The First Billion is the Hardest

Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future

By: T. Boone Pickens

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Now 80 years old, T. Boone Pickens is a legendary figure in the business world. Known as the "Oracle of Oil" because of his uncanny ability to predict the direction of fuel prices, he built Mesa Petroleum, one of the largest independent oil companies in the United States, from a $2,500 investment. In the 1980s, Pickens became a household name when he executed a series of unsolicited buyout bids for undervalued oil companies, in the process reinventing the notion of shareholders' rights. Even his failures were successful in that they forced risk-averse managers to reconsider the way they did business.

When Pickens left Mesa at age 68 after a spectacular downward spiral in the company's profits, many counted him out. Indeed, what followed for him was a painful divorce, clinical depression, a temporary inability to predict the movement of energy prices, and the loss of 90 percent of his investing capital. But Pickens was far from out.

From that personal and professional nadir, Pickens staged one of the most impressive comebacks in the industry, turning his investment fund's remaining $3 million into $8 billion in profit in just a few years. That made him, at age 77, the world's second-highest-paid hedge fund manager. But he wasn't done yet. Today, Pickens is making some of the world's most colossal energy bets. If he has his way, most of America's cars will eventually run on natural gas, and vast swaths of the nation's prairie land will become places where wind can be harnessed for power generation. Currently no less bold than he was decades ago when he single-handedly transformed America's oil industry, Pickens is staking billions on the conviction that he knows what's coming. In this book, he spells out that future in detail, not only presenting a comprehensive plan for American energy independence but also providing a fascinating glimpse into key resources such as water - yet another area where he is putting billions on the line.

©2008 T. Boone Pickens (P)2008 Random House Audio

Great book

Great audio book. Easy to listen to. It was very informative and full of life wisdom

Good Bio Book

Any additional comments?

The book represents the biography of T. Boone Pickens from his birth till established his BP Capital Fun & throughout his oil endeavors.

If u are into bis and fin world this is 5 star

Great description of acquisition in his business. How Mr. Pickens grew his company and billions? What is US energy problem? and a lot more is in the book. Loved it a lot.

Great AutoBio. Oil Billionaire for Alternatives.

Would you listen to The First Billion is the Hardest again? Why?

Maybe. If time permits will love to listen again and cement his ideas.

If you could give The First Billion is the Hardest a new subtitle, what would it be?

I think the title is a little misleading because its essentially his autobiography and this thoughts and suggestions about resolving US dependence on foreign oil. I would subtitle it something like "Mr Pickens, Texan oil magnate picks alternatives over oil, how about you" !

Any additional comments?

Mr Pickens is a Texan Oil billionaire now in his 80's. He takes the listener through various peaks and troughs of success and failures in his life. I would say the title is a little misleading because it's really about his career as an oil magnate and his thoughts / solutions about Americas energy crisis . He hates US oil dependence on the Mid East and favor's natural gas as a source of transportation fuel which is a lot cleaner and cheaper. He is big on Alternative energy. I particularly liked his 'stay fit and never give up' philosophy. I will have to say this book is a little dated in a way because he predicts oil and gas prices going through the roof but shale turned everything up side down . Oil is now at 40 dollars and gas at 2 dollars so he clearly missed this scenario . Heard a couple of weeks back on Bloomberg and he think natural gas is not a good buy even at 2 since there is a ton of it out there but he is bullish on oil since he thinks this low 40 dollar price is not sustainable for profit, sellers will cut production leading to price movement . I think sometimes he didn't follow chronology ( a bit of back and forth ) which is not a problem if one is attentive . Also some of his success in messa and eventual exit I would have liked to hear more figures behind that . Last, he skipped completely on the reasons for divorce so left me wondering about that . All in all its a great read because this book inspires positive thoughts and gives a ton of valuable information densely packed. Wish you a good read !

Excelent

Thank you Mr. Boone for sharing your experiences with us. May God bless your family.

Don’t wait to read this one.

Great book, better story. I’m not in oil or energy, but this doesn’t matter. Boone Pickens is a business genius and this information is applicable to everyone.

T Boone is the man

I really liked this book. As a business owner, I like his big thinking and no nonsense approach to business.

Dry and factual but I am glad that he wrote this.

Contains factual content and autobiography (this is interesting) along with a number of 'Boonisms' or what have you. These are actually quite funny and many are old fashioned or classics. I found this somewhat dry as it includes a lot of content about companies and mergers and acquisitions and stock prices. It is not terribly informative or inspiring for going out and making your own first billion. I do appreciate the straightforwardness of the content. T. Boone Pickens' matter of fact world view is at times cynical though in a say it like it is way and he backs up every statement with one or more personal anecdotes. He shares some interesting personal quirks such as the fact that he has a 'lucky' pair of trousers, which I appreciate.

Not for most ppl.

I think Mr. Pickens wrote this book with himself as the target audience. It's kind of jumbly and sounds like it's written by a really old man. (sorry but he really is old) Much of the book is dedicated to his business strategy which is not really applicable to most ppl who earn less than $30million a year.

Not bad

The first half was pretty interesting learning about Boone's life but the back half felt like a sales pitch.