Precipice

Precipice Daniel Pollock Council of Logistics Management, Oak Brook, IL, 1997 ISBN 0-595-17208-3 ($29.95, 468 pages) Available on the Web at http://www.iUniverse.com

In 1978, professors William Breit and Kenneth G. Elzinga joined forces to write Murder at the Margin under the pseudonym Marshall Jevons as a means of teaching economics. As their murder mystery unfolded, readers learned basic economic principles. It was a fresh concept which worked well. A reviewer for the Wall Street Journal wrote "if there is a more painless way to learn economic principles, scientists must have recently discovered how to implant them in ice cream." Seven years later the authors followed their successful formula with The Fatal Equilibrium.

In 1995, the Council of Logistics Management Research Strategies Committee was looking for a method to help increase understanding of the importance of logistics in modem society. They hired a consultant who assured the group that such a project was feasible. A blind classified ad was placed in newspapers throughout the nation. "Published novelist sought by worldwide professional association to write mainstream novel." Daniel Pollock was selected from over 100 applications. The Research Committee asked Pollock to choose from three premises. He selected the scenario of a worldwide mass merchant who gets sabotaged by a computer virus that brings the company's operations to a halt. The novel is summed up by Anna Wilde Mathews of the Wall Street Journal, "It was a dark and stormy night. But fortunately, there was a logistics manager on the scene..."

Reading the novel as a logistician, I often contemplated how I would have handled each logistical crisis. I waited anxiously, for the other shoe to drop, for the twist of fate or spurt of genius that I had missed. To this end, I was disappointed. Pollock's central character and her band of logistics experts rely on solid logistic practices. There were no surprises. As in real life, Precipice logistic problems do not disappear overnight, and more often than not, the solution uncovers additional underlying problems.

Reading the novel as an academic, I found Precipice to be intriguing. I haven't seen the Breit and Elzinga formula used in quite a while. Could this novel be used in the classroom as a means of teaching logistic principles much in the way Murder at the Margin or The Fatal Equilibrium was intended? To this end, the novel scores a direct hit. The intent of the CLM Research Committee was to create a vehicle to help the average individual understand the importance of logistics. It is suitable as a stand-alone novel or could be used in the classroom. Pollock is liberal in his use of logistical terms and acronyms. He makes sufficient effort to explain each in a way that the reader can easily understand the principles without being bogged down by it. More importantly, the story line involves key principles, some not specifically spelled out, which could lead nicely into a classroom lecture or provide the basis for an open discussion.

Precipice weaves together military and business logistics, current terms such as Quick Response and Integrated Logistics, acronyms such as GPS, IDCS, and AVL, gives mention to a number of universities offering strong logistics programs, and offers a perspective of modern logistics versus clipboard logistics. It is short on surprises, strong on basics, and does exactly what it was meant to do.

Associate Editor's Note

While CLM sponsored the original publication of Precipice in 1997, the Council is no longer selling the book directly. However, the recently published paperback format is available at www.iUniverse.com via www.ciml.org/bookstore. The paperback version was published in 2001 by Writers Club Press/iUniverse.com. Precipice is also available at amazon.com, in all combinations of hardcover and paperback, new and used. Daniel Pollock recently followed up on Precipice with "Strikepoint: A Logistics Tale," published in the May through July 2001 issues of Inbound Logistics.

Paul D. Larson

Iowa State University

M. Theodore Farris II

University of North Texas

Copyright Council of Logistics Management 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved