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mirage88's review against another edition
2.0
The first 25% or so of the book is really engaging, reading the story of someone who had nothing and how he turned that into massive business opportunities. As is pretty much always the case it was by taking out big loans that paid off, but interesting to see the gambling personality that led to that and his choice to do it on aviation he learned in the war was a cool story. The rest of the Las Vegas development stuff and deal-making was boring business details. Wouldn't recommend this for how dry and overly long it is without ever having any real insight on the man and his thought process. Really just a laundry list of the details of deals rather than anything of interest or that you could take away from it.
nanometers's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic book of a man few knew about. Keeping private, sticking to your expertise and doubling down while staying a person of your word - all things to live by.
korey's review against another edition
5.0
Enjoyed this one. It didn't go super deep, but a chronicle of an amazing rags to riches rise will always get votes from me.
amylee218's review against another edition
3.0
I won this book in a giveaway. It was interesting to learn more about someone who I had never heard of, but it did get a bit repetitive at times due to all the similar deals being made. There were certain aspects that I wish had been gone into deeper, or from more points of view, because the author almost always made Kirk seem like a really nice guy and I do think that anyone that cutthroat in business is not always nice. There has to be a ruthless side and that was a bit glossed over. I will say that it was impressive to read about the amount of money he gave to charity.
kstaff's review against another edition
2.0
This review is strictly about the quality of writing, and not about Kirk Kerkorian himself. Sometimes biographers fall in love with their subjects. I’ve never seen such a clear example of this as this book. Kirk Kerkorian was presented as a saint/savant without faults or failures. People who were not part of club Kerkorian were treated with undisguised disdain by the author. The result was a portrayal of a man who lacked nuance, and it was utterly dull.
Kerkorian was notoriously private, so there was often not much to tell. This book falls into the fatal flaw of not understanding that just because someone had a life of extraordinary achievements and experiences does not mean that individual is at all interesting outside of what he accomplished. As a result, there was 350+ pages of boring minutiae around financing stock purchases, takeovers that failed, etc. In the hands of a more talented writer, there may have been something here.
Also, the worst part of this book were the gambling metaphors. Kerkorian didn’t merely increase an investment, he “put more chips on the table”. He didn’t consolidate his funds into a single venture, he went “all in”. These metaphors were frequent (nearly every page) and very labored. By page 100, I was getting eye strain from rolling them.
Kerkorian was notoriously private, so there was often not much to tell. This book falls into the fatal flaw of not understanding that just because someone had a life of extraordinary achievements and experiences does not mean that individual is at all interesting outside of what he accomplished. As a result, there was 350+ pages of boring minutiae around financing stock purchases, takeovers that failed, etc. In the hands of a more talented writer, there may have been something here.
Also, the worst part of this book were the gambling metaphors. Kerkorian didn’t merely increase an investment, he “put more chips on the table”. He didn’t consolidate his funds into a single venture, he went “all in”. These metaphors were frequent (nearly every page) and very labored. By page 100, I was getting eye strain from rolling them.
athreya1205's review against another edition
5.0
An absolutely fascinating rags-to-riches story about a relatively unknown person who was instrumental to the rise of Las Vegas.
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