Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty

The story moved along quickly. It was hard to put the book down because it was so interesting. The story underscores the often said,”money doesn’t make you happy. To the contrary, it can cause untold problems. It seems that the Johnson’s weren’t philanthropic like some of their ultra rich peers.

Mountains of unearned money wasted on an extended family’s excesses is a sad but all too frequent story these days. How sad when these gifts could have been used to improve the world. This book was interesting and enlightening reading. I normally don’t choose this kind of book but because of the times we are living in I felt it would be good to explore what’s going on or maybe why it goes so wrong for families such as this one and many others born into huge amounts of inherited wealth. . I felt the author did a good job putting it all out there and letting the reader draw their own conclusions as to why these lives were so messed up. An unfortunate story yet very current with what is happening in our country right now. Money sure doesn’t buy happiness!

This book does have facts about this tragic family. Just by nature it is hard to follow all of the names and generations--what with all of the many, many divorces etc. Why did the author feel it necessary to say who was Jewish and who was gay all the time. This was a focus and very unnecessary. A takeaway: It is hurtful to a human being to have the money to buy anything at any time. It takes character that few of us have to manage millions of unearned dollars in a joyful and wise way.

Once the mega-wealth is in place, it is amazing how consistently the same story seems to repeat itself through the generations.It's like all of those zeroes after the digits in your monthly income seem to set up expectations that reality can never quite deliver.The money, itself, and who controls it, becomes a subtle underlying force within the family. Yes, it is comforting to have our basic needs met, but maybe it is better to still have some things you look forward to achieving or acquiring....This kind of wealth seems to distort the power of what money can do, and what money can NOT do....I know at this point in my life I have come to understand that the quality of our relationships is the MOST satisfying and important thing in the end, and it seems so many of their relationships are tainted by this tsunami of wealth....It's makes you wonder if they "own" it, or it "owns" them! Something to think about....

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Gee whiz the Johnson's sure have their share of dysfunction in the family. Spending money seems to be what they did best, the people in the book anyway. This book was a good character study of the people in it. So much money spent that they could have done some good for the world with, what a shame. They also weren't very nice to each other sometimes, all in the name of greed. Books like this make me glad I'm not rich!

I'll never pick up a box of Band-Aids the same way again. Scandal, insanity, tragedy...it's all here! I found the narrative a tad confusing as the author tends to jump from one era to another and many of the male Johnsons have similar names. Also the photos (which I enjoy in biographies, etc) are of extremely poor quality. Lots of spoiled people with far too much money and too little class.

I gave this a 1 star review after reading the first two chapters as it starts off very disjointed. I continued reading it because I didn't have anything to read, and it got better by the time it got up to about chapter 7.The main issue I have is that so many of the characters have the same name and the author jumps around so it's hard to know exactly who he's talking about.The lesson from this book is that money doesn't buy happiness. In fact, in a lot of these peoples' case, it actually destroyed their childrens' lives.

Having lived in New Brunswick and the Bedminster area of N.J., the biography of the Johnson&Johnson Family was of particular interest to me. I have also visited people in Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, which has an excellent reputation, of course.The Somerset County area of N.J. is still " Johnson&Johnson Country."As I have read many biographies, I am continually appalled at how dysfunctional the extremely wealthy seem to be. Is it because they all seem to grow up uncared for and unloved?It always seems like the first generation are the workaholics, and the latest generation don't do anything to earn their money, but have an " entitlement mentality." They seem to constantly be looking for love, and never finding it.This was an informative and interesting biography. Christine Schulz

Hard to believe it wasn’t all made up !

Like this style of read and was educated alot about the family and all the trials and tribulations. As wqell as some oft heinteractions of all the branches of the family tree...

A sorry book in the style of the "rainbow" press. The sex life of the rich and famous - and their family tragedies.

interesting readwasn't something I just couldn't put down but it was still a decent book and very well written

A very deep warts and all account on a family dynasty with all it's flashy lifestyle excesses and dramatic failings.