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Wonder Boy: Tony Hsieh, Zappos, and the Myth of Happiness in Silicon Valley
A Financial Times best business book of 2023
In 1998, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold his first company to Microsoft for $265 million.
In 2009, at the age of 35, he sold his e-commerce company, Zappos, to Amazon for $1.2 billion.
In 2020, at the age of 46, he died.
Tony Hsieh revolutionized both the tech world and corporate culture. He was a business visionary. He was also a man in search of happiness. So why did it all go so wrong?
Tony Hsieh’s first successful venture was in middle school, selling personalized buttons. At Harvard, he made a profit compiling and selling study guides. From there, he went on to build the billion-dollar online shoe empire of Zappos.
The secret to his success? Making his employees happy.
At its peak, Zappos’s employee-friendly culture was so famous across the tech industry that it inspired copycats and earned a cult following. Then Hsieh moved the Zappos headquarters to Las Vegas, where he personally funded a nine-figure campaign to revitalize the city’s historic downtown area. But as Hsieh fell deeper into his struggles with mental health and drug addiction, the people making up his inner circle began changing from friends to enablers.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews with a wide range of people whose lives Hsieh touched, journalists Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans craft a rich portrait of a man who was plagued by his eternal search for happiness and ultimately succumbed to his own demons.
In 1998, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold his first company to Microsoft for $265 million.
In 2009, at the age of 35, he sold his e-commerce company, Zappos, to Amazon for $1.2 billion.
In 2020, at the age of 46, he died.
Tony Hsieh revolutionized both the tech world and corporate culture. He was a business visionary. He was also a man in search of happiness. So why did it all go so wrong?
Tony Hsieh’s first successful venture was in middle school, selling personalized buttons. At Harvard, he made a profit compiling and selling study guides. From there, he went on to build the billion-dollar online shoe empire of Zappos.
The secret to his success? Making his employees happy.
At its peak, Zappos’s employee-friendly culture was so famous across the tech industry that it inspired copycats and earned a cult following. Then Hsieh moved the Zappos headquarters to Las Vegas, where he personally funded a nine-figure campaign to revitalize the city’s historic downtown area. But as Hsieh fell deeper into his struggles with mental health and drug addiction, the people making up his inner circle began changing from friends to enablers.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews with a wide range of people whose lives Hsieh touched, journalists Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans craft a rich portrait of a man who was plagued by his eternal search for happiness and ultimately succumbed to his own demons.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published April 25, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
November 6, 2022
Wonder Boy is a biography which follows the life of Tony Hsieh, the tech entrepreneur who founded LinkExchange and was the CEO of Zappos. The book gives a detailed description of Hsieh’s entire life, starting with his early childhood, high school, college, his success during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, and continued endeavors. The book also describes Hsieh’s descent into substance abuse and addiction and the circumstances surrounding his death. It is hard to read at times but very relatable to anyone who has dealt with a friend or relative struggling with addiction.
This book is well-researched and gives a journalistic and unbiased account of Hsieh’s life. Hsieh was an amazingly creative and altruistic individual. He was enthusiastic about building businesses and helping others achieve their personal goals. I enjoyed learning about how he interacted with others and getting an idea of how his mind worked.
Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for the advanced copy.
This book is well-researched and gives a journalistic and unbiased account of Hsieh’s life. Hsieh was an amazingly creative and altruistic individual. He was enthusiastic about building businesses and helping others achieve their personal goals. I enjoyed learning about how he interacted with others and getting an idea of how his mind worked.
Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for the advanced copy.
May 12, 2023
A new concept to me.....
Hypomania
Hypomaniacs are brimming with infectious energy, irrational confidence, and really big ideas. They think, talk, and make decisions quickly. Anyone who slows them down with questions "just doesn't get it."
They see themselves as brilliant, chosen, perhaps even destined for greatness and are out to change the world. They channel this energy into wildly grand ambitions and sometimes act impulsively with poor judgment and painful consequences. Some 72% of these people have either a personal or family history of mental illness.
=====
I have a brother like this.
=========
“You said you were becoming Neo from The Matrix, that you were transcending human consciousness. You said you were achieving Limitless, unlocking your full brain."
Michael Pollan? No, Tony Hsieh
========
Tony Hsieh was a brilliant, energetic prodigy, who grew up in a privileged environment in Marin County thanks to his ambitious parents. He founded Zappos, which was a big success. But after he sold it to Amazon, Hsieh found himself adrift surrounded by sychophants who were primarily interested in his money and other perks. (This continued after his death when all sorts of people who had anything to do with Tony tried to sue for millions of dollars. The parents hired a high power lawyer to get rid of them).
Tony was highly idealistic. But as some of his subsequent projects struggled he turned to drugs, primarily ketamine. (I had to look up what that was). He sought an alternative metaverse. But it resulted in greater drug use and erratic behavior. While on the drugs, he died in a burning shack.
Tragic story.
This book is well researched and written, but it likely might be TMI for many readers.
Hypomania
Hypomaniacs are brimming with infectious energy, irrational confidence, and really big ideas. They think, talk, and make decisions quickly. Anyone who slows them down with questions "just doesn't get it."
They see themselves as brilliant, chosen, perhaps even destined for greatness and are out to change the world. They channel this energy into wildly grand ambitions and sometimes act impulsively with poor judgment and painful consequences. Some 72% of these people have either a personal or family history of mental illness.
=====
I have a brother like this.
=========
“You said you were becoming Neo from The Matrix, that you were transcending human consciousness. You said you were achieving Limitless, unlocking your full brain."
Michael Pollan? No, Tony Hsieh
========
Tony Hsieh was a brilliant, energetic prodigy, who grew up in a privileged environment in Marin County thanks to his ambitious parents. He founded Zappos, which was a big success. But after he sold it to Amazon, Hsieh found himself adrift surrounded by sychophants who were primarily interested in his money and other perks. (This continued after his death when all sorts of people who had anything to do with Tony tried to sue for millions of dollars. The parents hired a high power lawyer to get rid of them).
Tony was highly idealistic. But as some of his subsequent projects struggled he turned to drugs, primarily ketamine. (I had to look up what that was). He sought an alternative metaverse. But it resulted in greater drug use and erratic behavior. While on the drugs, he died in a burning shack.
Tragic story.
This book is well researched and written, but it likely might be TMI for many readers.
June 11, 2024
Have you ever bought anything from Zappos? Chances are high. Tony Hsieh was Zappos' visionary. With great highs come great lows, and Tony unfortunately passed due to addiction. The friends-turned-sycophants he surrounded himself with didn't help. In the end, his only true friend was singer Jewel.
Memoirs either suck me in or bore me, and this was the former. I was riveted by this story of success and stupidity. As much good as Tony did for revitalizing downtown Las Vegas, he couldn't do the same in his own life. I don't want to rehash his life story, but know I found it very interesting.
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co.
🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio
Memoirs either suck me in or bore me, and this was the former. I was riveted by this story of success and stupidity. As much good as Tony did for revitalizing downtown Las Vegas, he couldn't do the same in his own life. I don't want to rehash his life story, but know I found it very interesting.
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co.
🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio
May 26, 2023
Strangely this is now the 3rd book on Tony Tsieh I've read.
