Review: Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to this audiobook in part to check off the longest audio in my TBR list on Hoopla. At 35 hours, I found that I was kept entertained by the author, so in that respect, this was a job well done. How did he do that? For one thing, he doesn’t answer the toughest question of whether Rockefeller was a bad guy or a good guy. He provides stories to illustrate both, but on the whole I’d say Rockefeller comes across quite well. A second way that the author made this more engaging for the length is that some of the story delved into the biography of others. I’d say that the story of Rockefeller’s father, his son, and Ida Tarbell could have been cleaved off as separate books had the author wanted a collection. The father was a character. Ida Tarbell was a trailblazer. And Rockefeller Jr’s story shows the moral growth of an executive through adversity. All very distinct stories. The author weaved these together as needed to make the overall book more appealing. Another way that the book remained interesting was that the author did not focus on Rockefeller’s day-to-day business dealings. I was expecting more about the day-to-day office intrigue, the politics, the strategy. I’d consider this less of a “business biography” and more of a “personal biography” of a business executive as written. Again, to make the book more readable, I believe this was the correct strategy.

Favorite anecdote: Rockefeller would carry pockets full of dimes and nickels. He’d give dimes to adults and nickels to kids that he met during his day, instead of autographing things. When he gave these out, he’d also provide a little sermon on the value of work and investing. Imagine Mark Zuckerberg doing this nowadays and how that would go over.

Now that I’ve finished the longest audiobook on my Hoopla list, it’s time to start thinking about listening to the new longest book. Appropriately, it’s a Charles Dickens story about businesspeople. I’m expecting some similarities.


View all my reviews