An overly romanticized biography of the "world's greatest hustler". The book is fun and often quite humorous, but ultimately lets Thompson off the hook. The author glorifies Thompson's fun-loving, harmless nature, but chooses to side-step the naked truth - that he was really a liar, cheat, and a swindler who got what he deserved when he died in destitution.

I loved the stories and I was captivated by the man. A must read for golf enthusiasts and bio fans alike.

Some of the things that Thompson did are unbelieveable. You can never put it down because you always want to see what he did next.

As an Apple employee I liked Jim Carlton's book because of the behind-the-scenes glimpses at a company that I love. But, geez, I've never read a book that needed a good editor more... there are literally sections that repeat themselves word for word (and how many times can we read a gushing description of Steve Jobs' "long flowing hair and rock-star good looks"? Give me a break. I also disagree with people here who say that he gives Apple a "fair shake". I found his portrayal quite biased and one-sided. Carlton's history of Apple is one that is full of major blunders that would have saved the company (his view). The reality is that, for all its missteps, Apple did a lot of things amazingly well... but you won't find that history in this biased book.

This book focuses on the business side of Apple Computer, from the departure and return of Steve Jobs. Little is mentioned of the history before John Sculley took over as the 'sole' CEO of the company. The book starts off with a bang, but ultimately it gets tougher and tougher to digest the information; not because of the writer's ability, but because of the repeated failures of the company to recognize success. You are constantly dumbfounded by the repeated mistakes that are made over and over, which ultimately sealed Apple's fate and made Microsoft billions! I found the chapters on Spindler and Amelio to be particularly difficult to follow.

I must admit that before reading this book I had a low opinion of Bill Gates, but the book has shed new light for me on the whole history of the GUI wars, and my opinion has certainly changed; Gates had no choice, but to create the Windows platform, since Apple was destroying itself internally and not advancing the Macintosh platform successfully.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to understand why Apple did not succeed beyond it's wildest dreams.

I found Carlton's book to be well-written, stimulating and unbiased. It seems that other reviewers feel that Carlton was flat wrong in his prediction that Apple will ultimately not succeed (he devotes only a few pages at the end to this). To these individuals, I suggest that you reread the book. Carlton did not say that Apple has always been a complete failure. His book was about how the company, which was YEARS ahead of others in terms of technology and design, lost its market share. His prediction is simply that Apple will most likely not thrive in the LONG-term.

To those who thought that Carlton's book was overly negative: What else could you call what happened to Apple? A success story? Of course not. Apple DID create an unbelievable company with brilliant design, technology and marketing. But the tragedy is that it chose to ride on its past successes without devising a strategic plan to maintain its lead in the ever-changing technology industry.

I suggest that anyone interested in learning how to manage a company over the long-haul read this book.