First I read Tsieh's memoir/manifesto, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, published in 2010, in 2016. I remember being somewhat surprised and impressed that a billion dollar company's CEO was ostensibly so focused on improving customer experience. It seemed like a message more suited for a self-help guru (or founder of a customer relations module like Salesforce) than a corporate CEO. When you compare Tsieh's gospel of delivering happiness to the beady-eyed Bezos who expressly got into selling easily-shippable books online as a deliberate gateway to make Amazon the US market leader into selling everything online and eventuallyworld galactic domination, it's quite a difference.
After being shocked by Tsieh's untimely demise, I read Happy at Any Cost: The Revolutionary Vision and Fatal Quest of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh by Grind and Sayre, published in 2022, which chronicled the last few years of Tsieh's life in a blow-by-blow fashion but didn't circle back much to Tsieh's younger years.
Wonder Boy seems to the final chapter of this odd, tragic trilogy. Au-Yeung and Jeans have done an excellent job in researching Tsieh's early life and career and demonstrating the mental health and substance abuse issues that Tsieh battled for decades, not just the last few years of his life. It was simultaneously fascinating, disappointing, and sad to hear what had been going on during the time that Tsieh was ostensibly on top of the world (the "behind-the-scenes" scenes of Delivering Happiness, if you will).
I would add this book to the list of cautionary tales I'd recommend for anyone interested in business, alongside Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (Carreyrou, 2018), Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork (Wiedeman, 2020) and The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust (Henriquez, 2011). Although I really wish Tsieh had been able to "deliver happiness" to himself and that his story was still unfolding.
First I read Tsieh's memoir/manifesto, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, published in 2010, in 2016. I remember being somewhat surprised and impressed that a billion dollar company's CEO was ostensibly so focused on improving customer experience. It seemed like a message more suited for a self-help guru (or founder of a customer relations module like Salesforce) than a corporate CEO. When you compare Tsieh's gospel of delivering happiness to the beady-eyed Bezos who expressly got into selling easily-shippable books online as a deliberate gateway to make Amazon the US market leader into selling everything online and eventually
After being shocked by Tsieh's untimely demise, I read Happy at Any Cost: The Revolutionary Vision and Fatal Quest of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh by Grind and Sayre, published in 2022, which chronicled the last few years of Tsieh's life in a blow-by-blow fashion but didn't circle back much to Tsieh's younger years.
Wonder Boy seems to the final chapter of this odd, tragic trilogy. Au-Yeung and Jeans have done an excellent job in researching Tsieh's early life and career and demonstrating the mental health and substance abuse issues that Tsieh battled for decades, not just the last few years of his life. It was simultaneously fascinating, disappointing, and sad to hear what had been going on during the time that Tsieh was ostensibly on top of the world (the "behind-the-scenes" scenes of Delivering Happiness, if you will).
I would add this book to the list of cautionary tales I'd recommend for anyone interested in business, alongside Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (Carreyrou, 2018), Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork (Wiedeman, 2020) and The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust (Henriquez, 2011). Although I really wish Tsieh had been able to "deliver happiness" to himself and that his story was still unfolding.
May 21, 2024
This was a proper tragedy 46 years in the making. Not really sure what lessons are to be drawn except that money and drugs can warp people. Eerily reminiscent of the volatile + bipolar personalities of other "visionaries". The book is intensely researched and beyond detailed.
July 3, 2023
5 stars for a well-researched but distressing book. I will have to separate the review into segments on craftsmanship vs. content:
Craftsmanship: The writers clearly did a thorough job researching all aspects of Tony Hsieh's life and approached their subject with a respectful but objective lens. It would have been easy to cast judgments on particular characters (I personally have no respect for Mimi Pham or Elizabeth Pezzello and Brett Gorman, among others) but the authors kept their cool and approached descriptions with adequate nuance. I learned a lot from this book and appreciated the questions it sparked internally on the cost of high pressure success in Silicon Valley and for Asian-American families in particular. Really well done!
Content: The FT put this book on its reads of the summer but described the last few chapters as "very hard to read," which I agree with. Necessary to understand the sycophantic leeches contributing to Tony's tragic demise, but so heart-wrenching to see laid out. As stated above, I hope those who took advantage of a sick man to personally enrich themselves see their karmic justice.
Craftsmanship: The writers clearly did a thorough job researching all aspects of Tony Hsieh's life and approached their subject with a respectful but objective lens. It would have been easy to cast judgments on particular characters (I personally have no respect for Mimi Pham or Elizabeth Pezzello and Brett Gorman, among others) but the authors kept their cool and approached descriptions with adequate nuance. I learned a lot from this book and appreciated the questions it sparked internally on the cost of high pressure success in Silicon Valley and for Asian-American families in particular. Really well done!
Content: The FT put this book on its reads of the summer but described the last few chapters as "very hard to read," which I agree with. Necessary to understand the sycophantic leeches contributing to Tony's tragic demise, but so heart-wrenching to see laid out. As stated above, I hope those who took advantage of a sick man to personally enrich themselves see their karmic justice.
May 19, 2023
Interesting biography and I found the beginning chapters about Tony really interesting. He certainly was a bright kid with gifted abilities. The story got a little confusing once we get past the sale of Zappos and into his Vegas downton project and the community building in Park City. But it sounds like his life was confusing by then too. It’s clearly a tragic story of a life and talent wasted and ruined by drug addiction and sycophants. I do believe that many close friends tired to help Tony, but addiction to any substance is an often impossible battle to fight if the person does not see they have a problem.
Maybe what I appreciated most was the segment mid-way into the book that talked about the higher than average prevalence of things like ADHD, anxiety, depression and possible addictive behaviors that successful entrepreneurs (like many in Silicon Valley) struggle with. Had not heard the term hypomania before.
On slightly annoying thing about the audio version. The narrator always mispronounced Marin County saying “mare-in” instead of “Ma-rin.”
Maybe what I appreciated most was the segment mid-way into the book that talked about the higher than average prevalence of things like ADHD, anxiety, depression and possible addictive behaviors that successful entrepreneurs (like many in Silicon Valley) struggle with. Had not heard the term hypomania before.
On slightly annoying thing about the audio version. The narrator always mispronounced Marin County saying “mare-in” instead of “Ma-rin.”
January 22, 2024
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
The biograph of a guy who went from, well, suburban beginnings to being a tech billionaire. Always obsessed with money, when he achieves his goal, like so many others, he becomes a crank, and succumbs to various addictions until his ignominious death.
It feels like a Christian themed book despite the efforts of the authors, making for a disjointed reading experience.
The biograph of a guy who went from, well, suburban beginnings to being a tech billionaire. Always obsessed with money, when he achieves his goal, like so many others, he becomes a crank, and succumbs to various addictions until his ignominious death.
It feels like a Christian themed book despite the efforts of the authors, making for a disjointed reading experience.
October 13, 2023
Incredibly sad story of Tony Hsieh. Drugs, mental illness, and having a cult of enablers/dependents is a terrible combination.
July 18, 2023
I'm trying to figure out what to do with this book. It's a remarkable biography of Tony and gives a picture of how his life evolved, but it pulls a punch. It leaves the hurdling towards disaster to the imagination versus a deep exploration and keeps real analysis at arm's length, which I understand the authors want to avoid judgment. Worth the read, but still perplexed and saddened. It's an honest portrait of the namesake but leaves the reasoning to the reader.
