Rating: 
Summary: I got caught up right from the beginning and it never let go
Review: Intelligently written in a style not usually achieved so comfortably by writers of business or biographies. I was drawn in by the first paragraph and never disappointed. It's not often you find a page-turner on the business shelves. It should be moved to the front of the store.
Rating: 
Summary: High-level view w/ limited visibility
Review: It's a good read for drama, a good intro to IBM if you know little or nothing about the company, a very detailed, balanced, and probably accurate profile of Gerstner. Writing a business bio about a tech company no doubt forces an author into some tough choices as to how much detail about the technology to leave in or leave out, but Garr does a good job at providing a non-techies view of the industry. From a business-acumen point of view, however, it lacks. Some of the questions, such as "Why doesn't IBM sell off its unprofitable PC division?" are handled in a rather simplistic manner. A good MBA will tell you there are plenty of reasons to keep "unprofitable" business units around for cash-flow reasons; and that it can be dangerous to sell these off. This is a good quick read for anyone in the high tech backbone business. Big blue remains the world's largest high tech company, but acts more like any other blue chip. Regardless of your opinion on the company, it's presence deserves attention.
Rating: 
Summary: A summary of the turnaround before all results are in
Review: Lou Gerstner has done nothing more brilliant than cut costs and sell assets. He has no vision about how to grow the company and grow revenue. Even today, he is cutting profitable divisions (Software Group) and selling assets (the crown jewels of Research and Development -- see recent Forbes magazine article). Now that cost cutting and selling assets have turned the company around, it's time for another CEO with some technology vision -- someone like Jorma Ollila, the Chairman and CEO of Nokia -- to take the company and lead it to real future success. This books writes the story before the real results of Gerstner's rule are known. I am sure that history will reveal that Gerstner is much more like Al Dunlap than Jack Welch.
Rating:
Summary: Very short sighted and lacking insight
Review: Many see the results of Lou changing IBM by seeing the profit increase since he arrived. But, when all the property, employee benefits, and resources employees needed to develop products are gone, another book will be written. It might be titled "The short term glow, the long term catastrophe".
Rating:
Summary: Biscuits and Computers
Review: My interest in this book was generated by "Father, Son & Co: My Life at IBM and Beyond " - Thomas Watson Jr. Despite the rapid growth and technological strengths, IBM loses customer focus and arrogance becomes a common trait among its employees. A customer in a Far Eastern country needs to wait for over 2 months to receive a quotation for an AS/400. Not hard to guess what follows. One of America's most admired companies, IBM starts slipping, losing over $ 16 billion in just 4 consecutive years by 1993. There was no problem about revenues. IBM was making $ 64 billion attracting most of the money spent on Information Technology. But it was spending $ 69 billion to earn it. At $ 26 billion in debt, a figure that is more than what most developing countries owed the rest of the world, it needed a miracle. It needed Lou. A man, who was inducted from an industry that had no relevance to computing, rescues big Blue from near bankruptcy. The only thing in common between biscuits and computers is that they almost have the same shelf life. The success of both businesses requires the understanding of customer needs, speed of product introduction, inventory management and cost control. Lou Gerstner from RJR Nabisco steps in to clean up the mess at IBM- and he does this with passion and not with compassion. Harvard educated, with extensive experience at McKinsey, American Express and RJR Nabisco, Lou brings in his own team, who again have no exposure to the computer industry. The "Cookie man hires chicken man" - Lou hires Bruce Herreld from Boston Chicken to fill in the position of Chief strategist for example. Key to the surgical operation in cost control is Jerome York from the automobile industry. And this list grows on similar lines. Lou has his own share of blues. He would not like to remember the fiasco at Atlanta with IBM's promise of "bullet proof reliability". " If self -parody were an Olympic sport, IBM would have medaled" said Fortune Magazine. Lou's wrath against this leading business magazine is another story by itself. There is a clear shift in the strategic direction at IBM in the recent past. Its departure from proprietary system architecture to embrace open technologies. From competition to "co-opetition". PC business is its "Vietnam". IBM realizes this and signs up with Dell to supply components in this segment. It embraces Linux and Java and quickly positions itself as e-business solution provider. Lou is again driving from basics. Biscuits and computers have so much in common- ask the customer, under-promise and over-deliver.
Rating: 
Summary: More a story about Gerstner than IBM
Review: The book follows Gerstner from his McKinsey & Co. days through 1998 IBM. It seemed as much a story about Gerstner as it was about IBM's recovery. My own opinion is that the book tends to leave material unfinished. For example, there is a lot of drama and personality play in a large section devoted to the Lotus acquisition. However, the writer doesn't explain how the acquisition benefited IBM in terms of its turn-around. In summary, it's an entertaining read but I was left with the feeling that it's a Gerstner book more than it is the story of "the turn-around of the decade." In comparison, I thought "From Worst to First" by Continental Airlines' CEO Bethune was far more focused on what has to be done to reverse a company's fortunes than was this book.
Rating:
Summary: More a story about Gerstner than IBM
Review: The book follows Gerstner from his McKinsey & Co. days through 1998 IBM. It seemed as much a story about Gerstner as it was about IBM's recovery. My own opinion is that the book tends to leave material unfinished. For example, there is a lot of drama and personality play in a large section devoted to the Lotus acquisition. However, the writer doesn't explain how the acquisition benefited IBM in terms of its turn-around. In summary, it's an entertaining read but I was left with the feeling that it's a Gerstner book more than it is the story of "the turn-around of the decade." In comparison, I thought "From Worst to First" by Continental Airlines' CEO Bethune was far more focused on what has to be done to reverse a company's fortunes than was this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good Story, Slightly Confused Approach
Review: There's a lot of fascinating stuff here, but you almost have to read between the lines to get there. I agree with the other reviewer who says that it's more like a Gerstner biography than properly a look at the turnaround itself-- more interesting to me would have been less personality and more a look at how a pure business methodology approach (a la McKinsey) replaced the former technical focus and how that impacted the company. While it was amusing to get a feel of the personalities, it was often distracting when trying to read for a real case study.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: This book is an excellent piece of work. The author's skill as a novelist is evidenced by the ease by which it is read while his skill as a reporter is evidenced by the book's very existence. It is remarkable that this story was told without IBM's blessing, yet that makes it that much more meaningful. Garr presents an obejective view of Gerstner which is not always flattering, but positive in the end. A thoroughly enjoyable, well written book. I look forward to Garr's next effort.
Rating:
Summary: IBM and Lou Gerstner - Great book, interesting, fun!
Review: This book provides a current and interesting story about Lou and IBM. I enjoyed this book very much, and highly recommend it!
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