Holy moly, what an insane story. This book is an exhilarating memoir of the adventures of Phil “Buck” Knight, from a backpacker with a crazy idea to eventually building one of the most iconic brands on the planet.
With a gripping style of writing the founder of Nike tells it all through all the epiphanies, the lucky encounters, the boardroom battles, courtroom battles, the many ups and down of his own personal story and the people surrounds him, the many times they nearly get out of business, this one promise he made to himself to someday come back to Manila, how they came up with the name Nike, how he accidentally met the designer of the swoosh logo, and all the tragic tragedies that almost shock me into tears, all of which cannot possibly be mentioned here without giving away the great plot of the story.
Indeed, the book reads like an epic movie that kept me glued way longer than my usual daily reading miles. I even lost sleep for couple of days as I could not possibly put down the book before bed. And now as I write this review a couple of days later since I finished the book, I actually miss reading it and wondering how the guys are doing right now.
Phil Knight runs, he reads a lot of books, he’s a backpacker at heart, a romantic poet of life who often gets his inspirations from the great men of history. And his charisma and worldly charm shines bright in the written pages of the book. What’s not to like?
Easily one of the best biographies I’ve ever read, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
EDWIN SETIADI 