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THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT Review by Kathleen A. Ervin "Describe a setback, disappointment, or occasion of failure that you have experienced. How did you manage the situation, and what did you learn from it?" This is an essay question—one of nine identified in "65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays"—that has appeared on the Harvard Business School (HBS) application. Designed to showcase a variety of essays that have helped candidates gain admission into HBS, this new book contains 65 applicant essays along with commentary and analysis courtesy of writers from The Harbus, the HBS student newspaper. For those contemplating the business school application process "65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays" provides insight into the kind of writing that may appeal to admissions committees at elite business schools. In addition
to providing tips and strategies, this book may also unwittingly
provide prospective applicants with a sense of hope. Many of the
essays are less-than-inspired, and some demonstrate remarkable shortcomings
in terms of writing skills. Even the so-called "failure essays"
are unspectacular, a mix of workplace setback stories and run-of-the-mill
leadership challenges. Perhaps most encouraging of all, this book
proves there are countless ways to successfully express yourself
to the HBS admissions committee. One doesn't even need to say, "I
learned something new every day." But it clearly doesn't hurt.
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT Review by Rebecca Onion Dale Peck, gadfly extraordinaire, is best known for his zingers, especially the one which led off a review of a Rick Moody book: "Rick Moody is the worst writer of his generation." With "Hatchet Jobs"—a new collection of a dozen previously published reviews—Peck cements his reputation as a writer who is not scared to tell other writers how lousy their work is. Which, if you think about it, raises the bar for his work almost impossibly high. Next time one of Peck's novels comes out (he's written two so far), it better be damn Dostoevsky in order to measure up to his talk. The pleasant surprise of "Hatchet Jobs" is that, for the most part, Peck's essays are more complex than the title would have you believe. As to be expected, there are one or two wholly cruel and one-dimensional essays. Peck is unaccountably mean to fellow critic Sven Birkets ("The Man Who Would be Sven"), not just about his work but about Birkets' life and career. Referring to one of Birkets' collections of criticism, Peck writes, "it's easy to see him scrambling for assignments, taking whatever comes his way." Peck comes off like a little boy with a magnifying glass frying an ant. But in other pieces, particularly "Stop Thinking: The (De)evolution of Gay Literature" and "In the Box," there is a lot of thought to be found. Peck's writing style is unobscured by frippery, and he is unsparingly rigorous, even when it comes to analyzing gay literature, a genre to which he might be partial. He complains about gay-genre novels like those of Felice Piccano and Ethan Mordden, which, he says "manage to communicate little more than their own posturing." Meanwhile, he commends Michael Cunningham and Patrick Gale for finding ways to "illustrate the tension between society and self, whether that self is straight or gay." If you remember
learning about the difference between constructive and destructive
criticism in grade school, you'll find good examples of each among
these essays. It's when Peck delivers constructive criticism that
"Hatchet Jobs" transcends its name and becomes worth reading.
********** **********
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT Review by Jason Zasky In 1998, investigative journalist Jeff Benedict released "Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL," which revealed that lawless behavior was disturbingly common among professional football players. Prepare to be even more disturbed. In "Out of Bounds," Benedict takes on the NBA, delivering 250 pages on the "who, what, when, and why" of criminal activity in pro basketball. Believe it or not, NFL players look like choirboys compared to the young men who play hoops for a living. As was the case with "Pros and Cons," Benedict's latest work is blunt and straightforward. "Out of Bounds" obsessively chronicles the bad behavior—everything from drug possession and armed robbery to weapons possession, assault, and rape—of numerous NBA stars. Meanwhile, the author attempts to explain why so many basketball players feel above the law, and how these same men always seem to escape accountability for their actions. While there
are plenty of unseemly stories to make the unenlightened gasp, "Out
of Bounds" suffers from being entirely one-dimensional. Benedict
makes no attempt to contrast the relentless string of depressing
stories by suggesting possible solutions or relating hopeful vignettes.
