As soon as I found out via Gulf News that Sheikh Mohammed launched another book – I was like – I have to read this book and give it create a review – especially given that most of my audience members & followers are either fans or haters of Sheikh Mohammed. Both sides have strong opinions about Sheikh Mohammed. Some see him as a leader, visionary, businessman and legend. While others see him as a bad guy – bad father, bully, unethical muslim. So I ordered the book via courier and received it a few days ago.
My Story by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum – The Book Review:
Sheikh Mohammed’s 50 Memories from 50 years of service is a collection of
• milestones of Sheikh Mohammed life.
• Partial records of UAE’s history
• The personal & private moments of Sheikh Mohammed that shaped him
The book very easy to read and has very short chapters – each with around 2 to 3 pages on an average which enabled me to read the whole book in one sitting of 3 hours. The book with its 50 chapters covers various incidents & milestones in the life of Sheikh Mohammed and follows a chronological sequence like from his grandfather, his father, his mother, ascension to the position 0r as you can put it 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s etc.
My Story by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
So what did I like about the book?
• Short stories
• Easy to read
• Great stories that share a few intimate moments
My Story by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Which were the chapters I really liked?
Chapter 2 – A lesson among all lessons from the king of king
This was the story of how the Shah of Iran celebrated 2,500 years of the persian empire spending over $100 million those days (Which is $750 million today) while his people suffered
Chapter 3 – Sleeping with scorpions.
Sheikh Mohammed’s was put under the care of an elder named “Humaid Bin Amhi” to learn the art of hunting. And he used to stay with him in the desert. used to intentionally put scorpions under the bed of SM to ensure that he developed the immunity against scorpion venom. In this chapter he also admitted he hated gossipers, conspirators. The biggest surprise was his statement “Sleeping with desert scorpions is sometimes easier than living with the human ones.”
Chapter 4 – My Father, My First Teacher
The chapter which focuses on the relationship between Sheikh Mohammed his Father. BTW – Sheikh Mohammed knew how to load, unload & clean a gun at the age of 8, he also knew hunting and how to handle wild animals like deer, houbara bustard, curlews, snakes, scorpions, wolves, foxees & every other animal in the desert.
Chapter 8 – In search of Dubai – A 185 Year Journey
Good chapter about how Dubai, UAE was formed with Dubai Creek, Peal Diving & its demise, Expansion of Dubai Creek, Development of Freezones & Aluminium Smelter
Chapter 9 – The Great Storm – A Day of Judgement
Ship ‘MV Dara’ & its sinking
Its a one off incident
Chapter 10 – The Kindest Man I’ve Ever Known
He speaks about his grandfather Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum who ruled Dubai for 46 years. Interesting part about this chapter is where he speaks about:
• 1930’s depression which impacted the Pearl Trade in UAE
• Feb 1939, Fire broke out in Deira destroying 300 shops/homes
• Fed 1940, Fire broke out in Bur Dubai destroying 400 shops/homes
• 1944 – Small pox broke out in Dubai – creation of clinics & hospitals
Chapter 11 – Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed – A Visionary Ruler
Chapter 12 – Lessons in Leadership
1. No man is born perfect – should learn from others
2. Surround yourself with strong leaders or people better than you
3. Create future leaders
(Both these chapters could have been merged into one)
Chapter 16 – At Last! An Airport in Dubai
I loved the line “An airport is the first face of a country that any visitor encounters. It reflects the power, economy and the status of a country. It also reflects the wish of millions of people to visit the city.
Chapter 17 – Diving for a Living
The chapter explains the struggles of the peal diving industry & pearl divers
Chapter 18 – Maktoum – More than a Brother
The relationship between Sheikh Mohammed & his brother
Chapter 19 – Cambridge
Loved this chapter! His experience of the English culture and living in Mrs. Summers house in Cambridge, UK in 1966
Chapter 20 – The Northern Tent
How Abu Dhabi & Dubai merged that too in a tent because of the vision of Sheikh Zayed & Sheikh Rashid
Chapter 21 – An Historic Responsibility
Sheikh Mohammed was asked to shoulder the responsibility of protecting Dubai at age of 19
1968 – Sheikh Rashid issued a public decree appointing Sheikh Mohammed as the Head of Dubai Police & Public Security
Chapter 22 – Kohima
Sheikh Mohammed’s Military training in the UK
Chapter 24 – Seas, Deserts, Skies & Men
The challenges of creating an army of 1,000 capable soliders
Chapter 25 – The Arabic Pipe
(page 145) The incident about the pipe where both smoked and Sheikh Rashid responded to British Prime Minister Harold Wilson …..
