If you want to know President Trump why and how he thinks, I think that you should read this book. It was written a long time ago when Trump was a real estate business man. Still I found it quite interesting.

A remarkable treatise authored by a modern day Anglo-Saxon king.

This book was not what I was expecting at all, but now I can see why it is considered a classic. It is surprisingly accessible for a book about how to make successful business deals. It contains a lot of wisdom that can be applied to life in general, about how to treat others and also about marketing yourself and your skills.

The book documents various deals Trump is interested in during one week in his life. He discusses each project in depth and concludes with a summary of which deals were successful, which ones were not, which ones he had to rework and so on.

His dealings with the New York city planning council and the mayor were particularly amusing. Anyone who has any knowledge of Trump already knows that he is a straight talker and isn't afraid to tell the truth about people or situations as he sees it. The same applies here, but it is written with a great sense of humour. This is Trump in his 40's, debonair and confident.

Very enjoyable and well worth the read!

Published in 1987, Trump: The Art of the Deal, has nothing to do with politics (other than his vendetta against then-mayor Ed Koch, but even that seemed more personal than political), so I read it from the perspective of his reputation as a strong businessman, and not as president, since the former is what apparently qualified him to be the latter.

The book is part memoir, part business-advice. My review is reflective of how successful it was to those ends, and is not related to my personal opinions about his presidency (although someone will almost certainly try to accuse me of making this review political, since facts are no longer bipartisan).

First, as a memoir, it's pretty dull and uninformative. The book does not give much detail into his childhood or schooling, or even insight into the man himself. You won't learn anything you don't already know about him (he's competitive and vain) or his motivations. There's neither an inspiring rags-to-riches story nor a tale of overcoming some incredible obstacle to get where he is (No, committees and Ed Koch don't count). What it ends up being, instead, is Trump blathering on and on about scheming and bluffing his way to make big deals, while berating everyone else (including, but not limited to, contractors, city officials, major corporation owners, and other real estate developers) as less competent than him. He repeatedly claims his projects always finish ahead of schedule and under budget, while everyone else does shoddy work with multiple delays and go way over budget. Of course, Trump's saying that he regularly employs "truthful hyperbole" and "confirming an impression [people are] already predisposed to believe," makes it hard to trust his account of events, doesn't it? When he recounts, for example, how he kept costs down in Atlantic City by negotiating "very reasonable prices" with contractors "who had to either cover a certain overhead or go out of business," and construction workers who "were either out of work or about to be," my immediate thought was, "Reasonable according to whom?" 

He never directly acknowledges his inherited wealth, but he does have the gall to condescendingly refer to those in "the Lucky Sperm Club." While he does admit to there being a time (pre-1980) when "[he] had yet to build anything in New York, and no one really knew who [he] was" and he had to pester (my word, not his) his way into the "hottest" and "most exclusive" club, he conveniently neglects to mention falsifying his net worth in order to rank higher on the Forbes 400 in the early 80's (coincidentally at the same time he was trying to get some huge loans from banks...). His helping to rebuild the Wollman Ice Rink showed a more decent side of Trump, but it didn't make up for all of the exaggerating, boasting, and insulting that comprises the rest of the book.

There is no denying that Trump made some big deals in the early-to-mid 80's, but that accounted for only 6 years of his life, which hardly seems worthy of a memoir. Not only that, but it is a bit preemptive, isn't it? It is easy to make a deal look like a success if it's only been a couple years after the fact. Fast forward just a few years, however, and you find that Trump's plans for Television City ran into so many problems that he eventually sold control of the property to investors from China in 1994. Trump's Taj Mahal casino defaulted on interest payments to bondholders only six months after opening, and filed for bankruptcy in 1991. Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, the Plaza Hotel, and Trump Castle Hotel and Casino all filed for bankruptcy in 1992, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts in 2004, and Trump Entertainment Resorts in 2009. Part of the brilliance of Trump's deals were that he apparently convinced other people to front most of the money for him. Throughout the book, it felt like he spent most of his time securing tax exemptions and abatements; so he took big risks with mostly other people's money, and in many cases the massive profits his projects brought in were very short-lived. Maybe that makes him a "good" businessman, but it doesn't make him commendable, or in a position to give business advice, which brings us to the second category The Art of the Deal falls under.

Simply put, this book is rather useless as far as giving advice for any kind of businessperson. In chapter 2, he writes, "More than anything else, I think deal-making is an ability you're born with... mostly it's instincts... Moreover, most people who do have the instincts will never realize that they do." Trump repeatedly credits his gut for knowing what deals to pursue, which is not advice. When a self-help/how-to book says that the thing you bought the book to learn about cannot be taught, it doesn't have much value. However, when he does actually attempt to give something resembling advice, it is either:

1. too general ("more often than you'd think, sheer persistence is the difference between success and failure.");
2. contradictory to other advice he gives elsewhere ("If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big" vs. "If you go for a home run on every pitch, you're also going to strike out a lot");
3. not applicable for your average, non-millionaire entrepreneur ("when it comes to management: hire the best people from your competitors, [and] pay them more than they were earning");
4. or nothing but some catchy-sounding slogan masquerading as advice ("One of the keys to thinking big is total focus.")

