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Title: Creating Room to Read

Subtitle: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy

Author: John Wood

Narrator: Sean Pratt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-08-13

Publisher: Gildan Media, LLC

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

The inspirational story of a former Microsoft executives quest to build libraries around the world and share the love of books

Whats happened since John Wood left Microsoft to change the world? Just ask six million kids in the poorest regions of Asia and Africa. In 1999, at the age of 35, Wood quit a lucrative career to found the nonprofit Room to Read. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "the Andrew Carnegie of the developing world", he strove to bring the lessons of the corporate world to the nonprofit sector - and succeeded spectacularly.

In his acclaimed first book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, Wood explained his vision and the story of his start-up. Now, he tackles the organizations next steps and its latest challenges - from managing expansion to raising money in a collapsing economy to publishing books for children who literally have no books in their native language. At its heart, Creating Room to Read shares moving stories of the people Room to Read works to help: impoverished children whose schools and villages have been swept away by war or natural disaster and girls whose educations would otherwise be ignored.

People at the highest levels of finance, government, and philanthropy will embrace the opportunity to learn Woods inspiring business model and blueprint for doing good. And general listeners will love Creating Room to Read for its spellbinding story of one mans mission to put books within every childs reach.

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

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Title: Exposure

Subtitle: Inside the Olympus Scandal: How I Went from CEO to Whistleblower

Author: Michael Woodford

Narrator: Roy McMillan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-07-13

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Michael Woodfords autobiographical account, Exposure: Inside the Olympus Scandal, read by Roy McMillan.

Shortly after Michael Woodford was made President and CEO of Olympus, his dream job turned into a nightmare. After discovering a series of bizarre mergers and acquisitions deals totalling $1.7 billion, he turned to his fellow executives and within weeks he was fired in a boardroom coup that shocked the international business world.

Woodford went straight to the press - becoming the first CEO of a multinational to blow the whistle on his own company. Exposure is a deeply personal memoir that reads like a thriller.

Members Reviews:

Intriguing insight into corporate Japan with gaps.

This is a an above average book, with fascinating insights into Japan's corporate culture. Worth having a listen - as it talks about Olympus's scandal or ie Japan's Enron as dubbed by the author.

But as reviewers externally have questioned - there were some questions that weren't clearly explored, if not answered (possibly due to legal issues), e.g. why Kikukawa et al, did a few things, and more insight into why Michael Woodford (MW) was scared about a threat to his life, but later on went back to Japan.

However, leaving those questions aside, its a unique insight into corporate Japan, particularly in the 2nd half of the book when the wheels start moving.

I guess, I'll have to be satisfied with the unsaid things that NW didn't say due to confidentiality, particularly around his aborted board challenge. In the end, it is the only known case and book about a real life whistleblower who was also the CEO/President of his company.

I really enjoyed it

It gave me a glimpse into Japanese society, the role of a CEO. I really enjoy following Michael's battle, fighting his way through all the evil, facing up to the odds, not giving up. It never the less added some insight to my mind as someone who has still yet to enter into the work force. Thanks both the writer and audio book for this opportunity.

Well explained and shows the personal perspective

Slightly slower ending to explain all the details but overall very enjoyable and interesting listen.

Very happy I chose this book.

A view from the inside

I really appreciated hearing a first person perspective of what it's like to be exposed to an extreme situation in business.

The narrator was top notch but could do with learning how to correctly pronounce the most basic Japanese words to the same degree they can do various accents.

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Title: Laker Girl

Author: Jeanie Buss

Narrator: Jeanie Buss

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-23-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

The life story of Jeanie Buss could only have been written in Hollywood.

Her father, Jerry Buss, emerged from a childhood of financial struggle to improbably become one of Californias most successful real estate developers. Though her life was not without turmoil - l her parents divorced when she was still a child - Jeanies world was forever changed for the better when her father bought the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979.

By the time Jeanie was 19, she was already a high-ranking executive with World Team Tennis. Today, she is the Lakers Executive Vice President of Business Operations and one of the most influential women in professional sports.

