"Buy this book if you never want to lose an office water cooler debate again."
—Darren Rovell, author, First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned The Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon

"Not just a book for thinking sports fans, but something more. A book that can turn any fan into a thinking sports fan."
—Allen Barra, Wall Street Journal, author of Brushbacks and Knockdowns : The Greatest Baseball Debates of Two Centuries

"It is impossible to properly evaluate the performance of professional sports teams today without examining the financial aspects of the business. In The Wages of Wins, authors David Berri, Martin Schmidt, and Stacey Brook take the reader behind the scenes and into the financial world that quite often determines the difference between success and failure. As the writers state, ‘Sports come with numbers.' And with dollar signs. This book provides an interesting perspective to what helps determine the story behind wins and losses." —Fred Claire, former L.A. Dodger General Manager, author of Fred Claire: My 30 Years in Dodger Blue

Arguing about sports is as old as the games people play. Over the years sports debates have become muddled by many myths that do not match the numbers generated by those playing the games. In The Wages of Wins, the authors use layman's language and easy to follow examples based on their own academic research to debunk many of the most commonly held beliefs about sports. In doing so they take on everything from the Yankee's ability - or inability - to buy a World Series title; the ability of Michael Jordan to raise his level of play when the games mattered most; the consistency of Brett Favre; and the value of Allen Iverson. The book names names, and makes it abundantly clear that much of the decision-making of coaches and general managers does not hold up to an analysis of the numbers. Whether you are a fantasy league fanatic or a casual weekend fan, much of what you believe about sports will change after reading this book.

About The Author
David J. Berri is Associate Professor of economics at California State University, Bakersfield. Martin B. Schmidt is Associate Professor of economics at the College of William and Mary. Stacey L. Brook is Associate Professor of economics at the University of Sioux Falls.

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80% buy the item featured on this page: The Wages of Wins: Taking Measure of the Many Myths in Modern sport by David J. Berri $18.87

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3% buy Covering the Bases: Making Sense of Bill James' Statistical Nonsense by Travis Walsh $18.95

1% buy May the Best Team Win: Baseball economics and Public Policy by Andrew Zimbalist $20.76

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Thoroughly revised and expanded to reflect business conditions in today's volatile global economy, Valuation, Fourth Edition continues the tradition of its bestselling predecessors by providing up-to-date insights and practical advice on how to create, manage, and measure the value of an organization. Along with all-new case studies that illustrate how valuation techniques and principles are applied in real-world situations, this comprehensive guide has been updated to reflect the events of the Internet bubble and its effect on stock markets, new developments in academic finance, changes in accounting rules (both U. S. and IFRS), and an enhanced global perspective.

Valuation, Fourth Edition is filled with expert guidance that managers at all levels, investors, and students have come to trust. It contains a solid framework for valuation:

• Analyzing historical performance, including reorgan-izing a company's financial statements to reflect economic rather than accounting performance
• Forecasting performance, with emphasis on not just the mechanics of forecasting but also how to think about a company's future economics
• Estimating the cost of capital with practical tips that aren't found in textbooks
• Interpreting the results of a valuation in light of a company's competitive situation
• Linking a company's valuation multiples to the core drivers of its performance

Valuation, Fourth Edition remains true to its roots with an extensive discussion on the complexity of measuring corporate performance to assess historical financial results properly and to gain insight into a company's ability to create value in the future (its corporate "health"). A complementary chapter advises managers how to run companies to create long-term value, and a new chapter explores ways to improve communication with financial markets.

Valuation, Fourth Edition stands alone in this field with its reputation of quality and consistency. The author team of Tim Koller, Marc Goedhart, and David Wessels has taken the latest insights from their experiences working with global companies and created one of the most engaging and insightful guides to valuation. If you want to hone your valuation skills today and improve them for years to come, look no further than the Fourth Edition of Valuation.

McKINSEY & COMPANY is a management consulting firm that helps leading corporations and organizations make distinctive, lasting, and substantial improvements in their performance. Over the past seven decades, the firm's primary objective has remained constant: to serve as an organization's most trusted external advisor on critical issues facing senior management. With consultants deployed from over eighty offices in more than forty countries, McKinsey advises companies on strategic, operational, organizational, financial, and technological issues. The firm has extensive experience in all major industry sectors and primary functional areas, as well as in-depth expertise in high-priority areas for today's business leaders.

It is only natural, Herman suggests, that a country that once ranked among Europe's poorest, if most literate, would prize the ideal of progress, measured "by how far we have come from where we once were." Forged in the Scottish Enlightenment, that ideal would inform the political theories of Francis Hutcheson, Adam Smith, and David Hume, and other Scottish thinkers who viewed "man as a product of history," and whose collective enterprise involved "nothing less than a massive reordering of human knowledge" (yielding, among other things, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, first published in Edinburgh in 1768, and the Declaration of Independence, published in Philadelphia just a few years later). On a more immediately practical front, but no less bound to that notion of progress, Scotland also fielded inventors, warriors, administrators, and diplomats such as Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Simon MacTavish, and Charles James Napier, who created empires and great fortunes, extending Scotland's reach into every corner of the world.

