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Re: Source Code: My Beginnings

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On 08/02/2025 03:00, Book Review wrote:
> Has anybody bought this book yet?
> 
> <https://www.amazon.co.uk/Source-Code-Beginnings-Bill-Gates/dp/0241736676>
> 
> Bill Gates is one of the most transformative figures of our age. In
> Source Code he takes us back to his beginnings.
> 
> He describes with candour his childhood in Seattle, the centrality of
> family – his close relationship with his card-playing grandmother and
> his demanding but caring parents – his struggles to fit in, his
> rebelliousness, his first deep friendships and the impact of losing his
> closest friend.
> 
> We see Gates’s extraordinary mind developing, the restless teenager who
> discovered a love of coding and computing at the dawn of a new era and
> felt that ‘by applying my brain, I could solve even the world’s most
> complex mysteries’. We see the earliest signs of his phenomenal business
> acumen, which led him to drop out of Harvard at the age of 20 to devote
> all his energies to Microsoft, the company he started with his childhood
> friend Paul Allen. He writes about his first involvement with three
> Steves – Jobs, Wozniak and Ballmer – who would play a crucial role in so
> much that followed.
> 
> The book ends in the late 1970s when Microsoft, still with only a dozen
> employees, signed its first deal with Apple. The deals would go on and
> Microsoft would grow unimaginably. Yet Gates never forgot his mother’s
> reminder that he was merely a steward of any wealth that he gained. This
> warm and inspiring book, Bill Gates’ origin story, allows readers to
> understand his energy and ambition – and to see how he sets himself in
> the world.
> 
> 
I won't be buying this book but unlike other responders I have admired 
Gates for a long time, especially compared with the Tech Bros who 
followed him. In the unlikely event anyone would like an unbiased view 
of his early years I recommend:

Hard Drive - Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire
James Wallace and Jim Erickson
John Wiley & Sons, 1992, Rev Ed 1993

I bought a copy for £1.99 in a charity shop back in 2001 and found it 
fascinating. A key to his early success was rival business execs 
thinking he was just a kid with a gift for programming. He was but they 
failed to realise he was also a brilliant business man until it was too 
late.

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Source Code: My Beginnings Book Review <invalid@invalid.com> - 2025-02-08 03:00 +0000
  Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-02-07 23:10 -0500
    Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-02-08 01:40 -0500
      Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-02-08 07:45 -0500
        Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-02-08 17:35 -0500
          Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-02-08 19:29 -0500
            Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-02-08 23:39 -0500
    Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> - 2025-02-08 05:03 -0800
      Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-02-08 10:24 -0500
        Re: Source Code: My Beginnings sticks <wolverine01@charter.net> - 2025-02-09 17:17 -0600
        Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> - 2025-02-15 21:30 +1100
    Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-02-15 11:10 +0000
  Re: Source Code: My Beginnings Anton Shepelev <anton.txt@gmail.moc> - 2025-02-08 19:32 +0300
  Re: Source Code: My Beginnings MikeS <mikes@is.invalid> - 2025-02-10 21:15 +0000

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