Greg Aase
Good-loses steam at the end
Great first half of the book-lots of history on how interstates came to be. The book loses steam in the back third. The author raises questions about where to go with the interstate system now that it's largely built, and he doesn't really have any opinions. The tight prose of the first half gives way to overwritten paragraphs in the back half.
A Kindle version note- the typos in the back 50 pages are bad. Possibly the worst I've seen in a Kindle version.
Interesting book for music fans, especially those of a certain age.
Although the book says it's about the rise of Warner Brothers Records, it's really about Mo Ostin, the longtime head of the company. The author was able to get the usually tight lipped Ostin to discuss his past, and the through line of the story runs parallel with Mr. Ostin's rise through the ranks. The heavy focus of the book is the 60's and 70's. Much of the 80's (Madonna, Prince (who grew to hate his record company) and REM get relatively short shift.
The author introduces a number of people who were early and/or central figures in the rise of Warner Brothers Records, but their storylines are abandoned. I was forced to hit Google to see what became of several of these individuals. An additional chapter or two tying off those stories and careers would have been helpful.
Carlin is a good writer - I've read his books on Simon, Springsteen and McCartney. The Springsteen book may have been the best one of the lot, but is unfortunately largely forgotten now that Bruce wrote his beast of an autobiography. Carlin's work here is solid - he can move between music criticism, business jargon, and biography with ease.
Recommended for music fans who wonder who the people were on the label or the liner notes of their favorite 70's albums. Other casual fans may want to pass this one by.
Came to it late, worth the time.
On a Hollywood run as of late, and this one had positive reviews. Those reviews were right. The book is a good read and worth your time. You need to go into the book with your eyes wide open. Mr Gruber and Mr. Peter's level of greed and utter lack of management skills are, at a minimum, off putting. The book makes it abundantly clear that the marketing men ran Hollywood in the late 80's and 90's. It also made it clear that Sony took their eye off the ball in the late 80's, losing their dominance in electronics while they expanded into “software”. The book is a gossipy cautionary tale for managers and business owners.
Patrick Reusse is THE sportswriter of the Minnesota cynic. He has never been afraid to call out sports owners. executives, managers, and players for arrogance, incompetence, or self-inflected issues. On the other hand, he's the same sportswriter who loves to write about town baseball, or rags to success stories where the individual worked hard and excelled to get a chance to the next level, whatever it is. This book is a breezy recap of his life. It's a pretty quick read, with bunches of stories of his time covering a variety of sports.
I've been a fan of Mr. Reusse for over 30 years, so this was fun. A worthy read for Minnesota sports fans.