But Jeanie s business accomplishments only begin to tell the tale of her incredible journey. In true Hollywood fashion, Jeanie eventually found love where she least expected: with Phil Jackson, the Lakers head coach and one of the most successful coaches in NBA history. Along the way, shes rubbed elbows with everyone from Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, John McEnroe, and Shaquille O Neal to Ryan Seacrest, Khloe Kardashian, Hugh Hefner, and Jack Nicholson. And shes done it all in her own unique, inimitable style.

Members Reviews:

good but lacking

its a good book, but definitely didnt meet my expectation as i was expecting a phil jackson type of book.

Pros: its a good read to get some insight on the lakers as a franchise. i do not want to spoil the book, but it definitely talks about the buss family quite a lot.

Cons: I wanted to read more about the current lakers from her point of view as being associated with phil jackson but not a lot on that. I did get bored while reading as it was very redundant and not really relevant to kobe bryant, shaq and the stars.

Overall: its a good book but didnt meet my expectations for some parts. the name Laker girl threw me off. I wanted to know more about the insides of lakers but it was mostly about the family

Great read!

Huge Lakers fans in my household. Was a birthday gift for my boyfriend, who is not much of a reader, and he finished it in one week. Great read!

Five Stars

Great insights if u'r a Lakers fan like me!

Jeanie Rocks!

This is a fascinating look inside a sports empire that Jerry Buss has created and then allowed his children to help run it. Jeanie Buss reveals a love for the Purple and Gold along with a sharp sense for business. She is forthcoming about her childhood, her many relationships, and professional life, sprinkled with lessons she has learned through the years. Women in particular will admire how she has become a respected executive with integrity, a sense of humor, loyalty and sensitivity in a male dominated business.

Jeanie Buss - the grace of genetics, the dint of hard work, and rolling with Boobah

Jeanie Buss started out sort of like the Ricky Schroeder of the professional basketball world, and I know that's a weird analogy. But she took that shiny silver spoon handed to her by her rich genius dad and she worked her tail off and took no guff and exercised her business acumen. As the Executive Veep of Business Operations for the Buss empire, she makes the hard decisions, and she's earned the right to do that. She claims she's not comfortable with the "female role model" label except she's so damn good at being one. Jeanie Buss, in her various interviews and public functions, has never come off as less than engaging and personable and amazingly down-to-earth.

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Title: The Prince of Beers

Author: Alex Berenson

Narrator: Alex Berenson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-14-13

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 18 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

August Busch IV had everything - or seemed to. In 2006, Busch became the chief executive of Anheuser-Busch, the sixth member of his family to control the legendary brewery. At age 42, Busch was handsome, wealthy, married to a beautiful woman, and running one of the biggest companies in America. Two years later, Busch lost control of Anheuser-Busch. Soon he was jobless, divorced, and struggling with alcohol and drugs. Then he woke to find his girlfriend, a waitress named Adrienne Martin, dead in his bed.

From prize-winning novelist and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, The Prince of Beers is the true story of the secrets, lies, addiction, and family dysfunction behind Martin's death and Busch's shocking downfall.

Members Reviews:

Don't Purchase Unless You Can Get This Audio Book For < $3.99

I finish about 2-3 audio books a week during my daily commute and thought this would be something really interesting as I hadn't been aware of the issues within the Anheuser-Busch other than the occasional business/news headline. While "The Prince of Beers" was generally interesting (assuming you didn't already known about the Anheuser-Busch family history) and the book was fairly well written, my biggest issue with this book (audio book) was the price versus its length/substance. This book reads like it was written as a long magazine article for Esquire or Playboy, but from the appearance on Amazon you would think it was a 200-300 page novel (what I was expecting based on the positive reviews). Unless this audio book drops below $3.99, I would spend your money on any alternative book(s) you may be considering or have on your wish list before this one. Alternatively you might be better off waiting for this one to arrive at your local library. You'll likely find by just Googl'ing of the Anheuser-Busch family and reading the associated news articles you'll end up getting as much of the story as this book offers. Sorry, I really wanted to like this book more, but just felt like I was cheated.

