OCR Text |
Show MaEsMaOalaR scat). Cooper is opinionated, frank, and has a great story to tell. The only problem is thal people arc going lo remember this book for another reason entirely: Gordon Cooper believes in the existence of L'f Os. and he devotes almost a third of (he book to this subject. As a (rained aerospace engineer, a pilot, and an astronaut, he makes a good circumstantial case for UFOs. Cooper claims to have seen, and even chased, flying saucers as a jet pill stationed along the Iron Curtain in (he early 1950s. He also relates tales passed on to him from the brotherhood of pilots, and tells an LEAP OF FAITH Astronauts Journey Into the Unknown An By Cordon Cooper with Bruce Henderson HarperCeSes, $25 tS8N 0060194162 EE3 526.95, ISBN 156SUJ799 RCVICW BY 1AM ES NEAL WEB8 hen you examine (he life of a hero, you almost always find a story more complex than (he one you anticipated. 71k- - most common perception of Gordon Cooper is that he seas a fighter jock who became an astronaut His W story of disappearing L'FO pictures. After his retirement from NASA he gets involved with esoteric research, first with Disney, then on his own. and becomes acquainted with people of dubious credibility in his search for new technologies. Note to Col. Cooper As the Amazing Randi would tell you. bending spoons is a tnclc. and if anyone uses (his as an introduction. you should take anything they say thereafter with a grain of salt. To his credit, while he's willing to listen to incredible stones, he always maintains some skepticism. As a child of the "60s. I remember how much (he astronauts meant to me; Gordon Cooper was one of my hemes. After reading Leap of Faith, he still is. wisc-crjck-i- ness autobiography. I.eap a different of Faith, tells story Coopers father seas a military pilot and an attorney: his mother was a teacher who also losed to fly. He was raised in rural Oklahoma during the Depression, but due to his father's military career, he had an amazing list of acquaintances As a child he had a crush on Amelia futian and swapped stones with Wiley Post, he was flying when most kids his age were learning to ndc bikes. le-aof Faith is full of fascinating anecdotes about the early days of the space program (yes. it's true thal while waiting for his Faith 7 Mercury capsule lo be launched, the cocky and relaxed fighter jock actually fell asleep in his Jamet Seal HrW write t from Sashville. id r 1 0M. w '' G ' Don't Die Broke Mm C r Ov 0we W w U N4 At : pm kov to fcsrci W tL Lla, ft tJfem L 2 irds by BY L THOMAS umWrto Cruz penvmal fraw $55 95 FSHJeJ J.PnnH WOOD the business of funding start-u- p ventures has a theory: Entrepreneurs are a force of nature. Hypothesize all you want about the effects of tax incentives or bureaucratic disincentives on capital formation, he says the fact is, people start businesses, often against all good judgment, because A friend in Dc Lucas instructions: Ready, Fire, Aim! If youre wrong, youll get it right on the rebound. A guy who ran a company for six years before he learned what a financial statement was would not seem to be an ideal business professor, but DcLucas street smarts have overcome his lack of book learning. And Start SmaO is much more than one sandwich vendor's tale of success. Its an engaging narrative that tells aspiring business people things they need to know, without either speaking over their heads or talking down to them They'll find it a they just have to. I think he's right. Entrepreneurship seems to be a constant in today's society, if only because there arc always some people too ornery to work for others. The market conditions of the moment don't seem to make a great difference. For all adulation heaped on the dot com instant zillionaircs in the past few years, bootstrap capitalism of the old style continues to flourish and probably generates much more aggregate wealth in the Amcncan pop-cultu- re economy. If hardscrabble business folk are bom, not made, then maybe they don't need guidebooks. But winning entrepreneurs know they don't know it all, and they seek out both expertise and inspiration in die stones of those who have gone before them This month's featured titles offer both of those elements in nourishing read Dorothy Perrin Moore addresses a wide range of women's workstyles and lifestyles in Camxprtncurs Lessons from Leading Women Entrepreneurs on Building a Career Without Boundaries (Davies-BlacS28.95, spades. For a healthy serving of small business common sense, pick up Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start and Run Your Own Successful Business, by Subway sand-ich chain Fred DeLuca. w ith John P. Hayes (Warner Books, S25.95, ISBN 0446524026 J. Dc Luca's own story is entertaining: Starting at age 17 with SI. 000 of someone else's money and a blissful ignorance of the obstacles facing him, DeLuca built a multinational corporation w ith annual sales of ov er S3 IlkkfHH IlnM It billion. Equally fascinatthe are however, ing. book's talcs of other f Aw I b 9 flMA adventurous ventures that illustrate object lessons LSBN 0891061444 j. We all have our boundaries in life, whether corporate hierarchies, gender roles, or our own aspirations and limitations are to blame for them Moore dissects the structures that create boundaries, and she shows, by example, how those boundaries can be surmounted She has plenty of evidence to support her assertions, since the number cf women succeeding in an variety of businesses has risen dramatically over the past two decades. Moore defines women's entrepreneurship as broadly as possible. Thus, her book's role models represent many different approaches lo achieving in the workplace. There are intentional entrepreneurs" and lifetime business owners" who take linear V their toward paths goals, and then there are delayed entrepreneurs" who enter the workplace after raising families, as well as orgamalKinal entrepreneurs" who emerge after years of toil within corporations One type of entrepreneur, in fact, remains within the corporate walls the intrapreneur." who creates an enterprise F herself as part of a larger organiatum. In expk ring these and other modes of self m x naied wrrk. Moire provides thoughtful analysis of tie merits of each Cl in entrepreneurship. In each chapter. Del-uc- a pairs his own experience in a particular field of business w nh the experiOMIHV I ence of another business ow ncr who has succeeded agaimz die odds. These chapters take on issues (hat arc far from obvNxiv to most rookies Ca in punt: When should you go in die bank? Do you go when you need lo borrow money? Certainly rue DeLuca argues. You hr-romoney when tunes are pood, so you'll have access lo A when times get lean And how do you make key business dcs isveis' Gadicr all required data and come to a reasoned judgment? Nope Analysis paralysis will do you in real-worl- 1 1 n it vt Entrepreneurial exertions -- 0 h BaUBSalsNaEaSaS KHZ! lA mnre-or-lc- ss (continued on neil pane) |