Rating: 
Summary: An unexpected wow
Review: I got this book because somebody at work kept talking and laughing about it, so I had to see for myself. I hadn't heard of the author, or his site, Satirewire. But, and I mean this, wow. This book is just great.I'm trying to think of parallels for Economy of Errors, and while parts are like the Onion, other parts are like Monty Python, and other parts (particularly some of the charts, like "Job Performance as a Percentage of Cheese" or "Should Marty Xerox Egypt?") are like nothing else I've ever seen or read. One thing is I can say: Economy of Errors turns business and technology on its head, and does it in a way that's really accessible to pretty much anyone. Well, almost anyone. To really "get" some of the pieces, such as one ("Unfinished Is Good for Business") that talks about how Ford starting sending out unfinished cars so "end users" could find the bugs, it would help if you were familiar with how software companies send out "beta" versions and let users help find the bugs. But most of the book is hilarious even if you aren't completely versed in business. Even if you don't know that companies often send executives on team building retreats where they all are faced with some challenge, like climbing a mountain together, the story "Swimming with the Sharks" (executives "grow together" by spending 48 hours in the Pacific fending off shark attacks using pencils) will have you on the floor. There are I don't know how many great stories in here, but overall, I'd have to say I never realized business could be so incredibly funny.
Rating:
Summary: Douglas Adams would be pleased
Review: I have not been this happy to read a humour book since I first read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Economy Of Errors is entirely different in approach, of course, as it is more direct satire and substitutes story volume for plot, but it has that same irresistible combination of silliness and insight. I have always wondered if somebody could pick up where Doug Adams left off, and while I frankly don't think anyone can, I actually would not be entirely offended if this author, Andrew Marlatt, at least gave it a try.
Rating:
Summary: Can Americans be funny?
Review: I have now read a bit about Mr. Marlatt from his Website, SatireWire.com, where I was most surprised to learn that despite his tremendous sense of humour, wonderful timing, and impressive knowledge of the world, he is, nonetheless, an American. That Economy of Errors is written in "American" English should be a giveaway, and indeed most of the stories in this book make light of business in America. Yet he does not fail to include a wealth of nations in his stories, such as "Enron Admits It's Really Argentina," or "French Strike for Greater Productivity." And pieces such as the dream dates of CEOs, in which, among others, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch fantasizes about skinny-dipping with the head of Viacom, is absolutely Pythonesque. But one of my favourite examples is a piece entitled "Suspicious America Wonders: Is World Putting U.S. Interests First?" in which President Bush accuses other nations taking a rather myopic economic worldview instead of stepping back and looking at the broader American economic view. The story goes on to note: "If this troubling trend continues, Bush warned, the United States will be forced to 'take its ball and go home.' Asked exactly what ball he was referring to, Bush replied: 'It's big and blue and we all live on it.'" Who knew Americans could be so funny? Perhaps he was adopted. Whatever the truth, I couldn't recommend a book more highly.
Rating:
Summary: LOL - A book that leaves no stone unskewered
Review: I haven't hand-counted, but just glancing through Economy of Errors, I see that Marlatt has managed to make fun of: Big business, small business, high-tech people, low-tech people, parents, children, men, women, Ralph Nader, Bill Gates, cows, classical music, rap music, golf, drugs, chickens, Americans, Europeans, Australians, South Americans, Asians, Middle Easterners, cubists, Princess Diana, and the King of Belgium. He doesn't do this in one story. It takes a couple hundred pages, and several hundred stories, to get his points across. But the bottom line is, if you have a passing knowledge of business, and anything resembling a sense of humor, this book is a winner.
Rating: 
Summary: This is exactly what we need
Review: I know manuscripts are turned in well before the book comes out, but Andrew Marlatt must be able to see the future, because this book is exactly what we need right now. With all the bizarre headlines in the news, (which his site, Satirewire.com, covers with a vengeance) I found myself laughing at the very people, ideas, and attitudes that we see on the news. The book goes into great, hilarious detail on some of these very issues, like lousy earnings and massive cutbacks and the silly marketing tricks companies use to appear to get ahead. Only this guy makes it funny and smart. The piece about theglobe.com, whose CEO insists you should not focus on globe earnings because "they suck," had me in tears. I can't say I'm sad when I put down the newspaper every day, but I was sad when I got to p. 192 of this book and there wasn't any more to read.
