Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire

Amazon.com

Hard Drive charts Gates's missteps as well as his successes: the failure of OS/2 and the embarrassing delays in bringing Windows to the marketplace; the highly publicized split with IBM, which then forged an alliance with Apple to battle Microsoft; the public relations fallout over various exploits of Gates; and the investigations by the Federal Trade Commission. Wallace and Erickson also examine the combative, often abrasive side of Gates's personality that has alienated many of Microsoft's rivals and even employees, and led to his being labeled "The Silicon Bully" by Business Month Magazine. They report:

In the early 80's, Microsoft's Multiplan lost out to Lotus 1-2-3 in the marketplace. According to one Microsoft programmer, a few of the key people working on DOS 2.0 had a saying at the time that "DOS isn't done until Lotus won't run." They managed to code a few hidden bugs into DOS 2.0 that caused Lotus 1-2-3 to breakdown when it was loaded. "There were as few as three or four people who knew this was being done," the employee said. He felt the highly competitive Gates was the ringleader.

The first two female executives hired at Microsoft in 1985 were recruited to meet federal affirmative action guidelines so that the company could qualify for a lucrative Air Force contract. One source says,"They would say, 'Well, let's hire two women because we can pay them half as much as we will have to pay a man, and we can give them all this other crap work to do because they are women.' That's directly out of Bill's mouth...." Gates treated one of these executives so badly that she asked to be transferred away from him.

Microsoft managers used the company's e-mail system to secretly spy on employee work habits. Only those employees who worked weekends could collect bonuses. In time word got out and some employees logged into their e-mail on weekends with a modem from home so it would appear they had come in.

Book Description

The true story behind the rise of a tyrannical genius, how he
transformed an industry, and why everyone is out to get him.

In this fascinating exposé, two investigative reporters trace the hugely successful career of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Part entrepreneur, part enfant terrible, Gates has become the most powerful -- and feared -- player in the computer industry, and arguably the richest man in America. In Hard Drive, investigative reporters Wallace and Erickson follow Gates from his days as an unkempt thirteen-year-old computer hacker to his present-day status as a ruthless billionaire CEO. More than simply a "revenge of the nerds" story though, this is a balanced analysis of a business triumph, and a stunningly driven personality. The authors have spoken to everyone who knows anything about Bill Gates and Microsoft -- from childhood friends to employees and business rivals who reveal the heights, and limits, of his wizardry. From Gates's singular accomplishments to his equally extraordinary brattiness, arrogance, and hostility (the atmosphere is so intense at Microsoft that stressed-out programmers have been known to ease the tension of their eighty-hour workweeks by exploding homemade bombs), this is a uniquely revealing glimpse of the person who has emerged as the undisputed king of a notoriously brutal industry.

Customer Reviews:

Intense, highly relevant.......2007-07-21

Delightful book. Its one flaw is its addictiveness, I couldn't put it down which did cost me sleep (I'm an IT professional with an entrepreneur spirit- your results may vary).

The Microsoft/Gates biography is impeccable in its wealth of interesting details and engaging story-telling.

Bill Gates is a fantastic decision maker. He would be as successful selling water or space suits, he just happened to be at the right time in the right booming industry and pushed with his business-business mentality to the limit. Right decision after right decision, the Microsoft journey is a story that any entrepreneur should nitpick and absorb as much as possible.

Of course, his terrible capitalistic drive is a perfect subject for a discussion on morals, social responsibility and related matters, but without a doubt when it comes to maximizing outcome while playing by our economic rules, Hard Drive tells a tale of epic proportions featuring a superhero / villain that rivals the best of science fiction.

Great tracking of a complex personality...........2007-05-13

This is the definitive Book about Bill Gates (and the history of Windows). It covers all the management aspects of how he drove Microsoft and how the work became his life. The man doesn't do business... He LIVES it. And this book describes it in very much detail.

The details includes how Bill "turned over" IBM... Promissing them the OS/2 under the "NT Technology" flag and how he realeased Windows 95 and killed IBM forever from the Desktop business. It also shows Gates apreciation for Older woman (and many that took him to bed). As part of this "private" package, it also explains the problems that He had with Steve Ballmer. How Ballmer was showing poor management and leadership under Gates perspective and how Ballmer got over it and made his loyalty to Gates forever.

I was more interested on the part that explains how Microsoft Windows 1.0 was developed. How disastrous the first Office was compared to the competition and how they managed to "work around" and fix it, by "coping" the competition and improving it "the Microsoft way".

Buy this if you want to know how business can be done... or be "copied".

critical, but admiring: a balanced book, if outdated.......2007-05-03

This is really a story of how Gates led Microsoft to its apex, ending in about 1992. It is well written and a good balance bewteen criticism, an explanation of the business model, and historical detail. The story is, to put it mildly, remarkable no matter what you think of MS and Gates.

While a student at Harvard in December, 1974, Bill Gates III and Paul Allen informed Ed Roberts by telephone that they had invented a BASIC computer language for the MITS Altair 8080, which was the first "personal computer" kit for hobbyists. Could they license it along with each Altair kit, Gates asked, to customers for a royalty fee? It was an audacious proposal, because not only had Gates and Allen invented no such thing, but they neither owned an Altair kit nor did they even know the technical specifications for the Intel 8080 chip. Skeptical of their claim, Roberts replied that whoever demonstrated a working BASIC would win the account: Gates and Allen were in competition, he told them, with 50 other "geeks" who already had made the same claim. Gates and Allen then hunkered down for 8 weeks to write the first BASIC for a microcomputer. The resulting "software", which immediately won over Roberts, was the first application of what would become Microsoft BASIC. Gates was 19.

As the company founders, Gates and Allen shared a vision that virtually every home and every office desk would eventually have a PC on them, all operating with their software. To run Microsoft full time, Gates dropped out of Harvard in January, 1977. Their business quickly expanded beyond the Altair as competing brands of personal computers emerged, including the Tandy from Radio Shack and the Apple II computer; they were also called upon to program BASIC into a number of other electronic devices. All along, Gates' goal was to gain market share, in effect setting the software standard for most, if not all, PC users. As a true believer who intimately knew the product, Gates was the principal salesman, while Allen concentrated on technical development.

During this formative period, Microsoft's corporate culture was established. Perhaps as a result of hiring many of his programmers straight out of university, Microsoft's offices (and later the campus in Redmond, Washington) took on the look and feel of a college campus, that is, an informal and a freewheeling intellectual atmosphere with "late hours, loud music, walls full of junk, anything goes dress, Coke, adrenaline, unbuttoned behavior." Employees tended to be very young with a programmer or engineering mentality; they designed their products for tech-savvy customers - male in their early 20s - like themselves, a kind of fellowship for computer adepts. Like Gates, they loved to play with and program electronic gadgets.