July 30, 2023
Age old story of the thin line between genius and madness. Tony Shieh’s story is truly an American tragedy. Three stars merely because the book could have benefitted from a good edit.
April 21, 2023
A very well-researched and well-written biography about the CEO of Zappos.
I didn't know much going into this about either Tony Hsiech or Zappos, but after finishing this, I'm surprised I hadn't because he clearly had such a distinct personality and made such a huge impact on the tech scene and on Las Vegas.
The first half or so focuses on Tony's climb and then it shifts towards his downward spiral. The second half of this was incredibly difficult to read, so I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to write. Tony's increased drug use combined with his wealth created such a difficult situation. It was heartbreaking both how his loved ones tried desperately to get him help while simultaneously others were taking advantage of Tony.
Definitely worth a read, especially if you're interested in biographies. Tony's life and story will be sticking with me.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
I didn't know much going into this about either Tony Hsiech or Zappos, but after finishing this, I'm surprised I hadn't because he clearly had such a distinct personality and made such a huge impact on the tech scene and on Las Vegas.
The first half or so focuses on Tony's climb and then it shifts towards his downward spiral. The second half of this was incredibly difficult to read, so I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to write. Tony's increased drug use combined with his wealth created such a difficult situation. It was heartbreaking both how his loved ones tried desperately to get him help while simultaneously others were taking advantage of Tony.
Definitely worth a read, especially if you're interested in biographies. Tony's life and story will be sticking with me.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
September 14, 2023
One of the most fascinating biographies I've read in a long time. The writers seem to have done a very fair and unbiased job here. You'll get a great look at not just his life but also a case study into what happens when a techbro gets to design a neighborhood. And I really liked the insight into hypomanic behavior and the personality profile drawn to innovation. Highly recommend.
May 24, 2023
I've long been fascinated with the amazing success Tony Hsieh had at creating a culture at Zappos. A culture that was unrivalled.
This new book charts his rise, and dramatic fall.
An excellent read.
This new book charts his rise, and dramatic fall.
An excellent read.
June 1, 2023
If you want to be sad then read this book because that’s how the remnants of Tony Hsieh’s “legacy” will make you feel.
May 27, 2023
When he was all of 24, Tony Hsieh found himself a millionaire when his first venture, LinkExchange was snapped up by Microsoft for a mouthwatering $265 million. Almost exactly a decade later, the buccaneering and egregious entrepreneur – as though demonstrating that his original success was no flash in the pan – sold his second, and most iconic venture, the online shoe retailer Zappos, to Jezz Bezos and Amazon for an eye popping $1.2 billion. However there would be no third decadal milestone for Tony Hsieh, for at the age of 46, he was found dead under mysterious circumstances. This tortured and eccentric genius represented everything that made Silicon Valley tick, and, when not ticking, implode from within. Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans in their wistful, disturbing and dramatic book recount both the halcyon days and harrowing events experienced by one of the most influential and tragic minds of our time.
A mild and modest school kid who outgrew himself in both maturity and ambition, Tony Hsieh was brimming with grandiose ideas. Adorning the walls of his office with Post-It notes scribbled with furious impulse, Hsieh was alternatingly warm and vulnerable. With a desire to making Zappos the ultimate consumer and employee experience, Hsieh came up with absolutely contrarian plans such as paying new recruits generous sums to quit the company after their induction, in the event there was a mismatch of philosophies and incompatibilities in interest.
Hsieh also was a firm believer in a controversial principle called The Holacracy. Pioneered by the founder of Ternary Software, Brian Robertson, Holacracy represented a decentralised system of management and organisational governance. Holacracy prided itself on distributing authority and decision making through a ‘holarchy’ of self-organising teams rather than being vested in a management hierarchy. Zappos was thus a bustling den of rambunctious youngsters, booze laden parties and unending party nights under strobe lights.
But a desire to be surrounded by people also proved to be Hsieh’s biggest Achilles Heel. People buzzed around him like bees, hoping to take advantage not just of his generosity, but his generous cache of money as well. While some introduced him to the perks of recreational drugs, others piled him with a continuous supply of alcohol, when not keeping him busy with a sustained supply of ketamine.
After selling Zappos to Amazon – he continued to be the CEO of the acquired entity – Hsieh came up with a fantastical plan of transforming Las Vegas. Under the unimaginative moniker of Downtown Project, Hsieh sunk millions of dollars in eateries, speakeasy bars, art museums and the like. Greedy and opportunistic ‘entrepreneurs’ materialized out of thin air and swarmed the place to divest Hsieh of his considerable net wealth, which had now burgeoned to $840 million following the Zappos sale. The primary objective behind the Downtown Project was to create a $350 million tech utopia that would facilitate ‘serendipitous collisions’ between people that would lead to the germination and sprouting of innovative and phenomenal ideas.
A spate of suicides and negative publicity later, Hsieh abandoned the Downtown Project, only to retreat to the scenic setting of Park City, Utah. His downslide began from this juncture onwards. Pumping himself with Ketamine, continuously inhaling nitrous oxide, and refueling himself with crazy doses of alcohol, Tony Hsieh began to degenerate both physically and mentally. Just a year before his untimely death, Tony Hsieh was snorting approximately three to five grams of ketamine daily. Possessing a skeletal frame and utterly sleep deprived, he started lighting innumerable candles, breaking stuff and littering the walls with scribbles.
Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans recollect this tormenting period in a detailed and uncomfortable fashion. The research conducted by the duo in bringing to life the most disturbing phase of their protagonist’s life, is immaculate and impeccable! The number of painstaking hours put by them in conducting interviews bears testament to this fact. Paraphrasing the authors, “What emerged in the hundreds of hours of interviews we conducted with people who witnessed Tony’s descent was that there were no heroes or villains…Some well-meaning actors gave into the temptations of greed, while supposed bad actors had complicated histories that gave their roles context.”
While people were uncompassionately and deceitfully taking advantage of the steadily deteriorating state of mind and failing health of Tony Hsieh, there were some genuine well-wishers to make a last-ditch effort to get Tony Hsieh back on track. The singer Jewel who paid a visit to Hsieh’s sprawling mansion in Park City was appalled to find feces on the floor and rotting food under the bed and on the walls. Penning a heartfelt letter to him upon her return, Jewel pleaded Hsieh to be careful about the cronies surrounding him and to make the journey back to sanity. A particularly telling excerpt from the letter is worth recounting. “When you look around and realise that every single person around you is on your payroll, then you are in trouble. You are in trouble Tony. I cherish you & can’t in good conscience not speak up. Anyone who sees you would be worried. It is not healthy or sane.”
But Jewel’s warnings came a bit too late. Following a heated argument with a former girlfriend – Hsieh believed in maintaining a polyamorous relationship and attitude when it came to girlfriends – Hsieh retreated to a storage shed and surrounded himself with an assortment of peculiar and dangerous objects such as nitrous oxide, marijuana, a lighter, pizza and a few candles. A few hours later he was found unconscious on account of smoke inhalation and after spending nine days in a hospital, was pronounced, dead.
“Wonder Boy” is one of the best business books to have been penned this year and is worthy of an award, if not a clutch of them. The unfortunate life of Tony Hsieh is not just a lament of what could have been, but is a manifesto for navigating in a judicious manner the vicissitudes of human life.
