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"There's an important lesson here that has subsequently been airbrushed out of the Microsoft legend: Allen's contributions to the partnership were as critical as Gates's. Without the tools that he developed, and his insight into the infrastructure that software development requires, Microsoft's subsequent growth would have been impossible...
Allen's account of his time at Microsoft and of his complex relationship with Gates makes riveting reading."
"Paul Allen was a childhood electronics nerd in Seattle, along with his schoolboy buddy Bill Gates. Then they converted that special brand of nerdiness into the American dream, becoming billionaires...
Allen's memoir is probably more complete and candid than average, perhaps because he's a researcher by nature, so troubled himself to research his own life."
"Allen's greatest indulgence, it seems to me, is commendable: giving free reign to his intellectual curiosity...
Having now read the entire book, I am struck by a couple of things. One is that while much attention has focused on the hard things he said about Bill Gates, the book is more nuanced."
"...Paul Allen, sheds his long-standing public reticence with a new memoir, 'Idea Man.' In it, he recreates the spirit of those early days in all their energy and tumult, providing a fascinating look at what it took to build the Microsoft behemoth."
"Allen's story is inspiring in many ways, as he goes from the kid who couldn't pay his $50 hotel bill in Albuquerque to the billionaire exploring the far reaches of the world... In short, 'Idea Man' is the unvarnished story of Allen's life, from his perspective—the highs and lows, the guitar jams and the arguments, the three yachts and the two struggles with cancer."
"Even at 58 and one of the wealthiest people in the world, Allen admits that writing his life story was 'one of the hardest things I've ever done.' The result is surprisingly profound and refreshingly frank."
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It all started on a snowy day in December 1974, when he was twenty-one years old. After buying the new issue of Popular Electronics in Harvard Square, Allen ran to show it to his best friend from Seattle, Bill Gates, then a Harvard undergrad. The magazine's cover story featured the Altair 8800, the first true personal computer; Allen knew that he and Gates had the skills to code a programming language for it. When Gates agreed to collaborate on BASIC for the Altair, one of the most influential partnerships of the digital era was up and running.
While much has been written about Microsoft's early years, Allen has never before told the story from his point of view. Nor has he previously talked about the details of his complex relationship with Gates or his behind-closed-doors perspective on how a struggling start-up became the most powerful technology company in the world. Idea Man is the candid and long-awaited memoir of an intensely private person, a tale of triumphant highs and terrifying lows.
After becoming seriously ill with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1982, Allen began scaling back his involvement with Microsoft. He recovered and started using his fortune—and his ideas—for a life of adventure and discovery, from the first privately funded spacecraft (SpaceShipOne) to a landmark breakthrough in neuroscience (the Allen Brain Atlas).
More recently, after fighting back another bout with lymphoma, this time non-Hodgkin's, Allen decided it was time to write his memoirs.
Idea Man is an astonishing true story of ideas made real.
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Memorial funds in honor of Faye Allen
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Both the Seattle Public Library and the Western and Central Washington State Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association have set up memorial funds in Mrs. Allen's name. The Allen family has suggested any donations be directed to one of these organizations.
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