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Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

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Author - Ron Chernow ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Vintage was reviewed on 4-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:0679757031 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Reference Book. Classifications : General United States Historical Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Rich & Famous Leaders & Notable People Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Business Professionals & Academics Biographies & Memoi . Click the following link to view the cover of Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr..

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1) Paperback Book Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Vintage. John D. Rockefeller Sr. was probably the biggest, baddest robber baron in 19th century America, and also its leading philanthropist. Many writers scorned his ruthlessness, notably Ida Tarbell, who wrote two books on Rockefeller and his company, Standard Oil. Author Ron Chernow digs deeper, through masses of Rockefeller family documents, to present the founder of the Rockefeller dynasty as a "man of flesh and bone and soul." He covers Rockefeller´s ugly, dramatic and even shameful aspects, while concurrently demonstrating his business acumen and his philanthropic leadership amid a remarkable generation of business barons, including William Randolph Hearst, Jay Gould, William Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan. An amazing portrait emerges of an almost invisible, rather megalomaniac ascetic who wanted to fulfill God´s will. He became extremely wealthy, gave millions away, and believed that he brought the benefit of inexpensive oil products to all mankind. getAbstract highly recommends this multifaceted biography.¤

2) Paperback Book Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Vintage. This is a really excellent book on Rockefeller. It made me laugh; it helped me to understand who he was as a person; it showed how he became who he was; and it gave me a true and complete understanding of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Sr. in an unbiased way.

I read the negative reviews on here, and I want to refute them. Some say the author clearly favored Rockefeller; I felt quite the opposite at some points and think a really objective depiction was achieved. Others say the editing was poor; I didn´t find a single spelling or grammatical error during the read. In terms of its editing, it was fine.

If you want to know who Mr. Rockefeller, Sr. was, this is the book for you.¤

3) Paperback Book Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Vintage. Hopefully it is good, Kinda Long but I am looking foward to having time to read the whole novel.¤

4) Paperback Book Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Vintage. Rockefeller is reported to have searched endlessly for golf balls lost in an attempt to recover them, yet could nearly buy the world - why?

Objective biographies are important to show that it is rarely money or greed that inspires the mind of man; it is the pursuit of the solution to the particular problem that he has defined worthy of solution. Both great inventions and great works of art have been formed as a result of the tiny seeds of construction or of destruction that engage the human spirit.

Without it, are we not all merely reduced to automated machine status, the robots of today for the future of tomorrow?

Is the mind of man made for the pursuit of money, or for the pursuit of satisfaction of what he perceives is worthy of addressing, focusing his attention upon the manner and the object of his passion?

What makes people tick is a source of inspiration often overlooked in the attempt to idolize or endow humanity, and far too often, misconstrued by mistaken others who aim to profit from that misinterpretation.

Molded soles, like molded fingerprints, rarely sit anyone else. Why then do we not concentrate upon the perspective of what men aim for, and why, rather than what they accomplish, and its yield?¤

5) Paperback Book Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Vintage.
This book is the best biography I´ve read thus far.
Ron Chernow has a deep understanding of
economics and history. He uses this understanding to
paint an accurate, balanced and complete picture of
the Rockerfeller dynasty with J.D. Rockerfeller as the
center of their powerful universe.


To emphasise just how well this book was written,
consider the fact that I spent my whole
Christmas weekend reading it! I couldn´t move from my
library or sleep until it was done. Though the book
weighs in at approximately seven hundred pages, it is
reads like a novel, a trait which makes it both
palatable and pithy.

Synopsis


Rockerfeller has all the traits of a classic self made hero. His
antecedents are not amazing. He grew up in a poor
family featuring a bigamist foot-lose father who was
hardly ever around. His father taught John painful
lessons in business and human behaviour. John´s father
would regularly tell John to jump from his high chair
into his father´s arms. Once, in order to teach John
never to trust anyone, he told John to jump. He then
walked away, leaving John to slam painfully into the ground.
John´s mother was the backbone of the family; quiet,
anassuming and hardworking. He assumed the role of
surrogate father and dedicated his life to ensuring his
mother and the rest of his family were safe, secure
and happy.


When Rockerfeller got into the business world, he
began as a book keeper. It was from these early
beginnings that he showed the traits that would be the
core of his success. He was meticulous and diligent
when keeping financial records and accounts. He would
manage his own funds as well as the company´s money down to the
decimal point! Like Warren Buffet after him,
J.D. Rockerfeller would emphasis that "numbers are
everything."


J.D also proved that discipline is more important than
intelligence. In school, he wasn´t the sharpest blade
in the set but his slow, diligent, determined and
disciplined approach to study ensured his success. He
emphasised this in his business dealings as well. With
this method, he created the jaggernaut monopoly of
Standard Oil. He began by consolidating the mass of oil
refineries and wells in Cleveland under his umbrella.
Later, after recruiting his alter ego, Henry Flagler,
they would proceed to dominate the oil industry
thoughout the world.


Rockerfeller also exemplified a reticence that would
inspire respect and fear in his enemies while planting
admiration and loyalty in his friends. At board
meetings, he was often known to lie back in a settee
with his eyes closed as he let his leiutenants debate.
Later, he would discuss these issues in great detail,
as though he had absorbed and understood everything
without skipping a beat. Within his company, he was a
ghost. Employees would never see him arrive or watch
him leave. However, they were made acutely aware of
his presence when he popped up at some underlings desk
and discussed their jobs and records in great detail. He
knew everything and everyone.


