Idea Man

What's it like to start a revolution? How do you build the biggest tech company in the world? And why do you walk away from it all? Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft. Together he and Bill Gates turned an idea - writing software - into a company and then an entire industry. This is the story of how it came about: two young mavericks who turned technology on its head, the bitter battles as each tried to stamp his vision on the future and the ruthless brilliance and fierce commitment.

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 classic 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.

The Idea of Man presents a new ontology, or idea of human being, by developing the logic that naturally flows from that which is original, necessary, inherent and essential to this being - upright posture. The verticality of man, simply and mutely constituted by his innate 'uprightness', is taken as the ontological key to understanding the idea of man, the world of language and the very possibility of Being itself. In this, the book conceives in unison both an Ontological Anthropology and an Anthropological Ontology.

"This book shows us the face of Earth’s sixth great mass extinction, revealing that this century is a time of darkness for the world’s birds and mammals. In The Annihilation of Nature, three of today’s most distinguished conservationists tell the stories of the birds and mammals we have lost and those that are now on the road to extinction. These tragic tales, coupled with eighty-three color photographs from the world’s leading nature photographers, display the beauty and biodiversity that humans are squandering."--Book jacket.

Based on some of the best-loved VeggieTales videos, this clever collection of bedtime fun shares important, reassuring lessons that every child should know. Filled with fun, colorful, engaging art that all children will love, God is Bigger Than the Boogie Man teaches kids about trust, thankfulness, truth, courage, selflessness, and more. What better way for a child to end the day than with a prayer and a VeggieTales’ bedtime story?

With our American Philosophy and Religion series, Applewood reissues many primary sources published throughout American history. Through these books, scholars, interpreters, students, and non-academics alike can see the thoughts and beliefs of Americans who came before us.

* Our summary is short, simple and pragmatic. It allows you to have the essential ideas of a big book in less than 30 minutes. As you read this summary, you'll discover what were the highlights of the life of Paul Allen, Microsoft's co-founder with Bill Gates. You will also discover : that Paul Allen met Bill Gates in high school; that he grew up in a residential suburb of one of America's largest cities; that his mother was a schoolteacher before becoming a housewife; that Microsoft is a compound of "microprocessors" and "software"; that he is the founder of the Allen Institute for Brain Science; that he has recovered from a very serious illness. "Idea Man": the man with ideas. It took Paul Allen to found Microsoft with Bill Gates, because both men turned an idea into a company and then into an industry. This idea is that of creating the software that makes laptops work, the "software", as opposed to the "hardware" - that is, the machine itself, the computer with its screen, its central unit... A gigantic advance in the computer industry. But the book, far from focusing solely on Microsoft and computing, explores the most intimate corners of Paul Allen's life, and in particular his relationship to time, money, others, and so on. A walk through an extraordinary life, guided by the master of the house, who speaks well of what he knows well. *Buy now the summary of this book for the modest price of a cup of coffee!

Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.