What do you think?
Rate this book
A Bigger Prize: When No One Wins Unless Everyone Wins
One of the 100 best behavioural economic books of all time recommended by Jeff Bezos, Tim Ferriss, Satya Nadella, Brian Tracy and Erik Brynjolfsson.
The Olympics. Britain's Got Talent. The Rich List. The Nobel Prize.
Everywhere you competition - for fame, money, attention, status.
We depend on competition and expect it to identify the best, make complicated decisions easy and, most of all, to motivate the lazy and inspire the dreamers. How has that worked out so far?
Rising levels of fraud, cheating, stress, inequality and political stalemates abound. Siblings won't speak to each other they're so rivalrous. Kids can't make friends because they don't want to cede their top class ranking to their fellow students. (Their parents don't want them to either.) The richest men in the world sulk when they fall a notch or two in the rich list. Doping proliferates among athletes.
Auditors and fund managers go to jail for insider trading. Our dog-eat-dog culture has decimated companies, incapacitated collaborators and sown distrust. Winners take all while the desire to win consumes all, inciting panic and despair.
Just as we have learned that individuals aren't rational and markets aren't efficient but went ahead operating as though they were, we now know that competition quite regularly doesn't work, the best do not always rise to the top and the so-called efficiency of competition throws off a very great deal of waste. It might be comforting to designate these 'perverse outcomes' but as aberrations mount, they start to look more like a norm.
It doesn't have to be that way. Around the world, individuals and organizations are finding creative, collaborative ways to work that don't pit people against each other but support them in their desire to work together. While the rest of the world remains mired in pitiless sniping, racing to the bottom, the future belongs to the people and companies who have learned that they are greater working together than against one another. Some call that soft but it's harder than anything they've done before. They are the real winners.
The Olympics. Britain's Got Talent. The Rich List. The Nobel Prize.
Everywhere you competition - for fame, money, attention, status.
We depend on competition and expect it to identify the best, make complicated decisions easy and, most of all, to motivate the lazy and inspire the dreamers. How has that worked out so far?
Rising levels of fraud, cheating, stress, inequality and political stalemates abound. Siblings won't speak to each other they're so rivalrous. Kids can't make friends because they don't want to cede their top class ranking to their fellow students. (Their parents don't want them to either.) The richest men in the world sulk when they fall a notch or two in the rich list. Doping proliferates among athletes.
Auditors and fund managers go to jail for insider trading. Our dog-eat-dog culture has decimated companies, incapacitated collaborators and sown distrust. Winners take all while the desire to win consumes all, inciting panic and despair.
Just as we have learned that individuals aren't rational and markets aren't efficient but went ahead operating as though they were, we now know that competition quite regularly doesn't work, the best do not always rise to the top and the so-called efficiency of competition throws off a very great deal of waste. It might be comforting to designate these 'perverse outcomes' but as aberrations mount, they start to look more like a norm.
It doesn't have to be that way. Around the world, individuals and organizations are finding creative, collaborative ways to work that don't pit people against each other but support them in their desire to work together. While the rest of the world remains mired in pitiless sniping, racing to the bottom, the future belongs to the people and companies who have learned that they are greater working together than against one another. Some call that soft but it's harder than anything they've done before. They are the real winners.
449 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2014
41 people are currently reading
620 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Heffernan
37 books154 followers MARGARET HEFFERNAN is an entrepreneur, Chief Executive and author. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge University. She worked in BBC Radio for five years where she wrote, directed, produced and commissioned dozens of documentaries and dramas.
As a television producer, she made documentary films for Timewatch, Arena, and Newsnight. She was one of the producers of Out of the Doll's House, the prize-winning documentary series about the history of women in the twentieth century.
She designed and executive produced a thirteen part series on The French Revolution for the BBC and A&E. The series featured, among others, Alan Rickman, Alfred Molina, Janet Suzman, Simon Callow and Jim Broadbent and introduced both historian Simon Schama and playwright Peter Barnes to British television. She also produced music videos with Virgin Records and the London Chamber Orchestra to raise attention and funds for Unicef's Lebanese fund.
Leaving the BBC, she ran the trade association IPPA, which represented the interests of independent film and television producers and was once described by the Financial Times as "the most formidable lobbying organization in England."
In 1994, she returned to the United States where she worked on public affair campaigns in Massachusetts and with software companies trying to break into multimedia. She developed interactive multimedia products with Peter Lynch, Tom Peters, Standard & Poors and The Learning Company.
