A Book Review of Richard Branson's autobiography “Losing my Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way"

"Losing my Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way" is the autobiography of Richard Branson, one of Britain's most illustrious entrepreneurs.

Whether you love him or love to hate him you can't argue about this; he lives a very full life and throws himself into just about everything with gusto. The 500 plus pages of this autobiography are packed with details from his business opportunities, life adventures and recounts of his early childhood.

In a short 40 years, Richard has managed to generate so many successful businesses, despite some hefty competition. His intuitive style of doing business means that he went ahead with many of his business opportunities even when the experts warned him 'don't do it'.

He is the poster child of anti-establishment business and what you might not expect to be reading about is his humble beginnings and early setbacks.

Whether you are into business or not, this book provides inspiration for living your life to the fullest. Not just about business opportunities, the book is also packed with plenty of honest and fascinating stories of family, fun, adventure and friendships.

There is no question that this lively character has worked hard for the business success he has enjoyed. From Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Records, V2, Virgin Cola and Virgin Megastores, along with the hundreds of other small businesses he has started; they all have a track record second to none. Although, not all of his business opportunities have been smooth sailing and the Virgin Atlantic/British Airways debacle takes up much of this recount of his life.

Branson writes his own rules in business and when he first started out the famous trade name was coined because he was just that; a virgin in business. Despite the fact that he has an extraordinary empire of global companies that dominate every market; there is no management hierarchy, no central headquarters and minimum bureaucracy.

There is so much to cover that some of the detail is skipped over in the last part of the book. His love of extreme sports and tales of balloon rides 40,000 feet up definitely make for interesting interludes to his business tales.

The book gives you insight into the drive that is behind the success but he also describes his failures (and crimes) with sincerity that you probably weren't expecting. The tales about his business opportunities are easy to read and the business terminology is very basic. It is a bit light on tangible business tips and famous names are splashed around everywhere. There are plenty of picture plates to compliment the story from start to finish.

There is no doubt that sometime in the future an outsider will write a more critical account of Richards tales, but for now this one will provide you with plenty to fuel your business mind and will give you a personal heads up on how this walking talking publicity machine lives his life to the fullest; straight from the horse's mouth.