Smart Money: The Story of Bill Gates (American Business Leaders) [Library Binding]

Aaron Boyd (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up-This workmanlike biography paints a well-balanced picture of the youthful multibillionaire whose inventions made possible the rapid spread of the personal computer. Beginning with accounts of Gates's early precocity, Boyd seamlessly describes the young man's high-flying academic career and the pressures that caused him to drop out of Harvard to concentrate on business. To his credit, he describes Gates's abrasive personality and his unsparing treatment of colleagues and employees. He also does a good job of analyzing issues the man faced (e.g., programmers' financial control of software). The writing style effectively portrays the subject's high energy level through occasional telegraphic sentence fragments and frequent use of computer jargon, most of which is well explained. Black-and-white photos are scattered throughout. Ralph Zickgraf's William H. Gates (GEC, 1992) is much shorter and written in a breathless, enthusiastic style. The illustrations in that book are much more useful, and its organization better captures readers' interest, but the text is far behind current developments. There should be room in most collections for both titles.
Jonathan Betz-Zall, Sno-Isle Regional Library System, Edmonds, WA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-10. Boy genius Bill Gates liked tinkering with primitive personal computer prototypes so much that in the 1970s he was able to launch a small company that offered traffic flow data information to municipalities--and he was still in high school. The rest is history, of course. Microsoft mogul and billionaire Gates combined his passion for computers and business in a fascinating success story. By founding the company that created the MS-DOS and Windows operating systems and a host of household-name software products that he could license to any computer manufacturer, Gates is part of the microcomputer success story. Although the writing style is choppy and rushed, Boyd's biography will draw readers, especially young computer enthusiasts, because Gates is so interesting; more than a testimonial, this portrait gives a clear picture of how personal computers came to be. Bibliography of sources; chronology; glossary. Anne O'Malley

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Product Details

• Library Binding: 112 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Reynolds; 1st edition (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883846099
• ISBN-13: 978-1883846091
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,591,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( G ) > Gates, Bill

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Special. Don't Waste Your Time or Money., May 13, 2005

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OIDanTheManIO (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smart Money: The Story of Bill Gates (American Business Leaders) (Library Binding)

Simply put, "Smart Money: The Story of Bill Gates" by Aaron Boyd is an average and ordinary book. Although it didn't bore me to death, it didn't keep me on the edge of my seat either.

This book is about a young entrepreneur who starts out as a genius with a geeky personality and ends up as the CEO of the world's most profitable company. Born on October, 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington, William Henry Gates III was picked on entirely too much because of his genius and cocky attitude and personality. Through all of his elementary school years, Bill Gates was one of those boys who would always be the one to hold their hand up when the teacher asked a question.

Bill's cocky attitude didn't just get him high-level marks in school, it also gave him a bad reputation as the boy who always laughed in the faces of those who weren't as bright as him. Whenever one of his classmates answered a question wrong, Bill would always be there to throw it up in their faces and rub-in the fact that their answer was incorrect. Bill's parents assumed that their son's cocky attitude was due to his immaturity; Bill was short with big ears and big feet. His parents would later learn that Bill's problem was not immaturity, but rather, boredom. In 1967, Bill's parents sent Bill off to Lakeside Preparatory School.

It was at this new school that Bill's future would be decided. Because of the fear by Lakeside teachers that Bill still would not be challenged enough, they were forced to lease a computer. Bill took immediate fascination in the newly leased computer, although it did nothing but type. He soon spent all of his free-time in the school's computer room. It was on that same computer that Bill wrote his first games and software using the BASIC programming language. His expertise in computer programming later ended him up at a higher level: the CEO of Microsoft.

Probably the main thing in this book that caught my attention were the numerous typos and spelling mistakes. As I read, I would sporadically spot the number "1" in the middle of various words. It was quite distracting. The most interesting part of the book was towards the beginning with the discussion of Bill's life before going corporate. I started to lose interest with the discussion of Microsoft in the late 80's and early 90's. There are a lot of good and interesting books on shelves across the world, and I can safely tell you that this is not one of them.