Microsoft hired the brightest programmers with demonstrated practical abilities. Employees were also expected to work extremely long hours as a team toward a common goal, not as strident individualists. Gates encouraged them to develop their entrepreneurial passions, forcefully advancing their own ideas of useful products for new markets. Overseeing it all was Gates, who gained the reputation of a harsh and challenging critic with a relentless drive for excellence, whether to beat the competition or out of fear of falling behind in such a fast-changing industry. As the sole remaining founder after Allen's departure in 1983, Gates remained deeply involved in both technical and business details as well as the general direction of company strategy. Nonetheless, as the principal revenue generators, Microsoft's product groups increasingly became the seats of decision-making power, in spite of Gates' active engagement.

At the end of 1979, Microsoft had $US 4 million in sales. Most of these revenues came from BASIC, which enabled programmers to create applications, such as word processing and accounting spread sheets. The level below BASIC and the other languages under development at Microsoft was the computer operating system, which performed the most elementary tasks required to run computers. With the prospect of providing software to IBM for the basic PC it was planning to market for a reasonable price, Gates and Allen began to acquire the rights to, and then develop, software for a computer operating system. Known later as DOS, it again set an industry standard that would enable Microsoft to efficiently develop languages and software applications in a single engineering environment rather than painstakingly customize them for a variety of incompatible operating systems. This would immensely simplify Microsoft's programming process as well as enhance its efficiency.

As Gates foresaw, this was a near-ideal position to occupy at the moment that the PC market was poised to grow explosively with the introduction of the inexpensive IBM PC, which was made of off-the-shelf components and hence easy to copy, or "clone". With the dual ownership of DOS and several major programming languages, Microsoft became one of the fastest growing companies in the world. By 1985, just prior to its IPO, on revenues of $US 140 million, Microsoft had a pre-tax profit margin of approximately 34%, no long-term debt, and cash reserves of $US 38 million. By 1987, the company surpassed Lotus to become the world's largest software vendor for PCs. Gates was on his way to become the richest man in the world, at least for a time.

However, the ownership of DOS and the programming languages would also, critics later claimed, confer an "unfair advantage" on the company. First, the Microsoft applications groups were accused to obtaining "inside information" from the operating systems group, which enabled them to design their products to function more quickly and smoothly than competitors could. Second, because each change in DOS required competitors to supply their latest products to Microsoft programmers to ensure compatibility, critics charged that this amounted to an inside peek into their strategy at the cutting edge of their capabilities. It was a symbiotic relationship that made many outside vendors - independent companies developing applications to run on Microsoft operating systems -uneasy and resentful. Third, DOS programmers were accused by rivals of inserting "hidden bugs" into the operating system in order to hinder the function of competing products, such as the Lotus spread sheet, damaging their competitive position and brand. The resulting negative publicity did a great deal of damage to the Microsoft brand, which began to be seen as the industry bully.

While Gates insisted that he had erected a "Chinese Wall" between Microsoft's applications division and its Operating System's Group, it was not enough to deter the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from opening a probe into the company for anti-competitive practices that purportedly hurt consumers. By 1991, when the FTC probe became widely known, Microsoft controlled one-quarter of the applications market and dominated the operating systems market with Windows. There was speculation about the imminent breakup of Microsoft into separate companies for these markets, similar to the dismantlement of AT&T. For their part, defenders of Microsoft argued that it was winning because it was better and smarter, presenting its customers with superior products at bargain prices.

This a pretty much where the book stops, which badly dates it. Not only is the story of the anti-trust law suits left untold, but subsequent business developments - notably the internet - are not even mentioned. Thus, this is an excellent early history, but the reader must look elsewhere for more detail. Of the shelf of books on MS, in my opinion this is one of the best, and it was most useful to me for a research project. Recommended.

love your protagonist........2007-04-17

I can never figure why an author would write a book about someone they don't like. In the book "Google" by David A Vise, it's abundantly apparent that the author has a huge admiration for Brin and Page the founders of Google. Thus it made for a great book. Hard Drive comes across as a book that was purely written for the authors to profit and I didn't enjoy it half as much as the Google book, even though Bill Gates is my favourite entrepreneur.

Pretty good read.......2006-11-03

Provides a pretty balanced look back on Microsoft's history up until 1994-95. It's really cool to read this now, given what has transpired since then. Gives great insight into just how driven Bill Gates is, and what he gave up to achieve his success. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is fascinated with the early stages of the micro-computer revolution.

Gentle Eminence: A Life of Cardinal Flahiff (Mcgill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion)

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Gentle Eminence: A Life of Cardinal Flahiff (Mcgill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion)
Philip Wallace Platt
Manufacturer: McGill-Queen's University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0773518460

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West

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Once Upon a Time in the West
Powell's Vision - Ageless and Far-reaching
Powell cries out to today's West through Stegner's voice
A good book by a cranky old guy
Educational but not boring

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
Wallace Stegner
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon

ASIN: 0140159940

Customer Reviews:

Once Upon a Time in the West.......2006-06-30

Once upon a time in the West, a man named William Gilpin was blown westward along with an expedition of John Fremont that took him as far as Walla Walla, Wash. In 1846 he fought in the Mexican War. In 1861 he went to Washington, DC, after Abraham Lincoln was elected. Later he became the first territorial governor of Colorado. Once upon a time, Gilpin saw the land beyond the 100th meridian (which runs through the center of Nebraska and Kansas) through a mystical fervor. The semiarid lands were no desert, but a pastoral Canaan. Agriculture would be effortless. All that was needed was the plow break the soil so that rain would naturally follow.

At the same time that Gilpin was convincing the country that the West was a Biblical Paradise, an exploration party headed by John Wesley Powell was camped a few miles from Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was 1868. At this time Powell was not the pioneer that Gilpin was, and he was 34 compared to Gilpin's 55. Powell's interests were always varied. In 1860 his *mollusk* collection won awards at the Illinois State Agricultural Society fair. In 1861, he volunteered to join the army in the Civil War. Within six months he rose through the ranks to become a captain, an expert on *fortifications*. In April of 1862, Powell lost an arm due to a Minie ball at Shiloh. Powell continued through the war. In 1865, Powell began a professorship in *geology* at Wesleyan.

Powell began his exploration of the Green and Colorado rivers on July 6,1869. On August 30, 1869, only six of nine men and two of four boats managed to go all the way through the Grand Canyon to come out near Yuma, Az. The rest of the Colorado had already been explored. In a few short months, John Wesley Powell had gathered enough data to challenge Gilpin's portrayal of the West. For the rest of his life, he would try to convince Congress of what he had learned about the proper way to treat the land beyond the 100th meridian.