A mild and modest school kid who outgrew himself in both maturity and ambition, Tony Hsieh was brimming with grandiose ideas. Adorning the walls of his office with Post-It notes scribbled with furious impulse, Hsieh was alternatingly warm and vulnerable. With a desire to making Zappos the ultimate consumer and employee experience, Hsieh came up with absolutely contrarian plans such as paying new recruits generous sums to quit the company after their induction, in the event there was a mismatch of philosophies and incompatibilities in interest.
Hsieh also was a firm believer in a controversial principle called The Holacracy. Pioneered by the founder of Ternary Software, Brian Robertson, Holacracy represented a decentralised system of management and organisational governance. Holacracy prided itself on distributing authority and decision making through a ‘holarchy’ of self-organising teams rather than being vested in a management hierarchy. Zappos was thus a bustling den of rambunctious youngsters, booze laden parties and unending party nights under strobe lights.
But a desire to be surrounded by people also proved to be Hsieh’s biggest Achilles Heel. People buzzed around him like bees, hoping to take advantage not just of his generosity, but his generous cache of money as well. While some introduced him to the perks of recreational drugs, others piled him with a continuous supply of alcohol, when not keeping him busy with a sustained supply of ketamine.
After selling Zappos to Amazon – he continued to be the CEO of the acquired entity – Hsieh came up with a fantastical plan of transforming Las Vegas. Under the unimaginative moniker of Downtown Project, Hsieh sunk millions of dollars in eateries, speakeasy bars, art museums and the like. Greedy and opportunistic ‘entrepreneurs’ materialized out of thin air and swarmed the place to divest Hsieh of his considerable net wealth, which had now burgeoned to $840 million following the Zappos sale. The primary objective behind the Downtown Project was to create a $350 million tech utopia that would facilitate ‘serendipitous collisions’ between people that would lead to the germination and sprouting of innovative and phenomenal ideas.
A spate of suicides and negative publicity later, Hsieh abandoned the Downtown Project, only to retreat to the scenic setting of Park City, Utah. His downslide began from this juncture onwards. Pumping himself with Ketamine, continuously inhaling nitrous oxide, and refueling himself with crazy doses of alcohol, Tony Hsieh began to degenerate both physically and mentally. Just a year before his untimely death, Tony Hsieh was snorting approximately three to five grams of ketamine daily. Possessing a skeletal frame and utterly sleep deprived, he started lighting innumerable candles, breaking stuff and littering the walls with scribbles.
Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans recollect this tormenting period in a detailed and uncomfortable fashion. The research conducted by the duo in bringing to life the most disturbing phase of their protagonist’s life, is immaculate and impeccable! The number of painstaking hours put by them in conducting interviews bears testament to this fact. Paraphrasing the authors, “What emerged in the hundreds of hours of interviews we conducted with people who witnessed Tony’s descent was that there were no heroes or villains…Some well-meaning actors gave into the temptations of greed, while supposed bad actors had complicated histories that gave their roles context.”
While people were uncompassionately and deceitfully taking advantage of the steadily deteriorating state of mind and failing health of Tony Hsieh, there were some genuine well-wishers to make a last-ditch effort to get Tony Hsieh back on track. The singer Jewel who paid a visit to Hsieh’s sprawling mansion in Park City was appalled to find feces on the floor and rotting food under the bed and on the walls. Penning a heartfelt letter to him upon her return, Jewel pleaded Hsieh to be careful about the cronies surrounding him and to make the journey back to sanity. A particularly telling excerpt from the letter is worth recounting. “When you look around and realise that every single person around you is on your payroll, then you are in trouble. You are in trouble Tony. I cherish you & can’t in good conscience not speak up. Anyone who sees you would be worried. It is not healthy or sane.”
But Jewel’s warnings came a bit too late. Following a heated argument with a former girlfriend – Hsieh believed in maintaining a polyamorous relationship and attitude when it came to girlfriends – Hsieh retreated to a storage shed and surrounded himself with an assortment of peculiar and dangerous objects such as nitrous oxide, marijuana, a lighter, pizza and a few candles. A few hours later he was found unconscious on account of smoke inhalation and after spending nine days in a hospital, was pronounced, dead.
“Wonder Boy” is one of the best business books to have been penned this year and is worthy of an award, if not a clutch of them. The unfortunate life of Tony Hsieh is not just a lament of what could have been, but is a manifesto for navigating in a judicious manner the vicissitudes of human life.
December 17, 2023
Well researched. Just not that interesting.
August 30, 2023
This was such a hard book to read. RIP Tony Hsieh. I was so inspired by Tony’s life. His drive, creativity, gentleness, kind soul, and contrarian attitude towards business make him the one rare, shining example of a genuinely good person who is also an excellent business builder and leader. The anecdotes from his college days and the Quincy Grille story with Alfred Lin were so amusing and remind me of my own friends and that sense you have when you are young that life is full of possibility. I loved reading about four 25 year olds at LinkExchange, the cruise bet with his blockmates, and the trifecta of Tony / Alfred / Fred at Zappos and how they grew the company till its acquisition by Amazon for $1.2bn.
The remaining 60% of the book is very hard to read because of how his substance abuse led to a spiral into psychosis, to the point where he wasn’t himself anymore. I had to skim a bit because it was so distressing. It was heartbreaking to read about the true friends who tried desperately to help him and the mercenaries who took advantage of him and enabled, even profited off of his his self-destructive behavior.
I think beyond all the work-related lessons and admiration I have for Hsieh as a business leader, this book is a reminder to be even keeled always, don’t chase fleeting highs, focus on the main quest vs the side quests, and be careful about who you surround yourself with. Tony was always chasing happiness (which eventually, as he was dealing with more turbulent times in business, led to excessive alcohol, partying, drugs, questionable friendships) but I liked what Jewel said about him chasing excitement instead, and “happiness is different than excitement”. Being content is fine. Additionally, Tony cared intensely about community and loved to bring people together. His college dorm was the go-to hangout spot, and as he amassed more wealth he had rooms in his mansions his friends and employees regularly stayed in, he lived in a trailer-park pseudo-commune in Vegas, he had virtually no work-life / social-life separation, etc. The issue became that over time, his orbit evolved from equals / peers who didn’t hesitate to reject certain grandiose ideas to yes-men who took advantage of him. It reminds me to make sure that those around me are people who truly care.
This was really worth reading even if it was painful. RIP to a kindhearted visionary and icon whose life ended far too soon :(
The remaining 60% of the book is very hard to read because of how his substance abuse led to a spiral into psychosis, to the point where he wasn’t himself anymore. I had to skim a bit because it was so distressing. It was heartbreaking to read about the true friends who tried desperately to help him and the mercenaries who took advantage of him and enabled, even profited off of his his self-destructive behavior.
I think beyond all the work-related lessons and admiration I have for Hsieh as a business leader, this book is a reminder to be even keeled always, don’t chase fleeting highs, focus on the main quest vs the side quests, and be careful about who you surround yourself with. Tony was always chasing happiness (which eventually, as he was dealing with more turbulent times in business, led to excessive alcohol, partying, drugs, questionable friendships) but I liked what Jewel said about him chasing excitement instead, and “happiness is different than excitement”. Being content is fine. Additionally, Tony cared intensely about community and loved to bring people together. His college dorm was the go-to hangout spot, and as he amassed more wealth he had rooms in his mansions his friends and employees regularly stayed in, he lived in a trailer-park pseudo-commune in Vegas, he had virtually no work-life / social-life separation, etc. The issue became that over time, his orbit evolved from equals / peers who didn’t hesitate to reject certain grandiose ideas to yes-men who took advantage of him. It reminds me to make sure that those around me are people who truly care.