Later on, Standard Oil would become the focus of the
anti-trust movement. The Spellman Act was passed in
order to curb its power. In later years,
Rockerfeller´s juggernaut would be split up with
unforseen results. Instead of destroying his wealth,
as his detractors and politicians had hoped, his
wealth and that of his shareholders trippled!
Rockerfeller´s success was enduring and could not be
stopped or limited.


Rockerfeller dedicated the first half his life to becoming the
richest man on the planet. He then dedicated the
remaining half to becoming the greatest philanthropist
in the planet. His medical foundations brought
back the disciplined approach he applied to business to
the medical field that had erstwhile been dominated by
quacks and homeopaths. Were it not for Rockerfeller´s
contributions to medicine, modern health might not be
as advanced as it is now.


After living to the ripe old age of ninety eight,
Rockerfeller had achieved more than most people achive in a
hundred lifetimes. He was one of those individuals so
powerful that he forever changed the destiny of
humanity forever.



Something in the nature of J.D. Rockerfeller had to
occur in America, and it is all to the good of the
world that he was tight-lipped, consistent and
amazingly free from vulgar vanity, sensuality and
quarrelsomeness. His cold prsistence and ruthlessness
may arouse something like horror, but for all that he
was a forward-moving force, a constructive power.

--H. G. Wells. The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind.


Conclusion


This book is mandatory reading for all students of
success. It teaches the nature of the monopolist, the
spirit of the leader, the hunger of the rich, the
ambition of the visionary, the structure of a dynasty
and the soul of the innovator.


I´ve idolized Rockerfeller my whole life. Reading this
biography gave me an understanding of both his faults
and his virtues. It humanised him. The fact that
Rockerfeller is so much like a next door neighbour
leads the reader to a very important conclusion:
success is not about nature, it´s about nurture. It
is not about intelligence but of intent. It is not
about destiny but of decision. It is not about magic,
it is about method.

Each of us can make the decision to be successful. All
we have to do is practice the method by mimicking that
of the giants who have come before us. That is the
Billionaire Way.¤

6) Paperback Book Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Vintage. National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist

"A biography that has many of the best attributes of a novel. . . . Wonderfully fluent and compelling." --The New York Times

"A triumph of the art of biography. Unflaggingly interesting, it brings John D. Rockefeller Sr. to life through sustained narrative portraiture of the large-scale, nineteenth-century kind."--The New York Times Book Review

In this endlessly engrossing book, National Book Award-winning biographer Ron Chernow devotes his penetrating powers of scholarship and insight to the Jekyll and Hyde of American capitalism. In the course of his nearly 98 years, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., was known as both a rapacious robber baron, whose Standard Oil Company rode roughshod over an industry, and a philanthropist who donated money lavishly to universities and medical centers. He was the terror of his competitors, the bogeyman of reformers, the delight of caricaturists--and an utter enigma.
        Drawing on unprecedented access to Rockefeller´s private papers, Chernow reconstructs his subject´s troubled origins (his father was a swindler and a bigamist) and his single-minded pursuit of wealth. But he also uncovers the profound religiosity that drove him "to give all I could"; his devotion to his family; and the wry sense of humor that made him the country´s most colorful codger. Titan is a magnificent biography --balanced, revelatory, and elegantly written.

"Important and impressive. . . . Reveals the man behind both the mask and the myth."--The Wall Street Journal

"One of the great American biographies. . . . [Chernow] writes with rich impartiality. He turns the machinations of Standard Oil . . . into fascinating social history."--Time¤

7) Paperback Book Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Vintage. The patrician accent of George Plimpton (author of Truman Capote and The X Factor), with its edge of aristocracy and money, is perfectly suited for telling the rags-to-riches story of America´s most famous businessman and philanthropist. Indeed, Plimpton seems to positively relish the superlatives that describe the life of John D. Rockefeller, who was far and away one of the most calculating, secretive, competitive, merciless, and talented figures ever to dominate the free market. Showing, early on, his keen attachment to hard work and keeping accounts, Rockefeller started out as an accountant in Cleveland. From there he went into the produce business, and then on to oil. By the time he was 31, he was the most powerful oil refinery owner in the world. His strategies for suppressing competition and controlling all aspects of the oil business while still paying attention to the smallest details make for dramatic listening in this well-documented and accessible narrative. Plimpton recounts how Rockefeller was the ultimate clutch player, calm in the face of adversity, a manager who was constantly searching for talented people and another way to grow Standard Oil into a megalithic modern corporation. Ultimately his rapacious business practices would make him head of the most powerful monopoly in America and the richest man in the world. Plimpton´s engrossing reading of Titan brings out the human side of Rockefeller, a man of contradictions who was greedy yet giving, a capitalist villain and a do-gooder. A teetotalling Baptist, he began giving to charity when he was earning just a few dollars a week. As his wealth grew, so too his financial gifts. In the end, Rockefeller´s philanthropic acts rivaled the precedents he set as a businessman. The oil baron died just short of his last goal--to reach the age of 100--but the indelible imprint he made on America´s financial landscape will live on into the 21st century. (Running time: six hours, four cassettes) --A.E.D.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 1-Nov-2008, 06797570319780679757030, 810-960-310-920-480-IYB-8


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