Powell's geological and *ethnological* work and his study of Native American *languages* continue today to form the basis for our understanding of these subjects for southern Utah and northern Arizona.

Powell's Vision - Ageless and Far-reaching .......2006-01-20

I re-read this book and Powell's own "Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons" over the Holidays and have decided that these 2 books are absolutely inseparable. You must read both and I'm glad to see that Amazon offers a special deal for the purchase of these 2 books together. In my opinion, you should read Powell's "Exploration..." first and then read Stegner's book. Stegner's book is very readable but I hesitate to call it an easy read. While you are reading this book, you have to stop now and then to absorb and reflect on the opinions, actions, and counteractions of that particular moment. Everything must be placed in some historical, political, and personal context (3 dimensions which necessitate contemplation by the reader). Stegner does a wonderful job in maintaining the general flow of the text and he supplies an extensive listing of notes for those who want more information and detail. In my opinion, this is a wonderful book about a brilliant man with incredible foresight. Now, it seems that we need a beacon like Powell warning the Easterners about their relentless development of land with no thought or planning on the impact to their water resources and water quality. Most folks in the Eastern U.S. take their water resources for granted. We need a modern day Powell to warn us about the consequences of increased impervious area before its too late.

Powell cries out to today's West through Stegner's voice.......2006-01-04

Almost everything that could be done wrong in the development of the modern American West (and not just the Rockies westward, but the High Plains as well) was warned against by Maj. John Wesley Powell, but done anyway by the federal government and various states.

The result? Water crises, fights over water rights, lying, chicanery and stealing in the name of water rights, corporate farms squeezing out small farmers, urban sprawl and smog in the middle of deserts, dust bowls and more, were either forseen or hinted at by Powell.

The 100th meridian of latitude is the U.S.'s "dry line." Areas to the west, generally, before you get to the Pacific Coast, average less than 20 inches of rain a year. Hence the title, and the basis of Powell's warnings.

And, AND, all of that came after this one-armed Civil War veteran led the first navigation of the entire whitewater section of the Colorado, actually starting on the Green River in Wyoming and running all the way down past the Grand Canyon. (Despite some claims otherwise, it seems pretty clear James White did NOT do this.)

It was this trip, in the name of scientific research, that gave Powell his standing to eventually found the Bureau of Ethnography, do further Western research and make some top-notch recommendations for the development of the west.

The reason I didn't five-star this is that I would like to have seen a little more depth to Powell's post-exploration career. Also, a little more personality profile of Powell's struggle with disappointment over the Newlands Act and other repudiation of his ideas would have been nice.

True, Stegner may not be a professional historian, but it would have been nice to see him incorporate this.

To get an idea of what I mean by the end of this critique, please read Donald Worster's "River Running West." Also, Worster provides a bit of corrective to Stegner's occasional near-hagiographical approach to Powell.

A good book by a cranky old guy.......2005-10-07

This is an excellent biography of John Wesley Powell--exlorer, geologist, scientist, writer, and politician.
Anyone who reads this is sure to increase the amount they know about this historic figure, and about the West in general as the stories of each are inextricably tangled. The book excels at its account of John Wesley Powell's life AFTER his famous trips down the Colorado River, and does a great job of describing Powell's role in the battle against over-populating the West.
If the book has faults though, they lie in that many of Stegner's sources have since been expounded upon or dismissed entirely, and so the facts in this book aren't entirely current. Also, Stegner dismisses too quickly the merits of the story of James White, a man who very possibly went down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon two years before Powell did.
And, it's kind of ridiculous how Stegner criticizes Powell's second expedition's photos as if they were famous works and art: This photo "is marred by too much nondescipt low-water beach in the foreground," and that sort of thing.
This is a great book for anyone interested in John Wesley Powell or the Colorado River. It's possibly Stegner's best nonfiction work, though "Mormon Country" is good as well.
For another great account of John Wesley Powell, read "Down the Great Unknown" by Edward Dolnick.
Or, for a half-decent book about Wallace Stegner's peculiarly white view of the American West, read, "'Why I Can't Read Wallace Stegner' and Other Essays" by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn. That one's kind of interesting.

Educational but not boring.......2003-03-15

I kept waiting for this book to get boring. It has all the potential to be boring. But it's not. It's an excellent introduction to the history of the West. I learned little tidbits about all sorts of varied subjects - Native American tribes, government, the history of the USGS. Stegner does get a little too wrapped up in the details at a couple points, especially when he gets into all the wrangling in Congress over Powell's various ventures, but in general it's an excellent book.

Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans

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An extraordinarily disquieting read!
History As How We Should Read and Understand It
Right from the Brothers' mouths-
Unreliable
A powerful contribution to the literature of Vietnam

Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans
Wallace Terry
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Dispatches

ASIN: 0345311973
Release Date: 1985-07-12

Book Description

"Simply the most powerful and moving book that has emerged on this topic." UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
The national bestseller that tells the truth of about Vietnam from the black soldiers' perspective. An oral history unlike any other, BLOODS features twenty black men who tell the story of how members of their race were sent off in disproportionate numbers and the special test of patriotism they faced. Told in voices no reader will soon forget, BLOODS is a must-read for anyone who wants to put the Vietnam experience in historical, cultural, and political perspective.
Cited by THE NEW YORK TIMES as One of the Notable Books of the Year
"Superb."
TIME

Customer Reviews:

An extraordinarily disquieting read!.......2007-06-08

I finished this remarkable book several hours ago and I am afraid that it will stay with me forever; there are memories of events that will never leave me and I have no idea how the people actively involved in those events will ever outlive their memory.

Vietnam was my war; I was supposed to participate in it's patriotic overview but instead I grew enough between finishing high school in '65 and scoring a high number in the draft lottery in January of '71 (I think that date is right) to become 4F and miss the mental carnage of that terrible conflict.

How can any person forget the horror of the incidents chronicled in these 291 ages? And when you think you have read about the worst, along comes Arthur Woodley's story on page 236 and you enter a whole new world of actions you had tangetially read about in the main-stream media decades ago and here it is presented as a memoir of one of the guys who carried out some of those actions. I fully admit that I am not mature enough at 60 to read that these things happened to people so I have the Fates to thank for denying me the right to be a participant--the VC I could probably handle, breaking bread with these guys would been suicidal.

