{"id":64804,"date":"2022-04-06T21:28:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T01:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=64804"},"modified":"2022-04-19T12:37:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T16:37:29","slug":"business-adventures-by-john-brooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What can you learn from <em>Business Adventures<\/em> by John Brooks? Is the book still relevant, after all these years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Business Adventures<\/em> is a collection of essays about the unpredictability of corporations and Wall Street\u2014and the people behind them. Through 12 in-depth essays, longtime <em>New Yorker<\/em> contributor John Brooks examines how businesses and economies can rise and fall based on people\u2019s behavior, which is often driven by emotions, habits of thinking, and human tendencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more for an overview of this business classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-business-adventures-by-john-brooks\"><em>Business Adventures<\/em> by John Brooks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Some might say that the book, published in 1969, is outdated, but Microsoft\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gatesnotes.com\/Books\/Business-Adventures\">Bill Gates believes otherwise<\/a>. Calling <em><em>Business Adventures<\/em><\/em> by John Brooks the \u201cbest business book ever,\u201d Gates says that despite the many changes in the business landscape since the book came out, the fundamentals of business remain the same. Thus, Brooks\u2019s insights about human nature and the inner workings of Wall Street remain relevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In our guide, we explore how human nature led to corporate scandals, stock market setbacks, and major events that shaped the financial world as we know it. We\u2019ve grouped Brooks\u2019s subjects according to theme (which we\u2019ve called \u201ctruths\u201d), included commentary about their immediate and lasting effects, and compared them to more recent events. Here&#8217;s a synopsis of the six truths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-truth-no-1\">Truth No. 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>People can be irrational, leading to disastrous decisions. <\/strong>Brooks provides a couple of scenarios that show how letting gut reactions override logical thinking can lead to dire results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Collective panic can rock the stock market. <\/strong>Brooks\u2019s first essay illustrates how emotions can drive market behavior, making the stock market inherently unpredictable. As an example, he cites May 28, 1962, when the stock market saw a sharp drop reminiscent of the crash of 1929, leading to widespread panic.<\/li><li><strong>Even individuals can greatly affect the market. <\/strong>Offering further proof that people are the stock market\u2019s most volatile component, Brooks recaps how a man from Memphis named Clarence Saunders \u201ccornered\u201d his own company\u2019s stock, meaning he obtained enough shares to give him the power to manipulate its price. It wasn\u2019t a calculated move on his part; it was a reaction to Wall Street speculators who had planned an attack on his company, a chain of supermarkets called Piggly Wiggly.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-truth-no-2\">Truth No. 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Success can make people complacent. <\/strong>People can spend years working hard to achieve success, then relax once they get there. Brooks describes how this complacency can make you blind to threats and weaknesses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Some companies stop innovating once they\u2019ve achieved success. <\/strong>Brooks writes about how Xerox\u2019s commitment to innovation led to its success and how its subsequent neglect of innovation led to its decline.<\/li><li><strong>Big egos can make people feel invincible. <\/strong>Ford Motor Company wasted millions of dollars on the Edsel, a car that is considered one of the biggest product launch failures of all time. Brooks posits that there were a number of factors behind the Edsel\u2019s failure. First, the timing was bad. The Edsel might have been what consumers were looking for in 1955, but the market had changed by the time it was released in 1957. Second, the car itself was mediocre. Third\u2014and perhaps the most damning\u2014the egos of Ford\u2019s executives, designers, and marketers blinded them to the actual demands of the market. Even though the company conducted extensive market research to determine what kind of car consumers were looking for, designers went ahead and created a car based on what they <em>thought<\/em> consumers would like.<\/li><li><strong>Stockholders remain indifferent as long as they\u2019re making money. <\/strong>Brooks reflects on how stockholders theoretically hold the power in corporations since they can vote for the board of directors and hold them accountable. However, he notes that most stockholders have no interest in exercising this power\u2014they\u2019re largely docile as long as they receive their dividends.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-truth-no-3\">Truth No. 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>People will take advantage of a complex system to get ahead. <\/strong>Laws and regulations are meant to protect citizens and create an egalitarian society, but they\u2019re often so complicated that people are able to circumvent them on technicalities. In the following essays, Brooks writes about the ways people have exploited loopholes for their personal gain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Rich people find creative ways to minimize their income tax. <\/strong>Brooks traces the roots of the federal income tax and discusses how the wealthiest people can get away with paying hardly anything at all.<\/li><li><strong>People use unclear regulations to their advantage. <\/strong>In addition to exploiting income tax loopholes, people also generously misinterpret ambiguous laws for their personal gain. To illustrate this, Brooks writes about a landmark insider trading case against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/whats-insider-trading\/\">Texas Gulf Sulphur<\/a> Company, in which the law\u2019s definitions of \u201cmaterial evidence\u201d and \u201ca reasonable amount of time\u201d were put to the test.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-truth-no-4\">Truth No. 