Herman examines the lives and work of these and many more eminent Scots, capably defending his thesis and arguing, with both skill and good cheer, that the Scots "have by and large made the world a better place rather than a worse place." --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Focusing on the 18th and 19th centuries, Herman (coordinator of the Western Heritage Program at the Smithsonian and an assistant professor of history at George Mason University) has written a successful exploration of Scotland's disproportionately large impact on the modern world's intellectual and industrial development. When Scotland ratified the 1707 Act of Union, it was an economic backwater. Union gave Scotland access to England's global marketplace, triggering an economic and cultural boom "transform[ing] Scotland into a modern society, and open[ing] up a cultural and social revolution." Herman credits Scotland's sudden transformation to its system of education, especially its leading universities at Edinburgh and Glasgow. The 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment, embodied by such brilliant thinkers as Francis Hutcheson, Adam Smith and David Hume, paved the way for Scottish and, Herman argues, global modernity. Hutcheson, the father of the Scottish Enlightenment, championed political liberty and the right of popular rebellion against tyranny. Smith, in his monumental Wealth of Nations, advocated liberty in the sphere of commerce and the global economy. Hume developed philosophical concepts that directly influenced James Madison and thus the U.S. Constitution. Herman elucidates at length the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment and their worldwide impact. In 19th-century Britain, the Scottish Enlightenment, as popularized by Dugald Stewart, became the basis of classical liberalism. At the University of Glasgow, James Watt perfected the crucial technology of the industrial Revolution: the steam engine. The "democratic" Scottish system of education found a home in the developing U.S. This is a worthwhile book for the general reader, although much of the material has been covered better elsewhere, most recently in T.M. Devine's magisterial The Scottish Nation: A History, 1700-2000 and Duncan A. Bruce's delightful The Mark of the Scots. (Nov.)Forecast: Clearly modeling this title on Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization, Crown may be hoping for comparable sales but probably won't achieve them.

Copyright 2001 Cahners business Information, Inc.

The information on Chinese medicine is useful for helping to diagnose health imbalances, especially nascent illnesses. It's smartly paired with the whole-foods program because the Chinese have attributed various health-balancing properties to foods, so you can tailor your diet to help alleviate symptoms of illness. For example, Chinese medicine dictates that someone with low energy and a pale complexion (a yin deficiency) would benefit from avoiding bitter foods and increasing "sweet" foods such as soy, black sesame seeds, parsnips, rice, and oats. (Note that the Chinese definition of sweet foods is much different from the American one!)

Pitchford says in his dedication that he hopes the reader finds "healing, awareness, and peace" from following his program. The diet is certainly acetic by American standards (no alcohol, caffeine, white flour, fried foods, or sugar, and a minimum of eggs and dairy) but the reasons he gives for avoiding these "negative energy" foods are compelling. From the adrenal damage imparted by coffee to immune dysfunction brought on by excess refined sugar, Pitchford spurs you to rethink every dietary choice and its ultimate influence on your health. Without being alarmist, he adds dietary tips for protecting yourself against the dangers of modern life, including neutralizing damage from water fluoridation (thyroid and immune-system problems may result; fluoride is a carcinogen). There's further reading on food combining, female health, heart disease, pregnancy, fasting, and weight loss. Overall, this is a wonderful book for anyone who's serious about strengthening his or her body from the inside out. --Erica Jorgensen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Midwest Book Review
Healing with Whole Foods contains a wealth of information on health, diet, alternative medicine, natural food presentation, and recipes, researched by an expert in the field. Readers will learn how to apply Chinese medicine and the five-element theory to a contemporary diet; treat illness and nervous disorders through diet; and make the transition to whole vegetable foods. The most detailed source book yet published on preparing food and eating consciously, Healing with Whole Foods includes complete sections on Ayurvedic principles of food-combining; the treatment of disease conditions through meals; transition from animal products to whole vegetable foods; micro-algae; selection of waters and salts; the extremely complex varieties of oils, sugars, and condiments; vitamins and minerals; fasting and purification; food for children, food presentation and proportions; vibrational cooking; the physiology of nourishment; color diagnosis and therapy; consciousness in diet changes; plus descriptions of the nature and uses of various grains, legumes, miso, tempeh, tofu, seaweeds, nuts and seeds, sprouts, and fruits. Also featured are sections on chutneys, relishes, pickles, different milks, rejuvelac, yogurt, salads, and desserts. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.