As another example of his contradictory advice, Trump scoffs in chapter 2 that only "people who don't know what they're talking about" talk about the importance of "location, location, location." It should strike you as odd, then, when, time and time again, he talks about how great of locations the properties he buys are in. He regularly employs tactics that are not illegal, but unethical (or, at the very least, shady). By example, He encourages people to "play to people's fantasies" ("truthful hyperbole"), deceive the other party (exaggerate how much demand there is, or hire workers to make a site look more productive, for example), simply change the subject if asked "a tough question," take advantage of old or vague zoning laws, and straight-up be "outrageous" and "controversial" to get free press. Again, some might say this makes him "sharp," or "resourceful," but I just don't see why we reward and praise this kind of behavior (Oh, right: money.).

To be fair, there is some useful advice scattered in the book. Personally and regularly visiting work sites, having complete plans/drawings so contractors can't underbid and charge more as plans change later on, and making sure the location/product you want to sell is clean when showing to buyers; are all good points to keep in mind for those in real estate. He also warns, "Never sign a letter of intent," which I guess is good advice? Still, not all that applicable for the average person picking up this book.

One part that really bothered me was his anecdote about a project manager who Trump refers to as a "fabulous man" and "one of the greatest bullshit artists" in the same paragraph. Trump's own lawyer called him a con man, and Trump claims he would have fired him if he had ever caught him stealing, but then, after one of the girls who worked in the office informed him the man had stolen from the office's funeral fund (and Trump admits to believing the girl and not the man's denials) he wraps up the story with "Irving was a classic. He had problems, but he was a classic." Trump may say "Stealing is the worst," but what he really means is "Getting caught stealing is the worst," which, again, really makes me lose respect for any advice this guy is trying to give me.

But really, at the end of the day, Trump didn't "write"* the book as a memoir or to give advice; he is selling his brand, "SUCCESS," the whole time, just like he was doing to the banks and CEOs in the book. The point is for you to believe he is successful, so you lend him money, buy his products, attend his "university," watch his TV show, vote for him, etc. etc., and the sad thing is, his pitch has been so convincing for the last 40 years that he really has become successful. While I didn't "dislike" reading the book, its unsatisfactory execution as both a memoir (I barely learned anything about his life story) and business-advice book (I barely learned anything about how to make successful deals) definitely warrants a one-star rating.


*Tony Schwartz, credited as the book's ghostwriter, claims Trump had almost nothing to do with the book, as Trump was “like a kindergartner who can’t sit still in a classroom" whenever Schwartz tried to interview him for the book. What's more, Schwartz, who spent eighteen months with him in order to get to know the man better, says a more appropriate title for the book would be The Sociopath, but of course you could argue that Schwartz is just jumping on the "mainstream media" "liberal" "fake news" bandwagon. You'd be wrong, of course, because two years before Trump asked him to write the book, Schwartz had written a piece about Trump unsuccessfully trying to evict rent-controlled and rent-stabilized tenants from a building he had purchased (an event that Trump's book recounts in a different light, of course. He insists that his idea to let homeless people squat in the empty apartments was intended as an act of philanthropy, not harassment, but is anyone gullible enough to believe him?).

"But if Schwartz had a history of being critical of Trump, why did Trump ask him to write a book about him?" you might ask. The answer shouldn't surprise you, of course: Trump loved how  "Everybody seem[ed] to have read [the article]." For Trump, as long as everyone is paying attention to you, you win. There may be many ways to gauge success, and while you could consider The Art of the Deal to be a success for selling over a million copies, remember that bank robberies and scams can be described as successes as well.

Donald Trump published this book late in 1987, but I had heard that if you want to know how he thinks, this was the book to read - especially relevant now when he is running for President. He may very well have written it (along with Tony Schwartz who apparently was his ghostwriter) in order to promote himself and his business interests, but regardless, it's a fascinating story - how he built up his real estate and business empire in the 1970's and '80's. He comes across as a no-nonsense kind of guy who is in control and gets things done. Not bad qualities to have in a national leader.

Доналд Тръмп е практически президент на света. На пръв поглед, той си има доста проблеми не само с медиите и опозицията, но и със своите съпартийци и собствената си държавна администрация, които изглежда всячески се стремят да му попречат да свърши каквото и да е. Той сменя както мнението си по ключови въпроси от вътрешната и външната политика, така и хората на ключови позиции като носни кърпички и изглежда, че не може да намери верните хора и вярната посока.

Това, което остава скрито е, че през целия си живот той работи по такъв начин, а никак не може да се каже, че тоя му живот е бил неуспешен (все пак, станал е президент на света ;) ).

