Altucher writes well, but I find it hard to overlook the relatively large inaccuracies in the bits I do know about, and keep wondering what else is equally inaccurate. E.g. he seems to think "Virgin Air" (the actual airlines are Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin America) is Bransons main business, but Virgin Group consists of a huge number of companies, and Virgin Atlantic revenue only accounts for about 10% of the groups aggregate revenue (Virgin Atlantic revenue is about 20% of Virgin Group revenue, but Virgin Group only owns about half of Virgin Atlantic)
EDIT: The story about how Branson supposedly got the idea also sounds apocryphal. In 1984 Branson was rich already - in fact Virgin Atlantic became profitable in large part because Virgin Records was doing well enough that Branson could use Virgin Records to finance lease of a secondhand plane for the company to start out with.. What was to become Virgin Atlantic was started by Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary before Branson got involved. It's not impossible Branson was thinking of setting up an airline before that, but he didn't start Virgin Atlantic until after he'd been approached by Fields.
Branson tells that story in his autobiography, Losing My Virginity. It's probably not fanciful to think that it happened given the crazy things he has done in his life.
The stories about how he got off his earlier enterprises - Student and Virgin Records - are possibly more inspirational because as you say he had already success to back up the air venture, but that success had really been built out of nothing.
It's quite possible he did something like that, but I think the connection to Virgin Atlantic at most would be that it may have been what made him willing to fund it. It's a matter of court records that he did not start Virgin Atlantic alone - it took a court case before he paid Fields, who had already started and operated an airline, the dividend payments he was due.
I agree you with you regarding his earlier ventures. There's the famous quote of his (not sure whether it's real or not) as an answer to a question of how to become a millionaire: Become a billionaire and start an airline.
With respect to his earlier ventures, I particularly like the story of how he at one point needed additional finance for Virgin Records and contrary to what most would do dressed down more than usual for his visit with one of the most stiff-upper-lip banks in London - his reasoning apparently that if he'd shown up in a suit, they'd know he was in trouble, so he went out of his way to appear like couldn't care less if they gave him the loan.
EDIT: The story about how Branson supposedly got the idea also sounds apocryphal. In 1984 Branson was rich already - in fact Virgin Atlantic became profitable in large part because Virgin Records was doing well enough that Branson could use Virgin Records to finance lease of a secondhand plane for the company to start out with.. What was to become Virgin Atlantic was started by Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary before Branson got involved. It's not impossible Branson was thinking of setting up an airline before that, but he didn't start Virgin Atlantic until after he'd been approached by Fields.