Sad but true: Sam Zell writing a book called 'Gravedancer'

Well this news from just before Thanksgiving is no doubt making some people a little crazy. Sam Zell, the takeover artist who drove Tribune Co. into bankruptcy, got a book deal from Portfolio to write (or at least affix his name to) "Gravedancer: The Art of Winning in Turbulent Times.” Publishers Marketplace reported the book is billed as Sam's personal and professional memoir with “compelling stories about his biggest deals and share tips for entrepreneurs who want to follow in his footsteps.”

Zell, of course, is known in LA for stocking Tribune with obsolete and embarrassing radio executives and for telling his journalists he didn't respect what they do. And for inspiring lines like "It's unAmerican not to like pussy," uttered on a tour of the Los Angeles Times office in Orange County, as justification to run ads for strip clubs. (He was later talked out of it by Times executives.)

As for the book… Well, as the late, great Mark Lacter put it in 2012, "Always beware of rich guys who insist they have all the answers - and who also insist that the answers are not complicated."