BOOKS: Punchlines and Prejudice - Barry Gibbons' attempt to star-rank a dozen business luminaries is candid, aphoristic and amusing but, for Jon Moulton, a bit too determinedly upbeat

DREAM MERCHANTS AND HOWBOYS; By Barry J Gibbons; John Wiley; pounds 18.99

I have never met Barry Gibbons but I've heard a lot about him from his old colleagues at Grand Met, who, while becoming widely acknowledged as testers of the limits of creative accounting, managed to do some serious feats of corporate restructuring and some big deals. Gibbons was the man chosen to sort out Burger King after the expensive-looking, goodwill-rich takeover of Pillsbury. Indeed, throughout the book, snippets of the Burger King story appear and it would have made a great story on its own. Gibbons seems to have been a big success at the burger business.