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>People tend to copy what others are doing\u2014even when it\u2019s illegal. <\/strong>While laws and regulations on taxation and insider trading can be somewhat open to interpretation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/executive-order-14036\/\">antitrust laws<\/a> are more unambiguous: Section 1 of the Sherman Act of 1890 explicitly states that any act restraining trade is considered illegal. One such act is price-fixing, which happens when companies collude to increase their profits by agreeing on a price instead of competing for contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-truth-no-5\">Truth No. 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>One person\u2019s battle can set a precedent. <\/strong>Though laws and regulations can shift based on the whims and follies of Wall Street\u2019s big players, Brooks writes that even one individual can change the legal landscape. In this essay, he discusses a landmark case involving a man named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/trade-secret-case\/\">Donald W. Wohlgemuth<\/a>, whose employer tried to prevent him from accepting another job offer because he had knowledge of trade secrets. The case generated a lot of interest as its outcome would influence other people\u2019s employment terms\u2014if they knew trade secrets, did that mean that they were tied to their employer for life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-truth-no-6\">Truth No. 6<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>People can be good, too. <\/strong>Brooks also writes about a few cases when institutions and individuals acted for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Financial institutions are willing to absorb a loss for the sake of the greater good. <\/strong>Brooks writes about two instances when institutions came together and funded what amounted to bailouts to prevent financial crises. The first case was when the NYSE rescued one of its member firms from the brink of insolvency; the second case was when some of the world\u2019s biggest central banks tried to save the pound sterling from devaluation.<\/li><li><strong>Some people on Wall Street aren\u2019t purely profit-driven. <\/strong>The people of Wall Street may have a reputation for pursuing profits at all costs, but Brooks says that there are those who\u2019ve managed to balance this pursuit with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-sense-of-purpose\/\">a sense of purpose<\/a>. In this essay, he profiles <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/david-lilienthal\/\">David E. Lilienthal<\/a>, former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and, later, chairman and CEO of the Development &amp; Resources Corporation (D &amp; R).<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What can you learn from Business Adventures by John Brooks? Is the book still relevant, after all these years? Business Adventures is a collection of essays about the unpredictability of corporations and Wall Street\u2014and the people behind them. Through 12 in-depth essays, longtime New Yorker contributor John Brooks examines how businesses and economies can rise and fall based on people\u2019s behavior, which is often driven by emotions, habits of thinking, and human tendencies. Read more for an overview of this business classic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":64810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,45,81],"tags":[607],"class_list":["post-64804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-business","category-economics","tag-business-adventures","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bill Gates called Business Adventures by John Brooks the \u201cbest business book ever.\u201d Learn the six truths about Wall Street from this classic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bill Gates called Business Adventures by John Brooks the \u201cbest business book ever.\u201d Learn the six truths about Wall Street from this classic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-07T01:28:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-19T16:37:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-07T01:28:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-19T16:37:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/\"},\"wordCount\":1148,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Business Adventures\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Business\",\"Economics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/\",\"name\":\"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-07T01:28:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-19T16:37:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"Bill Gates called Business Adventures by John Brooks the \u201cbest business book ever.\u201d Learn the six truths about Wall Street from this classic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview - Shortform Books","description":"Bill Gates called Business Adventures by John Brooks the \u201cbest business book ever.\u201d Learn the six truths about Wall Street from this classic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview","og_description":"Bill Gates called Business Adventures by John Brooks the \u201cbest business book ever.\u201d Learn the six truths about Wall Street from this classic.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-04-07T01:28:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-19T16:37:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview","datePublished":"2022-04-07T01:28:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-19T16:37:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/"},"wordCount":1148,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg","keywords":["Business Adventures"],"articleSection":["Books","Business","Economics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/","name":"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg","datePublished":"2022-04-07T01:28:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-19T16:37:29+00:00","description":"Bill Gates called Business Adventures by John Brooks the \u201cbest business book ever.\u201d Learn the six truths about Wall Street from this classic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-adventures-by-john-brooks\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Business Adventures by John Brooks: Book Overview"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/illustration-of-man-in-business-suit-holding-economic-graph.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64804"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64853,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64804\/revisions\/64853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}