Overview

A perfectly executed, exquisitely reported parable of the Internet age and the wild, mad adventure that is start-up culture. --Charles Duhigg Fortune, mania, genius, philanthropy--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 master of the nonfiction narrative (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 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 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 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 Kidder's prose glides with a figure skater's ease, but without the glam. His is a seemingly artless art, like John McPhee's, that conceals itself in sentences that are necessary, economical, and unpretentious. --The Boston Globe Kidder's portrayal of living with manic depression is as nuanced and intimate as a reader might ever expect to get. . . . You can't help admiring Mr. English and cheering for him. --The New York Times [A] powerful and insightful tale that makes the Internet era entertaining, and defines English as an endearing, generous and eccentric geek. --USA Today At times, the narrative of the young technologist, at least in Kidder'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. --The New York Times Book Review What kind of entrepreneur talks about making money as if it's, well, kind of a bummer? You'll ask yourself that question about a dozen or so pages into A Truck Full of Money, Tracy Kidder's expertly reported, deftly written new book that tracks the rise of unconventional software executive and Kayak.com co-founder Paul English. --The San Francisco Chronicle Kidder writes beautifully, creating an engaging storyline while avoiding cliches and pretention. . . . Readers are in for a fascinating ride. --The National Book Review From the Hardcover edition.

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Reviews

<b>Praise for Tracy Kidder</b> <b><i>A Truck Full of Money</i></b> <b> A perfectly executed, exquisitely reported parable of the Internet age, and the wild, mad adventure that is start-up culture. <b> Charles Duhigg</b> <i>A Truck Full of Money</i> 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. <b> Adrian Nicole LeBlanc The story of [an] entrepreneur s remarkable life [and] the new American economy and the technological world that built it. More engrossing work from a gifted practitioner of narrative nonfiction. <b><i> Kirkus</i></b> <b><i>Mountains Beyond Mountains</i></b> [A] masterpiece . . . an astonishing book that will leave you questioning your own life and political views. <b> <i>USA Today</i></b> Inspiring, disturbing, daring and completely absorbing. <b><i> The New York Times Book Review</i></b> Stunning . . . <i>Mountains Beyond Mountains</i> will move you, restore your faith in the ability of one person to make a difference in these increasingly maddening, dispiriting times. <b><i> San Diego Union-Tribune</i></b> <b><i>Strength in What Remains</i></b> 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. <b> William Finnegan</b> This book will stir the conscience and reaffirm your faith in the human spirit. <b> Alex Kotlowitz</b> Extraordinarily stirring . . . a miracle of human courage. <b> <i>The Washington Post</i></b> Absorbing . . . a story about survival, about perseverance and sometimes uncanny luck in the face of hell on earth . . . It is just as notably about profound human kindness. <b> <i>The New York Times</i></b> <b><i>The Soul of a New Machine</i></b> 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. <b> <i>The</i> <i>New York Times Book Review</i></b> <i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>

Author Information

Tracy Kidder graduated from Harvard and studied at the University of Iowa. He has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and many other literary prizes. The author of Strength in What Remains, My Detachment, Mountains Beyond Mountains, Home Town, Old Friends, Among Schoolchildren, House, and The Soul of a New Machine, Kidder lives in Massachusetts and Maine. From the Hardcover edition.

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