If nothing else, readers will come to appreciate why basketball
fans in Oregon began referring to the Portland Trailblazers as the
Portland Jailblazers. ********** **********
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT Along with Entine's piece, editor David Wallis has resurrected 23 other articles (written between 1942 and 2003) that never made it to press for various political, economic or aesthetic reasons. Brief introductions dissecting each story's DOA status offer fascinating glimpses into the publishing industry: The editors of The New York Times Magazine, trying to balance pro and con drug pieces, decide Julian Rubinstein's latest is too pro; Erik Hedegaard's article capturing John Cougar's devastating testament to the addiction of smoking is roundly praised yet cannot find a home in Details or any other magazine beholden to tobacco advertising dollars; Gerald Hannon's male hustler piece, commissioned by Saturday Night, was canned when its liberal editor-in-chief was replaced by a conservative. There is also evidence that publishers "dumb down" content, as Rolling Stone killed Mark Schone's profile of a political con-man's suicide after deeming it, "too long and too 'depressing.' " In one case, the author's introduction is more harrowing than the actual article, as when Jan Pottker describes harassment at the hands of circus henchmen who retaliated for her story about Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus' child-labor violations. By comparison, the book's oldest pieces hardly seem controversial at all. Consider the 1958 Betty Friedan article produced for McCall's that implores female students to take college seriously or risk losing educational opportunity—evidence of how much our culture has changed. While "Killed"
occasionally fails to live up to the promise of its title, Wallis
should be commended for unearthing articulate, cogent pieces of
journalism that the mainstream media would rather keep buried.
********** **********
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT While Pearlman takes pains to recount the club's most memorable wins and losses, most of this book is devoted to the players' outrageous exploits. Virtually every Met seems to find trouble, making "The Bad Guys Won!" less a baseball book and more a compendium of irresponsible behavior—the kind practiced by professional athletes. Off the field, the players trashed planes and hotel rooms, took drugs, abused tobacco products, gambled, chased women, cheated on wives and girlfriends, made a habit of sexual and verbal harassment, played cruel practical jokes, assaulted each other, drank to excess and generally offended almost everyone in sight. On the field, they were no less insufferable—arrogantly professing their superiority, relentlessly cursing the opposition and occasionally instigating a bench-clearing brawl. After winning 108 regular-season games in 1986 the club seemed destined to become a dynasty. With the likes of Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and Lenny Dykstra in the fold, the Mets had the talent to win multiple championships. But drug abuse and the parade of off-the-field incidents eventually took its toll, and the franchise's fortunes soon declined precipitously. With management increasingly concerned about the team's incorrigible behavior, the front office broke up the club prematurely rather than risk being publically embarrassed by the team's antics. Trades were sought out that might not have been made otherwise. Although "The
Bad Guys Won!" isn't likely to win any sports writing awards (the
absurdly long subtitle is indicative of the writing and editing
quality), baseball fans should find it a lively trip down memory
lane. Still want to meet the 1986 Mets? "The Bad Guys Won!" allows
one to do so at a safe distance.
********** **********
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT In the 1974 ballad "A Pirate Looks at Forty" singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett laments: "Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late; the cannons don't thunder, there's nothing to plunder; I'm an over-forty victim of fate, arriving too late…." If William Langewiesche's latest book is any indication Buffett need fret no more. According to Langewiesche—a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly who specializes in the seafaring world—piracy has made a dramatic comeback. This is just one of the surprising revelations in "The Outlaw Sea," a work filled with understated, yet always compelling accounts of storms, shipwrecks and oil spills, not to mention the exploits of ruthless modern-day pirates. While the disasters
Langewiesche recounts are sure to capture the reader's attention,
the author's underlying message—that free enterprise
combined with a deliberate absence of controls has resulted in a
state of anarchy on the high seas—is no less interesting.
It seems industrialized nations consider maritime safety and security
to be important, at least until the cost of oversight raises the
cost of doing business. In the end, the health of financial markets
is more important than the integrity of the environment, the lives
of hard-luck seamen, or the security of the world's ports. Perhaps
this condition will change when terrorists exploit the lawless nature
of the shipping business to stage a major attack that sends shock
waves through the global economy. In the meantime, "The Outlaw Sea"
provides rare insight into a world that landlubbers rarely stop
to consider.
