Review: As Veias Abertas da América Latina

As Veias Abertas da América Latina by Eduardo Galeano
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Relato perturbador da evolução da América Latina nos últimos 500 anos em termos económicos e sociais. 

É um livro bastante provocador, bem escrito e fundamentado que nos apresenta a maldição que a riqueza dos recursos naturais da América Latina gerou no seu desenvolvimento. 

É uma critica profunda ao colonialismo histórico (de Espanha, Portugal, Inglaterra e Holanda) e o comportamento actual dos EUA, como potência dominante 

Basta 30% daquilo que foi apresentado, em especial nos últimos 50 anos do livro ser veraz para nos deixar incomodados e a pensar no contexto da geopolítica global actual (e não parece ser algo totalmente irrealista). 

Por vezes senti-me incomodado durante a leitura com as situações descrita pela sua dureza e aderência à realidade e porque as justificações apresentadas têm sentido e não parecem despropositadas e com uma coerência assustadora. 

Dito isto, devemos tratar o apresentado com pensamento critico e buscar versões contrárias para poder formar a nossa opinião de uma forma equilibrada, por exemplo as alternativas apresentadas com "idílicas" também não o são, como podemos ver nos exemplos de Cuba, Venezuela e Bolívia.

Esse enviesamento é notório (até justificável na altura em que foi escrito -qual grito de revolta) e devemos estar conscientes do mesmo para não sermos dogmáticos no nosso pensamento. 

Foi um livro que gostei muito de ler, que recomendo a todos (progressistas e conservadores:-) ) e que me deu uma perspectiva diferente, lúcida e acutilante sobre um problema que viveu e vive a América Latina, África e por vezes e em parte podemos constatar também na Europa. 

ps- a tradução não é a melhor e foi feita em Português-Brasileiro, logo caso o possam ler em Espanhol ou outra versão com uma traduçao melhor seria aconselhável.

View all my reviews

Review: Due Diligence: The Critical Stage in Mergers and Acquisitions

Due Diligence: The Critical Stage in Mergers and Acquisitions by Peter Howson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Read this book to get a quick refresher and also to allow me to structure my knowledge on Due Diligence. I achieved both objectives. Not bad!

The book is a good guidance on the subject and makes you think through different lenses/areas of expertise the basics of this important and more often than not difficult phase of every M&A project.

It provides you practical watch-outs and leads you through the main areas of a Due Diligence and presents the main objectives, activities that should be undertaken & discloses the main risks and concerns.

For the areas where you are not an expert, it brings awareness of what you should expect and allows you to have an educated conversation with the subject matter expert on the required deliverables.

The check lists presented are a good tool, nonetheless the main one on appendix A should have been organized by area and not has it was disclosed (it seems randomly made).

Finally, i think what is called Commercial Due Diligence should have been named Strategic Due Diligence and the area of Risk is clearly lacking inputs and it's significantly below the other chapters of the books.

ps - due to the author nationality, the subjects presented are clearly skewed from an UK perspective, but that does not undermines the quality and insights conveyed.





View all my reviews

Review: Managing Risk and Uncertainty

Managing Risk and Uncertainty by Richard Friberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I took a couple of days after reading this book to provide my rating and this review. I did it on purpose so i could mature the idea of what to write and how to rate it. Looking back it was a wise decision as the rating will be higher today if i did it immediately after (in fact would be a 3,5 stars).

I got this book by chance, while looking for books on risk, and the thing that made me read it was its synopsis and coming from MIT press, most probably I'm one of the few that did it (looking at goodreads jhistoric and even the information available on Amazon).

So why did i like it:
- Presented in an operational framework on how to think about risk and uncertainty and how to manage it, through different lenses and specific areas within a company;
- Ran through several areas related with risk & uncertainty (finance, economics, pricing, forecasting, behavioral science) explaining the basics and also disclosing the sources of it synthesis that allows a interested reader to deepen his knowledge in case he finds it appropriate (i will do it myself in a couple of areas);
- Disclosed the how the author thinks and approaches risks and uncertainty and you can use (always adding your critical reasoning and experience) to your day-to-day live. The 4 main strategies are a great starting point, at least how to structure it
- It requires (and can be a severe handicap for the ones not with sufficient literacy) at least a intermediate level of economic and finance knowledge to not get lost in quite a few areas. It made me revisit several concepts that i did not thought and operacionalize for a long time.

What i did not like:
- the books loses when it tries to be also a text book. Gets caught on the midst of a technical book with a specific body of knowledge, and a text book to support specific lectures on risk and uncertainty;
- The online resources are not currently available, that hamper the full resources that should be available;
- The examples that are quite good and insightful but could be complemented with additional examples (fully explained and resolved) and solution on the online resources.

I do think it was time worth spent reading it and for people that would like to broaden their horizons on this topic I do recommend its reading. I know that I will use specific areas of knowledge presented on my daily professional activity.


View all my reviews