The Everything Store

Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

By: Brad Stone

Narrated by: Pete Larkin

Length: 13 hrs

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Business/Educational, 2014

The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos.

Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now.

Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving listeners the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators - Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg - Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing.

The Everything Store will be the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.

©2013 Brad Stone (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Liked the information in the book

What did you love best about The Everything Store?

I liked this book, didn't love it, but should be expected since it's an overview of the company and actual events. Author did a good job of stringing everything together to explain what happened in real time.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it got a little boring toward the end so I had to listen in spurts to get done with it.

Any additional comments?

Good book that should be read for anyone working in tech or for a large company. Much of the way Amazon is being run and the attitudes are being integrated into other companies so it's a good explanation of why things seem to be shifting in the way people run their businesses.

Very Interesting!!

Our family's first experience with Amazon.com was a disaster!! My son was excited he could order something for everyone online, have it wrapped and shipped to him ready for Christmas giving. It turned out to be a very frustrating experience, and I thought this company would NEVER make it! Of course, watching it subsequently take over the retail world, I just shook my head.

So listening to this book was incredibly interesting to me. My first surprise was that our bad experience was five years into the company's existence--I would have guessed it was their first holiday season! And the fact that they didn't even have a profitable quarter for the first 6 1/2 years of existence, and still continued to operate (with shareholders by that time) is beyond comprehension. It's one thing for a small business to grow slowly, but this was never a small venture. It started with BIG ideas and admirable principals, and refused to budge just to show a profit.

I found this story enjoyable to listen to. The narrator was excellent, and the book was thoroughly researched and very well written. My one tiny complaint is that sometimes the writing did not strictly follow a timeline--the time would jump a bit as the author followed a subject he was writing about, and as a listener, I had trouble keeping up with where we were in time. Minor issue for an otherwise excellent and interesting listening experience.

Wow

This was absolutely amazing, with tremendous detail in many aspects of the Amazon.com sphere. I was surprised by the number of mispronounced words though. Don't let that stop you.

Amazing Amazon

Really enjoyed this book, highly recommended, for those that are very interested in Jeff Bezos history. .

solid book!

I like it. felt like you got into the head of a great man. don't love it though. didn't really get lost in it and didn't really felt the same journey like Shoe Dog or Steve Jobs by Isaacson.

An Origin Story for the History Books

A riveting narrative outlining the man and the company disrupting every conceivable industry -- this book is certainly a must-read.

Fascinating

Amazon is such a dominant company and this book gives a great view into Jeff Bezos and the history of the company. This seemed to paint a fair picture. It also made me glad I don't work there!

interesting, revealing, inspiring.

don't seem like an ode to Jeff or Amazon, it feels honest, with the good and the bad the company has done yet it's inspiring.

Customer First - Family Maybe Later

Relentless. Sobering. Impressive. The everything store and it's founder seem to worship one god: the customer. It is enough to make one wonder where fanaticism will lead.

long but good

A little overdrawn, but well written story with great sources of inspiration. I recommend it.