Dragon Spirit

In the company The Republic of Tea, employees are""ministers"" and its tea-buying customers are""citizens."" Ministers Rubin and Gold (chairman and COO, respectively) bring the same quirky perspective to their new tome, a motivational handbook that wavers between cute and cloying. The main thesis is similar to that of any number of books designed to inspire budding entrepreneurs : people should be""one with their dream,"" and to achieve it, they must""sell the hell out of themselves."" No surprises there, but at least the authors can write, and press ahead with their insistent brightness. The book briefly gets into more serious details--e.g., the relative advantages of setting up a sole proprietorship or a joint venture--but then returns to bland exhortations. The occasional jolts of Chinese philosophy (invoking classic texts like the I Ching and Tao Te Ching) and the authors' personal stories of their international search for fabulous teas are the (tea)pot's best ingredients. Other than that, the brew is somewhat weak.