Alex Berenson is a Exceptional Writer

Why would I read a book about the Busch Family? The reason is Alex Berenson! Mostly by accident I came across Berenson's "Faithful Spy." I loved the main character (John Well's) and I'm knee deep in the 9 or 10 book series. I actually started to slow down a bit so I don't run out of John Well's adventures so fast. Anyway The story of Busch and the famous company was very interesting and worth my time. I put Berenson right up there with my favorite writers including Grisham, Patterson, Flynn, Demille, Rosenfelt, Landay, MeDermid, LeHane and Connelly. Once last thing that made me really like Berenson is I emailed him after reading one of his books and although it took some time he actually wrote back. That kind of blew my mind. Alex Berenson Rocks!!

For those that loved Julie MacIntosh's 'Dethroning the King' and want to learn more, "The Prince of Beers" is a must-read

The seminal story on August Busch IV ("The Fourth") can be found in Julie MacIntosh's stellar book,Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American Icon.

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Title: Johnson v. Johnson

Author: Barbara Goldsmith

Narrator: Victor Bevine

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-26-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

With the extraordinary investigative acumen and sensitive narrative skills that informed her best-selling Little Gloria... Happy at Last, Barbara Goldsmith now gives us the most sensational case of a contested will in American history - weaving a hypnotic tale of vast wealth and moral corruption.

When J. Seward Johnson, the pharmaceutical heir, died in 1983 at the age of 87, his six children (each of whom was already in possession of an immense fortune) were outraged to learn that he had willed his entire $500-million estate to their stepmother Basia - a woman 42 years Sewards junior, a Polish refugee who had once worked as a chambermaid in his household. They came to believe that Basia had used undue influence to "enchant" their father, prying his fortune away from him and turning him against his own children. They wanted "justice." The legal battle that followed spawned a seventeen-week-long trial, the involvement of 210 lawyers (some of whose behavior was legally and ethically questionable), $24 million in legal fees, and public disclosures of the often scandalous details of the lives of many of the parties involved, including attempted suicide, drug addiction, and accusations of a murder plot.

Going beyond the courtroom itself, Goldsmith delves into the familys past and present, demonstrating that, from the start, the poisonous effects of overwhelming wealth were a tacit but powerfully felt subtext to the proceedings. From her insiders position, she reveals the true Johnson legacy - one of profound emotional damage. In their own voices Sewards children, his first wife, relatives, friends, employees, and Basia herself express their thoughts and feelings with a startling degree of frankness, revealing a past of incest, malignant neglect, and betrayal. Through this deepening of the story, Goldsmith has been able to elucidate the profoundly complex reasons why each of the Johnsons believed that what was most emphatically at stake was not financial remuneration but emotional reparation.

Throughout the four-month trial, Goldsmith (who researched the case for over a year and examined thousands of pages of documentation) was in constant attendance, and she tells the dramatic story of what occurred in spellbinding detail. We hear about the contesting parties, their innumerable lawyers, and the trials remarkable judge, Marie Lambert (part Portia, part Tugboat Annie), playing out their roles in a courtroom packed with press and spectators, and rife with animosity, mistrust, and uncontrolled emotions (which erupted into a near-riot and death threats against the judge). Goldsmith illuminates how and why, as the trial progressed, it was transmuted almost entirely into a battle among lawyers, about lawyers, and for lawyers. She provides a masterful and devastating indictment of American law and lawyers, seen here as an out-of-control juggernaut fueled by a seemingly inexhaustible supply of money.

Family drama, courtroom drama, explosive psychological drama, a trenchant and sometimes shocking portrayal of lawyers at work today - Johnson v. Johnson is a brilliant synthesis of the legal, the social, and the human aspects of a society in disarray.

Members Reviews:

Truth is far stranger than fiction!

Would you consider the audio edition of Johnson v.

