“Moreover, most people who do have the instincts will never recognize that they do, because they don’t have the courage or the good fortune to discover their potential. Somewhere out there are a few men with more innate talent at golf than Jack Nicklaus, or women with greater ability at tennis than Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova, but they will never lift a club or swing a racket and therefore will never find out how great they could have been. Instead, they’ll be content to sit and watch stars perform on television.”

Many of you only know Donald Trump as a self-important (nothing wrong with that), bombastic headline hound who seems to have something negative to say about someone 50% of the time (this hilarious Instagram video notwithstanding). I didn't know much more than most about Trump before reading this book -- the first of 10 or so that Donald has authored, a feat I must respect -- except for the fact that the man has done big deals. Condos, golf courses, a hugely successful NBC franchise, his name on everything... Regardless your opinion of his personality, what he has accomplished must be objectively respected by any business person who can separate emotions from facts.

The Art of The Deal is Donald Trump at his most lucid, explaining his deal making, the people and strategies behind them.

Trump begins by journaling through a typical week in his life -- people he interacts with, opportunities he considers -- and explains the how and why behind things. This first section is really easy to read and somewhat addictive as I didn't put the book down through the first chapters.

Then Donald goes into his background of his early childhood and watching his namesake father in the real estate business. Trump had decided early in his life that he would succeed his father and aim big, such as building high rises in Manhattan as opposed to middle-income apartments in Brooklyn.

In The Art of The Deal, Donald Trump shares a lot of business and relationship building insights. There are lots of insights in this book that any business person can learn from when it comes to making deals.

When this book was published in 1987, Donald was a clear-thinking business man who had, seemingly, much fewer enemies than he has now. My perception of the 2014 Trump is that he is bit too cynical to write this clearly ever again. But we will always have The Art of The Deal.