Customer Reviews

Money from Thin Air: The Story of Craig McCaw, the Visionary who Invented the Cell Phone Industry, and His Next Billion-Dollar Idea

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The biography book provides an insightful story of how McCaws build his first empire of cable systems quickly by purchasing other companies aggressively and improving customer service.

The book then moves to the even more exciting story of how this communications tycoon capitalize early on the huge market of wireless communications, build a much bigger empire, and sold it to AT&T.

The author did a good job in providing an unbiased story supported with sufficient research. Given the combination of the entertaining writing style with the story of the great entrepreneur, I couldn't quite put the book down.

Highly Recommended.

This book is obviously the story of Craig McCaw and how he made his fortune in the cellular phone market. The book does a good job of summarizing Craig's life from a family tragedy that shaped his business life, to his strong belief in cellular communication and how that made him a millionaire.

The good news/bad news is that he eschews the fame and glory of a typical egomaniac like Donald Trump. It's great from a role model standpoint but since McCaw is so protective of his privacy and is around so few people, it was difficult to write a glamorous tale of an unglamorous life. Particularly since there is no mention of McCaw ever being interviewed by the author. Therefore, you are left with the history of cellular phone development in America coupled with mention of McCaw's unique management style.

That was enough for me as I had no knowledge of the business and it was interesting to see how a conservative man leveraged himself to great wealth. But don't buy this book if you want stories of drugs, models or other scandals. This story is nothing more than a successful business tale and that is enough.

Churchill's immortal description of the Soviet Union perfectly describes the shadowy Craig McCaw--probably the least known billionaire in America. Corr provides penetrating insights, all the more remarkable given a less than cooperative subject. McCaw is interesting because of the dichotomy between his bold, intuitive business gambits and his seemingly shy personality. In an age of CEO megalomaniacs--Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Donald Trump, and Larry Ellison--McCaw is a refreshing change. Yet Corr shows that there is a personal sadness at the core of McCaw's being. The book's final scene is as poignant as it is inscrutable. McCaw the billionaire and business genius at last finding one being with whom he can publicly connect: Keiko (the killer whale star of "Free Willy"). This book is much more than a well-written business biography. Corr captures the Quiggian contradictions of success and self.

I don't usually read "business" books but when a respected friend gave me this one I had to give it a try. I'm glad I did. This book moves at a fast pace. It describes an intriquing character with a well-plotted story. It might as well be a novel. Okay, there are a few numbers thrown it; I reluctantly learned a bit about business. But more important to me, I learned something about human nature.

I loved the book. O. Casey Corr puts a fast paced, complicated life of Craig McCaw into a simple fun readiing, makes you excited, book. It is amazing what one man can accomplish. I recommend this to any one with great dreams in business. I learned more in this book then a semester in college when it comes to real life business tactics.

Casey Corr is at his best in describing the man and his dreams- Craig McCaw and the world of cellular communications. Starting from a nearly bankrupt inheritance and the problems of his father's business Craig McCaw is superb in strategizing and execution. He quickly consolidates his business in the cable TV segment before venturing into mobile communications. He shows remarkable courage in predicting the growth pattern in each business segment he operates and takes big risks to pump in money to achieve leadership in his area of operation.

Reading this book reminds me the story of Jim Clark ("The New New Thing " - by Michael Lewis ) who also follows a similar pattern in his mega plans, moving from one success to another.

It would have been better had the author explained a little more about the concepts of technology in each business outlined, so that it would be easy for a reader without exposure in these areas to understand the real picture and the theme of this book.

If you own a cell phone please read this book. If you don't own one, then this book will ensure that you buy one.May be a few years from now you may get a call from another planet - made possible by McCaw's network !.

Despite an author who seems overly enamoured with his subject - creating a view heavily one-sided - and despite some confusing writing (such as stating on one page that McCaw's profit from the AT & T sale is $185 million and on the next page $1 billion) this is a very good, well-detailed story of a fascinating industry built upon by a remarkable Howard Hughes-like capitalist bucaneer.

This is a helpful book for anyone in the wireless industry. We have been blessed with stellar growth for two+ decades in the industry, and the pioneers helped set the stage.

The stories of Craig McCaw, John Stanton and others are instructive for those of us in wireless, or any part of high tech services, today.

As Corr tells it, McCaw has always operated by a unique, hands off managerial style, often absent from key negotiations and busy flying his plane and paddling his kayak through British Columbia. For an author of a business biography, such a subject presents a real problem, because it makes it virtually impossible to paint a nuanced, subtle, in depth profile of the subject, and Corr's book suffers from this flaw. Michael Lewis had the same problem with Jim Clark in "The New New Thing," and I think there are few biographers of sufficient skill to really help us understand a mercurial figure like McCaw.

That said, the book is still worthwhile, especially for the excellent early history of the cable and cellular phone industries. The explosive growth, relentless deal making, constant capital shortages, and sudden, inexplicable abandonment by the financial community might ring a chord with anyone who has lived through the last five years. Revolutions in the communications business seem to follow such a hype-hysteria-despair-rebuild path, and today's investors and entrepreneurs can learn a lot by studying the early history of these industries. For this purpose, Corr's book is a worthy addition to a business person's library.

Very insightful, quick reading book about one of the nation's most unique business leaders, a real character. There should be a sequel about McCaw handling the big shakeout in telecom and about his pet project, saving Keiko the whale. I hope Corr does another book.