When this book first came out, I was really looking forward to reading about how Martha Stewart built her empire, especially with there being so much about her in the news. Now let me preface my comments by saying that I read a lot of business and other nonfiction books, and I don't have any personal problem with Christopher Byron, but this book was a huge disappointment.

With the resources that Mr. Byron had access to in writing this book, it would seem that the story should have been clear and objective, like Roger Lowenstein's biography of Warren Buffett, but what we get here is an extremely editorialized style of writing that prevents intelligent people from being able to make their own judgements on the subject matter. There are strings of sweeping statements made after interviews with one individual on a particular topic that influence the way Mr. Byron characterizes Martha Stewart in each section of the book. Let me also confess that I am not a fan of Martha Stewart or her company, so I am not making these statements for any other reason than the fact that I expected so much more in the presenation of the materials in this book.

Moreover, Mr. Byron continues (and this is VERY annoying) to ask these filler questions in every other paragraph, e.g. "And what did Martha do next?" It was annoying the first time I read it but by the time I had made it to page 100, I became convinced that that was just a part of Mr. Byron's style in this book, and my hopes of getting a well-written biography of Martha drifted down the drain.

I would have had no problem with this book if it was called _Martha Stewart: The Unauthorized Biography_, because that's exactly what it reads like. Now don't get me wrong, the book is not some trashy, tabloid expose, but Mr. Byron does not treat this biography with the type of a respect and journalistic presence that good biographers do. He seems to just [down] on this subject, and that upsets me and offends my intelligence.

I'm not trying to be rude here, but having waited months for this book to come to paperback, I felt like I have been a bit cheated in what lies between the covers.

Martha Inc. is a balanced biography of Martha Stewart, but short on recent details. I was hoping to read more about her life after she started Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, but most of the material is a re-hash of many events that one can read in Just Desserts. The epilogue contains information about Martha and Kmart after the tech bust and Kmart's bankruptcy, which is a nice follow-up. The author, Christopher Byron, seems a bit star-struck by Martha, too, calling her a "beautiful blonde" a few too times in the book. Martha Inc. is a good read for Martha followers like me -- subscriber to the magazine, viewer of her TV show, consumer of Martha products -- but to the reader who wants even juicier details, read Just Desserts first.

It's pretty obvious to me now, just by reading the title, that this book is NOT about Martha the person but rather Martha the mega-powerful businesswoman. But, to someone who wants to read more about the life of this odd and intriguing woman, I guess I just made myself believe that somehow this book would shed more light on her life as the previous bio on her "Just Desserts" had done. Not so.

About 90% of this book focuses on Martha's rise to fame and power; her many business dealings and struggles. Only rarely does the author inject tidbits of personal information about Martha. Overall, this is a very in depth look at her company and her remarkable business acumen.

Although I didn't like the fact that the author would sometimes provide information on what was happening in the world at the time (the stock market situation in the 70s, etc). It felt as if at those points, he didn't have enough to fill the book so he figured that some little history lessons on the side would make up for it. It just seemed pointless sometimes.

I would recommend that you rent this book out from the library. It's not worth buying, not unless you're a huge fan of Martha. I'm still awaiting her autobio, which I've heard should be released sometime next year. But if you want to learn more about Martha in the mean time, I suggest you get "Just Desserts" by Oppenheimer (I forgot his first name).