Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way

I read this autobiography because I heard Branson interviewed on the Freakonomics podcast. He had made a comment that he was dyslexic and dropped out of school. He seemed to suggest that struggling students don't really need school to succeed as he did. This raised a question for me: So how do you start a company with a reading disability? The question really wasn't answered but he did surround himself in the early days with smart friends who helped first with the publication Student and then starting Virgin Records. It is an entertaining, sometimes enlightening read but got repetitive.

This man is very definitely the hero of his own story, but on the other hand he's often disarmingly honest, and he also has a lot to feel heroic about.

His ballooning escapades seem very dangerous, not least because the balloons themselves seem shoddily put together, but that's probably a reflection of how the kind of ballooning where you cross the pacific at thirty thousand feet and two hundred miles per hour is not done very much.

Before reading the book I did not appreciate that Virgin is involved in a staggering range of businesses. It felt like the record business and then the airline were really his true passions though. A good chunk of the book is devoted to the struggle to overcome British Airways dirty tricks campaign, and how show more Branson is finally vindicated by winning a huge libel settlement against Lord King and BA. I didn't much like BA before but finding out about all of this and how they did similar things to put Freddy Laker, British Midland, Air Europe and a bunch of others out of business, really put me off them.

All in all a good story which was well read, recorded by the same people who do audiobooks for the blind. show less

My father sent me this book with the accompanying message "he's (Branson) a bit of a wanker but even wankers say some useful things at times." And, so it proved.

Branson talks about his upbringing and how he decided to quit school at 16 to start a newspaper, which eventually branched out to trains, music, air travel and other more mundane investments. Besides covering British Airway's dirty tricks campaign, Branson probably offers aphorisms that anyone wanting to become extremely rich would take to heart. As I am not such a person, "Losing my Virginity" was enough of a time distraction when I was in Seoul, trying to avoid the new age cult I somehow got involved with.

A pretty bland memoir. There are some gems in it, though, and Branson is an impressive businessman. Most of the companies mentioned I'd never heard of, so it was interesting to see the range of Branson's brand venture capital investments. He presents himself as having consistent vision and values. I liked learning some of the business details behind Virgin Music and Virgin Airlines.

The problem is that it is not very cohesive. Branson himself doesn't have a long attention span, and the book certainly shows it. The writing is very poor, and it mostly feels like dictation. The story bounces around, from paragraph to paragraph each introducing some new subject. There's little followthrough or organization, though Branson often doubles back show more on himself. Branson is very self centered and not very reflective, so some of the threads—for example, an excruciatingly detailed elaboration of his libel case against British Airways—are just boring. show less

Short and fun stories of starting out. Mixes in his adventures with business deals, and you get a sense of how lucky and instinctual he is.

In general, well written and readable. It does come across as honest. The few things that come across clearly, is that he relies considerably on his instinct; he has great charm and networking ability; family means a lot to him; he is a hard competitor.

The part where I felt a bit put-off was where he thought he could stop the Kuwait invasion because of a few telephone calls, and the part where he founded The Elders. While he tried to sound well-meaning, I could not help but feel the arrogance come through the words. How can a bunch of 6-8 people arrogate to themselves the right to be the conscience of the world?

This book is a precise account of Branson's career, and throughout it one can find many lessons, interesting ideas and concepts. It never seizes to become interesting, and the BA situation and Branson's ballooning adventures contain more suspense than most suspense novels. It demonstrates the numerous difficult decisions that have to be made, and Richard's characteristic manner of finding a way out of the most difficult financial and legal problems. Throughout the book Richard grows as a person, from a restless young entrepreneur to a man that is changing the world, now the founder of a true empire, and instead of sitting on his wealth, Richard has been doing steady good with his fortune. He should not only be an inspiration to show more entrepreneurs around the world but to anyone. show less