The Everything Store question

Hi!

I have a question - do you feel that this was ethical to tell Bezos father about his sons success?

I personally think that this is somewhat deeply personal where no one should be involved from side. Maybe it was better that the real father never found out.

This is cool. Great book there!

Brad wrote: "I'm the author of this book and am happy to field any questions or criticisms! I love the fact that Goodreads has created a place for this kind of discussion. cheers,
Brad"

Brad, I'm seeing your post belatedly, but just wanted to say that I read The Everything Store very avidly, underlined a lot, learned a lot, found it fascinating and an excellent, very thorough work of journalism and biography. And I live in Seattle, so I have a lot of credibility. :-) Seriously, terrific book. No particular questions come to mind at they moment - I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for writing a valuable book. I posted a short review of it on my Goodreads page a few days ago - nothing brilliant, just an off-the-cuff thumbs-up to urge others to read it.

Ethan

Read it. Liked it. Appreciate your effort to highlight the good,bad and ugly. Bezos personal side (family history) was a little drag to read :)

Was tough to follow the chronological order of events.

I enjoyed the book immensely - and am a big fan of Amazon.com. I was a little confused by the perspective of the book, however. On the one hand, you care a lot about personalities, especially that of Mr. Besos, and how his combination of personality, skill, drive, etc. was essential for building Amazon.com.
... at the same time, I thought your book was most impressive in showing the importance of the systems that make up Amazon. For example, the firm took off once inventory control and distribution was enhanced by algorithms and IT investments into fulfillment. Similarly, Amazon Prime became important once the firm had learned to organize to make it work. ,,, and along with showing the role Mr. Bezos played, you also seem to argue that Amazon was most successful when the responsibility for its various systems was effectively delegated to core managers.
So my issue is that if systems are so important to Amazon's great success, how does that influence your view of the importance of Mr. Bezos? Or to put it a bit differently, how does one remain the key entrepreneur in a business that depends for its continued dominance on systems, scale, and scope?

I don't mind the tension, by the way, but would appreciate any clarification you can offer.

I really liked your book. I was actually prompted to read it when I read news reports about MacKenzie Bezos' negative review. I have to say after reading the book, I disagree with her review. It was a fascinating look at how Amazon was built from the ground up.

I see Jeff's wife had some specific criticisms of your book. I was wondering if you responded to those, and if so, could you point me to your response? Or would you care to briefly discuss here?

I recently finished your book, and enjoyed it. I'm not a huge fan of business books, but it was a very interesting look inside Amazon. It's clear Jeff's long term focus differentiated him from those around him, and allowed him to see further. That is apparent in so many anecdotes from your book.