This was really worth reading even if it was painful. RIP to a kindhearted visionary and icon whose life ended far too soon :(
April 20, 2023
Wonder Boy is a masterful and comprehensive biography that provides an intimate and illuminating look into the life and untimely death of Tony Hsieh, the iconic entrepreneur and former CEO of Zappos. The authors conducted extensive research, drawing from a vast array of sources, including interviews with Hsieh's friends, family, and colleagues, as well as public records, court documents, and news articles.
The book takes readers on a compelling journey through Hsieh's life, from his humble beginnings as a computer programmer to his rise as a visionary entrepreneur who transformed the online shoe industry and revolutionized company culture. The authors delve into the various stages of Hsieh's career, from his early successes with LinkExchange and Venture Frogs, to his decision to sell Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion, to his later pursuits in urban renewal and community building in Las Vegas.
However, the book is not just a chronicle of Hsieh's professional achievements. David and Angel also delve into his personal life, exploring his relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners. They paint a complex portrait of a man who was deeply driven, innovative, and visionary, but who also struggled with addiction, mental health issues, and a sense of isolation and want for belonging.
One of the book's most poignant and tragic themes is the exploration of Hsieh's death in November 2020, which came as a shock to many of his friends and colleagues. The authors carefully reconstruct the events leading up to his death and offer insights into the factors that may have contributed to his downward spiral. The result is a sobering reminder of the toll that success, fame, and pressure can take on even the most brilliant and creative minds.
Overall, Wonder Boy is an engrossing and meticulously researched biography that offers a window into the life of one of the most influential and enigmatic figures in the tech industry. It is a must-read for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, company culture, or the intersection of business and personal life.
The book takes readers on a compelling journey through Hsieh's life, from his humble beginnings as a computer programmer to his rise as a visionary entrepreneur who transformed the online shoe industry and revolutionized company culture. The authors delve into the various stages of Hsieh's career, from his early successes with LinkExchange and Venture Frogs, to his decision to sell Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion, to his later pursuits in urban renewal and community building in Las Vegas.
However, the book is not just a chronicle of Hsieh's professional achievements. David and Angel also delve into his personal life, exploring his relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners. They paint a complex portrait of a man who was deeply driven, innovative, and visionary, but who also struggled with addiction, mental health issues, and a sense of isolation and want for belonging.
One of the book's most poignant and tragic themes is the exploration of Hsieh's death in November 2020, which came as a shock to many of his friends and colleagues. The authors carefully reconstruct the events leading up to his death and offer insights into the factors that may have contributed to his downward spiral. The result is a sobering reminder of the toll that success, fame, and pressure can take on even the most brilliant and creative minds.
Overall, Wonder Boy is an engrossing and meticulously researched biography that offers a window into the life of one of the most influential and enigmatic figures in the tech industry. It is a must-read for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, company culture, or the intersection of business and personal life.
June 29, 2023
I received a copy of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.
I had known about Tony Hsieh only through a few talks I'd seen online, as well as some television appearances. I was vaguely familiar with his whole thing about making people happier and bringing them together, but I had never read his book Delivering Happiness. So I learned a lot of new and interesting things from reading this particular book, especially the parts about his childhood growing up in Marin County, and how he was intense and creative even back then. The book details his college life, his startups before Zappos, his tenure as Zappos CEO and moving the company to Las Vegas, his development of downtown Las Vegas, and then the time close to the end of his life in Park City, Utah, as well as the eventual tragic events that led to his death. I found myself more interested in the first half that details Tony's upward trajectory, perhaps because it's mostly full of optimism and provides a glimpse into the life of someone successful who had a bunch of crazy ideas and actually implemented a lot of them. But then I think I just found the downward spiral of the second half too tragic and depressing, which is not a criticism of the writing, but in fact probably means it's written well, because it captures the gradual and then sudden decline of a brilliant and ambitious man in such detail, while also incorporating the many people who surrounded him throughout his life. I thought the book did a good job of describing a huge cast of supporting characters surrounding Tony, and also of not making anyone out to be a pure villain, even though surely there were some people who did not have any good intentions. I did find the start of Tony's downward spiral to be sudden and a bit jarring starting with his introduction to ketamine, but this probably reflects how it was in real life, with some setbacks and negative publicity pushing Tony towards more drugs. Overall, it's a great, tragic portrait of a brilliant mind who seems like he really deserved to get more help than he got.
I had known about Tony Hsieh only through a few talks I'd seen online, as well as some television appearances. I was vaguely familiar with his whole thing about making people happier and bringing them together, but I had never read his book Delivering Happiness. So I learned a lot of new and interesting things from reading this particular book, especially the parts about his childhood growing up in Marin County, and how he was intense and creative even back then. The book details his college life, his startups before Zappos, his tenure as Zappos CEO and moving the company to Las Vegas, his development of downtown Las Vegas, and then the time close to the end of his life in Park City, Utah, as well as the eventual tragic events that led to his death. I found myself more interested in the first half that details Tony's upward trajectory, perhaps because it's mostly full of optimism and provides a glimpse into the life of someone successful who had a bunch of crazy ideas and actually implemented a lot of them. But then I think I just found the downward spiral of the second half too tragic and depressing, which is not a criticism of the writing, but in fact probably means it's written well, because it captures the gradual and then sudden decline of a brilliant and ambitious man in such detail, while also incorporating the many people who surrounded him throughout his life. I thought the book did a good job of describing a huge cast of supporting characters surrounding Tony, and also of not making anyone out to be a pure villain, even though surely there were some people who did not have any good intentions. I did find the start of Tony's downward spiral to be sudden and a bit jarring starting with his introduction to ketamine, but this probably reflects how it was in real life, with some setbacks and negative publicity pushing Tony towards more drugs. Overall, it's a great, tragic portrait of a brilliant mind who seems like he really deserved to get more help than he got.
May 18, 2024
I am not an especial customer of Zappos, have never really paid attention to the brand, etc. except for big news like the Amazon acquisition and that its former CEO, Tony Hsieh, died from smoke inhalation. As I did not pay attention I was surprised to read that he had apparently deteriorated after years of issues like drug use and putting his body through extreme challenges. So I was curious about this book.
The authors trace Hsieh's life and rise, including stuff like Zappos, but also his earlier projects like LinkExchange (which I am old enough to remember seeing around on websites). A lot of us is a bit tedious: the story is told through the eyes of others including former colleagues, friends, etc. If you are into the history of these companies this is probably a useful resource but if you are more interested in the man behind them then this is not quite it.
While the authors do talk to many who knew Hsieh, towards the end of the book I increasingly felt like this was a book talking "around" their subject, rather than about him. And when I got to the sources I saw I was right: the family apparently refused to cooperate on the book, which is how this reads. Of course the family might not be the best source but all the same it also felt like the authors couldn't *quite* get to their subject.
