Having listened to the abridged audio version, I found it a competent but politically dated work. Reflecting the time it was written (1992), the author was particularly concerned about what he saw as unfair business practices that were allowing Japan to overtake the US. (What a difference two decades makes...) While the abridged version sufficed to give an outline of the plot, I sense that its complications and subtleties were missing. One aspect I found surprising, given the author's obvious skepticism about Japan was his seeming knowledge of and respect for its social practices. I leave it for others to judge whether this knowledge was more than a superficial gloss. ( )