Anyone living through the Fifties and Sixties and even into the Seventies probably, could not avoid the heavy veneer of racism glued, seemingly permanently, to American society. It was a cancer that sapped the society of the very goodness that it so desired to demonstrate to the rest of the "uneducated and undemocratic" world. Any reader must, as I was, be struck by the horrendous racial slurs, both words and activities, in that "Christian" society; a scratch, regardless of how minute, would immediately open to view the putrefaction of this racism. I am reminded, again of Woodley's emotionally draining description of the American guy he had to shoot because the guy begged him to end his misery: there was no hope of medical treatment, he had already been suffering for several days before he was found and the maggots were eating his flesh while he was still alive. These maggots are a metaphor for the racism eating American society; at least however, the soldier knew what was happening but many, many Americans did not. This race question is a companion to the terrible story of war within these pages; it is the canvas upon which Terry has painted the tasles of these men fighting for "freedom."

In short, even after 23 years since publication, Bloods is a massively difficult read--attempt it only after a strong whiskey and the
fore-knowledge of what is to come as nthe book unfolds..

History As How We Should Read and Understand It.......2006-12-21

The book's title comes from the name black soldiers used to describe themselves - blood brothers - during the Viet Nam War.

Wallace Terry, who covered the war for Time magazine, interviewed 20 veterans of various backgrounds & ranks and let their experiences present to the reader a real history of the war. The individuals include a son of migrant farm workers to the son of an Army recruiter.

The powerful and moving interviews show the variety of emotions that drove each person; the injustices suffered on the battlefield and homefront, coupled with the emerging black power movement that was demanding permanent solutions to the institutionalized racism in this country.

The war was fought disproportiantely on the shoulders of those who did not have the political influence/savvy to use to their advantage the loopholes in the select service regulations. Sadly, the heroism of black soldiers continues to be skirted in "mainstream" history books and more than 20 years after Bloods was originally published.

No war - and especially the Viet Nam War - can be adequately described by someone simply researching documents many years later or from talking with politicos who sat behind desks that were thousands of miles away from battle. It is the living history from those who were casualties in so many ways - from the battlefield of war to the scars of racism - that loudly speaks the truth.

Right from the Brothers' mouths-.......2006-09-12

First off- these accounts aren't heavily fictionalized stories of what people stereotypically view as the Vietnam experience (war atrocity, drug use, etc.) they are honest accounts of men who lived in a tumultuous time, and were part of a marginalized part of society and yet chose to serve bravely, honorably and with dignity. These men are heroes and this is their story in their own words. For the reviewer who makes reference to the excellent "Stolen Valor" - if you had actually read both "Bloods" and "Stolen Valor" you would know that Mr. Burkett raised exception with only two of the stories presented in "Bloods"- he spent a scant three paragraphs questioning some of the details of these two stories. Mr. Terry has been adamant about keeping this book updated over the years and you will see numerous revisions. He has, as a matter of course, removed some of the accounts he now considers fabrications. If you find it repetitive, you may want to think about the fact that these men are all describing the same experiences. This is not the presentation of a doctorate submission that requires a bibliography- it is an oral history, told as best as people can remember- like any oral story there are going to be muddy facts. This book is an absolute must read for any African-American, enlisted and officer- in the Army. It shows how far we've come over the years and what out predecessors had to endure.

Unreliable.......2006-03-15

Terry makes numerous conclusions based on data that is either unreliable or taken far out of context. Also, several of the stories contained in this book are exaggerated and even complete fabrications.

I could not possibly recommend this book. However, if you do choose to read it, make sure that you also read Burkett's, "Stolen Valor."

A powerful contribution to the literature of Vietnam.......2005-03-30

"Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans," by Wallace Terry, brings together the voices of 20 veterans. The book includes, as Terry notes in his introduction, "Enlisted men, noncommissioned officers, and commissioned officers. Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines." Also included are men who served time as prisoners-of-war. Altogether the time spent by these men in Vietnam spans from 1963 to 1973.

This is a diverse and compelling collection of personal stories. The men in the book held a wide variety of military jobs in Vietnam, among them rifleman, combat engineer, medic, interpreter, combat photographer, electronic warfare officer, armorer, combat paratrooper, and more. The veterans discuss many topics: racism, interracial friendship and bonding, receiving and recovering from wounds, wartime atrocities, and post-Vietnam life.

It's hard to pick out a few representative stories from this rich and rewarding collection, but I'll try. One man describes his work as an activist for incarcerated veterans after the war; another discusses becoming a champion amputee athlete after being disabled in Vietnam; another fondly remembers one of the war's military working dogs. Fred Cherry's graphic account of his suffering as a POW is devastating. Dwyte Brown's memories of the inland R&R spot-a "paradise"-make for an ironic and enjoyable contrast to some of the grimmer entries. And Sergeant Major Edgar Huff's chapter recalls not just Vietnam, but a Marine Corps career that spanned three decades.

Terry's text masterfully captures vernacular speech. I could really imagine these veterans speaking the words. The book also includes black-and-white photographs; a glossary of military terms, acronyms, and slang; and a chronology of the Vietnam War. Moving and powerful, "Bloods" is, in my opinion, an important contribution to the fields of African-American studies and military history.

In Darwin's Shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Biographical Study on the Psychology of History

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Darwin forever under a cloud....
In the shadow no longer
Interesting biography
The new phrenologists?
Cursing the darkness

In Darwin's Shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Biographical Study on the Psychology of History
Michael Shermer
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195148304

Book Description

In Darwin's Shadow is the gripping story of the heretical British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who co-discovered natural selection independently of his more well-known contemporary Charles Darwin. Utilizing a number of never-before-used archival sources that bring to bear new interpretations of this most fascinating scientists, best-selling author Michael Shermer applies his training in both the history of science and psychology to reveal the life, science, and personality of Wallace to unravel the mystery of his scientific, quasi-scientific, and non-scientific ideas. Shermer's unique approach goes beyond narrative story-telling to analyse the science, culture, and ideas that lie beneath the life story, in a path-breaking approach to biography. Shermer presents the two major points of intersection and conflict between Wallace and Darwin, one so radical that Darwin accused his younger colleague of intellectual murder! Wallace has always appealed to lovers of travel and adventure stories, because that is the life he led: In Darwin's Shadow will also appeal to historians of science, readers of popular science, and fans of Shermer's previous books.

