The first in-depth look at one of the world's richest-and most secretive-businessmen Though his wealth is certainly no secret, the world's fourth richest man remains an enigma. Paul Allen made his fortune as Bill Gates's partner in Microsoft, supplemented it with questionable, though often profitable, venture capital schemes, and has since invested his wealth in a widely divergent list of interests. He owns the NBA's Portland Trailblazers and the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. Among hundreds of smaller ventures, he is a primary stakeholder in the film production company DreamWorks SKG and formerly held a large piece of the widely despised Ticketmaster monopoly. Dubbed the "Accidental Zillionaire" by Wired magazine, Allen has often appeared to be a bumbler who succeeded primarily through luck and by coopting the visionary ideas of others. In The Accidental Zillionaire, Laura Rich, one of the foremost chroniclers of the Internet economy, unravels the secret Paul Allen, his inner motivations, his vision, and his personality. She tells Allen's story from his days as a fledgling computer geek in suburban Washington state, to his role in founding the world's largest software company, to his battle with cancer, to his sycophantic flirtation with Hollywood and its brightest stars. Paul Allen is a man of various interests and passions, but few if any know him well. The Accidental Zillionaire for the first time reveals the inner workings of a towering figure in the worlds of technology, business, sports, and entertainment. Laura Rich (Los Angeles, CA) is a former writer for The Industry Standard, Adweek, and Inside Media. She currently covers the world of digital entertainment for Entertainment Weekly, Fortune, and The Hollywood Reporter. She penned The Standard's popular "Rich List" report and has reported on Paul Allen for years.

"Mom! Please give me back the three hundred thousand dollars, my sister is dying in the hospital and I need the money to pay her medical bills!!!" Clark Yearth knelt down in front of Stella Martin, his mother-in-law. Stella Martin slapped his face. "What the hell are you talking about, you useless dumb bastard! When do I owe you money?" "The insurance company says you have taken the claim money away..." *** Three days ago, Clark's sister was seriously injured in a car accident and the driver escaped. He thought the insurance claim payment can pay the medical treatment, but he found out that it was already taken by his mother-in-law. What can he do to get everything back?

Space was at the center of America's imagination in the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy's visionary statement captured the mood of the day: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." The Apollo mission's success in July 1969 made almost anything seem possible, but the Cold War made space flight the province of governmental agencies in the United States. When the Apollo program ended in 1972, space lost its hold on the public interest, as the great achievements wound down. Entrepreneurs are beginning to pick up the slack-looking for safer, more reliable, and more cost effective ways of exploring space. Entrepreneurial activity may make create a renaissance in human spaceflight. The private sector can energize the quest for space exploration and shape the race for the final frontier. Space entrepreneurs and private sector firms are making significant innovations in space travel. They have plans for future tourism in space and safer shuttles. Solomon details current US and international laws dealing with space use, settlement, and exploration, and offers policy recommendations to facilitate privatization. As private enterprise takes hold, it threatens to change the space landscape forever. Individuals are designing spacecraft, start-up companies are testing prototypes, and reservations are being taken for suborbital space flights. With for-profit enterprises carving out a new realm, it is entirely possible that space will one day be a sea of hotels and/or a repository of resources for big business. It is important that regulations are in place for this eventuality. These new developments have great importance, huge implications, and urgency for everyone.

“The definitive history of the studio” created by the larger-than-life team of Spielberg, Geffen, and Katzenberg (Los Angeles Times). For sixty years, since the birth of United Artists, the studio landscape was unchanged. Then came Hollywood’s Circus Maximus—created by director Steven Spielberg, billionaire David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who gave the world The Lion King—an entertainment empire called DreamWorks. Now Nicole LaPorte, who covered the company for Variety, goes behind the hype to reveal for the first time the delicious truth of what happened. Readers will feel they are part of the creative calamities of moviemaking as LaPorte’s fly-on-the-wall detail shows us Hollywood’s bizarre rules of business. We see the clashes between the often-otherworldly Spielberg’s troops and Katzenberg’s warriors, the debacles and disasters, but also the Oscar-winning triumphs, including Saving Private Ryan. We watch as the studio burns through billions of dollars, its rich owners get richer, and everybody else suffers. LaPorte displays Geffen, seducing investors like Microsoft’s Paul Allen, showing his steel against CAA’s Michael Ovitz, and staging fireworks during negotiations with Paramount and Disney. Here is a blockbuster behind-the-scenes Hollywood story—up close, glamorous, and gritty.

Extreme winners are not content with being second. That's equivalent to being the first loser. 'Anybody can live life when things are going well; the real test comes when adversity strikes and setbacks nail you. When that happens, how are you going to respond?' It's been five years since Pat Williams learned firsthand what an oncologist was. Five years since he had to actually prove that he bought into his own message in order to beat the cancer attacking the plasma cells in his bone marrow. Five years since he responded to the diagnosis with a new mission for remission and determined to face his mission with one goal - winning! Now, Williams and Kerasotis share that same focus and passion with readers by identifying 12 qualities of extreme winners and by providing all of the tools they need to implement each one. When put into practice - which readers can do right away - there is no telling what can happen. And there is no telling what they can accomplish.

The secret of extreme wealth creation The Outsider's Edge reveals the one common denominator the world's richest self-made people share. Studying the lives of 17 world-famous billionaires, author and researcher Brent Taylor discovered that their one shared experience is that of the outsider. From Bill Gates to Richard Branson to Warren Buffett, being different from their peers, and proud of it, has served as prime motivation for many of the world's most spectacularly successful people. Turning the conventional wisdom about wealth on its head, The Outsider's Edge reveals the true value and importance of being different. Brent Taylor (Australia) is a professional researcher who has worked for more than 20 years as a market researcher to government and corporations.