She then joined CMGI where she ran, bought and sold leading Internet businesses, serving as Chief Executive Officer for InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and iCAST Corporation.
She was named one of the Internet's Top 100 by Silicon Alley Reporter in 1999, one of the Top 25 by Streaming Media magazine and one of the Top 100 Media Executives by The Hollywood Reporter. Her "Tear Down the Wall" campaign against AOL won the 2001 Silver SABRE award for public relations.
Her third book, Wilful Blindness (Simon&Schuster in the UK, Bloomsbury in the US, Doubleday in Canada) was a finalist for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Best Business Book award and, in 2014, the Financial Times named it one of its "best business books of the decade.” Her next book A Bigger Prize (Simon&Schuster in the UK, Public Affairs in the US and Doubleday in Canada) won the Transmission Prize. Her most recent book Beyond Measure : The Big Impact of Small Changes was published in 2015. Her TED talks have been seen by over 5 million people. She has been invited to speak at all of the world’s leading financial services businesses, the leading FTSE and S&P corporations as well as the world’s most successful sports teams. She continues to advise private and public businesses, to mentor senior and chief executives and to write for the Financial Times and Huffington Post.
As a television producer, she made documentary films for Timewatch, Arena, and Newsnight. She was one of the producers of Out of the Doll's House, the prize-winning documentary series about the history of women in the twentieth century.
She designed and executive produced a thirteen part series on The French Revolution for the BBC and A&E. The series featured, among others, Alan Rickman, Alfred Molina, Janet Suzman, Simon Callow and Jim Broadbent and introduced both historian Simon Schama and playwright Peter Barnes to British television. She also produced music videos with Virgin Records and the London Chamber Orchestra to raise attention and funds for Unicef's Lebanese fund.
Leaving the BBC, she ran the trade association IPPA, which represented the interests of independent film and television producers and was once described by the Financial Times as "the most formidable lobbying organization in England."
In 1994, she returned to the United States where she worked on public affair campaigns in Massachusetts and with software companies trying to break into multimedia. She developed interactive multimedia products with Peter Lynch, Tom Peters, Standard & Poors and The Learning Company.
She then joined CMGI where she ran, bought and sold leading Internet businesses, serving as Chief Executive Officer for InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and iCAST Corporation.
She was named one of the Internet's Top 100 by Silicon Alley Reporter in 1999, one of the Top 25 by Streaming Media magazine and one of the Top 100 Media Executives by The Hollywood Reporter. Her "Tear Down the Wall" campaign against AOL won the 2001 Silver SABRE award for public relations.
Her third book, Wilful Blindness (Simon&Schuster in the UK, Bloomsbury in the US, Doubleday in Canada) was a finalist for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Best Business Book award and, in 2014, the Financial Times named it one of its "best business books of the decade.” Her next book A Bigger Prize (Simon&Schuster in the UK, Public Affairs in the US and Doubleday in Canada) won the Transmission Prize. Her most recent book Beyond Measure : The Big Impact of Small Changes was published in 2015. Her TED talks have been seen by over 5 million people. She has been invited to speak at all of the world’s leading financial services businesses, the leading FTSE and S&P corporations as well as the world’s most successful sports teams. She continues to advise private and public businesses, to mentor senior and chief executives and to write for the Financial Times and Huffington Post.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 9, 2016
As an undergrad enrolled in Game Theory class, there was a lot of talk about competition vs. cooperation. Although cooperation would nearly always yield a better outcome in those theoretical scenarios, it seemed to defy the way human nature worked in reality. A Bigger Prize turns that assumption on its head. Not only does Heffernan provide evidence that competition is not as productive as it is often touted to be, she also provides inspiring examples that show what has already been accomplished by good collaborators. She argues powerfully for dispensing of the idea that we are stuck in a zero-sum game (in order for me to win, you have to lose). Instead, she proposes and supports with evidence that greater outcomes (or bigger prizes) can be enjoyed by both of us when we work together.
Heffernan covers a wide variety of industries: education, music, entertainment, academia, medicine, scientific research, plant and animal farming, pharmaceuticals, and even religion. The recurring pattern that emerges from these examples is that competitive models promote conformity, cheating, fraud, selfishness, and risk intolerance. Conversely, cooperative models promote creativity, innovation, a higher degree of investment and accountability, intrinsic motivation to produce quality work/products, and freedom. Cooperative models aren’t without challenges, however. They require good communication, units that are small enough to safely fail, willingness to share resources, and most importantly of all, TRUST. A cooperative environment, therefore, has the best chance to solve our modern world’s most complex problems.
