This is not a book about General Motors, nor is it focused on the works and thoughts of Aristotle, so don't go away just yet.

Truth, beauty, goodness, unity. What do these virtues, defined by the ancients, have to do with business? Plenty, according to author Tom Morris. As a matter of fact, everything.

Refreshingly readable for a modern-day philosopher, Mr. Morris writes with clarity. Just listen: "Corporate excellence is a form of human excellence." Easy to read, easy to understand, but bordering on trite...unless you read what comes before.

Are you studying and trying to apply the best practices of great companies? Fine and good, but they are not the silver bullets they appear to be at first glance. What is it in human nature that makes "best practices" work? Perhaps the secret is not in having all the answers, but in having the wisdom to ask the right questions, suggests Mr. Morris.

Salted and peppered with quotations from Juvenal to Jesus to Jung (German pronunciation notwithstanding); even Mikhail Baryshnikov and Van Gogh show up, as do Shakespeare and Hoffa (Jimmy), Oscar Wilde, Michelangelo and Sam Snead, plus a whole lot of near-prehistoric Greeks and Romans.

To quote a famous vocational school ad, if you're "serious about success" (corporate success, that is), READ THIS BOOK!