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Title: Howard's Gift

Subtitle: Uncommon Wisdom to Inspire Your Life's Work

Author: Eric Sinoway

Narrator: William Dufris

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-02-12

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 13 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

An iconic teacher. A warm friend. A generous mentor. For more than 40 years, Howard Stevenson has been a towering figure at Harvard Business School: the man who literally defined entrepreneurship and taught thousands of the worlds most successful professionals. Now - spurred by Stevensons heart-stopping brush with death - his student, colleague, and dear friend Eric Sinoway shares the mans wisdom and inspiration.

Through warm and engaging conversations, we hear Howards timeless and practical lessons on pursuing success and fulfillment, beginning with:

Listening to Howards Gift is like having a wise, caring friend sit down and say, "lets figure all this out together."

Critic Reviews:

This work offers wonderful wisdom for navigating the inflection points in our lives. (Mehmet Oz, MD)

This book is truly a gift for all those seeking fulfilling careers. (Wendy Kopp, Founder & CEO, Teach For America)

Members Reviews:

Extraordinary life value

The reading voice chosen for this book borders on painful. But the content is extraordinary in its value to any of us trying to live a life of meaning and balance while always trying to get better at enjoying the world and changing the world.

Had to stop listening

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

narration was too distracting. instead of allowing the writing to express ideas, the narrator's over the top attempt at impersonating made the listening experience awful.

What was most disappointing about Eric Sinoways story?

the tips or lessons were generic and too forever to get more specific.

Any additional comments?

keep narration of non fiction books simple so that content can be optimally expressed.

Never Look a Gift ...

What would have made Howard's Gift better?

I'm certain that Howard's wisdom was passed along to many of his students. However, this biographical story lacks any real depth or significant ideas. I just kept waiting, expecting a gem or two of real wisdom. Just not there. Very disappointed in the purchase.

Has Howard's Gift turned you off from other books in this genre?

Somewhat.

What aspect of William Dufriss performance would you have changed?

Less affectation with his voice.

You didnt love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It just passed some time while I was on the road, but I was very disappointed that it lacked any depth or interesting concepts and ideas.

Any additional comments?

As for Howard's Wisdom, I guess you had to be there in person to see the magnificence.

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Title: I Am John Galt

Subtitle: Today's Heroic Innovators Building the World and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It

Author: Donald Luskin, Andrew Greta

Narrator: Alex Hyde-White

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-06-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 89 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

Inspired by Ayn Rand's characters in Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, penetrating profiles of both the innovators who move our world forward and those who seek to destroy the achievement of others...

John Galt, the fictional character from Ayn Rand's best-selling novel Atlas Shrugged has come to embody the individualist capitalist who acts in his own enlightened self interest, and in doing so lifts the world around him. Some of today's most successful CEOs, journalists, sports figures, actors, and thinkers have led their lives according to Galt's (i.e., Rand's) philosophy.

Now, in I Am John Galt, these inspiring stories are gathered with the keen insight and analysis of well-known market commentator Donald Luskin and business writer Andrew Greta. Filled with exclusive interviews, profiles, and analyses of leading financial, business, and artistic stars who have based their lives, and careers, on the philosophy of the perennially popular Ayn Rand, this audiobook both inspires and enlightens. On the other side are Rand's arch villains - the power-seekers, parasites, and lunatics who would destroy that which the creators and builders make. Who are today's anti-heroes, fighting the creativity of the innovators?

Engaging and entertaining, I Am John Galt examines how the inspiration that is Galt thrives more than 50 years after publication of Atlas Shrugged. It will spark the interest of Ayn Rand fans everywhere, as well as those seeking a way to succeed in today's turbulent and confusing times.

Members Reviews:

Should be required reading

What did you love best about I Am John Galt?

This is the story of real life heroes and villains. It shows what lead to the housing market crash in the US, and why an unholily alliance between politicians and business is wrong.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Steve Jobs

What does Alex Hyde-White bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

Facts

Excellent, very important read.

