Fortune, mania, genius, philanthropy the bestselling author of"Mountains Beyond Mountains" gives us the inspiring story of Kayak.com founder Paul English, an American maverick and a man who had a mind for the age that was coming.
Tracy Kidder, the master of the nonfiction narrative ("The Baltimore Sun") and author of the bestselling classic "The Soul of the New Machine, " now tells the story of Paul English, a kinetic and unconventional inventor and entrepreneur, who as a boy rebelled against authority. Growing up in working-class Boston, English discovers a medium for his talents the first time he sees a computer. As a young man, despite suffering from what would eventually be diagnosed as bipolar disorder, he begins his pilgrim s journey through the ups and downs in the brave new world of computers. Relating to the Internet as if it s an extension of his own mind, he discovers that he has a talent for conceiving innovative enterprises and building teams that can develop them, becoming a Pied Piper of geeks. His innovative management style, success, and innate sense of fair play inspire intense loyalty. Early on, one colleague observes: Someday this boy s going to get hit by a truck full of money, and I m going to be standing beside him. Yet when English does indeed make a fortune, when the travel website Kayak.com is sold for almost two billion dollars the first thing he thinks about is how to give the money away: What else would you do with it? The second thing he thinks is, What s next?
With the power of a consummate storyteller, Tracy Kidder casts a fresh, critical, and often humorous eye on the way new ideas and new money are reshaping our culture. "A Truck Full of Money" is a mesmerizing portrait of an irresistibly endearing man who is indefatigable, original, and as unpredictable as America itself.
Praise for Tracy Kidder
"A Truck Full of Money"
"A Truck Full of Money" brings us into unknown spaces of the complex workings of the mind of a brilliant software engineer, of this new decade, of the brutal/fast business of technology, of stunning privilege, and of one man s efforts to put his fortune to humane use. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
"Mountains Beyond Mountains"
A] masterpiece . . . an astonishing book that will leave you questioning your own life and political views. "USA Today"
Stunning . . . "Mountains Beyond Mountains" will move you, restore your faith in the ability of one person to make a difference in these increasingly maddening, dispiriting times. " San Diego Union-Tribune"
"Strength in What Remains"
The reporting is impeccable, but it s Kidder s great feat of sympathetic imagination that dazzles. Walk a mile in Deo s shoes; your world will be larger and darker for it. William Finnegan
Extraordinarily stirring . . . a miracle of human courage. "The Washington Post"
"The Soul of a New Machine"
A splendid book, which goes far toward reviving Aldous Huxley s prophecy . . . of a worthy literature of science and technology. . . . Kidder has endowed the tale with such pace, texture, and poetic implication that he has elevated it to a high level of narrative art. "The" "New York Times Book Review""