The Book of Questions: Business, Politics, and Ethics

By Gregory Stock

Right to life, or abortion rights. Whistle-blowing. Does everyone have a price? The most difficult and revealing of all questions are questions of ethics-easy to answer from afar, but impossible when you're in the thick of it. From the author of the 1.9-million-copy bestselling The Book of Questions , here are 300 primary and follow-up questions on commerce and politics that probe deeply into our conflicts between ideals and reality, and help us sound our own morals. Put principles to the test: If you knew you could double your money in two years by investing in a company whose activities you strongly disapprove of, would you? Examine basic beliefs: If you knew you would not produce anything of real significance in your life, how would it change your goals and attitudes? Fantasize about power: If you could determine who could immigrate here, would you let in those who would contribute the most to our country or those most in need of refuge? Define convictions: If you were certain someone convicted of armed robbery would never commit another crime, would you choose a punishment that involved no prison sentence? Perhaps even rehearse for tomorrow: What would you do if after shaking hands on a deal for an item you are selling, someone else offers you twice as much? Fuel those all-to-rare talks that go deep into the night-and explore and refine your values. 106,000 copies in print.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156305034X
• ISBN13: 9781563050343
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Workman Publishing
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

WONDERFUL LITTLE THOGHT PROVOKING BOOK

This little book is great on so many levels. It consists of, as the title would indicate, of questions concerning Business, Politics and Ethics. There are a total of 223 questions. The book is completely and absolutely nonjudgemental, as it gives no answers to the questions nor does it supply any opinions. This job is left up to you! The questions are well written and very plane it that they are, at first glance simple. Far from it. When you read one of the questions here, you will have almost an instant "gut" reaction, or instant answer, but, after giving it some thought, you will find you self thinking, "hey, this is not as easy as I thought." This is a wonderful book for group discussions, but beware, some of the questions could be discussed for days and days, answers would change and opinions swayed...it is just that type of book. I love to brouse through it, read a question, and then just think, asking myself questions about the questions asked. The issues addressed here are ones we face on a daily basis in our society and are not particularly addressed only to business and politics. Highly recommend this one!

Get Thinking

Far too many of us wait until faced with an ethical dilemma before figuring out what our personal ethical stand is. This book, used correctly, provides the opportunity to flex your brain muscle and reflect on your ethical perspective before it becomes necessary. I use it to challenge my site management team every morning with great effect. The only criticism I would have is that some questions while provacative are not for the meek. Great job Mr Stock

Thoughtful, thought-provoking, and non-judgmental

The original "Book of Questions" made a good conversation-starter and, in my opinion, inspirational tool for writing or journaling. "The Book of Questions: Love and Sex" is better for helping you to see your own relationship values and how they may be helping and harming you and your loved one, and it can also be used to help open up communication in a relationship if approached carefully. "The Book of Questions: Business, Politics and Ethics," on the other hand, is perhaps best for pushing you to explore your own moral values and how well you're living up to them. What's most impressive about this is that very few of the questions seem to imply a "right" answer or try to push some sort of specific realization, and even those that do sort of come across that way don't have to be read in that way. Dr. Stock specifically says that he doesn't want to push an agenda--he merely wants to spur people to think more carefully about what it is they're doing and why. The questions run the gamut from economic programs to health care, international policy to business. There are questions about hiring and firing employees, stealing from or betraying employers, tradeoffs in public programs and government spending, and so on. Many of the questions seem particularly relevant to today's political situations. While I wasn't as fond of the tradeoff questions in the "Love and Sex" book, I think that in this one they come across much better. Somehow they end up feeling less arbitrary and more like realistic quandaries. Dr. Stock tries not to give us easy questions with easy answers, instead forcing us to truly think about the hard issues.

Great Book to Test Your Ethics and Values

I have the screen saver version of this book, which is integrated with the original The Book of Questions for Windows computers. The graphics and sound effects are great and I get lots of people in the office asking me about it. It's a real head turner that engages people in conversation.