To Pixar And Beyond

Executive Summary: An interesting story, but probably not the one I'd have preferred about Pixar. I also could have done without the last few chapters. 3.5 Stars.

Audiobook: This isn't the first book I've listened to that's been narrated by Bronson Pinchot, but I still always think of him as the wacky guy from Perfect Strangers. He really is an excellent narrator however. He reads with a good voice and doesn't get in the way of the book, which is what I always want most when listening to non-fiction.

Full Review
I got this book in a Humble Bundle titled: “Hackers, Gamers and Geeks”, so naturally I assumed it was going to be about the technology behind Pixar. I had no idea who Lawrence Levy was, and for good reason. I turns out his was Pixar's CFO.

That said, I still found the book to be well written and interesting. It mostly focuses on the financial side of things, including how Levy helped save the Pixar by helping Steve Jobs to its IPO, working to renegotiate a terrible deal Pixar had signed with Disney, and the eventual sale of the company to them.

There are a lot of interesting inside stories and some behind the scenes stuff on the early films, in particular Toy Story. There is very little on the creative aspect of the company however and even less on the technology side.

I probably wouldn't have bought this book on my own, especially if I knew it was about the financial side of Pixar's success, but I'm glad I read it. My only real complaint is he tries to tie everything together with the post Pixar career involving some kind of spiritualism or something. I don't know, I was only half paying attention by that point. It felt totally unrelated to the book, even though he said the philosophy is part of what made Pixar so successful. He would know better than I do, I just didn't find it very interesting.

Overall this was a good, but not great look at Pixar's rise to success. It has be revisiting some of my favorite Pixar films, and itching to find a book that covers the technology, or possibly the creative side of Pixar at some point in the future.