Customer Reviews:

Darwin forever under a cloud...........2003-11-30

After reading a review in NY review of books of Shermer's book I snapped out of my previous opinion and decided to revise my previous review here. Distracted by the issues raised in A. Brackman's book, A Delicate Arrangement, 'rebutted' by Shermer, I wavered wrongly in my original view at what appears now as a clever whitewash of Darwin.
Putting Brackman's arguments to one side for the nonce, the plain fact of the matter is that Darwin was, and has been ever since, engineered by Big Science propaganda into the exclusive icon for the discovery of evolution. And is Shermer just the fellow for this displacement job on Wallace. Wallace confuses people because they think that Darwin on the descent of man is established science, when the reality is that an immense con job has always finessed the fact that science has no conclusive theory here, and Wallace honestly pointed it out. Period.
As to the rest of Shermer's arguments in his book, viz. on the 'science' of history, they are without merit and constitute another of the 'bilge and balderdash' necessary to cover up the fact that there is no science of history, also.
The whole Darwin field is addicted to a pack of lies and it seems all parties have lost the ability to distinguish truth from distortion. Reviewing the details of the Ternate affair, we seem to see the ambitious Darwin concerned to rescue his priority, after years of so doubting his theory he couldn't publish it, and getting his priority by rigging the priority list and rushing into print. We have spent over a century beholden to this farce. Time for a little skepticism.

In the shadow no longer.......2003-11-17

Alfred Russel Wallace seems to rate hardly more than a footnote in the history of the theory of evolution. Like most who have studied this subject, I knew of Wallace's mutual discovery of the theory and evidence in support of it. I knew too of Darwin's generous introduction of the man as a co-discoverer, and even of the theory that that introduction might have been more premeditated and less generous that it appears. In some of my reading I had even learned of Wallace's "defection" to spiritualism. However, where Darwin's life is everywhere paraphrased and his thoughts on the subject of evolution almost subject to canonization, Wallace's life and thoughts seemed just to have "fallen out" of the picture. Michael Shermer's book, In Darwin's Shadow, The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace, provides a more detailed look at Wallace the man and scientist. It also looks at the subject of how history and biography reflects the psychology of their time-in some ways, he does so unintentionally.

In many ways A. R. Wallace, though not a formally educated man, was more of a research scientist than Darwin. He apparently plunged into the pursuit of regional studies with a vengeance for most of his youth, some twelve years abroad, studying natural subjects in their native habitat. Whether it was beetles in the tropics, indigenous people in their native and in their European dominated settings, the communities of animals characteristic of different regions in Southeast Asia, or the geology of various regions, etc, his studies were extensive and detailed. According to Shermer, he logged in over 20,000 miles on various collecting trips, and just on his Malay trip collected almost 125,000 specimens, over a thousand of which were new species (p. 14).

His reputation for openness and exposure to new experiences was amazing, especially for the day, and recognized even by those who did not necessarily agree with his opinions. His written output was prolific and varied, with topics ranging from ancient history, animal behavior, botany, ethics, history of science, linguistics, plurality of worlds, phrenology, spirtualism, taxonomy, womens rights, agricultural economics, literature and poetry, poor laws, and trade regulation (p. 15). Shermer indicates that even into old age Wallace wrote on a variety of subjects and had a life-time average output that ranks high, even when compared to modern writers like Gould, Sagan, and Ernst Mayr.

While I found Shermer's historical matrix model interesting, I felt that I learned more about how history and biography are created in our own time and what it says about us than I did about Wallace or his contemporaries. The matrix model seems to smack of psychobabble and Oprah "awarenesses" and introduces a lot of introspection into the possible effects of birth order, etc. on behavior. It tries to hard to get at the "whys?" of human behavior and motivation for which there is little proof for or against. It was only once the author got into the life and times of the man himself that I could more easily settle into Wallace's world. For one thing, I understood better what the flap about the man's delving into spiritualism was all about. I also learned where Wallace and Darwin differed, even from the beginning, in their own individual approach to evolution, and why Darwinian evolution is the model that gained the greatest respect and serves as the foundation of modern theories.

I think more than anything, the book introduces the reader to the fact that science is a communal thing, a human thing, and is subject to the vicissitudes of other human endeavors: chance, political and social prejudices, personalities and egos, readiness for new ideas, plain old mistakes, etc. I learned again that scientific discoveries occur in tandem, when the world is ready to receive them, that they're sort of "in the air." I learned that more than one person can come up with the same or similar idea, putting their own personal stamp on the concept, thereby forwarding human knowledge just a little bit more. I learned that scientists can be wrong or partly wrong about their topic and can be wrong or partly wrong about topics outside their expertise, and most importantly, that reputation should not be given total credence without proper thought. Because a person is famous does not mean that their opinions are any more valid than anyone else's.

An enlightening biography of an interesting man. While I think that Darwin's is the more carefully thought out and supported theory of evolution, I think that Wallace was the more interesting and happier person. I suspect it would have been more fun to have known him than to have known Darwin.

Interesting biography.......2003-06-09

A nice story of the scientist who came to a similar conclusion about natural history as his elder and more famous colleague, Darwin. I enjoyed reading about Wallace's background (quite different than Darwin's), his world travels, and the ways in which his theories differed from Darwin's. The author uses multivariate analysis on personality traits to attempt to explain some of these differences; I'm not fully convinced of the validity of that (for every statistical rule there are exceptions, and as Mark Twain colorfully observed, "there are lies ..."), but it's an interesting possibility.

The new phrenologists?.......2003-05-25

I bought this book rather in spite of than because of the other Amazon reviews, and lugged it with me on a flight out to the West Coast. The book lasted from Boston to Atlanta, and when it was over I closed it with a sigh of relief. While Shermer is certainly at times an engaging writer here he indulges in a rather peculiar form of quantitative psycho-history mixed in with the equally peculiar allocation of behavioural traits to birth order. There MAY be something in this somewhere, but at the same time it smacks of the 19th century Victorian fetish about cranial measurments that Shermer's evident hero-mentor Stephen Gould took to task in THE MISMEASURE OF MAN. That Shermer is so obsessed with his methodologies (he devotes a substantial portion of the book to 'how he did it") is a shame because it lessens and weakens his focus on his putative topic, the fascinating Alfred Wallace. Instead of really delving intoWallace's background and early experiences we get a few pages of quick gloss intertwined with what frankly struck me as mumbo-jumbo about what it means to be a Younger Child. This may be all very new Age & Hip right now, but I strongly doubt it will prove to have much in the way of scholarly legs. Then there is the tedious re-hashing of Gould's speculations which other reviewers have already re-hashed. Yup, they are old, they are trite, and can we please now move on? Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the discussion of Wallace's involvement with various "Spiritualist" frauds during the second half of his career. Here the writing really picks up & one has the sense that "aha, now we are going to get somewhere". Alas, the excitement soon fades & the book itself fades out to a gentle glow at the end. i really don't know how to categorize this text. It is far too incomplete for someone unfamiliar with Wallace's life & work to get a real sense of the man and it offers such an odd view on Wallace's relationships with friends, family, colleagues & rivals that one is left wondering just what was intended. A footnote to a more general study? Maybe, but i agree with the reviewer who calls for the need of a REAL biography that puts Wallace AND his science in proper context.