“Tell Wilson that I agree with him – his pipe is bigger than mine. But even though my pipe is small, the tobacco I use is very strong and powerful”
Chapter 26 – A Race Against Time (& Consultants)
(page 150) Bahrain & Qatar were supposed to join the UAE
Chapter 27 – The Declaration of the Union
The moment UAE was formed – December 2nd 1971
Chapter 30 – The ordeal of Flight 404
The JAL Flight 404 being hijacked and how Sheikh Mohammed was involved in the negotiations
Well – the passengers & flight attendants were released but the plane was blown up.
Chapter 31 – A couple in the early days of the union
The coup that took place in Sharjah in 1971 (not too sure about the date)
Chapter 32 – Terrorism across borders
Story of the hijacked Lufthansa Boeing 737 carrying 91 people
Chapter 33 – Mission Accomplished
May 6th 1976, Creating a unified armed forces for all the 7 emirates
Chapter 34 – Between War & Peace
3 largest projects in UAE – Jabel Ali Port, Dubal, Dubai International Trade Center (largest building in the world at that time)
September 22nd 1980 Iraq & Iran war breaking out
IN july 1988, The American War ship USS Vincennes mistakenly fired two missiles at an Iranian Airlines Airbus 320 heading for Dubai, killing all 290 passengers.
After 2 weeks – Iran officially announced acceptance of the UN Security resolutions 598 and called an end to the Iran-Iraq war
Chapter 35 – Destination Dubai
The moment Sheikh Mohammed decided to make Dubai, UAE a brand & destination for tourism
Chapter 36 – Cooperation
Who would visit the desert of Dubai – the question that was asked to Sheikh Mohammed during the GCC meeting
Chapter 37 – An airline company in Dubai
Maurice Flanagan and Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed creating Emirates Airlines
Chapter 38 – Bringing Dreams to Reality
Creating Jabel Ali Port
Here he also mentions Dubai World Central and Al Maktoum International Airport
Chapter 43 – The departure of Rashid
7th October 1990 – Sheikh Rashid died
In New York, UN General Assembly stood in silence for 1 minute
Chapter 45 – The departure of Zayed
Sheikh Zayed became the ruler of Alain in 2946 when he was only 28 years old
Died on November 2nd 2004
Chapter 48 – The Prime Minister & Ruler of Dubai
Sheikh Mohammed was asked 4 times to become the Prime Minister & Ruler of Dubai, UAE. He refused it 4 times.Chapter 49 – Hope in Humanity
Here they mention “Year of Reading”
Seems that 10.5 million students from 44 countries have read at least 50 books.
(Wonder if this is true?)
Chapter 50 – 10 rules of leadership
Rule 1 – Serve the people
Rule 2 – Do not worship the position
Rule 3 – Set your plan
Rule 4 – Monitor yourself
Rule 5 – Build your team
Rule 6 – Innovate or leave
Rule 7 – Communicate and be optimistic
Rule 8 – Compete
Rule 9 – Create leaders
Rule 10 – Go forth and live a meaningful life
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My Story by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
The interesting bits
Interestingly – I found a few chapters that shared the relationship between Sheikh Mohammed/UAE & the neighbouring nations. They were
Chapter 39 – Beirut
Chapter 40 – The invasion of a brother nation
August 2nd 1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait
Chapter 41 – There are no winners in war
A summary of incidents between Sheikh Zayed, Saddam Hussain & Sheikh Mohammed
Chapter 42 – Bashar Al-Assad’s Syria
Chapter 44 – A New Dubai in Africa
Muammar Gaddafi relationship with Sheikh Mohammed
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My Story by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
The Drawbacks
Now given that no book can be classified as being ‘Perfect’, there are drawbacks to this book as well.
The 50 chapters to celebrate 50 years was a good idea however the writer fails to position each chapter as a unique event by itself. Some of the chapters are over-lapping and at times I felt – 2 or 3 chapters could have been simply merged into just one chapter. However, the very reason they were divided was to give more chapters for the purpose of sticking to the theme of 50 chapters for 50 years.
For example
Chapter 5 – Latifa: My First Love (Sheikh Mohammeds Mother)
Chapter 6 – Latifa: The Gift Of Life
Chapter 7 – Farewell to Latifa
Could have been just one chapter
Chapter 11 – Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed – A Visionary Ruler
Chapter 12 – Lessons in Leadership
Both these chapters could have been merged into one
Chapter 28 – What will come after independence?