Тръмп: изкуството на сделката описва някои ключови сделки, по които е работил в кариерата си (книгата е написана през 1987г.) и начинът му на мислене и работа. Там може да се види, че той сменя ръководителите на проекти много често, преди да намери правилния за него човек и изобщо не вижда нищо нередно в това.

Също така, объркване и дезинформация на другата страна са обичайни методи за сключване на сделки, които той използва и затова изглежда, че "си мени мнението", "изпуска се" пред медиите с информация и т.н., докато всъщност това са тактики за поставяне на опонентите му в по-изгодна за него позиция.

Дали методите му ще дадат резултат на административната сцена (видя се, че на политическата дават) и дали той ще успее да изпълни някаква значителна част от предизборните си обещания предстои да видим.

I read all but the last 40 pages or so of this book. After a while the story becomes the same.

What is that story? Pretty much, take a hands-on approach to your business, make your intentions known, and then wait until things fall into place for you to move.

A lot of the time Trump was dealing with licensing and zoning boards. He always went to those meetings himself, took an active interest. He mentions many who took the opposite approach, and things didn’t go well for them.

There’s a lot on him calling people up personally, and how these people were often happy to have that done. There’s a lot on Trump choosing the marble for the floors or brass for railings, even taking an interest in air conditioning and piping.

He’s clear what this mean - millions of dollars in savings and projects that come in on time and on budget.

Overall, this is a good book even 30 years after it was written. I got it at the library and read it because Trump is about a month away from the presidential nomination. I wanted to understand his early business background and influences better, and this book does a good job.

Is it biased? You bet. But it’s a fun read and it’s pretty honest and I like how he presented himself in it. I’m glad I picked it up and gave it a read.

After the first two chapters, it becomes mind-numbing. The details in the life of an assholish bore. recap: He made a lot of money by being a bigger asshole than the other people. End of story.

Hard to review a book and a man that has become so divisive coupled with what one knows about the failure of his casino empire.

Overall, it’s a sold take on New York, high end real estate, and the passions of a particular man.

I have read this book twice. I read it for the second time because I had decided that I would read all books by Donald Trump again. I would say that it was not a waste time. This is definitely one of the best books written on business, negotiating & deal making. I think that Donald Trump has been very candid & sometimes even blunt in expressing his views. But this is the thing most popular about him. He is the kind of guy who does not beat around the bush. He stands for his ideas & beliefs, even fights for them.
Trump initially was only in the real estate business. Like all great businessmen & entrepreneurs he initially only focused on one business & built it into something of great value & prestige. The Trump name is synonymous with high standards & perfection.
In the start Trump sheds light on his parents especially his father who was one of his greatest influences in life. He then writes about his family life & how he was brought up. The Trump children were always taught to follow the conventional & everlasting principles of ethics & morality. He was always taught to be a man of solid character & this thing even transcends into his business. That is why he is so candid & sometimes even very blunt because he has so much confidence.
Trump also writes in details about the huge deals that he undertook in the start of his career. These were very big deals & could bury him if he failed. But Trump persisted & came out successful. He also writes about his day to day life & how he deals with people. There are many useful insights regarding dealing with people especially in the business of real estate development. He gives tips & suggestions which can be implemented for a successful deal.
Overall this is a very informative & even a very interesting book for all those working in the real estate or any other business.

tThis is partially a biography but also shows an insight of what Trump is thinking about in the heat of a deal. It starts out giving a week of his life explaining his daily habits. But, where it really gets to be about the serious business life as we know is when he explains the “Elements of The Deal”. He gives characteristics of a quality deal-making situation and how he uses it in his profession. Then he has flashbacks of the good times of his juvenile days in New York growing up with his family and looking up to his father, Fred Trump, a hard-working and hard man. Through those times he became the high stakes man he is today and begins to further explain how one can become a man like he. But, he does this in an implicit way through how he goes about the deals that were taking place at the time. Insightful look into perhaps the nation's most talked about man.

t***** 5 out of 5 stars, Honestly, I really don’t believe too many people these days would like this book unless you are interested in the heavy deal-making strategies necessary to learn to be successful. Millennials feel as if they are entitled to being successful, but never do the work to support their case. Not many people my age (just after Y2K) will be able to fully read this with 100% of their attention. And that’s sad, because this is a book not one person should pass up. It’s like having a front row seat to a deal-making speech. There is always evolution happening. From the first contact of the client, to the final signing of the contract.

tIf you’re into making money and hardcore business grinding, this novel is a godsend to you. I mean it literally gives you the eleven essentials to being successful and becoming an A-list businessman (The Elements of the Deal 45). This is a classic, timeless, and important how-to for real estate or business. This is recommended to ages 14 and up, unless you have some sort of business outlet in your life like I had, my father. It may become boring to read for the ones who need action just to be able to read a book. It’s always better to have a little prior knowledge, but to really be able to comprehend this book, that is essential. Best book I have ever read.

Pretty much what you’d expect.