John Bloom (4)

Going into this my expectations weren't set, that there was only a single rating on the book from the author alone with no reviews didn't exactly give me a good impression. The impression went fast south when in the fourth sentence of the book the author relates how he's waiting for a speedboat to take him to his US$8,250,000 yacht (inflation adjusted for 2020) anchored in the bay of a holiday resort in Bulgaria. I thought this was going to be a bit of a pretentious self indulgent rant on show more how great capitalism is, for the author.

Instead, it's actually a very interesting an insightful memoir detailing the authors experiences leading up to and running the Rolls Razor British washing machine empire which ultimately collapsed on July 17 1964.

I never thought a book about selling washing machines could be so interesting, but it very much is, whilst at times I felt the author portrayed himself overly positively for the most part it sticks to the facts of what occurred and how things unraveled. As well as detailing the actions of those around him who essentially white anted the company which indirectly led to its collapse.

I would highly recommend this book for people interested business memoirs or stories and those in niche British history, at the time of writing this I note the cheapest copy available on Abe is US$100, honestly for the snapshot of history it contains I would consider it worth that.

Wikipedia also has some more background on John Bloom & the washing machine price war he started for those interested in some background of the books topic in general or before considering purchase. show less