No Such Thing as the Top

"A gripping and beautifully-written inside story of one of the great investors and businessmen of our era and the son who loved him... and would do anything to please him. A memoir of total transparency and honesty, it is impossible to put down. I was moved beyond words by the intense drive to succeed that drove both father and son and the circumstances that brought it about. John's love and admiration for his father permeates every page, yet there is great awareness of his flaws. John's successful battle against MS and his gruesome and harrowing legal battles are harrowing and painful to read but told with integrity and honesty and complete self-awareness. As much as I love Ian and John, I loved them even more on the reading of this magnificent and inspirational story. -Kiril Sokoloff, author of Personal Transformation: An Executive's Story of Struggle and Spiritual Awakening My good friend, John Cumming, has crafted a wonderfully written book honoring his father Ian, whom I also had the pleasure of knowing. This story covers the amazing relationship between father and son- the fun, the love, and the sometimes-tough interplay between two very unique and driven men. Ian was an extremely successful and shrewd businessman yet had the playful qualities of a lovable bear. He was father, mentor, advisor, and friend, and gave John the tools and guidance necessary to also become a very successful and altruistic businessman in his own right. The common thread between these two individuals was TENACITY. Never quit. Never say it's too hard. Always keep climbing to a higher summit. It was a joy for me to read. -Ed Viesturs, author of No Shortcuts To The Top Ian Cumming was one of the brightest, most curious, most dynamic, and most fascinating people I have known. He was many people, and I loved almost all of them. The book his eldest son, John, has written is a paean to his father and an intimate reflection on the costs of a life of ""full contact capitalism"", a life that drew Ian as a single father away from his sons in their youth, and not so subtly drew John as the eldest toward that same world as the route to his father's approval. It is clear from this book that John loves his father deeply. And that he has come to have compassion for the young Ian whose childhood left him feeling unmoored and unsupported. Fortunately for John, a youthful default led him on a long detour into outdoor sports and mountain climbing. It provided him an independent source of validation and a set of skills and values that are more other-oriented and wholistic than his father's. It helped him differentiate from Ian and be a softer and more compassionate human being. That, in turn, has given him the capacity to live with MS in a way that is both courageous and clear eyed. Finishing this book left me meditating on the complexity of having a strong parent who makes clear what they expect, the depth of the resulting conditioning, and the need to reach a conscious compromise with that conditioning if there is to be any possibility of finding ease. It is a very worthwhile read. Ian would, of course, be proud, as he always was of his sons. -Mike Zimmerman, former Utah Supreme Court Justice and Zen teacher It is easier to describe what John's book is NOT. It is not a tell all, neither is it an auto-hagiography. There is no focus on the foibles of others nor on his own strengths. John simply and honestly shares his life through the eyes of a son and the heart of a man who counted his blessings, sought adventure, absorbed hardship, relentlessly learned, and lived, and loved. The account is interesting, endearing, and inspiring. -Bud Scruggs, Managing Director of The Cynosure Group"