My top 10 highlights from the book: 

1. He was an individualist who did not spare himself any sacrifice to attain his objectives.

2. I will not whine, he once said, business is not a kissing game.

3. There are times when chasing the things money can buy, one loses sight of the things which money can't buy and are usually free.

4. Lobo's life has the explosiveness of a Hollywood movie. He fenced in duels, survived assassins' bullets, was put against the wall to be shot but pardoned at the last moment, courted movie stars, raised a family, made and lost two fortunes.

5. One of the most human of all desires is to perpetuate what you have created.

6. He focused on everything with a passionate and single-minded determination.

7. They almost resorted to a duel, which was still common in Cuba at the time, where differences were often settled with machetes at dawn.

8. Victory belongs to the persevering.

9. Chico, I was born naked. I will probably die naked. And some of the happiest moments of my life happened when I was naked.

10. It was the same ending as befell so many other famous speculators through history.