My Life and Work [Paperback]

Henry Ford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 8, 2007

Henry Ford spent most of his life making headlines, good, bad, but never indifferent. Celebrated as both a technological genius and a folk hero, Ford was the creative force behind an industry of unprecedented size and wealth that in only a few decades permanently changed the economic and social character of the United States. When young Ford left his father's farm in 1879 for Detroit, only two out of eight Americans lived in cities; when he died at age 83, the proportion was five out of eight. Once Ford realized the tremendous part he and his Model T automobile had played in bringing about this change, he wanted nothing more than to reverse it, or at least to recapture the rural values of his boyhood. Henry Ford, then, is an apt symbol of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial America.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: NuVision Publications, LLC (July 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595478752
• ISBN-13: 978-1595478757
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,834,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( F ) > Ford, Henry

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great insights to a bygone era with surprising modern relevence, March 28, 2009

By 

Bob (San Marcos, TX, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Life and Work - An Autobiography of Henry Ford (Paperback)

While obviously self-serving, this book provides fascinating insights into the thinking of a true pioneer. Just when you start to think it is dated, you hit a section with startling current relevence.

I wish the leaders of GE had heeded his warnings about getting so wrapped up in financing structure and accounting results that you get distracted from your basic business and your customers' needs.

His approach to driving does costs and creating value are profound to this day. It's too bad the finance wizards at GM and Ford forgot his lessons - the leaders of Toyota and Honda learned them well.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Management Classics, September 20, 2008

By 

Maxim Masiutin (Chisinau, Republic of Moldova) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Life and Work - An Autobiography of Henry Ford (Paperback)

Henry Ford is the classical writer on management. He stands on a same line with Sun Tzu, Niccolò Machiavelli, Robert Owen, Frederick Taylor and Henri Fayol.

This is the foundation of all the management literature, and every modern manager should be aware with the works of the authors above mentioned.

In the book "My Life and Work", Henry Ford presents his view on different things: management philosophy, social life, human abilities and capabilities, the role of the bankers in the production, good debt and bad debt, the labor and the speculation, the roots of poverty and the ways to solve it, the role of the government, and other important topics.

You will also find an autobiography in this book, but there is a lot of things that Henry Ford avoids in this book, e.g. how did he took the controlling stake in the Ford Motor Company. He didn't write in the book that he have started another company, Henry Ford and Son, and made a show of taking himself and his best employees to the new company; the goal was to scare the remaining holdout stockholders of the Ford Motor Company to sell their stakes to him before they lost most of their value. The ruse worked, and Henry and his son purchased all remaining stock from the other investors, thus giving the family sole ownership of the company.

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable historic reading- an insight into one of the 20th Century's most influential people, March 26, 2011

By 

J. M. Fitzpatrick "John Fitzpatrick" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Life and Work - An Autobiography of Henry Ford (Paperback)

This is a fascinating read.

It provides a unique insight into the mind of Henry Ford- one of the most influential people of the 20th Century.

As such, it is an important chronicle from history, Also, it still provides valuable ideas of relevance today.

Much has been written about Henry Ford. It is interesting to contrast those writings against Ford's own words.