Customer comments on this selection.
 Loved this book but didn't expect to
I bought this book from the discount bin at my local book store and did not expect to like it much. I was interested in giving it a shot as I am a wanna be entre-poor-neur and Tom Perkins is like a rock star to someone like me.
I instantly found myself hooked to the book and the stories of his life. Not only did I learn tons about business and venture financing, he tells great tales of life in general.
I was captivated from page 1 to page 276. What an interesting life!
A must read if you are a lover of business, technology, extravigance or entrepreneurship.
Inspirational but not perfect.
As an aspiring young entrepreneur, I found Tom Perkins' Valley Boy a most enjoyable read. I was able to easily relate to many of his stories, although my experiences are drastically different. I can understand why many people do not find this book enjoyable - they can not relate. While I would recommend this book (and already have) to most of my friends, I don't think it is written with a wide enough audience in mind. If I were given the opportunity to meet with Mr. Perkins, I am sure we could devise a more appealing piece of writing. His genius and creativity are quite evident, but his point of view as an author needs some adjustment.
 Unreadable
Perhaps I'm the only one, but I found this book to be basically unreadable. (As such, I have only read a small part of it.) Tom Perkins is an impressive person with a successful career by many standards, and I am interested in what he does for a living even, but suffice it to say he is not one of our nation's best writers.
Stories over a few dinners
The book is a few interesting stories from his life told as if it were over several dinners and several glasses of wine.
I personally like the conversational style and flow of the book and so highly recommend it.
These are just a few vignettes from his life and I'm sure there are many more stories to tell.
 Tom's view of things
Tom takes the opportunity to get his view of events in his life on the record. Very doubtful as biography, this book is more of an attempt to sway public interpretation of events in his long career, spanning early years in Hewlett Packard, the formation of the Kleiner Perkins venture capital firm, his sailing exploits, his marriage to Danielle Steele, and how he chose to use his vast wealth to influence events and people he encountered. Right up front he deals with the spying incidents at Hewlett Packard when Pattie Dunn was the chairwoman (very condescending), as well as his relationship with Carly Fiorina (very confrontational and rocky), but most of it comes off as self-serving and slanted to his view. Yet, the book is interesting as an peek into the restless and eclectic mind of the ultimate bootstrapper, a man who leveraged his times and opportunites into one of the most successful careers on record. Despite this, it also serves as a warning to those who believe great wealth is matched with great wisdom, since clearly, his wealth was poured into his world class collection of toys and houses. Take heed.
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