Simply brilliant investigative journalism. If you are not familiar with the story of Elizabeth Holmes and her medical/tech startup company, Theranos, Simply brilliant investigative journalism. If you are not familiar with the story of Elizabeth Holmes and her medical/tech startup company, Theranos, then I promise you, you are in for a wild ride. Prior to reading this, I had listened to ABC's true crime podcast, 'The Dropout', which tells the story of Holmes' rise to power and subsequent downfall. I think that's a good place to start if you're a bit wary of picking up a whole book on a subject you know nothing about, and it includes a bunch of interviews with key players as well. If however you're ready to dive in, John Carreyrou—the author of this book—has you covered. He is the Wall Street Journal journalist who cracked the case after being contacted by whistleblowers from within Therenos.
When my workplace book club selected 'Bad Blood' as its pick for November, I was a bit concerend I'd get a bit bored, being familiar with the case already. Not so! Being so close to the case and having already put in the work, Carreyrou is able to go into so much more detail than any podcast or televisual documentary about exactly what went wrong with Theranos. He's also really good at providing clear and concise descriptions of complex science, so you never get lost. The end result is a powerful, damning indictment of not only Theranos, but corporate investment and the legal system. How many other companies like Theranos are out there, preying on vulnerable people and terrorising their employees into secrecy?
Despite being a non-ficton book, the sheer contents of this case read like a compulsive thriller. It really does beggar belief just how far social engineering will get you in the business world and how unscrupulous people can be when it comes to people's health and lives if money is involved. It also highlights the importance of investigative journalism, media literacy, and why freedom of press is so essential.
Just all round good stuff. Can't recommend this book enough....more
Listened to as part of the 'My Dad Wrote A Porno' podcast. All new levels of hilariously awful. Where to begin? Distressed lettuce, Claus Bloch, conflListened to as part of the 'My Dad Wrote A Porno' podcast. All new levels of hilariously awful. Where to begin? Distressed lettuce, Claus Bloch, conflicts of interest and a sell-out show at the O2... Ever wondered how clothes get into charity shops? Look no further than this book!
I'm still traumatised by Belinda's Spiral Staircase....more
I got a bit bored, to be honest and so did not finish, but what I did read was quite interesting and useful. I'm pretty good at reading body language I got a bit bored, to be honest and so did not finish, but what I did read was quite interesting and useful. I'm pretty good at reading body language though, so it's not really anything new. It's more a case of me being more self-aware about what I do....more
ETA 15.07.2019: The year is now 2019 and honest to God, this is the only book I've ever owned that I've actually considered burning. Way back in 2ETA 15.07.2019: The year is now 2019 and honest to God, this is the only book I've ever owned that I've actually considered burning. Way back in 2013, 24-year-old me could have never dreamed of the dystopian nightmare that is Donald Trump in the White House and Ivanka Trump occupying some vanity position within it -- they were just some people I watched on a reality TV show on the tele. The review I wrote below makes me cringe now, to read it, honestly, but I shan't delete it, because it's obviously what I thought at the time.
I bet Ivanka didn't even write this and got some ghostwriter to write it like her dad did.
Original Review:
I confess that I have a little bit of a girl-crush on Ivanka Trump. I am a firm fan of the American version of The Apprentice and over the course of the few series I have watched, I have always been impressed by Ivanka's acute business acumen and obvious talent coupled with her ability to look so effortlessly glamorous, charismatic and compelling all the time -- effectively she is everything I aspire to be in business. On the other hand she is undeniably privileged and lucky enough to be born into an extremely wealthy, well-placed family, so of course she's going to have had a massive leg up somewhere... Ivanka spends much of the book effectively apologising for being born wealthy and stressing how hard she has worked in order to obtain what she has achieved and why she is qualified to give advice, and often this felt unnecessary. If anything it kept drawing my attention to the fact that she works for her father, has been exposed to all his ridiculously influential and wealthy contacts from a young age and has a famous name to band about to get what she wants. As I said before, I have great admiration for Ivanka. If I wasn't interested it what she had to say, I wouldn't have bothered reading this book.
More often than not though Ivanka knuckles down to offering some serious and extremely useful business advice for young women looking to forge their early career path in a desirable direction, such as myself. The chapters that dealt specifically with the business environment, such as interviewing tips, the art of negotiation and keeping your options open when scouting about for your first job definitely rang true with me as a fairly recent graduate currently making her way through the precarious male-dominated world of finance! I also feel like I've definitely taken on some of her advice in terms of the way I present myself at work and how to be assertive without being aggressive in order to get the most out of my job. Since I've read this book I've noticed a real change in my attitude to change at my job as well. Generally a lot of really great stuff has come out of me reading this book.
Other parts however really rubbed me up the wrong way, most notably her advice to go to the office for a couple of hours on a Sunday. Whilst I see the benefits of doing a little bit of prep work for the week ahead at the weekend, I'm sure it must be very easy for Ivanka to do this given that she lives within the very building that she works in and doesn't have to do a one and a half hour commute into the city like myself!! I also disagreed with her views on non-conservative dress within the workplace. Whilst I agree that you should dress professionally at work and make an effort with your appearance, I also believe that there is room for a bit of creativity. My superiors truly do not care that I dye my hair a bit of a too-bright red and wear the odd weird necklace; if anything, coupled with the fact I'm good at my job, it helps me stick out from the crowd and I'm always the one that people remember within my immediate team.
There were a couple of nice family anecdotes in here as well that I could really relate to. Ivanka seems to have a similar relationship with her father as I do with mine, and given that Donald Trump is one of my father's business heroes, the parallels left me feeling warm and fuzzy inside (it was in fact my dad who bought this book for me, and he even asked Ivanka to sign it!).
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't perfect and did whiff a bit of privilege, but Ivanka makes some good points and her words have definitely had an effect on the business side of my life. She's still one of my business heroes and I love her....more
