Customer Reviews

Smart Money: The Story of Bill Gates (American Business Leaders)

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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.