This is the type of book that sometimes benefits from being viewed through the rise of what Hsieh was probably known best for (Zappos). Of course this can be a faulty approach as he had sold the company but I honestly think the text was hindered by the family not cooperating (and they may have had reason not to, don't know).
As a cautionary tale (which the authors themselves note) it is probably a good resource in many ways and might be a good/useful reference for his other ventures. If you were just mildly curious like I was it might be a skippable book overall.
Got this as a bargain buy and that was fine. Would have preferred a library borrow but this meant I could read this on my own time.
The authors trace Hsieh's life and rise, including stuff like Zappos, but also his earlier projects like LinkExchange (which I am old enough to remember seeing around on websites). A lot of us is a bit tedious: the story is told through the eyes of others including former colleagues, friends, etc. If you are into the history of these companies this is probably a useful resource but if you are more interested in the man behind them then this is not quite it.
While the authors do talk to many who knew Hsieh, towards the end of the book I increasingly felt like this was a book talking "around" their subject, rather than about him. And when I got to the sources I saw I was right: the family apparently refused to cooperate on the book, which is how this reads. Of course the family might not be the best source but all the same it also felt like the authors couldn't *quite* get to their subject.
This is the type of book that sometimes benefits from being viewed through the rise of what Hsieh was probably known best for (Zappos). Of course this can be a faulty approach as he had sold the company but I honestly think the text was hindered by the family not cooperating (and they may have had reason not to, don't know).
As a cautionary tale (which the authors themselves note) it is probably a good resource in many ways and might be a good/useful reference for his other ventures. If you were just mildly curious like I was it might be a skippable book overall.
Got this as a bargain buy and that was fine. Would have preferred a library borrow but this meant I could read this on my own time.
June 12, 2025
I waver with this book between 3.5 and 4 stars. The audio was not the best because the narrator had a weird reading cadence, but I don't think I could have read the book in print either. I am ultimately giving this 4 stars because of how the book made me think about the themes covered. The structure of the book itself was a bit hard to follow at times due to the different tech dudes and start-ups. But the overall point I took away was the irony of a man who built his own persona on delivering happiness and creating community and deep bonds, appeared to be one lonely, sad, tormented guy. There is the easy reading of drug addicted billionaire with God complex surrounds himself with yes people, and that certainly seems to be a big part of the story. There were people with good intentions who tried to help, but were then banished from his circle of trust. I honestly am not sure that anyone could get through to him in the last year of life. I have rarely read about a person abusing their body and mind to such a degree.
It does make me think about what it means to get to a point where you are so disconnected with reality and community that you view everything as a transaction. You think that it's perfectly acceptable to treat people as employees rather than friends. Also, the whole concept of delivering happiness seems like such a childish and naive endeavour since happiness is transient and perhaps should not always be the goal. Life is more complex than that. Perhaps contentment, perhaps some inner peace. These are two things missing from Tony Hsieh's life it seems.
It's just a sad story in so many ways. How one can be smart in one specific way that makes them tons of money and so ignorant in other ways. He spent so much time trying to hack life rather than confront his demons and live life.
It does make me think about what it means to get to a point where you are so disconnected with reality and community that you view everything as a transaction. You think that it's perfectly acceptable to treat people as employees rather than friends. Also, the whole concept of delivering happiness seems like such a childish and naive endeavour since happiness is transient and perhaps should not always be the goal. Life is more complex than that. Perhaps contentment, perhaps some inner peace. These are two things missing from Tony Hsieh's life it seems.
It's just a sad story in so many ways. How one can be smart in one specific way that makes them tons of money and so ignorant in other ways. He spent so much time trying to hack life rather than confront his demons and live life.
February 6, 2023
Wonder Boy is a book about Tony Hsieh who was an entrepreneur at a young age and went on to found Zappos. This book is meticulously researched and detailed so that you feel you are in the room with him throughout the book. Tony was known for creating a company culture of employee empowerment - customer care employees could stay on the phone as long as necessary to build rapport with customers (unlike most call centers that measure how long you are on a call with the goal to be as efficient as possible in solving the customer's problem and getting them off the phone). I remember ordering shoes from Zappos and getting in a conversation with the agent about my upcoming milestone birthday and needing new shoes for my upcoming vacation. I came back to work after my vacation and was laid off along with others. The next day (completely unrelated to my lay off) a big beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived wishing me a happy (milestone) birthday! Those flowers made my week!
So as I read this book thinking about the impact Tony and his company had it saddens me to see his unraveling - part from undiagnosed mental illness perhaps and by excessive substance abuse. Overtime, he surrounded himself with "yes people" who were enriching themselves at his expense and vulnerability. Reading about these parasites is sickening. Jewel (the singer) is the one person who stands out as trying to help him and make him aware that he was surrounded by selfish and deceitful people. I wonder what additional impact Tony would have made on the world if he had not spiraled out of control and died at such a young age.
Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
So as I read this book thinking about the impact Tony and his company had it saddens me to see his unraveling - part from undiagnosed mental illness perhaps and by excessive substance abuse. Overtime, he surrounded himself with "yes people" who were enriching themselves at his expense and vulnerability. Reading about these parasites is sickening. Jewel (the singer) is the one person who stands out as trying to help him and make him aware that he was surrounded by selfish and deceitful people. I wonder what additional impact Tony would have made on the world if he had not spiraled out of control and died at such a young age.
Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
September 21, 2023
I learned from this book that the CEO of Zappos lived in the same dorm in college as I did (I got there first by many years!), but aside from that I think we were different enough that I can be objective. He had about a billion more dollars, and somehow I don't think Jewel will be releasing a 12-min video eulogy when I pass away.
As to the book..........detailed, methodical reporting with an impressive amount of intel on his childhood given that the family refused authors' request for interviews. Some odd gaps in the story; they note that Bill Clinton paid effusive tribute online after Tony Hsieh's death, but to that point he had played zero role in the story. How did they know each other?
Hsieh's demise in the wake of what sounds like ketamine-induced mania, years of excessive intake of alcohol and other drugs, and stress he could not handle is extremely sad but makes a certain sense. If you had grandiose dreams of creating community, and then your business and tech smarts and risk tolerance got you scads of money, it follows that you would end up with a large crowd of hangers-on determined to separate you from that money even if along the way they're enabling your drug use and other terrible decisions.
But still I seriously don't know how people can live with themselves taking advantage of someone like this after they've gone frankly crazy -- you move your family to Park City UT to live in his mansion and work as a "court reporter" typing up notes on people's conversations? Or accept a "job" from him at a million a year doing undefined "projects" like "maybe build a treehouse"? Or compete with other sycophants for "commissions" for spending his money foolishly? Not stuff I'd want on my CV.
As to the book..........detailed, methodical reporting with an impressive amount of intel on his childhood given that the family refused authors' request for interviews. Some odd gaps in the story; they note that Bill Clinton paid effusive tribute online after Tony Hsieh's death, but to that point he had played zero role in the story. How did they know each other?
Hsieh's demise in the wake of what sounds like ketamine-induced mania, years of excessive intake of alcohol and other drugs, and stress he could not handle is extremely sad but makes a certain sense. If you had grandiose dreams of creating community, and then your business and tech smarts and risk tolerance got you scads of money, it follows that you would end up with a large crowd of hangers-on determined to separate you from that money even if along the way they're enabling your drug use and other terrible decisions.
