Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.by Ron Chernow
I'm not exactly giving up on this, but I am returning it to the library. It's a phenomenal work, but at 832 pages I'll consider halfway through as enough for the time being. But how fascinating it was! I wasn't bored at all, not even when the subject matter could have been boring.
Learning some of the dubious practices his early Standard Oil Company indulged in make me wonder how different things are today. For example, offering to ship huge amounts of oil through a railroad company in return for them giving him a volume discount, or offering a kickback in return for preferred service. At times the deals even extended to having the railroad pay him a percentage for competitor's shipment. or maybe I didn't read that right--sorry. Even great writing can't make me understand business.
The main reason I'm quitting is that I quickly realized it wasn't John D. that I was interested in, but his son, John D. Jr. If I slog this through to the end, I'll have less time to read up on the other.
Great, great great biography. I think Chernow ought to get a Nobel prize.
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