A Truck Full of Money

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by Tracy Kidder

The bestselling author of Mountains Beyond Mountains tells the inspiring story of Paul English, the founder of Kayak.com and Lola. Fortune, mania, genius, and philanthropy—the bestselling author of Mountains Beyond Mountains tells us the inspiring story of Paul English, the founder of Kayak.com and Lola.

Tracy Kidder, the blockbuster author of The Soul of a New Machine and the "master of nonfiction narrative" (The Baltimore Sun), now tells the tale of Paul English, a dynamic and unusual inventor and entrepreneur who rebelled against authority as a child. English discovers a medium for his abilities the first time he sees a computer while growing up in working-class Boston. Despite suffering from what would later be identified as bipolar illness, he embarks on a pilgrimage through the ups and downs of the brave new world of computers as a young man.

He realizes that he has a flair for developing unique firms and building teams that can grow them, becoming "a Pied Piper" of geeks, by relating to the Internet as if it were an extension of his own mind. His inventive managerial style, achievement, and intuitive sense of fairness instill a strong feeling of loyalty in his employees. "Someday this child is going to get struck by a truck full of money, and I'm going to be standing by him," one coworker predicts early on. When English does make a fortune, for example, when the travel company Kayak is sold for over two billion dollars, the first thing that comes to mind is how to give the money away: "What else would you do with it?" The second thought that comes to mind is, "What's next?"

Tracy Kidder casts a fresh, critical, and often funny eye on the way new ideas and new money are transforming our society and the globe with the force of a master storyteller. A Truck Full of Money is a captivating depiction of an irresistibly appealing man who is as tireless, unique, and unexpected as America itself.