Matthew Stewart

A former management consultant traces his rise as an unlikely business guru, sharing scathing critiques of popular business authorities from Frederick Taylor to Tom Peters while offering insights into the management industry itself.

Why the Experts Keep Getting it Wrong

The Management Myth

An analysis of the volatile relationship between and ongoing influence of Baruch de Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm Liebniz , cites their role at the center of intense religious, political, and personal battles at the onset of the modern age. Reprint.

Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World

The Courtier and the Heretic

The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture

9. 9 Percent

The Heretical Origins of the American Republic

Nature's God

“A devastating bombardment of managerial ¬thinking and the profession of management consulting. . . . A serious and valuable polemic.”—Wall Street Journal Fresh from Oxford with a degree in philosophy and no particular interest in business, Matthew Stewart might not have seemed a likely candidate to become a consultant. But soon he was telling veteran managers how to run their companies. In narrating his own ill-fated (and often hilarious) odyssey at a top-tier firm, Stewart turns the consultant’s merciless, penetrating eye on the management industry itself. The Management Myth offers an insightful romp through the entire history of thinking about management, a withering critique of pseudoscience in management theory, and a clear explanation of why the MBA usually amounts to so much BS—leading us through the wilderness of American business thought.

The Management Myth: Debunking Modern Business Philosophy

Discusses how America's revolutionaries—including Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine and Ethan Allen—were inspired by ideas that were ancient and pagan in nature, including the work of Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius and Dutch heretic Benedict de Spinoza. 20,000 first printing.

Excerpt from Remarks on the Subject of Language: With Some Observations in the Form of Notes, Illustrative of the Information Which Language May Afford of the History and Opinions of Mankind IT is necessary to remark, with respect to the nature of the evidence which the following pages alford of the conclusions deduced from them, that the question is not whether these conclusions are in every instance correct, or sufficiently borne out; it would be absurd to suppose that they were: with respect to particulars, facts unknown to me may exist which would modify or refute the inference. But the question is with respect to general results, whether such a concurrence in different languages, in different and remote portions of the earth, and at periods of the earliest antiquity, can by possibility be attributed to accident. This is proof, and the only species of proof of which such subjects admit. It has been justly and judiciously remarked by o'brien, the author of the Irish Dictionary, That it is a selfevident position that no language can have words significant of any such things, or modes of things, as the people who speak it never had any sort of knowledge of, by being objects either of their senses or their The very arbitrary and diversified principles on which the languages of the world have been constructed, and the general coincidence in the signs and things signified, evince the distance of the periods to which these common conceptions of things, and the use of the oral signs for them, are to be referred. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

With Some Observations in the Form of Notes, Illustrative of the Information Which Language May Afford of the History and Opinions of Mankind (Classic Reprint)

Remarks on the Subject of Language

"A trenchant analysis of how the wealthiest 9.9 percent of Americans -- those just below the tip of the wealth pyramid -- have exacerbated the growing inequality in our country and distorted our social values"--

The 9.9 Percent

"Night Fever takes you inside the world's most creative, most stylish and best designed bars and nightclubs. In each case study, the following are examined: the process of defining and prioritizing functions, making creative decisions, selecting materials that blend durability, affordability and glamour, and bringing in the intangible elements that make the difference between the simply fun and the full-blown fantastic. From India to the Arctic Circle, this selection of projects represents a broad cross section of bars, lounges, nightclubs and all the chimerical combinations in between, from colossal to cosy. On page after page, discover how leading architects and interior designers approach the challenge of creating spaces that keep on dazzling and delighting their guests long after opening night."--BOOK JACKET.

Interior Design for Bars and Clubs

Night Fever

The Distance of the Sun from the Earth Determined by the Theory of Gravity ...

