Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft
Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft
By his early thirties, Paul Allen was a world-famous billionaire-and that was just the beginning.
In 2007 and 2008, Time named Paul Allen, the cofounder of Microsoft, one of the hundred most influential people in the world. Since he made his fortune, his impact has been felt in science, technology, business, medicine, sports, music, and philanthropy. His passion, curiosity, and intellectual rigor-combined with the resources to launch and support new initiatives-have literally changed the world.
In 2009 Allen discovered that he had lymphoma, lending urgency to his desire to share his story for the first time. In this long-awaited memoir, Allen explains how he has solved problems, what he’s learned from his many endeavors-b
List Price: $ 27.95
Price: $ 27.95
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Fascinating read for anyone, not just IT, space, medicine, music,
Fascinating fast read. Ignore the bad publicity that the media accused him of being a bitter billionaire. Here an intimate–albeit bleak but welcoming– tale of a man with ideas and vision who happened to meet a man with execution abilities (Bill Gates) which yielded Microsoft. It is true that his post-Microsoft IPO wealth funded a lot of his subsequent business; it is inspiring to see how he managed to put his wealth into constructive purposes that would benefit humanity in great ways. Look for interesting foresights into the future of technology, medicine, music, space exploration. Thought his prose run smoothest when he talks about software and computer technology, his coverage of professional sports, medicine, music and space exploration make this an omnivorous resource: there is something for everyone to read.
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|A Mixed Read,
I suppose, a tale of two books. The first half of Allen’s memoir provides for a better understanding of the man and a much needed alternative take on the founding of Microsoft. An insightful and relatively balanced exploration of how both he and the company developed over time. The second half, life after Microsoft, offers little more than a recounting of his hobbies, interests, and second guessing of others. While providing for a few worthy anecdotes, the later chapters tend to come off as self indulgent and lacking direction. Such a content disparity likely mirrors the course of his own life, but makes for only half a worthwhile read.
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|Idea Man,
The books is interesting in that we are always hearing about Bill Gates but never really hear much about the other founder which was Paul Allen. The two of them together was what created Microsoft or this company may never have come to be. I really enjoyed the part regarding his childhood but I got a little lost when it got to all the programming jargon. I really enjoy memoirs and this one was no different. It was a little hard to read but overall very enjoyable as it takes you through the lives of Bill Gates and Paul Allen; their friendship and their struggles.
This book came out at a good times. It helped me to see the start of technology which developed into some of the many high tech gadgets we have today, high definition TVs, ipads, smart phones and all the over electronics. Makes you stand back and see how much has changed in the last few years because there are many people out there like Paul Allen and Bill Gates. People who have a vision and drive and never give up trying to make their idea a reality.
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