Jerry Shields's biography of Daniel Ludwig — once the world's wealthiest man — who built a global shipping empire in total obscurity and launched the catastrophic Jari Project in the Amazon.
Ludwig as archetype of the invisible entrepreneur: at his peak worth ~$3 billion (equivalent to tens of billions today), Ludwig was almost entirely unknown to the public — by deliberate design. He pioneered the supertanker by pre-selling the cargo to finance ship construction (inventing modern ship financing). His Amazon Jari Project — 4 million acres of rainforest converted to pulp plantations — was a multi-billion dollar visionary failure. The biography captures a model of extreme wealth accumulated through relentless focus and complete indifference to fame.
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