The book combines interviews with Sony executives and extensive research. From the first day in post WWII Japan to mid-1998 with offices worldwide, Nathan chronicles the growth of the company. Special attention is paid to how Sony designs and develops products. Nathan delves into the creation of Sony's highly profitable Trinitron line and the birth of the Walkman. Attention is paid to how Sony desires to be consistently different-and-better than its competition, though in some cases, the result is simply being different.
Unfortunately, Nathan seems to walk the company walk in some cases, not delving into controversial subjects as deeply as readers might like. This may, simply, be due to the lack of additional sources on the subject, as much of the book is spent discussing activities that occurred far from the public view. However, as Nathan had already completed several projects for Sony before writing the book, one has to question whether he was able to maintain complete objectivity. In fact, sometimes, Nathan seems more awful of Sony and the Sony founders than he describes most Sony employees as being.
Overall, Sony: The Private Life is an exceptional book. It provides valuable insight into the operations and management style of a Japanese company. Moreover, Nathan's attention to the players, as opposed to simply the company, allows readers understanding to go far beyond that provided by most business books. If you want to understand Sony or Japanese corporations in general, this is the book to buy.
The portraits are very favourable, nearly and sometimes really hagiographies (e.g. 'Yoshiko's genius as a hostess' p. 80)
For a more critical portrait of Akio Morita, see Ian Buruma's 'The Missionary and the Libertine'.
Sony is evidently a big success story, but it is also a tale of egos, ambitions, stress, clashes, strokes, heart attacks and fear of death (Akio Morita: I'll never die).
John Nathan gives us a good picture of the defeated Japan after WWII.
The Columbia saga is well told, but is better unravelled in Nancy Griffin's 'Hit and Run'.
The real story behind the loss of the crucial video battle is not revealed.
A good character study of the people who created a world company from scratch.