Non-Finance Book Review: Built for Speed - Bikes, Beers and Balls of Steel by John McGuinness

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If you are into Bikes then you must know John McGuinness (and if you don’t, then where on earth have you been hiding?) as he is a true Isle of Man TT legend and I think his number of wins across the different classes only lags that of the true top dog, Joey Dunlop.
 
This autobiography is very raw and near the knuckle (in other words it is extremely rude in parts and not for the faint hearted or for children !!) and if you read it then it is likely you come away with the view that John is very much from a working class background and his council house upbringing shines through. I guess this explains to a large extent why he comes across in interviews and things as so ‘down to earth’ and he himself admits in the Book that he has not always been the sharpest negotiator when agreeing to contracts to ride for a particular team and he laments that not having a Manager earlier in his career probably held him back a lot. On that subject, it is quite astonishing how little John got paid in the early days and I think he even says somewhere in the book that he would almost have ridden for nothing if it meant he got on a bike and had the chance to compete.
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