Cursing the darkness.......2003-04-27

Restoring Albert Russell Wallace's reputation is an occasional occupation with historians. Some wish to elevate him over Darwin, usually on the question of "priority" - who first thought up evolution by natural selection? Others portray him as the victim of Britain's class structure - doomed to obscurity because of his humble background. Shermer, although the title implies otherwise, makes an attempt to reconcile Darwin and Wallace, at least over natural selection. From that point, Shermer follows Wallace through a complex life. This readable, if somewhat shallow, biography does Wallace justice, but at the cost of shedding the broader context. In support of his programme, he relies heavily on Frank Sulloway's research on "birth-order" and creativity. This innovative study has had a rocky career, but Shermer finds it useful. For him, the findings have meaning, but their validity remains unclear. Especially when comparing but two subjects.

Wallace was a complicated personality, perhaps even more so than Darwin himself. In order to build a coherent image of his subject, Shermer creates a "historical matrix model". This is a three-dimensional visual aid of the elements he's utilising in erecting Wallace's biography. Mixing time, Wallace's various excursions and interests, Shermer ties the whole structure to his subject's views on evolution of humanity and the mind. Whether this method works may depend on your attitude about applying mathematical structures to a man's life. Fortunately for readability, Shermer keeps the application of this device at a low key, saving his analytical summation to the end of the book - where it falls flat.

Shermer traces the voyages Wallace was virtually forced to undertake. Financial woes dogged the naturalist throughout his life, although it's hard to see that from Shermer's portrayal. Although Shermer puts Wallace "in Darwin's shadow" he was easily as fluent a correspondent as his more famous counterpart. Yet few of the cited letters contain appeals for employment. Instead, Shermer takes us through Wallace's views on social questions, spiritualism and variations on natural selection. He also shows how Wallace traveled and dealt with a broad spectrum of issues and the people associated with them. Darwin, of course, maintained almost a hermit's life at Down. It's strange that Shermer makes little note of the contrast of the two since much of Darwin's information leading to natural selection came from a global correspondence. Wallace, ever the field researcher, relied more on his own collections for evidence.

Although providing us with a highly readable biography of the man, Shermer is virtually silent on the general social scene of Victorian Britain. In pursuing his subject's life, we are given quirky events and some questionable people. There's an excuse for avoiding the tumultuous politics of the era, but Shermer follows Wallace in his admiration for socialist Robert Owen and the role of Mechanics' Institutes to educate the workers. Both schemes were designed to generate worker contentment at minimal cost - Britain retained a horror of worker rebellion after the Napoleonic era. No mention is made of the Luddite or Chartist movements, which should have elicited comments from socialist Wallace.

A more bizarre oversight is Shermer's failure to impart Wallace's feeling on some of natural selection's sharper criticisms. One in particular, Lord Kelvin's assessment that the age of the solar system was too short to allow the needed time frame for evolution. Fleeming Jenkin's point that changes in organisms would be blended back, a point that Darwin, ignorant of Mendelian genetics, agonised over, is also overlooked by Shermer. Since any biography of Darwin will deal with these issues at length, it's only logical that Shermer should have addressed them. Either that or Wallace ignored them - we remain in the dark either way.

Shermer's sins of omission may be forgiven as retaining clarity and brevity. His committed sins, however, cannot be condoned. His long career as an acolyte of the Pope of Paleontology leads Shermer to peck at Darwin's image. The worst examples are intrusions of "punctuated speciation" in a variety of disguises. Shermer's attempt to promote his mentor's outdated thesis borders on the pathetic. He aggravates it later in the book with other Gouldian pronouncements. Gould makes the index six times, with "punk eek" scoring another ten. In a biography of Wallace, this ploy is simply an outrageous non sequitor. He puts Wallace in "Darwin's dark shadow" [what other kind is there?], implying some sinister agenda. Wallace is "eclipsed" by Darwin - as if Darwin so intended. Darwin's opposition to spiritualism is a "secret war". The position is misleading. The shadow is cast by the long-lived eminence of Darwin's contributions, but Shermer makes no mention of that. It's history's verdict, not Darwin's.

Shermer's use of Sulloway is bewildering. Parallels between Darwin and Wallace are inevitable, but the author's are flimsy. "Birth order" as an issue with these two men is misleading. If he wanted to compare the two as personalities, why does Shermer ignore the similarity of Wallace's losing his first love, Marion Leslie and Darwin's loss of Fanny Owen? That Wallace delved into a wider list of topics than Darwin keeps the former's public life more interesting, but doesn't move the latter into a "shadow." Wallace wasn't dogged by illness throughout his life - his long life certainly suggests good health. He shed whatever Christianity he had at an early age, while Darwin was driven to abandon it from his studies and the loss of children. Shermer doesn't need to shatter Darwin's image to restore Wallace's, but that intent is broadcast in his title. It was a mistake. If Shermer is intent on restoring Wallace's reputation, he should have hired somebody to do it for him. Janet Browne would be a good first choice. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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Inspiring Personal Story - Tragedy and spiritual awaking!

I could not put it down!

THe Burning Within

Great!

Wow! What an Amazing Story !!

The Burning Within
Ranelle Wallace , and Taylor Curtis
Manufacturer: Gold Leaf Press (WA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Fast Lane to Heaven: A Life-After-Death Journey

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ASIN: 1882723058

Book Description

True story of a couple returning home after an unsuccessful vacation to revive thier marriage,thier plane crash,thier rescue, survival, recovery, and coping with life after severe burns and disfiguration. Adding to this tradgedy was the womans disregard for the warnings and strong premonitions of what was to come. That burning within all of us. Also a very compelling near death experience and confirmation of life after death beliefs that people of every religion can relate to.

Customer Reviews:

Inspiring Personal Story - Tragedy and spiritual awaking! .......2006-09-26

What a story. It has it all and it is non-fiction. An airplane crash and survival and so much more. It is all about human triumph and spiritual awakenings.

It is well written and takes you emotionally through so much. This women's life will inspire many people - she certainly has inspired my life. I highly recommend buying and reading this book.

I could not put it down!.......2005-06-24

This is the best life-after-death account I've ever read, and has actually changed my perspective on why we're here and what matters. Regardless of your religious beliefs, this book will really make you think.

THe Burning Within.......2003-07-19

This is one of the best books I've ever read. It is a life changer. You'll look at everything differently and never take anything for granite again! It is a clear vision of heaven! What a wonderful inspiring story! I wish she'd write another to tell us how life is going now!

Great!.......2003-03-01

This book was a little too graphic for me in just a few parts. I had to skip a little of the graphic descriptions at the scene of the accident. I found it very uplifting to view the transformation of the author's spirit from one centered upon herself to one focusing upon others, especially her own children and husband. I cried and cried tears of joy for her and her family.

