In the rapidly changing world of computers, no Canadian company has made a bigger splash than Ottawa’s Corel Corporation. Led by Mitel founder Michael Cowpland, the company surged into the headlines as business reversals caused its staff to depart and its stock prices to plummet.

Ross Laver, a columnist with Maclean’s magazine, chronicles the story in this entertaining and well-written book. A knowledge of technical terms is needed, but one does not have to be a computer geek to comprehend them. Laver is also adept at sly turns of phrase, for example: “Watching Paul Bodnoff perform a brief demo of CorelDRAW, he felt a bit like a Hollywood producer who had just wandered into a drug store and stumbled across the next Lana Turner.”

The author also explores Cowpland’s swashbuckling style. The entrepreneur’s ostentation, his trophy wife Marlen, and his win-at-all-costs approach to business and to sports are all grist for the book’s mill. But Corel is not simply a one-man team and the efforts of all staff are credited.

Laver has had wide access to the principals involved. Both Michael and Marlen Cowpland spoke at length with him, as did many former employees of the software company.

While Maclean’s may have the reputation of endlessly reworking and correcting writers’ stories, a bit more of that care by this book’s editors could have helped Laver. At one point, he writes of Cowpland, “Trying to hold a conversation with him – unless it is about math and engineering, in which case he can be remarkably patient – can be a bit like trying to coax a display of emotions out of Dr. Spock.” The reference should be to Mr. Spock.

The Corel Corporation has been laid low by hubris and by Cowpland’s haphazard management style. Laver has captured the rollicking tale well in his book.