A Truck Full of Money

A Truck Full of Money

â€œA perfectly executed, exquisitely reported parable of the Internet age and the wild, mad adventure that is start-up culture.â€â€”Charles Duhigg

Fortune, mania, genius, philanthropyâ€”the bestselling author of Mountains Beyond Mountains gives us the inspiring story of Paul English, the founder of Kayak.com and Lola.

Tracy Kidder, the â€œmaster of the nonfiction narrativeâ€ (The Baltimore Sun) and author of the bestselling classic The Soul of a 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 pilgrimâ€™s journey through the ups and downs in the brave new world of computers. Relating to the Internet as if itâ€™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 â€œa Pied Piperâ€ of geeks. His innovative management style, success, and innate sense of fair play inspire intense loyalty. Early on, one colleague observes: â€œSomeday this boyâ€™s going to get hit by a truck full of money, and Iâ€™m going to be standing beside him.â€ Yet when English does indeed make a fortune, when the travel website Kayak is sold for almost two billion dollarsâ€”the first thing he thinks about is how to give the money away: â€œWhat else would you do with it?â€ The second thing he thinks is, Whatâ€™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 and the world. 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 A Truck Full of Money

â€œKidderâ€™s prose glides with a figure skaterâ€™s ease, but without the glam. His is a seemingly artless art, like John McPheeâ€™s, that conceals itself in sentences that are necessary, economical, and unpretentious.â€â€”The Boston Globe

â€œKidderâ€™s portrayal of living with manic depression is as nuanced and intimate as a reader might ever expect to get. . . . You canâ€™t help admiring Mr. English and cheering for him.â€â€”The New York Times

â€œ[A] powerful and insightful tale that makes the Internet era entertaining, and defines English as an endearing, generous and eccentric geek.â€â€”USA Today

â€œAt times, the narrative of the young technologist, at least in Kidderâ€™s hands, seems the modern equivalent of the story of the godless wayfarer who stumbles into a cathedral in a distant city, only to find that its vaulting arches and organ music bring on exaltations of mind and spirit.â€â€”The New York Times Book Review

â€œWhat kind of entrepreneur talks about making money as if itâ€™s, well, kind of a bummer? Youâ€™ll ask yourself that question about a dozen or so pages into A Truck Full of Money, Tracy Kidderâ€™s expertly reported, deftly written new book that tracks the rise of unconventional software executive and Kayak.com co-founder Paul English.â€â€”The San Francisco Chronicle

â€œKidder writes beautifully, creating an engaging storyline while avoiding clichÃ©s and pretention. . . . Readers are in for a fascinating ride.â€â€”The National Book Review

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Manufacturer Random House
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2016-09-20
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Random House
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2016-09-20
Format	Kindle eBook

A Truck Full of Money

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