Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins | 
 enlarge | Author: Tom Perkins
Publisher: Gotham
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
Buy New: $3.90
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Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 332421
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.2 x 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.761004092
ASIN: B001CJS6EU
Publication Date: November 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A revealing memoir from Tom Perkinsrenowned venture capitalist, Silicon Valley and biotechnology pioneer, and one of Americas most successful businessmen
Known for his idiosyncratic ideas and golden touch, Tom Perkins has always been one of the business worlds most intriguing figures. But his legacy took an unexpected new turn when he resigned from Hewlett-Packards board in 2006, protesting the questionable ethics and dubious legality of their chairmans now infamous leak investigation. In this insightful memoir, Perkins recalls these and other fascinating episodes of his life, both personal and professional, including his involvement in the creation of American industries no one could have dreamed of a century ago.
In 1957 Perkins started working for Hewlett-Packard, and his career with the company spanned, becoming the administrative head of the research laboratories and the first general manager of its skyrocketing computer businesses. He was a pioneer in laser technology, starting the company that he later merged into Spectra-Physics. As chairman of Genentech for fourteen years, founder of the Silicon Valley venture-capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and director of Applied Materials at Compaq, Corning Glass, and Philips Electronics, Perkins never shies away from the cutting edge.
He also discusses his marriage to Danielle Steel, his notorious vintage car collection, his yacht (the largest privately owned sailboat), his race across the ocean, his being tried for manslaughter in a backwater French town, and the toughest assignment hes ever had: as a trustee emeritus at the San Francisco ballet.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
The business stories are great, the sailing stories not so much January 2, 2009
As this book makes clear, Tom Perkins is superhuman. He founded many wildly successful technology companies, helped invent the venture capital business, and is now ridiculously wealthy. He hangs out with the rich and famous and splits his time between yachts and mansions in California and Europe. He's a world class yacht racer and recently masterminded the creations of a revolutionary new type of yacht. The women who have loved him are all beautiful and accomplished. He's published a novel, held an MIT school record in swimming,....you just can't read this book without shaking your head in disbelief at how much this guy has accomplished and how he's completely grabbed life and succeeded at pretty much everything he's tried. Obviously, the man is wickedly intelligent, driven, and savvy.
Despite all this, he manages to keep a good sense of humor, and this book is entertaining and engrossing. Well, at least most of it. The chapters on his business experiences and his formative years are great. A bit too much of the book focuses on his passion for yachting. I ended up skimming the last chapter on his modern-day schooner project when I was bored by the long discussions of yacht design.
Perkins does touch on some deeper emotional issues, particularly the great love he felt for his first wife, and the devastation and depression he felt after her untimely death. His brief marriage to Danielle Steel and the emotional roller coaster of her family life are also covered. These parts of the book flesh out the personal side of Perkins's life to some extent, and some sections are quite moving. But the main focus of the book remains business and yachting.
One amusing aspect of the book is Perkins's unabashed embrace of the worldview typical of many men of his generation. There's no walking-on-eggshells political correctness for him. In the chapter about the romance novel convention he attended, he is so put off by the obesity and unattractiveness of the female attendees that he makes three references (in about as many pages) to how fat the women there were. He's amused by effeminate gay men in the San Francisco ballet world, and talks about this with a bluntness that a younger man raised in a more sensitive era would probably avoid, at least in print. He doesn't veer into maliciousness, though; he just seems a product of his times, and we can give the guy a pass given his advancing age. In any case, he's insanely rich, successful, and self-confident. I'm sure he doesn't care what we think!
 Loved this book but didn't expect to November 1, 2008
I bought this book from the discount bin at my local book store and did not expect to like it much. I was interested in giving it a shot as I am a wanna be entre-poor-neur and Tom Perkins is like a rock star to someone like me.
I instantly found myself hooked to the book and the stories of his life. Not only did I learn tons about business and venture financing, he tells great tales of life in general.
I was captivated from page 1 to page 276. What an interesting life!
A must read if you are a lover of business, technology, extravigance or entrepreneurship.
Inspirational but not perfect. July 29, 2008
As an aspiring young entrepreneur, I found Tom Perkins' Valley Boy a most enjoyable read. I was able to easily relate to many of his stories, although my experiences are drastically different. I can understand why many people do not find this book enjoyable - they can not relate. While I would recommend this book (and already have) to most of my friends, I don't think it is written with a wide enough audience in mind. If I were given the opportunity to meet with Mr. Perkins, I am sure we could devise a more appealing piece of writing. His genius and creativity are quite evident, but his point of view as an author needs some adjustment.
 Unreadable June 27, 2008
Perhaps I'm the only one, but I found this book to be basically unreadable. (As such, I have only read a small part of it.) Tom Perkins is an impressive person with a successful career by many standards, and I am interested in what he does for a living even, but suffice it to say he is not one of our nation's best writers.
Stories over a few dinners June 13, 2008
The book is a few interesting stories from his life told as if it were over several dinners and several glasses of wine.
I personally like the conversational style and flow of the book and so highly recommend it.
These are just a few vignettes from his life and I'm sure there are many more stories to tell.
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