Beyond the Model T: The Other Ventures of Henry Ford Book

To read this book in 2020 is a unique experience, given that we know all about the successes and failures that Disney has endured since the book was published. Reading about Eisner's prediction that the internet will change the television and film industries, though proving he was right, can be laborious at times.

That said, there is some juicy stuff here. His relationship with Jeffrey Katzenberg is described at detail...even if with a fair level of bias. Being a child of the 90s myself, I was very interested in Michael's conversations about the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and other touchstones of my youth. That said... the biography of the late Steve Jobs spoke at length about the relationship between Jobs and Eisner and their collaborate effort to produce Toy Story. I would have loved to have heard some of Eisner's take on the same story.

I read Eisner's autobiography as a third installment in a series of books about the Walt Disney empire. Previously I read "Disney's Land" and "Walt Disney: An American Original." Both of those were true biographies, written through the eyes of others. It's hard to compare Eisner's book to those - he certainly had different motivations in writing it, but his book is less "fun" in comparison. I recommend it to those that are a) interested in thoughts of corporate leadership, theres lots of small nuggets of wisdom along the way, b) uniquely interested in the inner workings of Disney's film/television business, or c) looking for some hard sought waves of 90s nostalgia.