Heffernan covers a wide variety of industries: education, music, entertainment, academia, medicine, scientific research, plant and animal farming, pharmaceuticals, and even religion. The recurring pattern that emerges from these examples is that competitive models promote conformity, cheating, fraud, selfishness, and risk intolerance. Conversely, cooperative models promote creativity, innovation, a higher degree of investment and accountability, intrinsic motivation to produce quality work/products, and freedom. Cooperative models aren’t without challenges, however. They require good communication, units that are small enough to safely fail, willingness to share resources, and most importantly of all, TRUST. A cooperative environment, therefore, has the best chance to solve our modern world’s most complex problems.
December 12, 2017
Any book that takes you two years to read without fundamentally changing your life (for the better), should be, in my view, criticised harshly.
What an amazing premise of a book, in a world where everyone strives to do better and compete between themselves no matter the negative consequences, this book seems timely and starts to reflect on whether this is the best way to approach life.
It then waffles, in detail, for what seems like aeons on a series of topics that vaguely resemble the premise of the book. The first chapter is great, but then it takes us into specific peoples' relationships which frankly, we don't really care about, and seems to take odd examples to prove a very vague point.
Whilst I agree with Margaret, I don't think the case is well argued.
What an amazing premise of a book, in a world where everyone strives to do better and compete between themselves no matter the negative consequences, this book seems timely and starts to reflect on whether this is the best way to approach life.
It then waffles, in detail, for what seems like aeons on a series of topics that vaguely resemble the premise of the book. The first chapter is great, but then it takes us into specific peoples' relationships which frankly, we don't really care about, and seems to take odd examples to prove a very vague point.
Whilst I agree with Margaret, I don't think the case is well argued.
August 7, 2021
Ý nghĩa của toàn bộ cuốn sách có thể được tóm tắt trong câu trích dẫn sau: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Thú thật, với 1 đứa rất thích cạnh tranh như mình thì khi bắt đầu đọc 1 cuốn sách giải thích "tại sao cạnh tranh không phải là tất cả", mình vô cùng hoài nghi và thậm chí nghĩ đây sẽ là 1 dạng biện hộ cho sự yếu kém nào đó. Nhưng không, ngay từ chương đầu tiên khi tác giả mô tả hành vi đứa con trai cả trong 1 gia đình có 3 anh chị em cố tranh giành miếng bánh quy to nhất (dù gia đình nó chẳng hề thiếu thốn), mình đã thật sự bị bất ngờ về bởi tính cạnh tranh dễ nhận thấy ở chúng ta như thế nào.
Chúng ta cạnh tranh với anh chị em khi còn nhỏ, với bạn bè ở trường học, với đồng nghiệp ở công ty và thậm chí với cả vợ chồng khi ở nhà. Chúng ta sống trong 1 xã hội được thiết kế theo quy luật "winner takes it all". Và điều đó gây nên gian lận, bất công, tham nhũng, phá hoại mọi mặt của cuộc sống từ học tập, thể thao, nghệ thuật, công sở đến đời sống cá nhân của chúng ta.
Mỗi chương của sách là về 1 khía cạnh cạnh tranh trong mỗi mặt của cuộc sống, được lồng ghép bởi những ví dụ minh họa sinh động cũng như các giải pháp để chống lại nó. Phần Lan đã bỏ hẳn thi cử điểm số để phát triển giáo dục như thế nào. Các công ty như Morning Star, Gore với 1 mô hình quyền lực phẳng đã cho mọi người có thể hợp tác và sáng tạo ra sao. Đọc quyển sách này giúp mình nhận biết thêm những yếu tố để đánh giá thế nào là 1 công ty có môi trường làm việc tốt cho những quyết định sự nghiệp cho tương lai.
Có thể nói đây là quyển sách mình enjoy 1 cách bất ngờ và làm thay đổi suy nghĩ của mình nhiều nhất trong vài năm trở lại đây. Dĩ nhiên, cạnh tranh vẫn là nguyên tắc phát triển và sống còn của đa số mọi thứ bởi vì cuộc sống vốn ko phải là thiên đường như người Cộng sản vẫn mơ tưởng. Tuy nhiên, con người cần biết giới hạn sự cạnh tranh ở 1 mức phù hợp, và quan trọng hơn là biết hợp tác để cùng nhau đạt được phần thưởng lớn hơn cho tất cả chúng ta.