Anyone who is interested in capitalism should read this great book. The voices are better than I could have imagined. Especially for Barney Frank.

Inspiring and Depressing.

it was an enjoyable read except for the portion where the author discussed his own struggles with one of the books selected individuals.

Amazing!

Both the quality of the writing and the narration are wonderful. Whether one subscribes to Rand's philosophy or not, this is an important work that is merits listening (and hopefully) discussion. The authors' comparison of Rand's fictional heroes and villains to real people is a brilliant way to bridge the gap between theory and practice. I will be listening to this again!

Epic

To bring Rand's characters into the events of this day further solidifies all the philosophy embodied in Atlas Shrugged

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Title: The Wrong Answer Faster

Subtitle: The Inside Story of Making the Machine that Trades Trillions

Author: Michael Goodkin

Narrator: Gregory Itzin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-31-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

The fascinating story behind the machines that trade trillions of dollars every day... In 1968, Michael Goodkin is about to graduate from Columbia University. While his classmates interview for jobs, he daydreams of seeing the world as a man of independent means. Noticing that there are no computers on Wall Street and drawing on his experiences as a failed teenage investor and successful gambler, he has an epiphany: Since no one knows the right price for anything, the only way to beat the market is to make a computer that comes up with the wrong answer faster than the professionals.

And thus begins a journey that takes this provincial Midwesterner from nearly broke to opulent Park Avenue. The Wrong Answer Faster is the story of unintended consequences: how a technique originally created to minimize market risk spiraled into a multi-trillion dollar game with unparalleled risks.

Having founded and sold a firm that changed the world, Goodkin left New York to travel and play backgammon only to return to found another groundbreaking firm, Numerix, a software company that substituted computational physics for econometrics to better manage derivative risk.

This is the story of the computerization of Wall Street by the man at the helm. Packed with keen insights, based almost entirely on poker, backgammon, and game theory, Goodkin's unique insight to the markets is that everyone has the wrong answers. The solution is not to try to beat the market but to come up with the wrong answers faster.

The epic tale of the untold story how one man with a great idea decided not to play the market but to revolutionize the financial world for generations to come by creating the most groundbreaking tool for market players since the ticker tape.

Critic Reviews:

"A bildungsroman, one jacket blurb calls this book - and sure, its a traditional coming-of-age tale. But the story itself is anything but conventional. The pleasures of the book lie in the story of their bumpy path to success." (Canadian Business)

Members Reviews:

Good mix of extrepreneurship and personal story

We follow this author from an unspectacular start in high school, to increasing success in college and university, to his starting up cutting-edge businesses. The author has a refreshing matter-of-factness, a lack of annoying vanity and razzle-dazzle. He effortlessly moves from clearly explaining some thinking-through of business and entrepreneurship problems, to their implementation by his finding the right people (with money, technology, legal, accounting, etc.) and doing each deal with them, to personal anecdotes that move the story along. He is willing to describe insecurities, awkward moments and setbacks, and thus to give us a "you are there" feel for his struggles, and his pushing forward, pivoting and adjusting, sweating through tough moments, to build success, at each stage. He doesn't bog down in any backwater of the story. The breezy style and lack of phony grandiosity is refreshing. He was in NYC at the ground floor of computerization of trading; he was the living, breathing, entrepreneurial expression of it, coming from the outside of the big Wall Street firms (though many of these ideas became big profit centers later for some of those firms, and the core of many later, more famliar Wall Street stories).

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Title: No Fear of Failure: Real Stories of How Leaders Deal with Risk and Change

Author: Gary Burnison

Narrator: Robert Fass

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-31-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

Candid conversations with top leaders around the world on how they approached pivotal moments in their careers.

No Fear of Failure offers insightful, candid conversations with some of the world's top leaders in business, politics, education, and philanthropy - each giving a first-person account of how they approached crucial, career-defining moments. Gary Burnison, CEO of Korn/Ferry International, the world's largest executive recruiting firm, sits down one-on-one with a highly select and elite corps, and together they openly discuss how they handled (often very publicly) war, economic downturn, corporate turnover, and even retirement. Together these world-class leaders show the risks one must be willing to take, as well as the vision, resilience, and compassion necessary to lead.

