Short and fun stories of starting out. Mixes in his adventures with business deals, and you get a sense of how lucky and instinctual he is. ( )

I read this autobiography because I heard Branson interviewed on the Freakonomics podcast. He had made a comment that he was dyslexic and dropped out of school. He seemed to suggest that struggling students don't really need school to succeed as he did. This raised a question for me: So how do you start a company with a reading disability? The question really wasn't answered but he did surround himself in the early days with smart friends who helped first with the publication Student and then starting Virgin Records. It is an entertaining, sometimes enlightening read but got repetitive. ( )

Great book about a fascinating entrepreneur and human being. Especially loved the last part about his decisions to give back and to focus on earth's real problems. The book is extremely detailed as Richard has a habit of writing a constant diary in his notebook. ( )

Richard Branson is one of the most respectful businessmen of our era and by the looks of it, the kind of a businessman who takes care of his employees and makes sure they get all the benefits they can get, but he's also the kind of a businessman that shall never change and always remain the same, always living on the edge throughout his life by always following his philosophy. Which isn't a bad thing at all, for each and everyone of us should enjoy life, however, we should also value life for what it is, a gift that was given to us by an unknown force to make the best of it and take advantage of our limitless potential. And that's exactly what this man's doing, and what makes this man remarkable. ( )

A pretty bland memoir. There are some gems in it, though, and Branson is an impressive businessman. Most of the companies mentioned I'd never heard of, so it was interesting to see the range of Branson's brand venture capital investments. He presents himself as having consistent vision and values. I liked learning some of the business details behind Virgin Music and Virgin Airlines.

The problem is that it is not very cohesive. Branson himself doesn't have a long attention span, and the book certainly shows it. The writing is very poor, and it mostly feels like dictation. The story bounces around, from paragraph to paragraph each introducing some new subject. There's little followthrough or organization, though Branson often doubles back on himself. Branson is very self centered and not very reflective, so some of the threads—for example, an excruciatingly detailed elaboration of his libel case against British Airways—are just boring. ( )