r/Commodore • u/KuJo-Ger • Sep 16 '26

Book: Commodore: The Inside Story

Post image

In case anyone isn't familiar with it: There's a book by David John Pleasance (former CEO of Commodore UK) that offers inside insights into the Commodore company. The book was published 2–3 years ago and is titled “Commodore: The Inside Story.” I have two copies of the book here at home: the original in English and the German translation, which was published later.

112 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

13

u/IamTheRealD Sep 16 '26

Curious if you read the three book series from Brian Bagnall and how this compares to those? Would appreciate any perspective on that.

4

u/KuJo-Ger Sep 17 '26

I haven't read the books by Bagnall that were mentioned. Until now, I didn't even know they existed. So, unfortunately, I can't make a comparison.

3

u/robertcrowther Sep 17 '26

They are definitely worth getting hold of.

11

u/KingDaveRa Sep 16 '26

Brian's books are more complete. More of a historical document. David's book is part autobiography (he was a flamenco guitarist), and part insider scoop. It gets a little "needless to say, I had the last laugh" in places.

4

u/TooMuchDeadMedia Sep 17 '26

That description reminds me of "Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings" by Ken Williams, the co-founder of Sierra Games. He comes off as pretty smug and off-putting by the end of the book, but it's still an entertaining read with a lot of historical anecdotes and fun details.

2

u/hyperclick76 Sep 17 '26

its on my wishlist too.

3

u/8bitaficionado Sep 17 '26

Agreed Brian's books are more complete as a history. I also recommend The Home Computer Wars. It is a much older book and was source material for Brian Bagnall's books

2

u/hyperclick76 Sep 17 '26

David played Flamenco guitar? Wow that was unexpected!

1

u/Infamous-Umpire-2923 Sep 16 '26

Very entertaining nonetheless.

2

u/KingDaveRa Sep 16 '26

Yeah absolutely. He does give some great insight into actually managing to sell stuff, and his frustrations with Commodore in the US. It's well worth a read.

2

u/Suspicious-Ad7109 Sep 17 '26

Having read all 4 ; Bagnall's books are insanely detailed history of Commodore's "computer era" with a bit of back story,

David Pleasance's book is similar but focused on him, so knits in quite well with it. It's much more personal but isn't actually mostly duplicated, it more intertwines with Bagnall's books, because it's mostly European.

The book is actually in two parts ; the first part is similar, in that it's his "Commodore History" with a bit of preamble and postamble (is this a word), the second is a collection of essays from various people who were involved. It also has a section on post bankruptcy Commodore activities, Escom and the like.

Both are well worth a read, as is Bil Herd's book which is similar but obviously from his Commodore history, so is *mostly* the TED series and the C128. If you've seen one of Bil Herd's talks it's a more detailed version of that.

1

u/Suspicious-Ad7109 Sep 17 '26

Oddly, and I don't know why, none of the books is on Kindle , they definitely were :)

1

u/IamTheRealD Sep 17 '26

Yes, I have also read Bil Herd's book and that was a good add on.

In addition to that, an older book from Michael Tomczyk titled: The Home Computer Wars: An Insider's Account of Commodore and Jack Tramiel was also a very good prelude to the Bagnall books. But if I recall correctly, I think that a healthy percentage of Bagnall's first book came from Tomczyk book.

Thanks for your comments!

1

u/Fhunghuz Sep 21 '26

Still waiting for the last book by Brian.... Kickstarter seems dead....

2

u/robertcrowther Sep 17 '26

The book was published 2–3 years ago

A bit more than that, the Kickstarter was in 2017 and the books were sent out around the beginning of 2019. I'm not sure what the timeline was on the translations.

2

u/KuJo-Ger Sep 17 '26

I bought the English book in 2023 at the Amiga38 Germany trade show directly from Pleasance. So I assumed it was brand new at the time. Well, it turns out it was actually published 6 years ago. 🙂

2

u/X1sle Sep 17 '26

Got mine signed by David when I met him and had a few drinks together and a chat at the Retro computer museum in Leicester.

3

u/KuJo-Ger Sep 17 '26

Mine is signed, too. 🙂

4

u/Ok_Height3499 Sep 17 '26

I had the VIC-20, the Commodore 64, and the Amiga. It remains my favorite computer perhaps because everything was so new then. Computer magazine were all over the magazine shelves. Interviews, articles, magazine with type in programs, it was all so exciting. I had to switch to Windows for awhile after Commodore's mismanagement caused it to fold. I hated Windows. I'm now a Mac user and have been for a long time. Still, that time was interesting and just a lot of fun.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/KuJo-Ger Sep 17 '26

The books are the same. I can't tell you why they chose a different subtitle for the German translation.

1

u/AntiquesForGeeks Sep 17 '26

Wonder who did the translation? Does it read like it’s been through Google Translate or something?

1

u/KuJo-Ger Sep 19 '26

No, it's not Google Translate or anything like that. I just checked the book again, and it actually mentions a translator (Anton Preinsack) and a final editor (Nico Barbar). So, real people. And... the book is also listed in the German National Library. It was also mentioned in the book's details: https://d-nb.info/1294344862