Quick Read

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers From Everybody Else
By Geoff Colvin
With everything from houses to 401(k)s (as well as collateralized debt obligations) turning out to be worth a whole lot less than it used to be, it's perhaps unsurprising that talent turns out to be overvalued as well. Fortune writer Colvin convincingly argues that top performers in business as well as in sports, in science and in the arts owe their success to the intense practice of key skills rather than to some unique genius. And it's true that means anybody can emulate those habits. But Colvin is less persuasive when he suggests that starting practice early in life is crucial, After all, that doesn't offer much to all those now confronting the need to start over in an environment where old skills may not matter a whole lot.

Deadly Decisions: How False Knowledge Sank the Titanic, Blew Up the Shuttle, and Led America Into War
By Christopher Burns
Burns, a newspaper executive turned information-management consultant, nicely recounts the long and dishonorable history of how smart people in big organizations have time and again convinced themselves and others that doing risky things is wise and prudent behavior. Unfortunately, he offers fewer insights into why nobody ever seems to learn much from the list of disasters that inevitably result. And while his claim that the structures of our brains are inherently ill suited to consistently turn piles of random information into smart decisions is worth pondering, his research to back it up is skimpy.

The Ten Roads to Riches
By Ken Fisher with Lara Hoffmans
Many are familiar with Fisher, either from his Forbes column or from the volume of junk mail that his money-management firm issues. They'll find themselves on familiar turf here as he maps his 10 routes to riches with his trademark combination of enthusiasm touched with a whiff of crassness and his peculiar gift for making you think he may actually be on to something. Some of his ideas (marry for money, become a celebrity or a CEO) may not seem either desirable or realistic, and his thoughts on the potential lucre to be gained managing other people's money look a bit dated right about now. Even so, his skills as a salesman do set a hook.