Rating: 
Summary: a look into a billionaire's charmingly self-gratifying world
Review: mike bloomberg, as revealed in this book: charmingly pompous billionaire from the working class, insightful egomaniac riddled with perseverance, brilliant workaholic (say that three times), meticulously non-self-revealing innovator, daring, honest and clear-thinking leader, philosophical bigshot and braggart, supremely confident head of the heap...and whoppingly narcissistic!as a book, well, this one has its pluses and minuses. it reveals a lot about mike bloomberg the man, perhaps more than he intended - primarily his overarching business ambition, which seems to blot out most other areas of his life, including his family life. he seems not to think this is a problem, and paints a convincing portrait of himself as the happiest man alive. i wonder if his wife and kids would agree. beyond his world of business and his business history, however, this book is shallow, and tells little or nothing about his personal life (does he even have one? - he may not!) and his personal past (was it really all so picture perfect?! - i doubt it!). and his few lines devoted to divorcing his wife - how they just *drifted apart* - yeah right! he probably devoted two paragraphs of the whole book to her... i'd be curious to hear her side of it. as for a history of his growth as a businessman, however, this book is generally excellent - rich and insightful. it does get overly and annoyingly technical at points (offering the lay reader the choice between getting a headache and skimming), and goes on WAY too long at other points (skim on!) - both suggesting that he's out of touch with a mass audience. but on the other hand, he's incredibly IN touch with the business world - with his customer's needs - a quality that, when combined with his need to please, left me no surprise that he did so well in that world. mike bloomberg looks at the world through strange eyes...and his glasses are compelling. i can't say i share his dream for my future, but i admit to becoming jealous of him at points (i think he unconsciously intends that). that aside, however, it's hard to walk away from this book and not respect him. meanwhile, i myself never heard of bloomberg until he decided to run for mayor of new york city (where i live). after reading this, i can only imagine that the next four years in new york will prove interesting... (by the way, i didn't vote for him - still can't say i trust him...)
Rating: 
Summary: bloomberg by pompous @ss
Review: Shows how hard work and hustle, good ideas and risking your own dough still pays off big time in America. Fifteen years ago on Wall Street he was considered by many a joke. Now look at him. He laughs all the way to the bank.
Rating:
Summary: Bloomberg The Great. . .
Review: The book was not bad. Well worth the $.99 I paid for it but not much more. This Bloomberg is without doubt in love with himself. His story was not bad--probably not truthful either--but I had a hard time getting through the book. This man must be the most arrogant and pompous man in America. He thinks he's the second coming of Christ. Really. If you don't believe me read the book. He wants his name and mug on anything and everything he comes across. He even says that by donating money to universities and whatnot he's enabling future Nobel Prize winners to get their start; thus, he too is a Nobel recipient. He says he considers it his Nobel too. And he's also planned his daughters lives for them. When he's dead his daughters and ex-wife--boy would I love to hear her side--are to spend the rest of their lives distributing his billions to worthwhile foundations and charities. All and all the book was not bad. Being interested in the financial markets AND politics I thought the book might be worth the read. And it was. I just wish Michael would've stopped telling me how wonderful and great and superior he is to most human beings. And another thing, Mr. Bloomberg, being fired as a ten million dollar check is put into your hand is not a tragedy. And did you ever consider this? Put that check in the market and just settle for an 8-10 percent return while still living very comfortable as you try to be a better husband and father. Certinaly you're not going to convince me or any other reader that your family got much of your attention. All I took from this book was that Mr. Bloomberg, though a sucessful businessman, probably failed something horrible as a family man. Me personally, I'd rather focus my time and energy on my wife and kids. You make the world a better place by starting right there. Do you understand the power of exponetial growth?
Rating:
Summary: Bloomberg The Great. . .
Review: The book was not bad. Well worth the $.99 I paid for it but not much more. This Bloomberg is without doubt in love with himself. His story was not bad--probably not truthful either--but I had a hard time getting through the book. This man must be the most arrogant and pompous man in America. He thinks he's the second coming of Christ. Really. If you don't believe me read the book. He wants his name and mug on anything and everything he comes across. He even says that by donating money to universities and whatnot he's enabling future Nobel Prize winners to get their start; thus, he too is a Nobel recipient. He says he considers it his Nobel too. And he's also planned his daughters lives for them. When he's dead his daughters and ex-wife--boy would I love to hear her side--are to spend the rest of their lives distributing his billions to worthwhile foundations and charities. All and all the book was not bad. Being interested in the financial markets AND politics I thought the book might be worth the read. And it was. I just wish Michael would've stopped telling me how wonderful and great and superior he is to most human beings. And another thing, Mr. Bloomberg, being fired as a ten million dollar check is put into your hand is not a tragedy. And did you ever consider this? Put that check in the market and just settle for an 8-10 percent return while still living very comfortable as you try to be a better husband and father. Certinaly you're not going to convince me or any other reader that your family got much of your attention. All I took from this book was that Mr. Bloomberg, though a sucessful businessman, probably failed something horrible as a family man. Me personally, I'd rather focus my time and energy on my wife and kids. You make the world a better place by starting right there. Do you understand the power of exponetial growth?
Rating:
Summary: Arrogant, boastful, blind, but beguiling
Review: The most arrogant, pompous, self-important autobiography I've ever read. Mike Bloomberg makes Barbara Cartland seem as modest as Ophelia and as talented as Shakespeare. Sloppily written, utterly devoid of irony or self-perception, it is the sort of book one might expecta Harvard MBA to write. The man, as anyone who has visited the US will know, is a rampant egomaniac, who would probably like to plaster his name across Heaven - and this book shows why. But but but... it is a gripping and exciting story, and Bloomberg's energy, vision, and commitment are passionately communicated - his gradual destruction of Reuters and his building of a global media empire from scratch is a great yarn and he tells it well. His ideas on entrepreneurship and capitalism are less original than he might think, but the book is full of thoughts and ideas about being in business - it certainly stimulated me. Read it, if you have any interest in the media or in business - but with a pinch of salt please!
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