Taking readers into executive suites, government offices, battlefields, and football fields, No Fear of Failure shows how great leaders make lasting impact.

Members Reviews:

Great Lessons for work and life!

If you could sum up No Fear of Failure: Real Stories of How Leaders Deal with Risk and Change in three words, what would they be?

Insightful, interesting and engaging

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the fact that the leaders who were featured were from different fields as this allowed me to gain information about their leadership journey as well as their field of expertise.

Which scene was your favorite?

I am not sure that there was a true standout as all the stories were so good but if I had to choose, I would perhaps say the story of the President of Harvard.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I did not have an extreme reaction. I did, however, have many moments for reflection.

Any additional comments?

This book is a good read for anyone who wants to learn from the journey of those who have taken on the challenge of leadership.

Tricky sample. ALL interviews re-read by narrator

What did you like best about this story?

High level interviewees

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

You only hear the narrators voice. You never hear anyone interviewed in there voice. I thought the samples of the actual people interviewed was deceptive.

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Title: King of the Club

Subtitle: Richard Grasso and the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange

Author: Charles Gasparino

Narrator: Fred Stella

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-08-11

Publisher: HarperCollins

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

Rags-to-riches stories abound in American lore, but even Horatio Alger would have been hard-pressed to write one as powerful as Richard Grasso's: the son of a working-class family whose childhood dream was to become a cop. He grew up in New York City's outer boroughs, far removed from the marble halls, expensive suits, and imported cigars of the New York Stock Exchange. Here is the riveting story of how he rose to become the most influential CEO in the Exchange's history. Minus the tony upbringing, affluent prep schools, or inside connections that were de rigueur for top Wall Street players, Grasso would master the subtle deal-making and politics necessary to succeed in the most competitive business on Earth. But despite his successes, Grasso would soon sow the seeds of his own downfall, an event that would change the Exchange forever.

King of the Club chronicles the amazing rise, fall, and possible rise again of Richard Grasso, and also tells the modern history of the all-powerful institution that he came to symbolize: The New York Stock Exchange.

Critic Reviews:

"Gasparino reconstructs the events of Grasso's tenure with an evenhanded point of view, including plenty of historic context and satisfying detail; the well-researched narrative flows smoothly between Grasso's career arc and the subsequent, transformative changes in the NYSE. Anyone invested in the exchange, or simply curious to see how those financial world executives earn their enormous pay packages, should find this book riveting." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

The fall of a king

For anyone who worked on Wall St from the 1970's on, it's a must read. The treachery and back stabbing of the rich and powerful knows no bounds.

It's hard to cast a verdict about someone who did a tremendous amount of good and at the same time committed errors of judgement that would lead to his downfall.

Even though you may have no connection to the world of finance, it won't take you long to form your own opinion

Rise and fall of Dick Grasso

An interesting work that provides an inside picture of not only the NYSE, Wall Street but also some of the powerful people involved in high finance and corporate America. This book is particularly for you if you are looking for a detailed biography of Grasso. I was looking forward to reading about the pay controversies involving the 140 million retirement cash payout with a contested 48 million additional sum and the battle with Elliott Spitzer over, what was construed, as an excessive payment for a non-profit company. The interest in pay and Spitzer's involvement doesn't really take off until roughly 180 plus pages. However, the first half of the book covers well Grasso's rise from humble means and start with the NYSE, his involvement with the floor traders, his rise, his ability to recruit companies to the NYSE and his ability to promote the NYSE with the ringing of the bell each day with celebrity and his getting the NYSE up and running after 9-11. And there is some glitz about Grasso's high power associations, dinner at Rio's and his celebrity. The fall starts with the emergence of his pay package that grows with one of his strongest supporters on the compensation board with significant salary increases that are often deferred into a NYSE retirement account.