blockchain injects trust into the network, cutting off some intermediaries from serving that function and creatively disrupting how they operate. Metaphorically, blockchains are the ultimate non-stop computers. Once launched, they never go down, and offer an incredible amount of resiliency, making them dependable and attractive for running a new generation of decentralized services and software.
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
The compelling, inspiring (often comic) coming-of-age story of Trevor Noah, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. One of the comedy world's brightest new voices, Trevor Noah is a light-footed but sharp-minded observer of the absurdities of politics, race and identity, sharing jokes and insights drawn from the wealth of experience acquired in his relatively young life.
The key to living a happier, healthier life is inside us. Our gut is almost as important to us as our brain or our heart, yet we know very little about how it works. In Gut, Giulia Enders shows that rather than the utilitarian and - let's be honest - somewhat embarrassing body part we imagine it to be, it is one of the most complex, important, and even miraculous parts of our anatomy.
In 1957, four years before his death, Carl Gustav Jung, psychiatrist and psychologist, began writing his life story. But what started as an exercise in autobiography soon morphed into an altogether more profound undertaking.
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands to rethink their beliefs about life.
Most people regard tax havens as being relevant only to celebrities, crooks and spivs, and mistakenly believe that the main offshore problems are money laundering and terrorist financing. These are only small parts of the whole picture. The offshore system has been (discreetly) responsible for the greatest ever shift of wealth from poor to rich. It also undermines our democracies by offering the wealthiest members of society escape routes from normal democratic controls.
Ancient Rome matters. Its history of empire, conquest, cruelty and excess is something against which we still judge ourselves. Its myths and stories - from Romulus and Remus to the rape of Lucretia - still strike a chord with us. And its debates about citizenship, security and the rights of the individual still influence our own debates on civil liberty today. SPQR is a new look at Roman history from one of the world's foremost classicists.
On The Power of Vulnerability, Dr. Brown offers an invitation and a promise - that when we dare to drop the armor that protects us from feeling vulnerable, we open ourselves to the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives. Here she dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and reveals that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.
In Banker to the Poor, Yunus traces the journey that led him to rethink the economic relationship between rich and poor and recounts the challenges he faced in founding Grameen. He provides wise, hopeful guidance for anyone who would like to join him in the burgeoning world movement of micro-lending to eradicate world poverty.
"The Grameen Bank's record is illuminating and inspiring....This is an aid program that works." (New York Times)
"Muhammad Yunus is a practical visionary who has improved the lives of millions of people in his native Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world. Banker to the Poor [is] well reasoned yet passionate." (Los Angeles Times)
"[Yunus'] ideas have already had a great impact on the Third World....hearing his appeal for a 'poverty-free world' from the source itself can be as stirring as that all-American myth of bootstrap success." (Washington Post)
This truly enlightening account will give you a whole new perspective on giving the poor a hand up instead of a hand out.
I must have been living under a rock - I picked this book on a whim, not having a clue about Dr. Yunus, who won a Nobel prize for the work he has done in empowering the poor.
It takes a powerful argument to chance the way I think about a subject. I'm a free market capitalist to the core yet I've always known there were certain weaknesses in the system which could give greed a toe hold. Yunus developed a capitalist economy with a social conscience. If he had outlined his ideas in a presentation I would have rejected them as "blue sky" idealism. But he has several billion dollars worth of credibility. It is difficult to argue with success like that!
After listening through (twice so far, it's on my regular re-listen list) I'm actually changing the way I view economics and am working to become a part of this solution that he's created.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
Yunus describes the history and operation of Grameen and microcredit in general in simple, effective terms while consistently projecting his passion for the process and his frustration with the global banking system for not seeing its potential. This is no dull economics lecture but a lively human tale of dedication and commitment, with many real-world examples. It was published before the Nobel Prize announcement but you can sense that Yunus is a real game-changer.
Ray Porter (narrator) does a nice job on communicating the passion (almost anger at times), and handling the Bengali pronunciation.
Highly recommended, you'll believe that one man can change the world.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
I loved it, a little bit too long but amazing topic, well written, fantastic narrator
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
This is a great story of successful, innovative development in the poorest corners of the world. One can't help but be inspired by Yunus' accomplishments. But the narrator hectors the reader like a middle school vice principal scolding a truant. I have seen the author on television and he comes off as a genial, humble person. Somehow that personality got lost in the reading. It's still worth a listen, though, because Yunus has much to teach us about alleviating poverty and despair. He's a true hero.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful
Professor Yunus works are inspiring especially to those who cares for less fortunate ones. I could not shut off my ipod until I heard the whole narative. Excellent writing and narration.
This book is recommended to those who dream of a better future for all man kind. " In educated society povertiy should be found in museums where we could tell our children, why and how our ancestors let it infest us for centuries."
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book. It shows what someone can do with a good idea and persistence. It was very inspiring.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book that illuminates life (especially for women) in one of the poorest countries of the world, and one man's largely successful struggle to change things. He exaggerates and misstates some things, but everybody with a conscience should read it.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
This is a must-read for anyone wishing to gain insights into how the poor of the world really live, and to at least one way that can make a difference in their lives (the answer's not charitable hand-outs).
Neither a ringing endorsement of the virtues of capitalism, nor a socialist idealist picture of the world as it should be. The work of Professor Yunus represents a pragmatic and proven effective way of making the world a better place.
Read this book, get inspired, and take action (if only to reduce the amount of ignorance in the universe of how much impoverished people of the world suffer and how some can be helped).
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Poverty can be a thing of the past like polo, without a welfare state. Its been done successfully for over two decades and the process can even make money. Learn about micro lending and social entrepreneurship. Nothing in this book is biased politically.
Will definitely listen to this book again.
"level the playing ground so that the poor can get out of it and we can do away with handouts"
we just need to provide them with a platform to improve themselves by themselves.