Fun While It Lasted: My Rise and Fall in the Land of Fame and Fortune

by Bruce McNall and Michael D'Antonio

Book Overview

Bruce McNall became obsessed with coin collecting at the age of 10. At 16, his collection was worth $60,000. During college, he traveled the world buying coins stolen from ancient sites and tombs. McNall's first major sale was to Sy Weintraub, the head of Panavision, who bought $500,000 worth of coins in one sitting. Soon, McNall branched out into horse racing, movie making (The Fabulous Baker Boys), and owning the L.A. Kings hockey team.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786868643
• ISBN13: 9780786868643
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 18 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Postsecondary to Grade 12

Customer Reviews

Getting Lost in Tinsletown

The author, Bruce McNall, was no doubt a flawed individual who got swept up in some schemes that would ultimately send him to prison; yet he had a great deal of charisma which oozes through the pages of his book. This is a guy who certainly knew how to get people to buy into whatever it was he was "selling" at the time, and his perspective on his wild ride into the craziness of big business, professional sports, and of course, Tinsletown, make for an extraordinary read. Although his antics were a bit devious at times, McNall provided a fascinating look into the events that shaped his destiny, and really gives anyone a lesson into how fleeting fame and fortune can be when mixed with the volatile world of money, power and influence. That's a dangerous combination and should be handled with extreme care. McNall handled it with great abandon, but his honesty in revealing his flawed approach to certain aspects of life made for quite a compelling narrative.

Fascinating tale of boom and bust

Bruce Mcnall story is intriguing from page one...from working in a small coin shop in arcadia, ca ...to hobknobbing with the likes of the Texas Hunt brothers(at about the time they were trying to corner the silver market), investing horses, producing movies, and buying sport franchises...it is just unbelievable that one man could do all that he did by age 44...I loved every page of this book...would luv it to be made into a feature movie or atleast a t.v. movie.

Great book and an easy read

What an amazing life and well written story! This book does a great job of describing Bruce's quest for the next big high -- from a rare coin, a win at the race track, or turning the Kings into a ice hockey powerhouse. Easy to read and a very interesting, I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

A Wild Ride

Following Bruce McNall's storied, and seemingly successful, career, it came as quite a surprise to hear of his legal woes and incarceration. This book chronicles all in a highly readable manner.

Good, fun read...

I didn't know who Bruce McNall was before I purchased the book. I was familiar with the LA Kings run a few years ago and thought it would be interesting to read about the man behind it. I enjoyed the book. It is an easy, quick read. Bruce covers a lot of time in the book so the material is broad, but not very deep. His stories are interesting and often humorous. Some subjects were glossed over and I would have liked a little more detail. No doubt this book is a prelude for a movie about Bruce. The book covers so many areas(ancient coins, sports, horseracing, hollywood, etc.) of Bruce's life that there is something for just about everyone. Good read and I highly recommend it.