Thú thật, với 1 đứa rất thích cạnh tranh như mình thì khi bắt đầu đọc 1 cuốn sách giải thích "tại sao cạnh tranh không phải là tất cả", mình vô cùng hoài nghi và thậm chí nghĩ đây sẽ là 1 dạng biện hộ cho sự yếu kém nào đó. Nhưng không, ngay từ chương đầu tiên khi tác giả mô tả hành vi đứa con trai cả trong 1 gia đình có 3 anh chị em cố tranh giành miếng bánh quy to nhất (dù gia đình nó chẳng hề thiếu thốn), mình đã thật sự bị bất ngờ về bởi tính cạnh tranh dễ nhận thấy ở chúng ta như thế nào.
Chúng ta cạnh tranh với anh chị em khi còn nhỏ, với bạn bè ở trường học, với đồng nghiệp ở công ty và thậm chí với cả vợ chồng khi ở nhà. Chúng ta sống trong 1 xã hội được thiết kế theo quy luật "winner takes it all". Và điều đó gây nên gian lận, bất công, tham nhũng, phá hoại mọi mặt của cuộc sống từ học tập, thể thao, nghệ thuật, công sở đến đời sống cá nhân của chúng ta.
Mỗi chương của sách là về 1 khía cạnh cạnh tranh trong mỗi mặt của cuộc sống, được lồng ghép bởi những ví dụ minh họa sinh động cũng như các giải pháp để chống lại nó. Phần Lan đã bỏ hẳn thi cử điểm số để phát triển giáo dục như thế nào. Các công ty như Morning Star, Gore với 1 mô hình quyền lực phẳng đã cho mọi người có thể hợp tác và sáng tạo ra sao. Đọc quyển sách này giúp mình nhận biết thêm những yếu tố để đánh giá thế nào là 1 công ty có môi trường làm việc tốt cho những quyết định sự nghiệp cho tương lai.
Có thể nói đây là quyển sách mình enjoy 1 cách bất ngờ và làm thay đổi suy nghĩ của mình nhiều nhất trong vài năm trở lại đây. Dĩ nhiên, cạnh tranh vẫn là nguyên tắc phát triển và sống còn của đa số mọi thứ bởi vì cuộc sống vốn ko phải là thiên đường như người Cộng sản vẫn mơ tưởng. Tuy nhiên, con người cần biết giới hạn sự cạnh tranh ở 1 mức phù hợp, và quan trọng hơn là biết hợp tác để cùng nhau đạt được phần thưởng lớn hơn cho tất cả chúng ta.
September 11, 2024
The purpose of "A Bigger Prize" is to show that many forms of competition, many of which are systemic, have caused excessive harm in individuals and in many societies. There are also many good counter-examples of how collaboration has been a successful alternative to competitive environments.
Many examples of competitiveness are examined in the book: sibling rivalry, school grades, taking sports competition to extremes, the science community, the arts, and of course, many employers.
Many chapters begin with some hard and nasty facts but they finish with positive counter-examples. At first, it feels like "here we go again: the world is going to hell in a handbasket"; but fortunately, there are some very encouraging examples of families, schools, communities, and employers who have found peaceful, collaborative ways of working and which are quite successful in many ways.
The book seems too long at times and it could have been condensed. But for anyone interested in a better planet, it is a good read. Even at the individual level, its positive message can give one peace of mind. Its message is that there really are good alternatives to hyper-competition in every area of life no matter how much we've all been brainwashed. It's not just a fantasy. - dbamateurcritic
Many examples of competitiveness are examined in the book: sibling rivalry, school grades, taking sports competition to extremes, the science community, the arts, and of course, many employers.
Many chapters begin with some hard and nasty facts but they finish with positive counter-examples. At first, it feels like "here we go again: the world is going to hell in a handbasket"; but fortunately, there are some very encouraging examples of families, schools, communities, and employers who have found peaceful, collaborative ways of working and which are quite successful in many ways.
