Antilogic: Why Businesses Fail While Individuals Succeed

Antilogic is the opposite to logic, not the absence of logic as in random or chaotic events but the mirror image of logic, in a similar relationship that antimatter has to matter. It is the systematic pursuit of a course of action that may on the surface appear rational or impressive but in reality is little more than a generator of vapour. As with a looking-glass, if the reality and its mirror image meet they negate each other.

The word, 'Antilogic' has very early origins having been associated with the Sophists in ancient Greece. It is, however, alive and strong in the modern world of business and finance. All too frequently people have difficulty in distinguishing logic from Antilogic and cash from Vapourcash. Most people will be familiar with examples of Antilogic, such as share prices that drop on good results and poor managers who are given golden farewells or large salary increases while good staff is worked to exhaustion.

This thought-provoking book challenges conventional wisdom and helps readers to see through the vapour. It sweeps through time and over continents, from the Yap islanders to the English mercantilists, from Groucho Marx to the indigenous peoples of Papua New Guinea. The author's wide-ranging knowledge and his astute business expertise will challenge, delight and inform the reader.