But still I seriously don't know how people can live with themselves taking advantage of someone like this after they've gone frankly crazy -- you move your family to Park City UT to live in his mansion and work as a "court reporter" typing up notes on people's conversations? Or accept a "job" from him at a million a year doing undefined "projects" like "maybe build a treehouse"? Or compete with other sycophants for "commissions" for spending his money foolishly? Not stuff I'd want on my CV.
November 14, 2025
This look at Tony Hseih was interesting and incredibly uneven.
Early in the book the authors look at every little thing he did as a kid and teen as if it was unheard of and revolutionary - one example was taping shows to play for his college friends and cutting out the commercials. The context the authors use is in reference to Tivo, as if that was the second someone in Silicon Valley saw a path to monetization was actually the birth of a concept. In reality by the time Tony did this people had been doing it in their homes for a decade or more on VHS machines. Nobody tell them about mix tapes!
As for telling the tale of Tony himself, they start from the end then restart from the beginning - and I actually thought that was a great approach because it allows you to keep the juxtaposition of where Tony was at any point of his life compared with where he was headed. And in that regard the storytelling tries to be neutral but gets a bit obviously fanboy-ish at times.
The psychology of what is going on with Tony seems pretty obvious at times, but the authors never step into that type of analysis - and I will skip it here to avoid spoilers. My other major criticism is that there is almost a clinical approach to some pretty shocking things going on, and it is only at the very end where any questions get asked - and just as often they are asked about others as about Tony.
Tony was someone I had peripherally heard of, and in the end comes out like the story of the latest rock musician or actor who died of an overdose or actions resulting from being drug-addled. I don't find him a sympathetic character and in the end I doubt he actually added more happiness to the world than his petty spiteful petulant final years sucked out of it.
Early in the book the authors look at every little thing he did as a kid and teen as if it was unheard of and revolutionary - one example was taping shows to play for his college friends and cutting out the commercials. The context the authors use is in reference to Tivo, as if that was the second someone in Silicon Valley saw a path to monetization was actually the birth of a concept. In reality by the time Tony did this people had been doing it in their homes for a decade or more on VHS machines. Nobody tell them about mix tapes!
As for telling the tale of Tony himself, they start from the end then restart from the beginning - and I actually thought that was a great approach because it allows you to keep the juxtaposition of where Tony was at any point of his life compared with where he was headed. And in that regard the storytelling tries to be neutral but gets a bit obviously fanboy-ish at times.
The psychology of what is going on with Tony seems pretty obvious at times, but the authors never step into that type of analysis - and I will skip it here to avoid spoilers. My other major criticism is that there is almost a clinical approach to some pretty shocking things going on, and it is only at the very end where any questions get asked - and just as often they are asked about others as about Tony.
Tony was someone I had peripherally heard of, and in the end comes out like the story of the latest rock musician or actor who died of an overdose or actions resulting from being drug-addled. I don't find him a sympathetic character and in the end I doubt he actually added more happiness to the world than his petty spiteful petulant final years sucked out of it.
August 13, 2023
Tony Hsieh started life talented, getting into a prestigious prep school and eventually graduating from Harvard. He was a coder, socially awkward, who went on to create the online shoe company Zappos whose foundational principles of happiness and customer care resulted in major success and a billion dollar sale to Amazon years later. But his decent into heavy drug use such as ketamine and nitrous oxide gas would result in events that would lead to his death, alone in a shed, surrounded by candles. He never woke up from his coma.
Herein lies another sad tale of a brilliant life cut short by addiction. I was drawn to Tony’s story because I read a lot of tech news reporting and had heard about him for years, especially once he started building growth in downtown Las Vegas and seed funding the creation of the music festival Life Is Beautiful (which is covered in the book). Like most of the public, I had no clue he had descended into such psychosis due to his drug habits and was shocked by his death.
Read this book if interested in an Icarus type figure who dreams big but flew too close to the sun. What Tony created was, at times, inspiring and magical. His party boy behavior contrasts the glimpses we see as a socially awkward man who, as an example, got into an early relationship in his 20s by sending the woman Britney Spears’ song “Sometimes” because he was too shy to ask her out outright. In the end, his parents, like Britney’s family, had been trying to set up a conservatorship to rescue him from his drug induced mental illness. It was too little, too late. Maybe sometimes we are our own worst enemy.
Herein lies another sad tale of a brilliant life cut short by addiction. I was drawn to Tony’s story because I read a lot of tech news reporting and had heard about him for years, especially once he started building growth in downtown Las Vegas and seed funding the creation of the music festival Life Is Beautiful (which is covered in the book). Like most of the public, I had no clue he had descended into such psychosis due to his drug habits and was shocked by his death.
Read this book if interested in an Icarus type figure who dreams big but flew too close to the sun. What Tony created was, at times, inspiring and magical. His party boy behavior contrasts the glimpses we see as a socially awkward man who, as an example, got into an early relationship in his 20s by sending the woman Britney Spears’ song “Sometimes” because he was too shy to ask her out outright. In the end, his parents, like Britney’s family, had been trying to set up a conservatorship to rescue him from his drug induced mental illness. It was too little, too late. Maybe sometimes we are our own worst enemy.
January 14, 2024
I read this memoir because, like so many other folks, I had been shocked to read the newspaper reports of Tony Hsieh's demise - all alone in an unheated shed, surrounded by nitrous oxide canisters and other drug paraphernalia, in a fire he might have inadvertently set himself. How did someone who had written a business book titled "Delivering happiness" end up like that?
The book is very thorough and goes into detail on Tony Hsieh's childhood, student years and business adventures, including Zappos' famous focus on customer satisfaction. (Disclaimer: I have never read "Delivering Happiness".) Then he focused his energies on a neglected neighborhood in Las Vegas and determined to spark some type of urban revival there, mainly by investing in local bars, restaurants and hotels and creating music venues and festivals. That was the point where I started to realize that Tony's idea of "happiness" sounded more like "frenetic fun, fueled by substances". The downward spiral became predictable: more alcohol use, fewer concrete business plans, more vague promises, more money to be thrown at ill-thought out schemes. I don't know what the current status of that neighborhood in Las Vegas is. The book made it sound as if it was hardly a success: some much-publicized suicides among the entrepreneurs and employees, various highly touted companies that went belly-up after only a few months, a tech startup that relocated almost immediately to San Francisco in order to find the necessary talent.
The next step was the acquisition of a couple of houses in Park City, Utah, which, as far as I can see, were mainly occupied by a rotating cast of hangers-on, sycophants, and perhaps a couple of people who were powerless to change Tony Hsieh's escalating drug use and paranoia. It's easy to write off all these people as enablers, but I think there were some who really tried to help. But how can you help someone who believes there's no problem? As we know, it's hard to have someone admitted to, or kept in, a rehab or mental treatment facility if they want to sign themselves out. And most of those who tried to talk to Tony about his drug use and deteriorating mental state found themselves frozen out of his circle- including his parents. So I can imagine that some well-meaning friends decided to hang around and try to moderate his drug use from the inside.
So what are we left with? Another hypomanic leader who managed to bring others along with his vision for a while. And then the needle started moving inexorably towards terrible mental illness, pushed along by alcohol, peyote, nitrous oxide and ketamine. Non-stop partying was presented as a radically new way of working, and every one who questioned the free-for-all was excluded from the inner circle.
