Opportunity: Optimizing Life's Chances [Hardcover]

Donald Morris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2006

Can you recognise an opportunity when it comes your way? Even though the concept seems fairly basic, most people harbour regrets about missed opportunities that in retrospect might have significantly improved their lives. This book will give you the critical tools to sort through the complexities that often obscure the perception of an opportunity and help you take full advantage of what author Donald Morris calls 'high-end opportunities' - pivotal situations that can change your life for the better. Morris begins by developing a model of opportunity in the abstract, analysing its elements and the contexts and frameworks that affect our recognition of opportunities. Drawing from a wide range of applications, including investing, business, law, criminology, gambling, and even religion, he shows how opportunities can be defined in various contexts. He also examines highly undesirable situations, where opportunity is lacking, such as poverty and historical instances of slavery, to further illustrate, by way of contrast, the defining characteristics of opportunity. How does a significant opportunity differ from a simple option? How does taking advantage of opportunities differ from being an opportunist? Does our ability to predict the future affect our opportunities? What do we mean by equality of opportunity? By addressing these and other probing questions, Morris shows how to develop more critical perceptions of real opportunities.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Donald Morris, CPA, Ph.D. (Los Alamos, NM), is associate professor of accounting and chair of the department of advanced business studies at Eastern New Mexico University. A former owner of a private accounting firm and instructor of philosophy, he is the author of Dewey and the Behavioristic Context of Ethics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 461 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1st edition (April 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591024021
• ISBN-13: 978-1591024026
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,146,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Currently teaching as an Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Don has logged 20 years as a teacher, eight teaching philosophy (PhD in Philosophy from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale) and the rest teaching accounting and business ethics (Masters in Taxation from DePaul University, Chicago). Between teaching posts, he spent 18 years as a practicing CPA in Chicago. Don lists among the memorable events of his 65 years, in no particular order: Teaching ethics at the Marion Federal Prison (Marion, IL); Being defeated for State Controller of Illinois by Roland Burris in a landslide; Studying philosophy under John Hospers at California State University, Los Angeles; Seeing Raphaello's The School at Athens in Rome; Helping to raise five children who value education; Hiking up Mt. Halla, Jeju Island, Korea; Completing the Chicago Marathon in 3 hours, 25 minutes; Starting a CPA firm from scratch and increasing sales by five times over ten years; Enjoying the company of four happy grandchildren; Attending Chicago White Sox Mark Buehrle's perfect game; Winning $16,000 on a $2 trifecta-box at Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico; Living in California for six weeks on $60 in 1964; Writing Opportunity: Optimizing Life's Chances in Los Alamos, NM(www.Opportunitybook.com). Forthcoming book: Tax Cheating: Illegal--But is it Immoral? (An ethical investigation of cheating the Internal Revenue Code. See promotional website at www.taxcheating.org)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious exploration for serious readers, January 23, 2007

By 

Neil R. Lichtman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Opportunity: Optimizing Life's Chances (Hardcover)

The title of this book may lead you to believe it's a self-help book. My bet is that it was not written with that first in mind. However, anyone who reads it can benefit from a self-help point-of-view. Actually, this book is an exhaustive examination of the concept of "opportunity." It is so exhaustive, that I might add that it also is exhausting but, well worth it. I read it all, but I confess to jumping around. Some of the chapter titles grabbed me instantly. Others could wait.

There seems to be a genre of books that take an idea, and works it nearly to death (so to speak.) Shorter books like Zero or Salt come to mind. Their length and style aim at a popular audience. The length and style of Opportunity aims at a more diligent audience, one that isn't afraid to delve deeply. While "only" 394 pages, these are tightly written, closely argued pages...not breezy reading.

A somewhat lengthy quote from the Introduction will give you a sense of how deep this is:

"Our recognition of opportunity is affected by (1) the problems we face and the
nature of those problems, (2) our notion of sacrifice, (3) how we evaluate risk, (4)
how we perceive time, (5) what conditions we believe will improve out life, (6)
the techniques we use to predict the future, or at least the specific outcomes of
our actions, (7) our susceptibility to feelings of regret and remorse, and (8) the
causal influences we believe operate in the world - laws of nature, divine
providence, occult forces, fate, and so on."

The author then goes on to create an approach that deconstructs opportunity so you know it when you encounter it. The five components are: (1) the role of time, (2) the role of sacrifice, (3) the role of risk, (4) the existence of a catalyst, and (5) the possibility of regret or remorse.The book contains tons of examples...some from real life, some from literature so well known that the points come across clearly.

When it came to issues, my favorite explorations were:

The difference between "regret" and "remorse."
The difference between "opportunity costs" and "sunk costs."
The difference between "opportunity" and "opportunism."
Where opportunity exists and doesn't exist in a discussion of poverty.
How opportunity presents itself in theological and philosophical systems from
Calvinism to Existentialism.
What we do as humans to either take advantage of an "opportunity" or "never
miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" (not the author's phrase, but one
that's popular now to describe various political groups.)

The author looks at the issue of opportunity from many perspectives: business, legal, social policy, economic policy, criminology, religion, just to name a few. If any of those areas are passions to you, you'll find this book worth your time.

This book will have a prominent place on my bookshelf. For some, it's the kind of book you want people to know you've read. While that applies to me, more importantly, it's the kind of book I want to recall that I, indeed, have read, and have used to help me in discussions/debates with friends and foes.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YES WE CAN!, October 22, 2009

By 

W. Sheridan "Epistemological Entrepreneur" (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Opportunity: Optimizing Life's Chances (Hardcover)

Although the term "opportunity" is bandied about very frequently, few have bothered to deconstruct the concept so that we could understand what it is, how it works, and what its limits are. Now Morris has done all of this, and more!

First and foremost, for "opportunity" to be a useful term it must have conditions and components. There are four conditions: (1) a framework consisting of the worldview of the society or situation wherein opportunities occur; (2) the existence of a real problem;
(3) the must be something of value to be gained by action (or lost through inaction); and (4) there must be a choice (or choices) available regarding the appropriate action to be taken.

The components of opportunity are equally crucial, and there are five of them: (i) there must be a risk regarding both action and non-action; (ii) a time limit must be present that requires action before a deadline; (iii) some sort of sacrifice (opportunity cost) will be involved - opportunities are not entirely free; (iv) a catalyst must be included that can leverage a smaller input into a larger output; and (v) there must be the prospect of regret - inaction could lead to a disproportionate sense of loss.

After laying this groundwork, Morris takes these concepts and illustrates their applicability through a multitude of examples from Religion, Philosophy, Economics, Anthropology, Accounting and a host of other subjects. By the end of this book, the reader is equipped to assess any opportunity, in any situation, with considerable confidence. This is important, because when it comes to opportunities, it helps to really know what you are doing.