New Book Review: “This book was a page turner.”

The Business of Walt Disney available at amazon

© 2018, Barry L. Linetsky. All Rights Reserved

A new five-star review of my book The Business of Walt Disney and the Nine Principles of his Success appeared on amazon this week, courtesy of Jerry Kirkpatrick.

Jerry Kirkpatrick is Professor Emeritus of International Business and Marketing, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

He is also the author of the highly acclaimed book In Defense of Advertising: Arguments from Reason, Ethical Egoism, and Laissez-Faire Capitalism. You can find both the book and my review from 2007 at amazon here. He is also a frequent contributor to the Mises Institute and blogger.

Here’s Professor Kirkpatrick’s review of my book The Business of Walt Disney and the Nine Principles of Success.

This book was a page turner, packed with a great deal of information I never knew about Disney, especially during his pre-Mickey years. But also, throughout his career. Disney was the master entrepreneur, always focused on his next creation. What Linetsky demonstrates on nearly every page is Disney’s confidence and courage to go against the conventional wisdom. Snow White was referred to as “Disney’s folly”–until it became a smash success. The same with Disneyland. Everyone expected it to be just another seedy “iron park” (as amusement parks used to be called). And, finally, the same with Epcot, though Disney’s idea of a planned community never came to fruition. Linetsky tops off the story with entrepreneurial lessons that we can learn from Disney. The book is really two books in one: the thriller story of Walt and his brother (the one who kept his eye on finances) and the business textbook. We can all enjoy and learn much from them.

Barry Linetsky is the author of The Business of Walt Disney and the Nine Principles of His Success (Theme Park Press, 2017), from which this article is adapted; an expert on strategic business management; a Partner with The Strategic Planning Group in Toronto, Canada; and blogs at www.BarryLinetsky.com.