With Some Observations in the Form of Notes, Illustrative of the Information which Language May Afford of the History and Opinions of Mankind

Containing, an Explication of Several Important Points in Physical Astronomy and a New Method for Ascertaining the Sun's Distance from the Earth, by the Theory of Gravity

Tracts, Physical and Mathematical

"Exhilarating…Stewart has achieved a near impossibility, creating a page-turner about jousting metaphysical ideas, casting thinkers as warriors." —Liesl Schillinger, New York Times Book Review Once upon a time, philosophy was a dangerous business—and for no one more so than for Baruch Spinoza, the seventeenth-century philosopher vilified by theologians and political authorities everywhere as “the atheist Jew.” As his inflammatory manuscripts circulated underground, Spinoza lived a humble existence in The Hague, grinding optical lenses to make ends meet. Meanwhile, in the glittering salons of Paris, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was climbing the ladder of courtly success. In between trips to the opera and groundbreaking work in mathematics, philosophy, and jurisprudence, he took every opportunity to denounce Spinoza, relishing his self-appointed role as “God’s attorney.” In this exquisitely written philosophical romance of attraction and repulsion, greed and virtue, religion and heresy, Matthew Stewart gives narrative form to an epic contest of ideas that shook the seventeenth century—and continues today.

The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World

Longlisted for the National Book Award. Where did the ideas come from that became the cornerstone of American democracy? America’s founders intended to liberate us not just from one king but from the ghostly tyranny of supernatural religion. Drawing deeply on the study of European philosophy, Matthew Stewart brilliantly tracks the ancient, pagan, and continental ideas from which America’s revolutionaries drew their inspiration. In the writings of Spinoza, Lucretius, and other great philosophers, Stewart recovers the true meanings of “Nature’s God,” “the pursuit of happiness,” and the radical political theory with which the American experiment in self-government began.

Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic

A scorching, trenchant, analysis of how the wealthiest group in American society is making life miserable for everyone—including themselves. In 21st century America, the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution have walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90% have lost ground. What’s left of the American Dream has taken refuge in the 9.9% that lies just below the tip of extreme wealth. Collectively, the members of this group control more than half of the wealth in the country—and they are doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece of the action in an increasingly unjust system. They log insane hours at the office and then turn their leisure time into an excuse for more career-building, even as they rely on an underpaid servant class to power their economic success and satisfy their personal needs. They have segregated themselves into zip codes designed to exclude as many people as possible. They have made fitness a national obsession even as swaths of the population lose healthcare and grow sicker. They have created an unprecedented demand for admission to elite schools and helped to fuel the dramatic cost of higher education. They channel their political energy into symbolic conflicts over identity in order to avoid acknowledging the economic roots of their privilege. And they have created an ethos of “merit” to justify their advantages. They are all around us. In fact, they are us—or what we are supposed to want to be. In The 9.9 Percent, Matthew Stewart argues that a new aristocracy is emerging in American society and it is repeating the mistakes of history. It is entrenching inequality, warping our culture, eroding democracy, and transforming an abundant economy into a source of misery. He calls for a regrounding of American culture and politics on a foundation closer to the original promise of America.

The Truth about Everything is an approach to the history of philosophy from well outside the modern institutional framework of knowledge. With an unusually frank and irreverent style, using parables, imaginary dialogues, and illustrations, Matthew Stewart picks apart the myths which make up widely accepted versions of the history of philosophy and offers in their place a realistic assessment of individual philosophers and schools and their contributions to the advance of human knowledge and happiness. This dramatic recasting of the history supports two theses: First, rational consciousness is not, as the usual story has it, the outcome of a historical process and the sole property of the Western tradition. Second, philosophy is not a specialized, professional discipline with privileged access to reason, knowledge, and/or virtue. Stewart suggests instead that philosophy is a general disposition, an attitude of respect and love for knowledge, which can be made a part of anyone's life, at any time.

An Irreverent History of Philosophy, with Illustrations

The Truth about Everything

Twilight manager. Il crepuscolo del management. Perché gli esperti di business continuano a sbagliare tutto?

Christiane P. Staninger

A handbook to Hemingway's famous collection of short stories that emphasizes its status as a modernist masterwork.

Matthew Stewart

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