Colin Chapman: The Wayward Genius: Amazon.co.uk: Mike Lawrence: Books

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Product Description

Vintage Sports Car Club Bulletin, Winter 2002
"a fascinating biography of this complex and controversial man... This is an easily readable and enjoyable account... Recommended."

Eoin Young, pitpass.com, October 2002
"[Lawrence] is uniquely positioned to tell it like it was... get a copy as quick as you can."

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
ANTHONY Colin Bruce Chapman was born on 19 May 1928. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Colin Chapman - an honest appraisal of a flawed career, 2 Nov 2002

By	COLIN BLACKHALL (BANCHORY, KINCARDINESHIRE United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

Mike Lawrence's biography of Colin Chapman has been touted as a warts and all expose but while it goes a long way to describing this wayward genius it ultimately fails because he was obviously unable to extract any information from the Chapman family and Fred Bushell the infamous Group Lotus accountant.

The book is not a hagiography which is where Jabby Crombac so conspicuously failed but one cannot help but feel that Lawrence lost interest in the project after Lotus moved to Norfolk - the story becomes bland ( Lawrence's own description ) and this shows in the story, what we get is a regurgitation of boring race results and facts culled from other sources, with very little original research.

The early years of Lotus are particularly interesting and Lawrence has unearthed a lot of worthwile information from the individuals who helped Chapman make Lotus a success, what a pity this standard could not have been maintained throughout the whole book.

The latter part of the book is badly written, and it would appear no one took the trouble to proof read the original manuscript. It is worth repeating that the overall impression is that Lawrence lost interest in what promised to be the definitive biography of Colin Chapman but instead ended up as a bit of a dog's breakfast.

An author of his undoubted ability should have produced a far better article.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite the definitive biography, 25 Oct 2002

By	aglaess (Littleton, CO) - See all my reviews

First, let me say that this is the best Chapman biography available. It is an honest, adult, biography. Adult in the sense that most biographies of sports or entertainment figures are one dimesional puff pieces written at the high school level.

Chapman was a remarkable man, and he certainly has had his share of that sort of nonsense written about him. This book goes way beyond that. It cuts through the BS and half truths that have become part of the Chapman/Lotus myth. So in that sense its well worth the money, and certainly it is the best motorsports book of this year.

But to be honest it misses the mark as a definitive biography. Lawrence treats the text like a fleshed out essay. He straightens out the facts, and is damn proud of his ability to do so. But as a biographer he tells us next to nothing about his wife, children and close friends. Even claims of substance abuse and chronic infidelity are skimmed over. Where is the human being?

As a magazine article/essay this is magnificent. As a biography it is about half done. Buy it anyway though, its as good as you'll get a man who may be the single most significant figure in 20th century motorsport.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Colin Chapman - the wayward genius, 29 Nov 2002

By	carlos (Iraque) - See all my reviews

Dr. Lawrence is owner of such powerful irony, intelligence and vast culture that even a book written by him on cooking, or native south American Indian arts craft would be worth its weight in gold.

His knowledge about auto racing is scary. Far from being as boring as a star trek geek fan spitting numbers and stories no one could care less, his knowledge of facts [whether public or behind the scenes ones], polemics, history, may wrap the reader to a non-stopping reading adventure.

For real car racing fans, this book is a must have.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Flawed Masterpiece of a Wayward Genius!
'Colin Chapman - The Wayward Genius' is about Colin Chapman in his role as founder and leader of Lotus: there is almost nothing of the private family man, husband, father or... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Joolz

4.0 out of 5 stars Docked one star for accuracy
This is a terrific book. I'm sure Mike Lawrence knows even more than he is telling for fear of libel. Read more

Published on 21 April 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece.
It's rare that I'm still awake at 3am these days -- takes a very good
book to do it. Assume, then, that the bags under my eyes today are
entirely down to Mike Lawrence's new... Read more

Published on 11 Oct 2002 by Peter Fenelon

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Colin Chapman: The Wayward Genius (Hardcover)

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