********** **********
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT It's often said that progress is achieved through trial and error. In that respect execution is like any other human endeavor, except errors made by the executioner are quite literally a matter of life and death. "The Executioner Always Chops Twice: Ghastly Blunders On The Scaffold" is filled with gruesome and outlandish stories of unlucky souls who not only suffered the indignity of being condemned to die, but endured the horror of a botched execution. Most of the vignettes are from centuries past, presumably because man has now had ample opportunity to perfect the art of killing. Written by Geoffrey Abbott—former Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London—the book begins with a quick one-chapter overview of a diverse array of torture and execution methods. But the overwhelming majority of "The Executioner Always Chops Twice" is devoted to the "unfortunate victims"—those who suffered above and beyond what one might expect when boiled in oil, burned at the stake, gassed, hanged, decapitated, etc. While the subject
matter sounds ghoulish the book maintains a surprisingly lighthearted
tone. In fact, it seems many of those sentenced to die maintained
their sense of humor, even in their final moments. For example,
Abbott recounts the story of serial killer Paul Jaworski, who was
disappointed that his execution would prevent him from reading the
conclusion of a serial in a weekly magazine. "'Gee,' he exclaimed.
'It's tough to not to know how it all ends!'" Hearing of Jaworski's
predicament the publishers forwarded him an advance copy of the
final installment. How's that for famous last words?
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT "The First 90 Days" is a cut above other run-of-the-mill "how to succeed in business" books, mostly because it offers concrete strategies on how to handle a new leadership position (rather than feel-good observations about what it takes to be a leader). Written by Harvard Business School professor Michael Watkins (a self-described "leadership transition expert") this book provides a road map for negotiating the challenges faced by anyone accepting a leadership role—launching a startup or taking on a new management job, for example. Assuming the reader has already secured a leadership position, Watkins concentrates on illustrating how to maximize the opportunity and minimize the risk of professional failure. As the title implies, the author considers the decisions made and actions taken (or not taken) in the first three months of a new endeavor critical to achieving long-term success. Watkins provides actionable advice on how to quickly diagnose your individual situation, build credibility, manage expectations and secure the early victories that reduce resistance to future orders. The overriding idea is to reduce the amount of time it takes to reach what he describes as the breakeven point—"the point at which your organization needs you as much as you need the job." Along the way Watkins addresses several mistakes commonly made by new leaders, as well as how to assess the potential professional vulnerabilities that could conceivably threaten your personal success. "The First 90
Days" isn't light reading and the advice offered is easier read
than done. But the book has the potential to be a helpful resource—especially
if you're expecting to face the unenviable but all-too-common situation
known to new leaders: sink or swim.
The National Football League (NFL) is undeniably the most successful professional sports league in North America, but if your only point of reference was "Bloody Sundays" you might have your doubts. In this exposé, New York Times sportswriter Mike Freeman tackles the dark side of the NFL—covering everything from the ravaged health of former players and coaches to the persistent problem of off-the-field domestic violence. Considering the blanket coverage now provided by media outlets like ESPN, FOX and now the NFL's own network, hardcore fans are unlikely to learn anything new from "Bloody Sundays." Still, the book should be an eye-opener for the casual observer, who might not have considered issues such as: the role of the Wonderlic (an IQ-like test) in drafting college prospects; why no active player has publicly declared his homosexuality; and what compels some teams to install surveillance equipment in the locker room. Oddly, Freeman
intersperses warm-and-fuzzy sections between the salacious stories—his
list of all-time greatest players and "99 Reasons Why Football is
Better than Baseball," for instance. As a result, "Bloody Sundays"
comes across as disingenuous—selling the dirt while all the
while trying to avoid offending the "powers-that-be." Regardless,
"Bloody Sundays" is a vivid reminder that the most compelling action
in the NFL takes place outside the lines.