The book seems too long at times and it could have been condensed. But for anyone interested in a better planet, it is a good read. Even at the individual level, its positive message can give one peace of mind. Its message is that there really are good alternatives to hyper-competition in every area of life no matter how much we've all been brainwashed. It's not just a fantasy. - dbamateurcritic
September 23, 2025
It's cool to champion collaboration over competition and argue that cooperative efforts yield greater societal benefits. I'm on board 100%...if it weren't for that thing called human nature. We are inherently wired to compete, driven by instincts that fuel ambition and progress. At least the ones of us that end up moving the needle are. While the call for unity is appealing, I don't see any solid suggestions on how to get past that fundamental trait. Until human nature evolves to embrace a utopian "kumbaya" ideal, competition remains a powerful motivator. All in all, good thought-provoking insights, but I feel it underestimates the complexities of our drive to strive.
March 27, 2020
Not bad
February 23, 2017
This isn't just a book. It's a tsunami. A cavalry over the horizon. Heffernan writes for the London Financial Times and, last time I looked, she was feeding them healthy portions of Dweck!
August 4, 2014
In one line, Collaboration > Competiton. Superb book about how competition has become the default motivator in most aspects of life, especially work and education, but it has failed us: competition is designed to benefit the few, and often produces cheating, corruption, subversion, silence, and disenchantment. "It's why companies have armies of brilliant people, only to feel disappointed by what they produce."
Competition also produces status, and there is a great section that recounts Norwegian zoologist Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe, who studied chickens from the age of 6, writing down his discoveries about their hierarchy. Realizing that all flocks had a despot, or dominant member, and a vertical set of relationships under her, which determined when each chicken could eat, he discovered 'hackordnung', or 'pecking order.'
She discusses sibling rivalry, relationships, sports, science, and most prominently work as areas that had all been weakened due to competition. She excoriates companies who use forced-ranking review methods and management teams who view shareholder value as the only reason for companies to exist. Furthermore, she gives great examples of companies who are employee owned, typically manage in groups no larger than Dunbar's number of 150, and can focus on longevity, serve employees and customers alike, and make difficult decisions like reducing their environmental impact (industrial carpet maker Interface). WL Gore, Ocean Spray(choosing to remain a co-op rather than sell to Pepsi), Method (dish soap), RW Baird all singled out for doing business in a different way. Design thinking celebrated. Finnish education system celebrated.
Big banks (size for size's sake, esp RBS), Pharma companies (copycat products, not real r&d). factory farms lambasted and even Joel osteen's mega church comes in for some interesting analysis, as their goal to be the biggest means they can't purvey any real message, all it can do is sell itself.
Competition also produces status, and there is a great section that recounts Norwegian zoologist Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe, who studied chickens from the age of 6, writing down his discoveries about their hierarchy. Realizing that all flocks had a despot, or dominant member, and a vertical set of relationships under her, which determined when each chicken could eat, he discovered 'hackordnung', or 'pecking order.'
She discusses sibling rivalry, relationships, sports, science, and most prominently work as areas that had all been weakened due to competition. She excoriates companies who use forced-ranking review methods and management teams who view shareholder value as the only reason for companies to exist. Furthermore, she gives great examples of companies who are employee owned, typically manage in groups no larger than Dunbar's number of 150, and can focus on longevity, serve employees and customers alike, and make difficult decisions like reducing their environmental impact (industrial carpet maker Interface). WL Gore, Ocean Spray(choosing to remain a co-op rather than sell to Pepsi), Method (dish soap), RW Baird all singled out for doing business in a different way. Design thinking celebrated. Finnish education system celebrated.
Big banks (size for size's sake, esp RBS), Pharma companies (copycat products, not real r&d). factory farms lambasted and even Joel osteen's mega church comes in for some interesting analysis, as their goal to be the biggest means they can't purvey any real message, all it can do is sell itself.
August 27, 2016
This book was really enlightening, and exciting. Through many examples, Margaret Heffernan shows the destructive nature of the extreme competition that prevails in nearly all aspects of western society today. Competition at all costs leads to corruption, cheating, secrecy, exploitation, a deadening conformity and loss of creativity, an externalising of costs to the environment and the defenceless, and it prevents us from coming up with constructive solutions to the many complex problems facing us in the modern world.
But the book is not just a critique - she comes up with plenty of examples of people and organisations that have chosen an alternative way - businesses that embrace protecting the environment, like Interface; mediators that negotiate better solutions to difficult issues like asbestos compensation, industrial accidents and family feuds; creative public research projects like the Human Genome project which thrived on transparency and shared data; employee-owned businesses that are successful and innovative; small countries that punch above their weight due to their collaborative approach internationally and their far-sighted polices that downplay traditional measures of success like GDP.
