Paul Allen (12)Reseñas

Another easy to read (auto)biography. Unlike so many of his ilk, Paul Allen found many ways to enjoy his money.

It just goes to show you the importance of educating our children and providing them dreams. How many besides Paul Allen were inspired by the Seattle World's Fair? There are a lot of chapters that themselves could have been turned into books. An interesting man and an interesting life, I enjoyed the blend of tech history and to learn more about his impact on the NW region. Strange to learn that I've now been at MSFT longer than he was!

Fascinating biography.

Not everyone is that lucky to be the co-creator and co-founder of the world's richest and the world's most successful tech company in the world. Some of us are born far away from the luckiest star, and far away from nepotism and have got to work immensely hard to make our dreams come true and eventually live life of wealth, luxury, and abundance. Paul Allen is unfortunately no longer with us, but he was indeed an idea man, a seemingly very smart man who has conquired the world along with another man who's still alive and kicking, and a lot more famous than he ever was. But that doesn't really matter, does it? He was one of the few minds behind the creation of Microsoft, and his name will live forward for as long as Microsoft shall live, and that is one of this man's greatest accomplishments that he shall be remembered by many people for many computer tech generations to come.

Excellent. I want to adopt him as my eccentric rich uncle and hope he sends a little my way. What does a very wealthy person do when he's no longer driving the technical side of Microsoft? Well, pretty much anything. He lived for himself - Portland Trailblazers and Seattle Seahawks, plus a 414 foot yacht that has a minisub and two helos - and others. Unlike the Koch brothers who only know how to destroy with their wealth, Allen helped so many people, including villages in Africa. Mapping the brain? No problem. Commercial flights into space when the US can't put it's own astronauts up there? No problem. Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma? No problem for the first and so far so good on the second.

I liked his candor...he paints Bill Gates fairly as a conqueror, regardless of the cost, but also acknowledges that there is still a friendship after the hurt. Steve Jobs is treated almost as an afterthought. And then the fun starts. I was almost put off by the title, because after Microsoft, what was there in the way of ideas? Well... quite a lot. Allen has vision to spare and he puts his not inconsiderable money in support of those visions, even at losses unimaginable to pretty much all of us, but he persists.

So, I've read Isaacson's bio of the miserable excuse for a human that was Jobs; Woz's autobio (which was as equally low key as Allen's); and this. I suppose something from Gates is next.

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-both the triumphs and the failures-and his compelling vision for the future. He reflects candidly on an extraordinary life.

The book also features previously untold stories about everything from the true origins of Microsoft to Allen's role in the dawn of private space travel (with SpaceShipOne) and in discoveries at the frontiers of brain science. With honesty, humor, and insight, Allen tells the story of a life of ideas made real.

What a great 'fly on the wall' peek into the start of Microsoft. I was surprised at the scope and number of bad investments he made. Personally I could have skipped the sports chapter. Allen seems like 'just a guy' even with his heaps of $$$ he still is in awe of certain musicians he admires. And can't quite seem to grasp the immensity of his wealth. How terrific that he survived his 'wake-up' calls and could go on to enjoy his money and put it to good use. What a fantastic role model.

I supposed he wouldn't have been able to accomplish so much if he'd have to dilute his energy with a wife and family but I still can't help wishing those things for him.

How odd that I read this right after Steven's Pinker's 'the Language Instinct.' And I admit I'm fascinated with the problem of indexing and cataloging knowledge. It seems to me that if some one would use Pinker's logic to come up with an object oriented intelligence system that could be used to index the (unfathomable and undigestable) tsunami of information currently at our fingertips.

The first half, covering his time at Microsoft, is very interesting, more so if you are a geek. The after MS part of the book reads more like a series of blog posts about all the cool stuff he gets to do with his billions of dollars. I found myself skimming a lot towards the end.

I really liked the auto-biography of this co-founder of Microsoft and expecially the nice anecdotes about his friendship and partnership with Bill Gates. Halfway the Microsoft focus stops and he starts telling about his entrepeneurship and investments. He invested mindblowing millions and billions in large projects that support his hometown Seattle, are driven by his vision on technology or the subjects that interested him since childhood. I've been to some of the places he describes during my visit in Seattle. Wished I read this book beore my trip.