My top 10 highlights from the book:

1. History likes winners.

2. At the heart of his story is an irrepressible spirit.

3. Little men let events take their course. I like things to happen, and if they don't happen I like to make them happen

4. While other politicians were content to get their information from a scattering of newspapers, he devoured whole shelves. Churchill began living with books and sleeping with encyclopedias.

5. Winston Churchill didn't stumble into greatness. In a conscious and methodical way, he set out as a young man to become the hero that he believed his era demanded.

6. He was demanding in all things that matters to him, which was often exhausting for others who lacked his intensity.

7. His power of work is prodigious, almost commensurate with his passion for it.

8. Winston's opponents never tired of saying that he was unreasonable. He wouldn't listen to reason. He wouldn't compromise. "Compromise," he liked to say, "is the beastliest word in the English language."

9. Expecting Churchill to bide his time wasn't a good idea.

10. He did nothing by halves.

Listen to the episode I made about this book: #320 The Making of Winston Churchill Part 2