No comments about Max Factor: The Man Who Changed the Faces of the World.

1 comments about Gus Wortham: Portrait of a Leader.

1. Fran Dressman introduces us to an amazing man, and to his enormous contributions to the great city of Houston, Texas. She brings him to life for the rest of us, a man of the highest integrity and ability. Myself, a life-long Houstonian, I have always taken the Wortham name for granted, simply a name on a fountain or a building or such. Having just finished reading this book, I will now see the name Wortham in the clear light it deserves. Skim the chapters that deal with the nitty gritty of managing American General Insurance, but pay close attention to the rest of this book which describes the relationships and contributions in the 20th century by great Houstonians like Mr. Gus Wortham.

4 comments about Karsten's Way: The Life-Changing Story of Karsten Solheim-Pioneer in Golf Club Design and the Founder of PING.

1. If you are looking for a sermon on religion you have come to right place , but if you are looking for a great insight to the mind and workings of the greatest inovator in clubmaking ever....look somewhere else. this book is about 10% golf and 90% religious praise for this beloved man. Don't get me wrong I respect his devout beliefs but that could have been summed up in about 3 pages not 150. I never fealt that I got any info on how he came up with his great club Ideas, the ping website has better information.



2. Friendship and respect are two of the most precious assets in a man's life. Karsten Solheim enjoyed both in large measures throughout the golf world. We shared a very special relationship, owed to my now having played Ping clubs for 20 years. I sincerely commend this book, "Karsten's Way," for it is above all, the story of a far-sighted pioneer, and an essential record of how he revolutionized golf with his exceptional passions.



3. A good book to read when you feel like things aren't going your way....there's a reason why things happen in people's lives (i.e. GOD)...after i read the book i now know why i felt PING golf equipment is the best...never sacrifice what you believe in



4. Tracy Sumner's Karsten's Way is the fascinating biography of Karsten Solheim who was a visionary pioneer in the design of golf clubs, the founder of PING, and for whom The Solheim Cup was named. Karsten's influence and ideas were to profoundly influence both golf and the golf equipment business. If you've ever held a golf club in your hands, or wondered how the business aspects of the game have evolved, this Karsten's Way will prove to be as inspiring as it is informative.

1 comments about John D. Rockefeller: The FBI Files.

1. While it is great that someone has gone through the effort to publish this information, if you are looking for salacious information, you may be disappointed. The most important information has all been blacked out by the government. What you will find is mostly an interesting set of documents about John D. Rockefeller III's involvement a couple of suspicious Asia related organizations.

2 comments about Whole Life, Looking Back While Looking Ahead.

1. This is definitely NOT a typical business book! It doesn't contain any of the usual cliches or how-to-sell bromides found in most others;instead, it's a funny book about the insurance industry that is informative as well. This book reveals a lot about a business that I knew very little about, yet it reads like a memoir. Not to sound trite, but I got to some parts and couldn't put the book down until I finished! I laughed out loud at some of the experiences he has had through the years, and I think that anyone who has been in the business for any amount of time will really appreciate the insights. I loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, which are very appropriate for the content and fun. This really was an enjoyable book!



2. This is a humorous yet philosophical memoir covering over thirty years in the insurance profession. The author has tried his hand at several different positions, as an agent, a manager, and many home office management positions, and every stop is described with clever wit and humor. I really enjoyed reading this book, and could definitely relate to his experiences and insights. I think anyone who's considering this profession or has been involved in it for any amount of time should read this book!

5 comments about Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner.

1. This is a so-so book about the life of one businessman. It kept me interested but it was no "Father, Son & Company". It was great how it followed through from the funeral home days up to the biggest events in Mr Ross' life.



2. Anyone in media or entertainment has to read this book. It was, by far, the strangest story I read during two years of business school and it will help Time Warner employees understand how the company & culture was created. M&A people should also check this out since the merger of Time & Warner is the most interesting part of the book. Time was supposedly buying Warner Bros yet the Warner top brass ended up in charge.



3. Connie Bruck, along with Joe Nocera is probably American's best living business writer and this is another great work from her.

   A good story about a man who starts off running his father in law's funeral palor and winds up the head of one the world's biggest companies.

