It takes a case of supreme arrogance to think that you can do better than the author of a book who spent a large chunk of his life writing and revising the story and go ahead and invent scenes and dialogue and alter events in the manner in which Peter Jackson has chosen to do.

BBC: The Two Towers: Your views

The book compared that list with a sample of 100 large traditional firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

ECONOMIST: At the heart of capitalism's troubles lies executive pay

One example of a company that actually did make large repurchases of shares substantially below book value in 2011 is American Capital ( NASDAQ: ACAS), which announced it bought back millions of shares of its own stock, at prices considerably below its most recent reported book value per share, thereby elevating the per-share book value of the remaining shares.

FORBES: The Importance of Book Value

We cannot say that BKS should have denied the current trend in book sales towards the digital, but maybe that they should not be devoting such a large investment in that direction.

FORBES: Barnes & Noble Stakes Its Fortune to Digital Market

However, his provocative book is, by and large, a well-aimed opening shot in a debate that will only grow louder in coming months.

ECONOMIST: The credit crunch