I wish every politician could read this book, and remove the word "competition" from their rhetoric, replacing it with words like "collaboration", "consultation" and "consideration".
But the book is not just a critique - she comes up with plenty of examples of people and organisations that have chosen an alternative way - businesses that embrace protecting the environment, like Interface; mediators that negotiate better solutions to difficult issues like asbestos compensation, industrial accidents and family feuds; creative public research projects like the Human Genome project which thrived on transparency and shared data; employee-owned businesses that are successful and innovative; small countries that punch above their weight due to their collaborative approach internationally and their far-sighted polices that downplay traditional measures of success like GDP.
I wish every politician could read this book, and remove the word "competition" from their rhetoric, replacing it with words like "collaboration", "consultation" and "consideration".
April 11, 2015
Smart writing style and well researched and thought out premise. If we're constantly competing to be the best at everything (schools, research, jobs, industries, countries, most money, etc.) then we aren't stopping to think about how to work together to improve the systems we have. Heffernan talks about how the "race to the bottom" pulls everything to the lowest common denominator, so instead of improving a project for greater good, you might be dumbing things down, withholding important information or not sharing with another team of people who are just as close to solving a problem as you are. For industries such a medical research, this kind of thinking is detrimental. For education, it means students compete with one another for the top positions in school for the best college spots, and possibly cheat to get there--leading to a workforce that expects to do the same in the office. Competition widens the gap between the "haves' and the "have nots", introduces questionable ethics (think housing crisis) and rips apart our social fabric. Loved the points Heffernan brought up. Very interesting.
September 16, 2014
This book is an excellent read on why collaboration is good and most competition is bad. Competition in education and science increases the possibility cheating. Competition between businesses can be productive but within a business is destructive. Religion also comes under scrutiny. Even the competition in sports has negative effects. Heffernan fills the book with specific examples and references to scientific studies. She demonstrates how competition in business leads to humanitarian and environmental devastation while collaboration can promote happier and potentially better paid workers with less damage to the environment because the focus is on long term benefits as opposed to short term gain. It's an uplifting read but unfortunately demonstrates that change needs to be instigated from the top by an enlightened leader which, sadly, is unlikely to happen
November 20, 2014
There's a saying to goes something like this: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
That pretty well sums up the book. There is certainly a time and place for individual initiative and effort, but if that's your only play as a culture (ahem... looking at you, dear U.S. of A.) or an institution or an individual, you're soon going to be left behind by those who can play off each others' strengths.
Probably the most damning line of evidence that Heffernan trots out to show that our infatuation with competition is misplaced is in our schools and in scientific research. In both cases, competition has stifled creativity, open inquiry and led to a rash of cheating... hardly things that we should be aspiring to.
That pretty well sums up the book. There is certainly a time and place for individual initiative and effort, but if that's your only play as a culture (ahem... looking at you, dear U.S. of A.) or an institution or an individual, you're soon going to be left behind by those who can play off each others' strengths.
Probably the most damning line of evidence that Heffernan trots out to show that our infatuation with competition is misplaced is in our schools and in scientific research. In both cases, competition has stifled creativity, open inquiry and led to a rash of cheating... hardly things that we should be aspiring to.
September 27, 2014
While the topic of the book has been detailed in a number of previous works, the author does an excellent job bringing to light a number of examples of how competition destroys a number societal functions. The concept of collaboration is not just a socialistic concept, rather through things such as open source software projects we are seeing that collaboration can be used effectively by industry and the public for the common good. Quite enjoyed the book.
September 20, 2017
I'll pass on this one. It's one of those very long books that builds its case anecdotally. It reminds me of those irritating semi-documentaries that present a kaleidoscope of talking heads and leave you feeling vertiginous. It's a shame, since I agree with the author's point and therefore wanted to like the book. You may have more patience for this style of writing.
March 28, 2015
A very interesting book, which basically tells competition means that the world is going to hell on a handcart......and you can see that it is!!!! Looking forward to borrow her other book - Wilful Blindness.
November 16, 2014
Just heard the author's interview on The Brian Lehrer's show this morning on WNYC. She definitely has the right idea - I have to read it ASAP.
February 16, 2015
Wonderful insight and examples of why collaboration might often be better than competition. Highly recommended read.
April 18, 2016
Really enlightening and thought-provoking. Packed with great examples and stories to support the idea that collaboration > competition. Definitely worth the read.
Read
October 17, 2014658.046 H4613 2014
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews