The grisly facts on taxes

REVIEWS BY STEPHANIE SWILLEY

Already dreading having to send a check to Uncle Sam? BookPage has the perfect book to inspire you to get started on those tax returns. Explore the weird world of the IRS in Richard Yancey's Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man's Tour of Duty Inside the IRS and we promise you'll never miss a tax deadline again.

Yancey, an English major who took seven years to graduate from college, tells the bizarre story of how he went from actor wannabe to Revenue Officer (don't call them tax collectors) after answering a newspaper ad on a whim. A sarcastic, tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy, Yancey fit right in with his first boss (a suspected Wiccan priestess) and training officer (a certifiable body building fanatic).

Not surprisingly, the IRS has a rule for everything, but the most important are these: #1 document everything and #2 shred everything. What is surprising is how workers get sucked into the system, learning to speak the IRS language of acronyms and numbers while losing the ability to think independently. As Yancey writes, the "system was designed in such a way as to completely remove our judgment from the process." Instead, Revenue Officers follow the four protocols: "Find where they are. Track what they do. Learn what they have. Execute what they fear."

The book is funny in a "thank God that's not me!" way, while at the same time being downright frightening. In the first case Yancey handled, he was faced with seizing the home of a down-on-her-luck daycare owner, and the cases only get more bizarre and pitiful as he uncovers child abuse and the mob. These guys are bullies, and you'll want to avoid a run-in with any of the slightly deranged, power-tripping tax hounds profiled here.


On the front lines of the cola wars

Thirsting for another exposé? Check out The Real Thing: Truth and Power at the Coca-Cola Company. After following the company for the past five years, New York Times writer Constance L. Hays gives the not-so-pretty facts behind the legend of the world's most famous brand.

Coke is truly a 300-pound gorilla on the supermarket shelves, and the guys running the show love nothing more than throwing their weight around. Hays deftly presents the account of the company men who lusted after global domination and the lengths they have gone to in an effort to wipe out the competition. Each chapter is a mini-story, which can leave you hanging as Hays moves to a new subject, but the decades-long conflict with Coke bottlers, the New Coke fiasco and the wars with the pesky Pepsi are fascinating reading.


Good business: time is money

A friend of mine is always complaining about needing a personal assistant. Her car is a mess, she carries a 50-pound purse, and palm pilots, cell phones and bigger briefcases have failed to bring order to her chaos. If that situation sounds familiar, consult Brian Tracy's new book, Time Power, which promises to give you two extra productive hours per day.

No time to read a book, you say? That's one of the first mental barriers to get past, says Tracy, because to keep up, you should be reading one hour a day in your chosen field. The book delivers a lecture about writing down goals and gives an overabundance of "16 ways to do this" and "8 steps for that," which can feel overwhelming. But the topics are great—getting yourself organized, overcoming procrastination and avoiding major time wasters—so you can pick and choose which chapters apply to you. My favorites include the 45-file system, tips on squeezing maximum productivity out of air travel (getting the right seat is key) and essential project management skills (a chapter that alone is worth $25).

Tracy's favorite bit of advice is to make sure you get up early (5:30 or 6 a.m. at least) and spend the first hour of your day, the "golden hour," on yourself. Follow the action exercises at the end of each chapter, and soon you'll be more productive at work and home.


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