Rating:
Summary: Laughing out loud in public
Review: I was laughing from page one, but it was the Employee Slapping story (pp. 31-32) that made me realize this was no ordinary book. The premise: During the late 1990s, the labor market was tight and employees got to make absurd demands on employers for flex time and stock options and the like. In real life, as in the story, this caused stress in the workplace for some managers or long-timers who resented the concessions new hires were getting. So Marlatt has companies institute "employee slapping policies" where you can slap anyone under you any time you want and, as the story says, 'literally feel the tension fly right off your fingertips." Better yet, the policies are motivational. You want a promotion, not for the money, but because you get to slap more people beneath you and have fewer people above you who get to slap you. As one guy says, "Right now, in my department, I've got six people under me. That's only six people I can slap. My boss, he has 96 people under him. I want his job." The book is spilling over with stories like that, and most of them are pretty short. It's a great beach read, if you don't mind laughing out loud in public.
Rating:
Summary: Outstandingly funny and even poignant
Review: I was surprised when I read this because I really thought The Onion was the only place that did this kind of thing. But this book is great. The style is different, much more featurey in some parts, and almost Pythonesque in others. It's also different in that while the headlines themselves are funny, e.g., "Chrysler Recalls Ford Minivans" or "Shooting at Virtual Office Leaves 3 As Good As Dead, 6 Tantamount to Wounded"), the stories get even funnier as they go on. And while it's absurd, it's definitely a history of the New Economy with stories about the beginnings of Netscape, the mad dotcom rush, the horrible fall from grace (including a story about refugee camps set up for dotcommers where the refs from AltaVista turned out to be particularly useless: "We sent them out for sticks to make a fire, and they came back with Thai sticks, Stickley furniture, and Old Styx albums.") I know these guys (Satirewire) have a web site, but their stuff was made for print. It's just hysterically funny stuff.
Rating:
Summary: A business classic
Review: I'm giving this baby five stars, but I should say it's probably not for people over, say, age 60 who don't know or haven't followed much the world of business in the last 10 years. For everyone else, this book is an absolute classic, and probably the funniest thing I have read in years. I've read a few places where people say Economy of Errors is funnier than Dilbert, but it's not like Dilbert at all. Dilbert is a one-off running joke. This book has a little of everything: funny images, funny illustrations, and hundreds of stories that quite literally have had people around the office fighting over it. (Yes, even to take to the bathroom.) Certainly it's Onionesque in parts, with some great headlines ("Survey: Majority Of Web Users Are FBI Agents Posing As Teenage Girls"), but it's much more in-depth, and more memorable because of it. I will never forget reading about "employee slapping" policies, or how Toys R Us, long known for its distinctive backwards R, decided to turn around its T and its U as well to get three times the brand recognition. My only advice is, don't loan the book out. Make people get their own.
Rating:
Summary: Oh the Things You Can Learn!
Review: If you have a job, once had a job, or someday would like to get a job, I think Economy of Errors is a must-read. Why? Because no matter how bad things get, you can always flip to one of the pages and crack up. Your company come up with an insanely silly marketing program? Not as insanely silly as Kmart, who in Economy of Errors decide to give refunds to shoplifters. Your company trying to find a way to cut production costs? Learn from Ford Motor Co., which decided to send unfinished cars to customers, a.k.a. "end users" and let them find all the bugs. Want to find out how to get a promotion without really deserving it? Seven words: "Your Boss, a Hooker, and a Camera." I think that's a real strength of the book: taking a lot of the trends and attitudes we see in business every day and just pushing it to the extreme, with some extremely funny writing. And just the way it covers the whole Internet sector -- for instance, eBay has to lay off employees, but decides to auction them off instead, pairing each of them with a fine collectible -- is a scream. A weakness? It jumps around a bit more than I'd like -- business does too, but it could have had more continuity, I guess you'd call it. And I felt like some of the stories should have had follow up pieces about them in later "years." (The book is laid out as if it is nine or ten annual issues of a magazine called Business Month Weekly.) This was done a bit. The story about AT&T laying off 120 percent of its workforce was followed, in the next year's issue, with the story "AT&T Ceases to Exist." But it wasn't done enough. I wish I could adequately explain the "charts" in the book, but there's no way. They're ingeniously funny and as far off the wall as you can possibly get short of LSD. Overall, a dangerously addictive read. If I could write like this, I'd probably have a lot more friends. They'd all live with me in the mental ward, but I'd have a lot more friends.
Rating:
Summary: Laugh-out-loud funny!
Review: If you like the online versions of Satire Wire, Valley of the Geeks or The Onion, you'll love this book. Economy of Errors includes some of the best stories from the online version that spoof the high-tech business and business in general. This is a great gift for anyone who has become skeptical of big business, eBusiness and all the buzzwords out there. Plus, Andrew's humor is never bitter or jaded. He's just got a keen eye for the ridiculous. I guarantee you'll be laughing out loud with this one.
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