I am usually very fond of biographies and
autobiographies, especially involving scientific or mathematical people.
However, when, at of the spur of the moment, I decided to buy “Losing
My Virginity”, the autobiography of Sir Richard Branson, the founder of
the Virgin Group; I was not sure whether I would like it or not. Even at
the Airport when I was sitting and waiting for my delayed flight, I
thought perhaps it would be a waste of my money and time. But how wrong I
was! When I started reading the book, I found I liked it a lot. Quite
unexpectedly, that book has left me with a new sense of direction in my
life. I am more resolute about a few things which I had never ever felt
so deeply before. It truly is a remarkable document showing the path of a
man driven by passion.
The first thing that catches anyone about the book is its title. Why
would any sane man write a book on how he lost his virginity? But for
all intents and purposes Branson is not a sane man, he just lives on a
thin border of genius and insanity. And to tell the cautious reader, he
doesn’t describe that in his book. The book begins with a view of his
childhood and how he had a close knit family. It gradually moves on to
his school life, where his teacher remarked that he would either go to
prison or become a millionaire, on the day he left school. Later we see
that Branson did manage to do both of these things.
Branson like all top entrepreneurs of the world has had times when he
could not be sure if he would wake up the next morning to see his
company go bust. As a 15 year old boy, when he started Student, a
magazine for the youth, he had already set sights on his later to be
formed vast empire. From a dingy record shop in the 1970s to owning one
of the most respectable brands in the world has been a long and tough
journey. And Branson bares it all in this gem of a book. We also get a
glimpse of his extremely competitive nature and his love for adventure
in this classic piece of work.
We get to see what makes one of the most brilliant businessmen of the
world tick. Perhaps it’s his philosophy of having ‘fun’ in business or
perhaps it’s his out of the world free spirit with a great sense of
adventure. This man, who owns a billion dollar aviation industry,
decides to travel round the world in a hot air balloon to set a record,
and almost does it. He is a man who doesn’t dither when people come to
him with all sorts of crazy ideas. He puts them in a little notebook of
his, and sorts them out, and always supports a just cause.
Like many entrepreneurs of the modern world, Branson has stood for so
many critical issues that they are virtually countless like the
different things with which we associate Virgin with. Branson is a man
with a vision of the future that is beautiful and he leaves no stone
unturned to achieve his dream. This is what sets him apart from other
visionaries and that is what I respect about him. Branson is not shy to
admit that he was wrong and perhaps things could have been better, but
then he finds what his faults were and goes on immediately to correct
them. He is a man who feels as strongly about a young girl in Africa
suffering from fistula as he is about his daughter clearing through
medical school.
Branson is truly a man of many endearing qualities and having read the
book, I have come to admire and respect him for what he is, how he did
what he has done and how he has sustained himself in this era of cut
throat competition. Branson must be toasted for his luminous efforts at
world peace, climate control and all sorts of sensitive issues. The book
written in a lucid style with very few difficult to understand phrases
or words and is a wholly entertaining piece. It feels like reading a
novel, only this time the protagonist is as real as you and me.
Publisher: Virgin Books
Pages: 598
Price: Rs. 399
Rating: 4/5
[This review was published here.
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