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Summary: SUCCESSFULL LIFE STORY
Review: The book Loosing my virginity has aroused much enthusiasm. I read it from cover to cover in one breath. This is an excellence life story of man who make one's way in the world. His achived success with a freedom from burden in simple manner of his active life and with the extremly strong will by guiding a rule there's a will there's a way. I wish him much success in his efforts, because nothing succeeds like success.PETRA
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Summary: One Of The Best Autobiographies
Review: I found this to be an incredible book, it was impossible for me to put down. The book takes you through Branson's first 20 or so years, beginning with his first company, Student Magazine, at the age of 17 (i think) right up to the early 90's. Any entrepreneur should ABSOLUTELY read this book, you would be surprised at the type of person Branson is, and the amount of fun he has had crating Virgin. I am eagerly awaiting the follow-up book, which should pick up where he left off.
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Summary: Fun! but you still don't know how he does it
Review: This guy spins a great story. But it's just a story. Don't expect to get any business insight here. He seems to succeed thru stubbornness and luck.
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Summary: He is not crazy. He is just creative and courageous
Review: Quick read this book. This book is nothing but fun and adventurous. Richard Branson was confirmed below average in school, but incredibly smart and creative in the real world. To often he has proven to the world that nothing is impossible. Consistently stretching himself with near impossible challenges has made this man thick and unbeatable in the bore-room.
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Summary: Fascinating Story
Review: I originally bought this book thinking it would be an interesting story of "how to make a billion like Richard Branson did". It didn't turn out that way, because what I found while reading it was that you would need to be another Richard Branson to replicate what he has done. However, I did find it to be a fascinating tale of a man who has succeeded through hard work, creativity, imagination and a true sense of "doing the right thing". He tells his tale with pride, but not arrogance. He also lets his personality shine through in his writing, which is certainly a plus. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to hear a compelling tale from a unique character.
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Summary: Did I miss something?
Review: I liked this book. It was fun and breezy. But for all of Branson's highjinks, and the laughter these hijinks entail, I felt there was still something missing. A soul, perhaps? This book is almost all positive--about Branson's life, choices, business acumen, etc. While I don't doubt that he's achieved incredible success, I also have to say that his book reads like the biography of a superficial person. There's no depth and no soul. Understand that depth and soul aren't defined only by tragedy--they can find their high points in many occasions--like the birth of a child or a momentous epiphany about the true nature of one's situation in life. I had lot of chuckles throughout the reading of this book--but I experienced no moving moments. I grew up in an affluent neighbourhood. However, my own family was relatively poor. Occasionally, I would try to engage my well-off neighbours in philosophical discussions about the world. They couldn't respond in kind because it was clear that their map of the world was fairly limited--limited to their own experiences. I don't blame them or resent them for it--they simply didn't possess the tools (or at least it seemed so) to question their purpose in life. I had the same feeling reading this book. It seemed a bit self-serving and purposeless. Let's face it--Richard Branson is rich and he possesses great business acumen. No doubt. But he's certainly not deep.
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Summary: Great Book!
Review: This was an excellent book! It was a fast reader and made me realize that Virgin didn't just pop-up over night and become succesful right away. After reading this, I swore never to fly British Airways- what they did was awful- but interesting that I didn't want to put the book down. A must for Virgin fans like my self! Way to Go Mr. Branson!
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Summary: Being Richard Branson
Review: This book was a rollercoaster-ride in business, in the history of the last few decades' music and an amazing person's life. I read it in a few days, from cover to cover, and could barely put it down. He writes in a style that fits his life, it's vivid, fast-paced and interesting. You won't get a blueprint for a successful business, but an insight into a very successful mindset. :) I recommend it!
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Summary: Very Rich and Intense, still it Reads like a Breeze
Review: The book was, to my delight, a very interesting read. "Losing My Virginty" reads like a novel and I would say that it was as interesting as both "Memoirs or a Geisha" and the "Harry Potter" series. Yet the book was full of lessons in a variety of business fields; entrepreneurship and risk-taking being at the forefront of those fields. In its value as a business book, I would compare it to "Lessons from the Top" and "The Millionnaire Next Door", both of which were a much less gripping read. However, "Losing my Virginity" is different from those two books in that it is primarily about "World Class Entrepreneurship". Branson takes the reader on a trip back to the 60's and 70's when Virgin took off and gradually leads you into the "jetstream" of his turbulant life. You will enjoy the ride. This is definitely a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and earnestly recommend to anyone, not necessarily to businessmen, just to anyone who wants to make the most of his/her life. Richard Branson used the book well on many occasions to tell his side of the story and to clarify to the public certain events that may have not been fully disclosed in that way during the time of their occurance. He also talks freely about matters, which a conventionial bussinessman would find out of place, beyong the point or even downright embarrassing. Those "personal" moments are actually the essence of what this book is all about. The book is about Branson's life and Virgin Group is just that, a very large chunk of Branson's life.
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Summary: Forthright ambition in the flesh
Review: This book provides insight into why some people rise above the crowd to succeed. Richard Branson's voracious appetite for life is on display here. Great financial success here was not the result of a great intellect, but great charisma, curiosity, and drive. Branson's creed is keep it simple, and it's not what you know, but who you know: contacts, networking. Branson makes much of how busy he is, but I don't believe he's that much busier than any professional person, where 12-16 hour workdays are the norm. His rewards (and risks) have just been much greater than the average guys. Despite the apparent youthful greed that got him arrested for tax evasion, and that almost got him to sue John Lennon for breach of contract after the death of Lennon's unborn child, Branson comes across as deserving as anyone of his financial success. He's aware "success" is an illusion, and is willing to lose it all, his family, his wealth, in an agnostic balloon crash. The ballooning extracts in the book were the most exciting, though the financial juggling to keep the various Virgins afloat as overdrafts were about to be withdrawn was entertaining reading. Hooray for Branson's wealth and interesting life, but Virgin Cola like Coca Cola doesn't do much for the vast mass of humanity out here in the third world. There's no big answers here though, why some do so well, and why the mass of humanity in the third world, even if they are as honestly ambitous as Branson, suffer. Not a boring read. Branson is refreshingly forthright.
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