   Bruck spends a lot of time discussing the charm and the personality of Ross and admits that Ross is someone that she really likes. The book does not have the balance of her previous book, The Predators Ball, but does not Michael Milken as subject matter like that book did too.

   I would definitely recommend owning a copy of this book.

   Don McNay...




4. This book gives a good understanding of the history of Warner from Kinney to the creation of Time Warner. This is an excellent book to give an understanding of how a media empire is built.



5. Although I'm a Connie Bruck fan, I came away from Master of the Game disappointed. Perhaps my expectations were too great from having wanted to read the book for a long time. It's a good book and has interesting points, but you walk away without a real feeling of who Steve Ross was and what made him tick.

5 comments about Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer.

1. Biographer Epstein does a straightforward, almost journalistic description of the life and times of Armand Hammer, considered by many to be a man of vision, humanity, and charity until details of his life began to seep out following his death. Even the New York Times gave this man a glowing obituary. But, thanks to the tremendous research done by Epstein, we see Hammer for what he was: an evil, self-serving, egomanic. And Epstein's non-sensational telling of the details of Hammer's life is appropriate; it is unnecessary to augment beyond the notoriousness of Hammer's own actions. What Hammer did speaks for itself, and Epstein catalogues his many sins. He was a traitor to his country, his family, his friends. He was such a lowlife that he allowed his father to go to prison for crime he, the son, committed. He was a perpetual adulterer. He laundered millions of dollars and had secret accounts everywhere. He drove what most believed to be a successful company to the brink of bankruptcy. But I could have done without the incessant mini-flashbacks that kept creeping into the narration. And I think it was a really bad choice to begin the book with the prologue describing Hammer's final days. It would work much better at the end, as this failure of a human being tops himself while he is dying with malicious, coniving, and deceitful steps to preserve his false characterization upon his passing. I would strongly recommend that you read the prologue at the end of the book. I would also suggest that as you finish each chapter, you turn to the source notes for that chapter and be amazed by the research Epstein did to compile his facts. He paints Hammer as such a dispicable character, that you will be astounded that this character got away with his ruse for his entire life. In this day of rotten corporate big-business, the book shows the rot has been going on for decades.



2. ~Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer~ chronicles the life and despondent character of Armand Hammer. In his later life, Hammer invested great time and sizable resources to get a favorable authorized biography that portrayed himself as a generous, urbane and cultured philanthropist. Hammer no doubt would be dismayed by Epstein's account, though he never lived to see it. Epstein chronicles a different Armand Hammer. Epstein draws a picture of a power hungry man with an unscrupulous character. The real Armand Hammer led a life corrupted by avarice, adulterous sexual escapades and notoriously unscrupulous dealings with the Soviet Union and American politicians. Epstein by implication shows that Hammer may very well have been a Soviet agent. Hammer was in Bolshevik Russia while the revolutionary hadn't quite settled down. Hammer got a trade concession for a pencil factory that he operated in Moscow. While in the Soviet Union he moonlighted with Lenin and other Bolshevik revolutionaries. Hammer soon left Russia and supposedly almost went insolvent. His questionable business dealings in Europe perhaps as a launderer for Soviet enterprise to fund covert operations abroad would eventually gained the watchful eye of American authorities. Hammer got into art dealing and liquor distilling, but never lost his Soviet ties. He would eventually become the target of scrutiny by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI who took interest in his domestic and overseas machinations. While Hammer was the target of American counterintelligence, he ironically made use of his own intelligence clique especially later in life; he hired detectives, spies and former government agents to acquire information while manipulating business partners, competitors and politicians for personal gain. Hammer rose to fame as the Occidental Petroleum mogul and continued his shady dealings. Though, he tried to break into the market of the Seven Sisters oil cartel by getting an oil concession in Libya. His unscrupulous and devious dealings included bribery of foreign countries for trade concessions. Having lived a life of infamy, in his twilight years, the billionaire labored tediously to cultivate a favorable personal image. Hammer would have liked to have been remembered as a wealthy, cultured, humanitarian and religious Jew. Then Epstein came along to tell the real story.
   
   This secret history is a window into the world of Armand Hammer: Hammer was an unscrupulous man, disloyal to his country, who put greed and power above family and nation. Epstein's conclusion is almost irresistible, yet he is never so obvious enough to state it: Hammer was a selfish opportunist who should have spent a substantial part of his life in a federal penitentiary.