Wow! What an Amazing Story !!.......2002-05-13

All I can say about this book is WOW! This true story is so amazing for many reasons, that I simply could not put it down from the minute I started reading it. I had a husband to greet and a dinner to cook, but I couldn't put the book down. RaNelle and Terry's ordeal from their plane crash is told in graphic, heart-wrenching, horrifying detail. Again I say WOW! Absolutely incredible. I'm not gonna give details because you have to read it to see how extraordinary it is. Then, to me, the good part starts. RaNelle has a Near-Death Experience right after being rescued. What follows made me cry. I felt her pain, fear and wonder. Her descriptions of the Other Side are breathtaking, astounding, and there are lessons to be learned for all of us who want to listen. Please, do yourself a favor and get this book.....if you do, God meant for you to have it.

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Wallace K Harrison
Rizzoli
Manufacturer: Rizzoli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0847806448
Release Date: 1989-06-15

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Wastelo, Grandpa...Pilamiya
Review of Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota
Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota
A wholesome approach to all life
My first sweat lodge was with Wallace Black Elk

Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota
Wallace Black Elk
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0062500740

Customer Reviews:

Wastelo, Grandpa...Pilamiya.......2007-03-11

Well, it took quite a bit of courage to write this book at a time when there was so very much opposition to sharing the knowledge of Creator with us Waisichus (white eyed folks). In the way that only Wallace could speak...here in these pages he comes back to life as the Genius he truly was. He loved to tell people; "I am only a dumb Indian"...and then he'd laugh that laugh "Hee hee hee hee", knowing that he really had one up on all of us. If you read behind the lines, you'll learn something, really learn about Creator and the way things work on this Canka Luta Waste and behind that Canunpa. Enjoy this book....as this is one elder who has passed on and can never be replaced.

Review of Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota.......2006-08-29

Being interested in the wonderful subject of Native American thought and "religion" (spirituality), and having enjoyed other books of this genre, I was a "shoo in" to purchase this book. The personal quality and warmth of Wallace Black Elk pervades each page. He writes in the same vein as "Black Elk Speaks" and "Fools Crow, Medicine Man" but with a more modern, present day approach and color. This book should awake understanding of both past and present conditions of life for Native Americans. It is written in a simple and sincere manner and I recommend it to anyone who would like to know more about Indian thought and spiritual practices.

Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota.......2006-06-30

This book is a masterpiece of wisdom. It is a pattern for a way a life that can serve every human being upon their journey on this earth.

A wholesome approach to all life.......2005-11-12

I really enjoyed reading Wallace Black Elk's words because they pointed our many of the divisions we, especially of the Western cultures, make up. These divisions pull the world apart leaving the world a fragmented place in our senses. The world of this book is a little different than the world today, but it seems that Black Elk's words about the environment, the spirit, and the people of all nations (in which he includes all that is) are relevant to the fast-paced quasi-ignorant lives we live.

My first sweat lodge was with Wallace Black Elk.......2005-03-12

This was at Upland Hills Ecological Center deep in the woods northeast of the Detroit/Pontiac suburbs, sometime in the mid-80's. And I remember meeting there for the first time a wonderful fellow-traveler named Brooke Isberg.

Wallace gave a number of story-telling sessions/lectures, then at night was the sweat lodge. What was most notable - was that the effect of incredibly wholesome well-being and benign protection lasted well over a month - and something was planted that never ever left me. Numerous previous (and subsequent) weekend meditation, neo-pagan, medicine wheel and new-age retreats had the predictable outcome of making me feel incredibly good for 2-3 days afterwards, never much more than that (and then the 'work' would start). The same with various local ceremonies/rituals. And all that was fine, as cumulative effects did build up - obvious growth occurs - that's as it usually should be in the work.

I'm just saying that the work that week with Wallace was not in any sense the usual.

Over a period of many years, subsequent sweat lodge experiences with a variety of so-called 'leaders' (both native and Anglo-) paled in comparison. Wallace is truly the Grandfather; making each person feel thoroughly at home, more than even at your own home; well-mannered, humble and glowingly capable, he treated each of us as a valued and honored guest in his and the spirits' lodge, as it were. Without it being said as such, you felt you were being welcomed into the world. Wallace was/is thoroughly heart/breath, and is no way trapped inside his skin. So we felt less confined in yours.

Many of the other leaders I've met are so much into their own power and image, often twinged with too much machismo, exuding more politics than poetry. You just didn't feel much supported. Not so with Wallace. He is so strong to be able to be here in such a down-to-earth fashion, really buoyed by, and faultlessly representing Mother Earth, Great Spirit and the 4 Directions. With him we'd been given the inestimably fine opportunity to fall right in with it all.

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A very interesting Novel
Ben Hur, a tale of the Christ
Hard, but soooooo rewarding!!!
An amazing classic
A once in a lifetime read!!

Ben-Hur (Signet Classics)
Lew Wallace
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Quo Vadis

ASIN: 0451528743
Release Date: 2003-02-04

Book Description

A bestseller since 1880...
The classic saga of the Roman Empire

From a thrilling sea battle to its famous chariot race to the agony of the Crucifixion, this is the epic tale of a prince who became a slave and by a twist of fate and his own skill-won a chance at freedom.

Download Description

This is a saga of a reverent journey by Judah Ben-Hur through reprisal, torment, affliction, and devout illumination to the revelation of Christianity. Ben-Hur grew up in a Roman-occupied Palestine as a wealthy young Jew whose family is respected of the citizenry but whose friend, Massala, a Roman warrior, betrays him by treacherously accusing him of the attempted murder of a Roman Prince. Suddenly the whole family is separated and punished: Ben-Hur is sent away as a slave and his mother and sister are imprisoned in a leper colony. His conflict with an imperious government, adventurous political spectacles, maudlin dramatics and heroic theatre vividly strips his blindness to bureautic control and awakens an enlightenment of monumental proportions. His suffering leads him to the vision of Jesus and acceptance of Him. At last, Ben-Hur must challenge Massala's domination in a chariot race. On the day of the Crucifixtion the quest for peace and the recovery of unity is complete, and Ben-Hur's search is over. Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.

Customer Reviews:

A very interesting Novel.......2007-08-12

I recently finished reading "Ben-Hur" and I must comment that I'm glad I took the time to read it. The only reason I gave the work four stars instead of five is because Wallace's vivid details make the book somewhat tedious at times. The plot is very well conceived and Wallace created some memorable characters although I felt the characterization was not quite as good as in another famous nineteenth century Roman Epic "Quo Vadis". The way in which Wallace weaved the story together with the life of Christ and the political situation in Judea was effective. Despite being famous for the chariot race in Antioch, I believe the most powerful scenes were involving Ben-Hur's leprous mother and sister as well as Christ's crucifixtion. The ending is generally positive though somewhat of a cliff hanger if one thinks about it. I recommend the 1959 movie version as well as the book.

