London and the 17th Century: The Making of the World’s Greatest City

London and the 17th Century: The Making of the World’s Greatest City by Margarette Lincoln

London was already a significant city in the 17th century. However, it was still in a state of conflict. The rise of exploration and new industry was causes a great deal of change. Religious conflicts were rife at the time, and leadership oscillated between protestant and Catholic. Extreme conservative regimes gave way to loosening. The black plague created a huge shock to the system. Life expectancy was low and those that survived are likely to be pressed into service. The focus of a narrow geographic region for a century works fairly well in this book.

The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II

A woman takes a job at an off-the-beaten-path bookshop to help get a recommendation for the department store job she really wants. Initially, the owner is reluctant to have her. However, the grow together and the shop begins to succeed. She also becomes enamored with a patron who helps her to gain a love for books. Alas, World War II has broken out and he goes off to war.

There are struggles as she competes with other book shops in the "trendy" part of town as well as the various challenges of war. She helps to endear herself to the community by recommending books to pass the time during the blitz as well as performing public readings. She inherits the shop when the owner died. When the other shops are bombed, she helps them out by selling their books. When her shop is bombed, the community helps her. In spite of the war, the book ends on a happy note. It all makes for a quick, entertaining read.

Stirring It Up and London Fire

Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World by Gary Hirshberg
Stonyfield yogurt tries to be environmentally friendly. The story of the company would make for a nice business school case study. However, its not enough for a book. So, the author did some web surfing and called on a few friends to fill in details about other companies. (He even has a positive section on Wal-Mart, that he acknowledges came straight from the website.)

This book is 'pop-environmentalism' at its best. It will probably be fairly popular with "green" crowd. After all, it reads like a "who's who" of green companies. However, if your not in to the whole green thing, then you're probably not going to pick up the book anyway.

Which, is somewhat of a shame. Many of the most reasonable "green" things mentioned make basic sense for any business. Paying suppliers a sustainable rate over the long term may cost a little bit more. However, it helps keep the suppliers in business and keeps quality high - which can help cut costs and increase revenue. Reducing and eliminating waste is not as noticable as recycling - however, it provides the greatest monetary benefit.

At times the book even casts blows at "fake greenery" - things that have a green reputation, that really aren't that great. However, the blows tend to be rather soft. The hard blows are saved for the government farm program.

Overall, there is not a whole lot here that could not be obtained from browsing a few websites. The book is fairly well put together, and a quick read. The history of Stonyfield and their "marketing" takes up only about a quarter of the book, with the rest about other companies. While most of the Stonyfield content is at the front, some of the story is told throughout the book, making you read it all to get the full story. Maybe the b-school case study would be better after all.

Neil Hanson: The Great Fire of London
My favorite part was the description of how fires worked and spread. The story of the actual fire started pretty much with the day of the fire and ended with a Frenchman being hanged for it. The brief sections before barely give us a before and after picture. The actual fire story is based heavily on original journals and at time starts to feel like reading a jorunal.