By Bill Gates Sr. and Mary Ann Mackin
Publisher: Broadway Books, The Crown Publishing Group
ISBN – 978-0-385-52701-9
Whether you are a Microsoft basher or a Microsoft lover, a book describing the growing up of Bill Gates is of interest. There have been many words written about the subject but this is the first time we learn about Bill’s early life from the most authentic source possible… the pen of his dad, Bill Gates Senior.
We all remember when Bill managed to crash the then new Windows 98 at a show even before the product was shipping but you will learn from this fascinating book that something very similar happened when Bill presented his very first creation (nothing to do with Windows yet) to city officials in Seattle. After many successful runs earlier, the thing refused to work when the need was highest… Luckily for all of us, Bill was not discouraged.
When Paul Allen showed Bill an article about a new personal computer being built by a company in Albuquerque, Bill’s genius surfaced immediately. Many lesser individuals would have tried to build a better computer to compete with the one described in Popular Electronics but not Bill; he was thinking both vertically and horizontally and was able to see the future in the proper perspective of personal computing as it would be… He called the company and offered to sell them SOFTWARE! The rest is history…
This book is about Bill Gates but also about his parents and the many other parents who perhaps have a dream about what their kids should become and who see their kids insisting on their own paths. Granting them that freedom is a gift they should never be denied and they will make their parents’ dreams true even if the script is slightly different.
Even Mac users will want to read this book.
