Customer Reviews

Sony: A Private Life

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While this is ostensibly a book about business (it is categorized as such), it is really a book about people and the complex personal and social relationships that were a part of Sony's rise from an unknown engineering company born out of the rubble of post WWII Japan to one of the largest and well recognized companies in the world.

Mr. Nathan does a remarkable job of providing the reader with a palpable feel for the personalities intimately involved in the Sony story, particularly those of the Japanese leaders who drove the birth and growth of Sony as a global power. This is something that is all too rare in business texts on Japanese corporations and makes the insights provided by this book all the more valuable. By the story's end we feel almost as though we know personally Masaru Ibuka, Akio Morita, and Norio Ohga, the men who lived and made Sony. What we come to realize is that in Japan, contrary to initial appearances, business is driven by social and personal considerations as least as much, if not moreso, than business considerations.

While this book will be valuable for anyone doing business in Japan or with a Japanese company, it's appeal is much broader than the executive suite. It's a story that will appeal to anyone who has dreamed of building something greater than themselves. As Nobuyuki Idei would say, the "Digital Dream Kids".

There are many books that chronicle Industrial Design, but very few give even a glimpse behind the closed doors of one of Japan's "thousand-year companies." Dr. Nathan is truly an insider. His understanding of the subtle nuance of Japanese culture and how global business really works makes for great reading. I recommend it to anyone interested in building a company from scratch into the best-loved brand in the world. I read Sony: The Private Life in one sitting - the best business book I've ever read.

This book doesn't tell the story of the company SONY, but the career of the people who created and ran it: the Morita's, Ibuka, Ohga, Idei and some US officers - Schulhof, Yetnikoff.

The portraits are very favourable, nearly and sometimes really hagiographies (e.g. 'Yoshiko's genius as a hostess' p. 80)
For a more critical portrait of Akio Morita, see Ian Buruma's 'The Missionary and the Libertine'.

Sony is evidently a big success story, but it is also a tale of egos, ambitions, stress, clashes, strokes, heart attacks and fear of death (Akio Morita: I'll never die).

John Nathan gives us a good picture of the defeated Japan after WWII.
The Columbia saga is well told, but is better unravelled in Nancy Griffin's 'Hit and Run'.
The real story behind the loss of the crucial video battle is not revealed.

A good character study of the people who created a world company from scratch.

Many business books focus exclusively on the physical evidence left behind by a business: the profit and loss statements, product plans and reviews while ignoring the essence of the company. In Sony: The Private Life, Nathan goes far beyond the polished exterior that Sony projects to the world; far beyond simplicity of the money that Sony made and spent. Instead he presents Sony as the complex creature that it is.

The book combines interviews with Sony executives and extensive research. From the first day in post WWII Japan to mid-1998 with offices worldwide, Nathan chronicles the growth of the company. Special attention is paid to how Sony designs and develops products. Nathan delves into the creation of Sony's highly profitable Trinitron line and the birth of the Walkman. Attention is paid to how Sony desires to be consistently different-and-better than its competition, though in some cases, the result is simply being different.

Unfortunately, Nathan seems to walk the company walk in some cases, not delving into controversial subjects as deeply as readers might like. This may, simply, be due to the lack of additional sources on the subject, as much of the book is spent discussing activities that occurred far from the public view. However, as Nathan had already completed several projects for Sony before writing the book, one has to question whether he was able to maintain complete objectivity. In fact, sometimes, Nathan seems more awful of Sony and the Sony founders than he describes most Sony employees as being.

Overall, Sony: The Private Life is an exceptional book. It provides valuable insight into the operations and management style of a Japanese company. Moreover, Nathan's attention to the players, as opposed to simply the company, allows readers understanding to go far beyond that provided by most business books. If you want to understand Sony or Japanese corporations in general, this is the book to buy.

Excellent book, very astute knowledge of and concise explanation of Japanese culture and nuances. Brave in many of its assertions, particularly of the Sony executives' attraction to Jewish executives.

Smooth read, flows nicely. Great book, highly recommended. Personal tiny quip: as a videogames fanatic, would have liked to see more about the Playstation, especially considering public assertions about the fact that the unit is the most highly profitable within the contest.

I was fascinated with Sony the day Walkman was brought into this world. Then, I was only a boy & Walkman was the in-thing in South East Asia. After that, it seemed Sony grew from strength to strength. I always wanted to know an in-depth story about Sony but never came across a material which is as good & as true as Sony: The Private Life written by John Nathan. Initially, I thought that the book was to be written in academic form but to my pleasant surprise, it was written like a good novel. We were told in detail of the founders, the proteges who were chosen to lead the company but subsequently, some fallen out with Sony & some went all the way. We were also given a feel of power struggle within the firm, culture clashes, xenophobia (particularly the acquition of Columbia Pictures), abuse of power & goodwill by film moguls towards Sony, personalities of various kinds. Several products were mentioned as they formed the basis of Sony today such as the world-famous Trinitron TV, Walkman, HandyCam. Overall, a very good book to read. I never expected it to make me laugh, tense, sad, pensive but it did exactly just that.

We don't need pictures of products when John Nathan's book so vividly brings to life the human texture beneath the Sony story. In this dramatic telling he shows how the bond between two men and their dreams lead to products that were always slightly ahead of their time but never ahead of our imaginations. I liked this book because it always allowed the human story to shine beneath the corporate saga. How many US corporations would select a leader because he had 'san' - radiance.

This is terrific reading for those interested in the development of a unique idea into a successful multi-national corporation.

This is the most interesting business biography that I've read yet. I often lose interest about mid-way through books like this, but I've been captivated throughout. The vision and drive of the two founders of Sony is described with an electrifying intensity that reveals their surprising ability to see -- in a period of wartime defeat and national humiliation -- a glowing future of opportunity and innovation. It is that kernel -- a glimpse into the lives of those who can see beyond what everyone else sees -- that is the most provocative element of the book (for me). Although most of the ink devoted to the two founders seems gilt, there are many revelations of the failures and successes of Sony from its post-war beginnings to its development -- within a lifetime -- into a multi-billion dollar international business.

Absolutely fabulous look inside of the Sony Corporation, John Nathan pierced the Corporate Veil of Secrecy to produce a wonderful analysis. Maybe more blunt than Sony would have prefered, but speaking from someone who has never bought anything but Sony, changes nothing of market perspective.

Sony has risen from the ashes of postwar Japan to become one of the truly recognizable brands around the world. Nathan does a superb job of documenting this story. There are two things that Nathan had going for him that really helped this book:

A) He knows Japan. This allowed Nathan to provide understanding of the company and the way the nation actually works. The Japanese business culture is truly a different animal than the American culture.

B) He was given incredible access. It's surprising that Sony agreed to give Nathan such an inside look.

Nathan's history is excellent, but I almost would have rather heard more about the actual products that Sony created rather than the political infighting, etc. (Even though Nathan does spend a good amount of time on the actual products). But this is a personal preference and Nathan really did a great job.