A tragic story.
The book is very thorough and goes into detail on Tony Hsieh's childhood, student years and business adventures, including Zappos' famous focus on customer satisfaction. (Disclaimer: I have never read "Delivering Happiness".) Then he focused his energies on a neglected neighborhood in Las Vegas and determined to spark some type of urban revival there, mainly by investing in local bars, restaurants and hotels and creating music venues and festivals. That was the point where I started to realize that Tony's idea of "happiness" sounded more like "frenetic fun, fueled by substances". The downward spiral became predictable: more alcohol use, fewer concrete business plans, more vague promises, more money to be thrown at ill-thought out schemes. I don't know what the current status of that neighborhood in Las Vegas is. The book made it sound as if it was hardly a success: some much-publicized suicides among the entrepreneurs and employees, various highly touted companies that went belly-up after only a few months, a tech startup that relocated almost immediately to San Francisco in order to find the necessary talent.
The next step was the acquisition of a couple of houses in Park City, Utah, which, as far as I can see, were mainly occupied by a rotating cast of hangers-on, sycophants, and perhaps a couple of people who were powerless to change Tony Hsieh's escalating drug use and paranoia. It's easy to write off all these people as enablers, but I think there were some who really tried to help. But how can you help someone who believes there's no problem? As we know, it's hard to have someone admitted to, or kept in, a rehab or mental treatment facility if they want to sign themselves out. And most of those who tried to talk to Tony about his drug use and deteriorating mental state found themselves frozen out of his circle- including his parents. So I can imagine that some well-meaning friends decided to hang around and try to moderate his drug use from the inside.
So what are we left with? Another hypomanic leader who managed to bring others along with his vision for a while. And then the needle started moving inexorably towards terrible mental illness, pushed along by alcohol, peyote, nitrous oxide and ketamine. Non-stop partying was presented as a radically new way of working, and every one who questioned the free-for-all was excluded from the inner circle.
A tragic story.
May 4, 2023
This one hit hard, really hard.
Any way you look at it - whether as an inspiration or as a cautionary tale, Tony Hsieh's life story is truly remarkable. From the early days of his genius and unconventional ways shining through and leading to success, to the very same tendencies pushing him into substance abuse, delusion, and his untimely and tragic death, we can all learn something from Hsieh.
He set out to change the world, and spread happiness. Most analyses would say that ultimately he failed in these lofty goals. But I don't know... maybe not the happiness bit, but in today's internet age, he has definitely managed to touch all of our lives in some way - most likely in ways unbeknownst to us.
Hsieh's life story aside, the book is incredibly well researched and written in a gripping manner. For me it was a page turner of the murder-mystery ilk. While most of the articles and stories that I had consumed about Hsieh's life prior to this book, painted only the positive and wonderful sides to him (at least prior to his descent into mental health issues), the authors go way back and incredibly deep to decipher the true nature of a wonderful, yet complicated man.
Been a while since I've read a biography this good.
Any way you look at it - whether as an inspiration or as a cautionary tale, Tony Hsieh's life story is truly remarkable. From the early days of his genius and unconventional ways shining through and leading to success, to the very same tendencies pushing him into substance abuse, delusion, and his untimely and tragic death, we can all learn something from Hsieh.
He set out to change the world, and spread happiness. Most analyses would say that ultimately he failed in these lofty goals. But I don't know... maybe not the happiness bit, but in today's internet age, he has definitely managed to touch all of our lives in some way - most likely in ways unbeknownst to us.
Hsieh's life story aside, the book is incredibly well researched and written in a gripping manner. For me it was a page turner of the murder-mystery ilk. While most of the articles and stories that I had consumed about Hsieh's life prior to this book, painted only the positive and wonderful sides to him (at least prior to his descent into mental health issues), the authors go way back and incredibly deep to decipher the true nature of a wonderful, yet complicated man.
Been a while since I've read a biography this good.
May 25, 2023
3.5 stars, rounded up.
To be honest, I mistakenly requested this book thinking it was a memoir, but it’s actually a biography. I don’t typically like biographies because they seem impersonal. While this biography was well-done, it still felt like a biography.
I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging it was from the beginning though. Sometimes biographies can get boring because they often become factual regurgitations of the subject’s life story, or there are unnecessary extended analyses of their life. This book read more like a journal article, rather than a history book, which I appreciated.
Overall, I liked that this gave both the positive and negative perspectives of Tony’s life because memoirs do tend to be more biased and lean one way. You get a well-rounded look into what Tony’s world is like - making it more real.
My main negative for this book is that there wasn’t a whole lot of exploration into more of Tony’s family. You get some surface-level childhood history, but there’s not much else regarding the circumstances around Tony’s brothers and parents as Tony progressed through life. I know the family dynamics were somewhat strained, but I still think more could have been written.
Otherwise, I have no regrets reading this.
To be honest, I mistakenly requested this book thinking it was a memoir, but it’s actually a biography. I don’t typically like biographies because they seem impersonal. While this biography was well-done, it still felt like a biography.
I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging it was from the beginning though. Sometimes biographies can get boring because they often become factual regurgitations of the subject’s life story, or there are unnecessary extended analyses of their life. This book read more like a journal article, rather than a history book, which I appreciated.
Overall, I liked that this gave both the positive and negative perspectives of Tony’s life because memoirs do tend to be more biased and lean one way. You get a well-rounded look into what Tony’s world is like - making it more real.
My main negative for this book is that there wasn’t a whole lot of exploration into more of Tony’s family. You get some surface-level childhood history, but there’s not much else regarding the circumstances around Tony’s brothers and parents as Tony progressed through life. I know the family dynamics were somewhat strained, but I still think more could have been written.
Otherwise, I have no regrets reading this.
November 3, 2022
Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the copy of Wonder Boy. This book was meticulously researched. It was obvious that Tony was driven to succeed even as a child, and that he was brilliant. I really enjoyed reading about his entrepreneurial journey, and it’s a good lesson to keep trying, even if your first startups don’t result in instant success. I also appreciated how important connections and having a network is highlighted.
Reading about the last year of his life was painful and I admit I had to skim some of it because it broke my heart. Years ago, a friend snuck me into the managers meeting when my company hosted Tony and Jenn Lim on the Delivering Happiness tour. She knew I loved Zappos and Tony because I couldn’t stop talking about the Zappos tour I had taken. I was thrilled to meet Tony and Jenn and get a tour of the DH bus. I was devastated when I read of Tony’s death because I admired him so much.
The best thing to take away from this book is not how he died, but how he lived - how he ushered in a time where culture and happy employees were key to a thriving company and how customer service is crucial and something employees should focus on.
Reading about the last year of his life was painful and I admit I had to skim some of it because it broke my heart. Years ago, a friend snuck me into the managers meeting when my company hosted Tony and Jenn Lim on the Delivering Happiness tour. She knew I loved Zappos and Tony because I couldn’t stop talking about the Zappos tour I had taken. I was thrilled to meet Tony and Jenn and get a tour of the DH bus. I was devastated when I read of Tony’s death because I admired him so much.
The best thing to take away from this book is not how he died, but how he lived - how he ushered in a time where culture and happy employees were key to a thriving company and how customer service is crucial and something employees should focus on.
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