How Starbucks Saved My Life

A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else

By: Michael Gates Gill

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Now in paperback, the national bestselling riches-to-rags true story of an advertising executive who had it all, then lost it all—and was finally redeemed by his new job, and his twenty-eight-year-old boss, at Starbucks.

In his fifties, Michael Gates Gill had it all: a mansion in the suburbs, a wife and loving children, a six-figure salary, and an Ivy League education. But in a few short years, he lost his job, got divorced, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. With no money or health insurance, he was forced to get a job at Starbucks. Having gone from power lunches to scrubbing toilets, from being served to serving, Michael was a true fish out of water.

But fate brings an unexpected teacher into his life who opens his eyes to what living well really looks like. The two seem to have nothing in common: She is a young African American, the daughter of a drug addict; he is used to being the boss but reports to her now. For the first time in his life he experiences being a member of a minority trying hard to survive in a challenging new job. He learns the value of hard work and humility, as well as what it truly means to respect another person.

Behind the scenes at one of America’s most intriguing businesses, an inspiring friendship is born, a family begins to heal, and, thanks to his unlikely mentor, Michael Gill at last experiences a sense of self-worth and happiness he has never known before.©2007 Michael Gates Gill; (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Great inspiring story

Would you listen to How Starbucks Saved My Life again? Why?

Yes because it was inspiring how someone who had "everything" found more happiness on having less with much more satisfaction.

What about Dylan Baker’s performance did you like?

It was easy to listen to. So many audio books get people to read them and they are HORRIBLE!! This was not the case with this book.

Any additional comments?

Really enjoyed listening to it and learned a lot about Starbucks too!

A Really Good Listen

This book is great. I loved the story, the people in the story. The best part is seeing a guy get over numerous bad situations in his life. Kudos to Starbucks too!

Great book - timely reading

The days are long gone when a college grad goes to work for one company and retires 35 years later with a gold watch. Almost all of us have to reinvent ourselves at some point in our lives, move into different professions or adapt to a less-lavish lifestyle. Not all of us fall from the heights Michael Gates Gill did, but still, his story is both fascinating and worthwhile.

Other reviewers have panned the book as a 'company-line' promo for Starbucks – maybe it was. Maybe it did present Starbucks in the best possible light – so? It was still interesting to learn about a company that's doing it different. I'm not a Starbucks loyalist, having just once in my life paid $3.75 for a small cup of regular black coffee, no milk, no sugar, and decided I didn't need to do that again. But I am interested in how businesses work – and hearing the 'inside' story of the Starbucks operation was fascinating. Like Gill, I too spent years in a profession where we were counseled never to praise our employees, because later they could sue us, and use that as evidence. Where competition and nastiness was the order of the day. So hearing about a very successful company that does the exact opposite of that – encourages praise, affirmation and decency – was great. We should all be learning from companies like that.

I enjoyed the Starbucks tales just as much as I enjoyed the details of Gill's personal life. Besides that, it's nice to know that if I ever need a bathroom, somewhere, sometime, Starbucks will welcome me.

The New Yorker magazine trivia was interesting, too, the gossipy asides about Brendan Gill, Truman Capote, Jacqueline Onassis and James Thurber. So Thurber was a mean old guy? I didn't know that!

I loved this book, and I'm sure I'll listen to it again. Now I wish Don Snyder's "The Cliff Walk" – another guy who was forced to reinvent himself -- would appear as an audiobook.

Easy listening, just like a latte.

But like a latte the pleasure fades.

I agree with all that's been said, good and bad. Yes, the author is elitist, naive, and ignorant of the real world and is also a name dropper. But, on the other hand, this is the exact sort of person who can benefit from a learning experience. It's well-written, too. It should be, he's an ad man.

No one has mentioned the "day at the beach" attitude with which he dismisses his marriage and family, goes on to have an affair and then a MANopause baby! What a cliche. He then dismisses that child, too. If that's all true and not just spin for the book, I disagree with his failure to face intimacy and conflict in his marriage.

Like a skinny latte, it tastes good at the time, stimulating, but the pleasure is temporary.

This book has me concerned, though, because if I need to get a job at Starbucks, this book has just dialed up the competition.

Great story

The author talks about what truly is important in life. It is a story of the power of friends and how they can be there in a time of need. He gets real about his misfortune and how he learned from it.