Book Review: Paul Allen’s Idea Man

I don’t read too many non-technical books, but this interesting piece of computer-industry (and much more) history – told by a key player – provides both a (mostly) fascinating read and insights from an accidental billionaire.

I've been absolutely swamped the past two weeks, with both a number of projects and a particularly vexing network problem, but I reserved a part of each evening to read a little of Paul Allen's autobiography, Idea Man. I should say from the start that I don't read too many works like this; I stick mostly to books on technology and such. Technical manuals have never been bedtime reading around here. Paul Allen's autobiography, though, is a page-turner, and at times a fascinating look into how we got to where we are today in computing and IT. It is also, to be fair, a bit of a self-indulgent walk though the life of an accidental billionaire who, while justifiably proud of his accomplishments, is also unafraid to illustrate lessons from failure.

Don't get me wrong - this is a guy I admire. I've met Paul Allen a couple of times, the first at the National Computing Conference in Anaheim in 1982, where I was part of the team that was introducing the first laptop computer, the GRiD Systems Compass 1101. Paul just happened to wander up to me in the booth, all by himself, and I gave him a demo. He was polite, unassuming, and asked a number of good questions. He seemed genuine appreciative of my time, something not often experienced by booth workers at trade shows, and I was personally thrilled to meet him - I actually admired Microsoft around then, and this was the technical guy who made the company the leader in its day.

And the story is all there - how Microsoft got started, the creation of Altair Basic, and Bill Gates' obnoxious and unprofessional behavior. Paul was the technical brains; there's no doubt about that, and Bill was the hard-nosed success-at-all-costs business guy. Bill treated Paul rather badly, and Paul ended up leaving Microsoft because of this. Too bad - imagine how good Microsoft's products could have been had Paul stayed on.

And there's also the story, scary indeed, of Paul's battles with both Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which clearly gave him a lust for life that's reflected in much of the rest of the book. While I found a lot of the monologue about, for example, jamming with Mick and hobnobbing with Bono to be self-indulgent at best, this is a guy who clearly deserves his success and who is enjoying, "big time" doesn't really capture it, his stay on the planet. While one doesn't have to own a professional sports team or two or a massive yacht, or fund museums and private space exploration, to do that, I admire his jump-in-with-both-feet attitude and his honesty when failure was the result.

As for mobility, yes, there are a few comments on that here as well, the most telling of which is "If Microsoft fails to catch up in mobile, in other words, it's in for a long, slow slide." And this in a paragraph all by itself (Page 189); yes, mobility really is that important. But he is indeed optimistic that Microsoft can do this, even if he offers no advice more sage than "To win the mobile wars, the company needs first and foremost to produce phones and slates that consumers will love from the moment they use them." (Page 190) In other words, Microsoft needs to become Apple. Hey, it could happen.

Idea Man is a quick read, unless you're slow reader like me, and it pretty much moves along at a pace that holds one's interest with the story of rare experience and unusual opportunity. Anyone with an interesting in technology or, well, the lifestyles of the rich and mostly-famous, should pick up a copy - and, yes, it's available on Kindle.

• Microsoft
• Corporate Issues
• Bill Gates
• billionaires and their spending habits
• biography
• Microsoft
• Mobility
• Paul Allen