Idea Man By Paul Allen Book Review

Idea Man by Paul Allen was a good book published in 2011 by Portfolio publishing. The book goes through Allen’s life from his early year’s right up to when the book was published in 2011. The book talks both about Allen’s business life and personal life and really paints a picture of the kind of thinker he is an innovator.

The book starts off talking about Paul Allen’s younger years and his great family. He then talks about his college education and meeting a friend Bill Gates. Paul Allen gets into his love of computers and his love of working with then friend Bill Gates and how they spend hours a day programming. Paul Allen goes into talking about starting a business as two young kids to then changing into Microsoft.

Paul Allen talks about Microsoft going from writing programming languages to DOS then to Windows. He then goes into his fall-outs with Bill Gates and how he decided to leave Microsoft after everything he had contributed to the company.

Paul Allen does dive into his health issues and his struggle with cancer and how he overcame the illness. I found that very inspiring. He goes into his love of music and Jimmy Hendrix his musical ideal. Allen takes us into the struggles of owning his own basketball team and how he dealt with financing the team and their arena.

Paul Allen then speaks about how he launched a plane into space and how he loved space and never got a chance to every fly into space but was proud to be a part of the entire thing.  He talks about the passions of his and contributions to the medical industry. Allen gives is feelings about the current state of Microsoft and where he would go with the company.

I gave the book 3 stars. I think the book was more a memorandum of an extraordinary man’s life than anything I expected more information on business and technology. I am not saying it was a bad book it was well written and entertaining. Being a tech person I expected more than just a few chapters on Microsoft and the SpaceShipOne. Good book with a lot of firsts that will be important history.

Streampunks: YouTube and the Rebels Remaking Media Book Review

Streampunks: YouTube and the Rebels Remaking Media Book was a great book written by Robert Kyncl with Maany Peyvan and it was a great book. Robert Kyncl is the Chief Business Officer at YouTube where he oversees all business functions such as content, sales, marketing, and operations. Previously, Kyncl was Vice President of Content Acquisitions at Netflix.

The book highlights YouTubers like John Green, Casey Neistat, Lilly Singh, Hank Green, Jenny Doan, Shane Smith, and many other popular YouTube stars. The book layout is great every chapter highlights another YouTube star.

I learned so much about how YouTube has changed the video industry and how YouTube has helped the cable industry promote shows. Shows that upload clips to YouTube have higher ratings then shows that do not. I learned about YouTubes ranking algorithms that goes by the length of time viewed rather than the number of views.

One thing I learned was how Justin Bieber used YouTube as his platform to get a record deal. I read that viral videos do not build long-term subscribers like long-dedicated audiences that are built over years of video creation. Audiences are built on great video with a consistent content release schedule.

Robert Kyncl explains YouTube Red and how original content works. He writes about how YouTube Red is aimed more towards mobile users of YouTube. He explains how YouTube Ped pays content creators and what the advantages of YouTube Red are as a consumer.

I think this was a great book I learned more about YouTube then I ever knew. I truly believe this book is a must-read for anyone wanting to build a YouTube audience or wants to get into social media marketing. This should be a must for anyone wanting to advertise or make money on YouTube.