Chapter 29 – A single army for a unified nation
Could have been merged into one chapter
The biggest gripe that I did have with the book was this chapter
Chapters on Horses
Chapter 14 – My First Horse (8 pages)
Chapter 15 – My First Race (8 pages)
Chapter 46 – The finest horse in the world (7 pages – page 268 to 275)
Chapter 47 – Dubai Millennium (13 pages – Page 276 – 289)
I suppose it is because I am not a horse rider neither do I have any special importance of having horses in my life. So I found these chapters absolutely a waste. Well, it did show Sheikh Mohammed as an Animal Lover & Equestrian. However, apart from that – I just couldn’t place any value or importance to these chapters.
Personally, I found them to be a waste and they could easily been merged into just one chapter.
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Chapters which were a waste of content or theme
Chapter 1 – From where we started to where we are today
This chapter could have been summarized into few lines
Chapter 18 – Maktoum – More than a brother
This chapter had Mohammed describing his brother (kind caring) rather than giving any facts or interesting stories. I wondered what was the point of this chapter?
Chapter 13 – My Little Cave
I considered this one of the worst chapters in the book that didn’t have anything worthwhile to share.
Chapter 23 – Help from God
A vague mishmash of stating ones belief where you wonder what is the author trying to say here?
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My Story by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Worthwhile mentions
• Chapter 3 – SM has shown his vulnerable side, frustrations & indirectly pointed out towards politics & lack of unity in UAE (Chapter 3)
• Page 31 – Sheikh Mohammed trusts animals more than human beings
• Page 48 – Sheikh Mohammed outlines the sequence of events that made UAE what it is today – UAE Trading hub, 1930 crash of pearl trade. 1937 oil exploration, re-export hub without taxes, sold gold & precious stones
• Chapter 19 – learning English culture (interesting)
• Page 51 – The importance of diversification was mentioned and the credit was given to Sheikh Rashid as he was the one who constructed the ports, expansion of creek, development of freezones & the aluminum plant
• Chapter 20 (UAE formation) & Chapter 21 (building defense) – Building the UAE Defense & unifying the miliary was a critical phase in the life of UAE
• Page 145 – Sheikh Rashid & British Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s Pipe incident was my favorite
• Chapter 27 – Qatar & Bahrain were going to be part of UAE but then changed their mind
• Page 223 – speaks about Dubai World Center & Al Maktoum Airport as successes – which is highly disputable.
• Chapter 41 – Spoke about his interactions with Saddam Hussain
• Page 257 & Page 305 – Dubai is not afraid of competition which I can dispute – Du & Etisalat’s monopoly proves Sheikh Mohammed wrong. And yes – the Emirati’s getting 4 to 10 times the salary of Expatriates is proof of this
• Page 262 – gives us a summary of Sheikh Zayed
• Page 273 proves Sheikh Mohammed’s knowledge of horses
• Chapter 47 – Longest Chapter dedicated to horse?
• Page 300 – Arab Reading Challenge – Wonder if anyone knows about this?
• The book totally missed out on a conclusion
• Questions the book doesn’t answer: Can UAE take criticism, Projects are started and announced but most are not completed.
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My Story by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
The Conclusion
If a lay person who didn’t know Sheikh Mohammed were to read this book, he would most probably describe this book as a collection of personal stories, anecdotes, moments & memories which were special to the writer and the wrister alone. And it may or may not add any significant value or interest to the reader. Simply because the reader wouldn’t be aware who Sheikh Mohammed is. So the first point one needs to consider is that any reader would buy the book for the purpose and curiosity of wanting to know Sheikh Mohammed intimately.
However, unlike what it states in the book cover that the book “will inspire, help and teach our young people in the UAE & across the Arab world to develop their nations & spread hope for the future & the future of the people” – there is absolutely nothing in the book that does this. In fact, right on the first page it states “Emiratis may choose to refer to this record for evidence of what we used to be, as well as how we established one of the most dynamic and successful counties on Earth” – The book absolutely falls short of any historical or referential standing as the book is nothing but short stories which are 2 pages at their longest and many a times just a few short sentences or paragraphs. So the question is what purpose does any Emirati fulfill by referring this book?
I for one purchased this book for not only my own curiosity about Sheikh Mohammed as a person and leader but also because most of the people who visit my channel or blog are curious about life in the Middle East. Otherwise I doubt I would have bothered even reading this book.
So the moment of truth – my rating for this book?
I would say it is but a disappointment with nothing more than a few many cherry picked stories narrated by the author as a means to create a souvenir to commemorate 50 years of his leadership as the visionary leader of Dubai, UAE – which if seriously edited would most probably reach more than 30 chapters.
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My Story by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Overall Rating
Sadly a 4 out of 10.
If you didn’t purchase it, don’t worry.
You wouldn’t miss anything much.