3. Mr. Epstein places a great work on to the life of Armand Hammer. Many individuals wonder how such a man, whom was red flagged by the CIA, could remain connected to each and every Presidential administration and Kremlin since the days of Lenin. I was hoping for more information on their dealings with Robert Maxwell but it was only mentioned in brief. Hammer, like is father, presented to the public as immensely wealthy and powerful individuals, yet reality had dictated the opposite. Hammer, a man in quest for power, could have taken the time to do good things but instead he worked to expand not only his own personal image/power but to keep the secret line open to advance the Communist movement. I'd also recommend "The Perestroika Deception" - A. Golitsyn.



4. This book is a biography about an american oil mogul:Armand Hammer.The author is a jew, as the biographed.
   If you read this book, you will see a true:marxism(leftism, eugenicism, environmentalism, feminism, etc.) is something for millionaries.
   Hammer got a fortune linking to former Soviet Union's interests.Then he went to oil business.Again he linked his oil business to Lybia, even to Khadafy money.
   Defects of this book are small.I don't believe ,that Al Gore had school's payment from Hammer.Another problem,of this book,is to forget that Hammer was a little linked to eugenics movement, at least until Hitler's time in 1933.These are small problems.This book is good.



5. There exists an unusually wide breadth of opinions about Armand Hammer -- he almost won the Nobel Peace Prize, and is revered by those who have benefited from his charitable endeavors, yet is excoriated by the political right. The latter group became particularly vocal in the United States around 2000, as Hammer's ties to Al Gore's father became fodder for talk-radio rumor mongering in that year's presidential election.
   
   Dossier is the only biography of Hammer to have had access to both the U.S. government's records on the man, made available under the Freedom of Information Act after he died, and Soviet records, made available after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. It is therefore the only book that comes close to explaining the nature of Hammer's ties to the Soviet Union. (In the early 1920s, he set up some companies that were used as channels by the Soviets for financing secret operations abroad).
   
   Unfortunately, Epstein was not satisfied with these records, and turns to some really marginal sources to sex up the story. The book contains a number of particularly shocking accusations that, if you follow through the footnotes, all come from a woman who claims to have been Hammer's mistress, decades ago. Take for example Epstein's rendition of the well-known 1920 conviction of Hammer's father for manslaughter. Hammer's father had performed an abortion after which the woman had died. Among those who testified at the trial were the woman's maid, who had been present when the operation took place. Every other source on Hammer treats this as the start of Hammer's business career -- with his father incarcerated, Hammer had to take the reins of the family business.
   
   Epstein, on the other hand, writes that it was the 21-year-old *Hammer himself* who had committed the abortion, not his father, and that he had allowed his father to go to jail for the crime. Epstein bases this remarkable claim on the 1990s recollection of a woman who claimed to have been Hammer's mistress in the 1950s, and who said that Hammer confessed to this crime (along with a string of other appalling things) to her. He ignores the fact that much more credible contemporary witnesses testified to the contrary.
   
   Repeatedly in the book, Epstein takes credit for "discovering" things that have been widely known for decades, and which are discussed in detail in previous Hammer biographies. Meanwhile, his discussion of Hammer's 70-year-long business career is cursory.
   
   If you do read the book, be sure to check the footnotes on any novel claim; some of the sources are really weak. See Weinberg's biography of Hammer for a much better treatment of everything except the early Soviet material.

1 comments about Flagler, Rockefeller Partner and Florida Baron (Florida Sand Dollar Book).

1. Akin's offering on Flagler is chock full of factual information. However, it is written in such a scholarly manner (practically every paragraph has a corresponding footnote) that it is difficult to get through. It's well researched, but not well written.

   I was particularly interested in Flagler's Key West Extension to his Florida East Coast Railway. Akin gave "the eighth wonder of the world" just one chapter. Pat Parks' "The Railroad That Died at Sea" was more informative regarding the extension--and a far better read.

   I was glad that I finished "Flagler...", though I considered it something of a chore.

No comments about Tycoons and Entrepreneurs (Macmillan Profiles, 2).

No comments about Business Leader Profiles for Students.