Review: The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

How do you go from an online book store ordering books, storing them in your basement, to having one of the highest earnings-per-share in Silicon Valley? You "Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient."

The novel has chapters that look at episodes in Amazon's life. It is not chronological, and often flashbacks in ways that kind of break the narrative. That's why this book gets 4 stars.

But those episodes are good. They tell good stories. For example:

Diapers.com by Quidsi was a really refreshing start up that became really, really good at shipping a few products to expectant mothers and mothers. They sold large packages at $45 a pop. Everybody wanted a piece of it: Amazon, Target, Walmart. They all wanted some of that sweet, sweet mommy-money (and I say this because mommy-money is basically a real thing: you get a mother locked into your store, and you've got her basically locked in for life). Anyways, Walmart approached first, and Quidsi was like, "ok, this is cool, lets shop it around."

And then they got to Amazon. "La la la, lets make a deal... oh. btw" Amazon announced $40 prices for the same things-- AND $30 IF THEY SUBSCRIBED. That is some Red Wedding shit. That's brutal corporate machinations in the quest to "put the customer first". Its just brutal.

This book is good. It is packed with stories, and the philosophy that makes Amazon tick.