Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I was ready to write The Godfather, but I didn't want to. I had another novel I wanted to write. I was introduced to a few gentlemen who were related to the material, and they all loved the book. They believed that I had never been in the Mafia. #2 I had to finish The Godfather in 1968 because I needed the final $1,200 advance payment from Putnam to take my wife and kids to Europe. I had no money, but I had a great collection of credit cards. I went into New York to see my agent, Candida Donadio, and quit my freelance job. #3 I sold the book for $410,000. I had spent the money as fast as it came in. I loved the money, but I didn't like being famous. I found it quite simply distressing. I never much liked parties, never liked talking to more than two or three people at one time. #4 I was never tempted to do the TV Today Show, because I hated it. I never went on those cross-country trips that are supposed to help a book to best-sellerdom, because I was afraid of meeting a strange person.