Ben Hur, a tale of the Christ.......2007-01-09

When I was 12 years old I first read this book, and have declared to my friends over the years that it is one of two best stories ever! The nativity story is the best account of the holy family. Sadly, the movie did not do justice to the book. I highly reccomend this to all ages of readers.

Hard, but soooooo rewarding!!!.......2006-10-06

I read this for a book report and I had a hard time figuring out some of the words, especially the ones not found in the dictionary. Nevertheless, it's AWESOME!!!! I absolutely loved it! It's not a story that's predictable and full of cliches. It's fresh for the modern reader and gives an awesome perspective on the life of Christ from the view of a first century Jew. Great book!!!

An amazing classic.......2006-04-19

A previous reviewer praised the book, but said it was for students and scholars. I disagree with this assessment. I am neither a student, nor a scholar. I have long enjoyed the movie Ben-Hur, so I decided to pick up the book, since I have always found novels to be far better than the movies that they inspire. I was slightly worried after reading some reviews that made it sound like a dull history book. After reading Ben-Hur, I was very pleasantly surprised. It does contain historical information, and is rich with detail, but it is also action packed. I found myself not wanting to put it down until I was finished.

This is a book to be read and enjoyed by everyone. Whether you are an English major, or a business grad (like me), this book is for you.

A once in a lifetime read!!.......2005-12-14

I decided to read only well-written and important works during this Millenial Year (2000). I picked up the 'Focus on the Family' publication of Ben Hur as I was exiting our library. I did not know I had just picked up the novel of my life. This book is suplative in every way-wonderful plot, incredible characterizations, historically accurate, and even life changing. General Lew Wallace wrote this incredible work in 1880, and I don't believe this novel could be written by today's writers. There are some of the most perfectly written sentences I have ever read, every line comparable to fine wine that must be sipped slowly for best effect rather than gulped like present-day works. It took me a full month of pleasure to finish this fine work. It can be enjoyed by Christian and non-Christian alike, and will cause those who believe to believe even stronger, while those unfamiliar or doubtful of the Good News of Christ will be quickened spiritually. This book is gigantic in scope and life changing in effect. By the way, I've never seen the movie, but I'm going to check it tonight

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An Interesting Idea
Funny and thought provoking
He does what we'd like to but don't have the nerve to
A very funny book that could change your life
Brilliant, and easy to read without having been written for children.

Yes Man
Danny Wallace
Manufacturer: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Recently single, Danny Wallace was falling into loneliness and isolation. When a stranger on a bus advises, "Say yes more," Wallace vows to say yes to every offer, invitation, challenge, and chance.

In Yes Man, Wallace recounts his months-long commitment to complete openness with profound insight and humbling honesty. Saying yes takes Wallace into a new plane of existence: a place where money comes as easily as it goes, nodding a lot can lead to a long weekend overseas with new friends, and romance isn't as complicated as it seems. Yes eventually leads to the biggest question of all: "Do you, Danny Wallace, take this woman . . ."

Yes Man is inspiring proof that a little willingness can take anyone to the most wonderful of places.

Customer Reviews:

An Interesting Idea.......2007-10-07

I bought this book for the title and as a gift to someone I once nicknamed a "yes man" after hearing an NPR interview with the author. Once it arrived, I realized that my friend was unlikely to ever read it, so I did before passing it along. I'm a smallish town female U.S. Baby Boomer and much of the book just didn't speak to me; however, there were bits of fun and treasures of stories tucked throughout. I especially loved his response to the ubiquitous scam of "my [insert African country here] father died and left a fortune that he scammed from government, I just need your help to get it out of the country."

Funny and thought provoking.......2007-09-03

Wallace shows the reader that closing oneself off to new experiences can lead to many missed opportunities.

This book is an account of a year in Wallace's life. He has broken up with his girlfriend and is despondent that he has lost touch with so many of his friends during the ensuing depression. He has nothing to do . Thus, he resolves to say yes more and see where life takes him. Like Wallace's other book, Join Me, he becomes a hapless observer while his new directive guides his life for him with hilarious consequences.

Wallace's writing style is crisp and fast paced. Though he makes a few jokes here and there, it is the increasingly outlandish situations he finds himself in that provides so much amusement for the reader. But, between the laughs, it made me see the value in saying yes. Ultimately, Wallace shows that by saying yes, his life became immeasurably better.

Fans of Wallace's books may also want to check out Henry Alford, his gay American counterpart.

This book is a very fun and fast read. Recommended to all.

He does what we'd like to but don't have the nerve to.......2007-09-02

I highly recommend this book for laughs. But beyond that, this guy lives a life many of us, me included would love to. He gets these zany ideas, then he acts on them! Kind of like George Plimpton's inside view on sports, this is vicarious pleasure. In this book, Wallace pledges to say "Yes," to everything. The results of this simple, yet profound manifesto, are hilarious, amazing and even moving. We not only follow Wallace's adventures, but the journey of his conscience, his internal battles as he fights to stay true to his commitment. I alternated between thinking the guy was certifiably crazy, with bouts of wishing I had his nerve. A totally fun and engaging read.

A very funny book that could change your life.......2007-08-15

This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. I found myself laughing out loud while reading it, in public (possibly to the annoyance of the people around me), multiple times. I haven't done that since I read the Hitchiker's Guide when I was a kid. It also really highlights the possibilities in life that are available to all of us, if we are just willing to take advantage of them.

In short, this was a highly entertaining book I could hardly put down, and reading it really could change your life.

Brilliant, and easy to read without having been written for children........2007-08-04

Just finished Yes Man by Danny Wallace. Absolutely brilliant novel about a guy who decides to say Yes to every opportunity and offer that he gets, and what effect this has on him.

Often books with premises like this are written badly, but his style was perfect - one of the easiest books to read that I've ever come across, despite a rather unfamiliar vocabulary(ok, well not so unfamiliar, as I am aware of all the British slang used but it is strange to read it) the book flows extremely well.

I also think it is a much more life changing book than regular philosophy. It has interested me in trying out this "yes" thing. I wonder where it will take me if I do decide to give it a shot.

I'd suggest it to everyone, whether you only read fantasy or only read non-fiction. It is also absolutely hilarious so if you're just looking for a very funny book, it fits that as well.

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The true story behind the rise of a tyrannical genius, how he transformed an industry, and why everyone is out to get him.

The true story behind the rise of a tyrannical genius, how he
transformed an industry, and why everyone is out to get him.