********** **********
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT Just like the television show Seinfeld this little book is about nothing, and everything, at the same time. A quick flip through its modest 158 pages uncovers an extensive array of randomly arranged trivia—everything from wine bottle nomenclature to a list of famous left-handed people to the longest word in the English language. The first thing one might say after picking up Schott's Original Miscellany is, "This is a fascinating collection of information." Your second observation might be, "The author must spend an inordinate amount of time in the library." It's easy to
see why Schott's Original Miscellany has become so popular,
for it makes an invaluable addition to any home reference library.
Without a doubt it's the first book to reach for when you can't
recall a U.S. constitutional amendment, the names of all the Ivy
League colleges, or how to convert degrees Fahrenheit to degrees
Celsius. There's even a page devoted to phobias. The word for fear
of failure or defeat? Kakorrhiaphobia.
********** **********
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT In an age when every media outlet seems to be looking for the most extreme extreme sport, Time Inc.'s editor-at-large, Joshua Cooper Ramo, may just have found it in aerobatic flying. With apologies to jousting and waterfall climbing, aerobatics—the practice of executing exotic, death defying maneuvers in a small lightweight plane—is undeniably near the top of the list. In No Visible Horizon, Ramo, an accomplished aerobatic pilot himself, introduces the reader to the sport's most accomplished fliers, those who regularly perform physically punishing routines that subject the body to forces up to ten times the force of gravity. Along the way, he reviews the history of this expensive and potentially fatal pursuit, providing insight into why anyone would want to pursue such a hobby, especially when it offers little to no financial reward. According to Ramo, one of every 30 aerobatic pilots dies each year in the course of practicing or competing. So it's not a surprise when a pattern soon appears in the book: We are introduced to a new character, we marvel at his exploits, and then find out how he was killed. Along with "routine" moves like high-speed vertical dives, blackout-inducing turns and inverted loops, it seems aerobatic pilots can't resist the truly insane stunts, such as flying upside down just a few feet off the ground. Or, as in the case of Kirby Chambliss, flying though a 150-foot-long, 90-foot-wide hole in a cliff before doing an unannounced loop and going through a second time. Considering the risks these pilots take, it's ironic when their "final smashup" comes outside the aerobatic arena. Champion British pilot Neil Williams—once forced to land his plane upside down, flipping over only a instant before touch down—was killed when he flew a World War II bomber into the side of a mountain in inclement weather. Or consider former world champion, Leo Loudenslager, who lost his life in an ordinary motorcycle accident. These compelling
stories, in combination with the author's bold and brash writing,
make for a brisk and captivating read. You might even say this book
is the literary equivalent of aerobatic flying—filled with
sharp turns and daring proclamations that usually work but sometimes
go over the edge. At one point, Ramo even acknowledges that he has
come to terms with the possibility that he might die pursuing his
flying dreams, writing, "If anything did happen . . . it would be
all right with me."
********** **********
THE
FAILURE BOOK REPORT Several years ago, Failure interviewed Nigerian author Chinua Achebe [/arch_history_chinua_achebe.html] and one of his chief concerns expressed in that interview was how Western media consistently portrays Africa in a negative light. It’s probably safe to say that “Dark Star Safari” will do nothing to change Mr. Achebe’s perception. As its subtitle suggests, the book recounts Theroux’s overland journey from Egypt to South Africa, an ambitious trip in which the author inevitably confronts armed bandits and endures other unsettling encounters with the locals. Along the way, Theroux also witnesses drought, corruption, starvation and other conditions that Westerners commonly associate with Africa. In other words, the book could be viewed as another public relations setback for the so-called “dark continent.” It’s worth noting,
however, that Theroux lacks what Achebe might refer to as a sinister
agenda. Although he seems to have taken the trip primarily for the
purpose of getting a good book out of it, Theroux clearly has a
certain amount of affection for Africa. The fact that he has a historical
perspective—having worked in Malawi and Uganda as a Peace Corps
teacher during the mid-1960s—also makes a difference. It’s with
a tinge of sadness that he reports how Africa has changed dramatically
since those days, mostly for the worse. For those who have experienced
Africa, many of the pictures Theroux paints will be immediately
recognizable. Those who have never visited should find it a compelling
and revealing look at the harsh realities of everyday African life.
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