benrogerswpg's review against another edition
4.0
It was such a good book.
Really well researched.
Some really shocking bits. More than in [b:The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon|17660462|The Everything Store Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon|Brad Stone|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1365394361l/17660462._SY75_.jpg|24650037].
I thought this book was very informative on Amazon. Learned a lot, and very interesting read.
4.2/5
Really well researched.
Some really shocking bits. More than in [b:The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon|17660462|The Everything Store Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon|Brad Stone|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1365394361l/17660462._SY75_.jpg|24650037].
I thought this book was very informative on Amazon. Learned a lot, and very interesting read.
4.2/5
royvdb's review
4.0
I might be a Musk fanboy, but I put Bezos squarly in camp Zuckerberg, and he might be more dangerous in the long run.
docjh's review
4.0
I read this simultaneously with "The Everything Store" by the same author. "Amazon Unbound" is also very good and has the benefit of being up-to-date as of my reading. The period covered - from 2013-2020 - is important and more relevant to the contemporary Amazon as its earlier (now mythological) early days. For good reason, the book focuses almost as much on Bezos' other business ventures (the Washington Post and Blue Origin) as on Amazon. These are important stories, but not as interesting to me. And of course, Stone covers developments in Bezos's personal life. These things don't interest me as much as Amazon's arc from figment of Jeff's imagination to one of the two or three most important companies in the world. I'd like to see Stone take a shot at an analytical wrap-up of how and why the events chronicled in both of his books ended up being so much more consequential than any number of other interesting tech company histories.
rick2's review
4.0
It’s good. It’s definitely better than the first. Documenting Amazon while so much of it is still changing and hidden from the light is the sort of Herculean task that one has to admire. However, as such a task, one is doomed to fail. There’s simply so much to Amazon that the cursory glance this book takes, while better than most, still falls short of a real portrait. It’s like flying over the Midwest and saying you understand Ohio and Kansas.
As is the case with so many of these tech companies, it’s a sort of Cronenberg monstrosity that has grown from a cuddly garage sized startup, into a respectable large company, and now into the multi limbed krakennesque behemoth that you see today. The sheer scope of Amazons operations is insane, and no book can truly cover it. There are hundreds of books written about fulfillment by Amazon and this book touches maybe 5 pages of it. AWS gets mentioned in passing, but without much depth. I’ve paid my rent several times over with KDP and it’s not even mentioned at all.
That said, for a reasonable view of Amazon from 10,000 feet, read this book. This was a good overview of the unwieldy monster that seems to have snaked a limb into all of our lives.
As is the case with so many of these tech companies, it’s a sort of Cronenberg monstrosity that has grown from a cuddly garage sized startup, into a respectable large company, and now into the multi limbed krakennesque behemoth that you see today. The sheer scope of Amazons operations is insane, and no book can truly cover it. There are hundreds of books written about fulfillment by Amazon and this book touches maybe 5 pages of it. AWS gets mentioned in passing, but without much depth. I’ve paid my rent several times over with KDP and it’s not even mentioned at all.
That said, for a reasonable view of Amazon from 10,000 feet, read this book. This was a good overview of the unwieldy monster that seems to have snaked a limb into all of our lives.
pamiverson's review
4.0
His second book on Jeff Bezos and Amazon, beginning with the development of the Echo. Fascinating to learn about his thought processes behind some of the company’s big innovations. Also interesting how Bezos shifted from the geeky family man to one who wanted what his newfound wealth could buy. A complicated person, a complicated story. I’m eager now to read the book on the first 20 years of the company.
(We actually listened to this.)
(We actually listened to this.)
realz's review
5.0
I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning how Bezos turned the everything store into a hyper-scale, multifaceted empire and what that means in the modern global economy. Stone's research was astonishingly detailed. I learned a lot about the workings of the inner-sanctum of Amazon. The information in the book shouldn't be too surprising, except I work for Amazon and have been doing it for the last five years. The scale at which Amazon operates makes it impossible for anyone to keep up with the entire Amazon business. Heck, Stone writes that even Bezos couldn't keep up. Amazon Unbound reads like it's a continuation of Stone's earlier book "The everything store." But thankfully, Stone has limited repeating himself.
The book follows Bezos and his conglomerate's successes and failures in the late 2010s. Stone writes extensively about the cultural and political challenges Amazon faced in China and how they impacted Amazon's approach in India. Looking beyond Amazon, Stone's rigorous research provides valuable insights into Bezos's acquisition of The WaPo, the creation of Blue Origin, and other behind-the-scenes coverage of the salacious matters that were made popular the venerated National Inquirer. Once again, I was amazed at the sheer amount of information Stone had compiled. Given Amazon's secretive culture, I don't even know how the author could get quotes from internal Amazon meetings. Stone has produced a commendable piece of journalistic art.
I follow Amazon news pretty closely, and when I started reading it, I wasn't expecting to find new information. I am glad I didn't let my assumption get in my way. If you're an AMZN news follower like me, this book will explain various events that might have affected your portfolio.
If you're an Amazon shareholder, I highly recommend you read this book. If you're a left-leaning person and worried about Amazon's impact on mom and pop stores, read it for sure. The book changed my view on Amazon and, ultimately, big tech's role going forward. It also underscores how our current labor, patent, anti-trust, and tax laws are out of touch.
The book follows Bezos and his conglomerate's successes and failures in the late 2010s. Stone writes extensively about the cultural and political challenges Amazon faced in China and how they impacted Amazon's approach in India. Looking beyond Amazon, Stone's rigorous research provides valuable insights into Bezos's acquisition of The WaPo, the creation of Blue Origin, and other behind-the-scenes coverage of the salacious matters that were made popular the venerated National Inquirer. Once again, I was amazed at the sheer amount of information Stone had compiled. Given Amazon's secretive culture, I don't even know how the author could get quotes from internal Amazon meetings. Stone has produced a commendable piece of journalistic art.
I follow Amazon news pretty closely, and when I started reading it, I wasn't expecting to find new information. I am glad I didn't let my assumption get in my way. If you're an AMZN news follower like me, this book will explain various events that might have affected your portfolio.
If you're an Amazon shareholder, I highly recommend you read this book. If you're a left-leaning person and worried about Amazon's impact on mom and pop stores, read it for sure. The book changed my view on Amazon and, ultimately, big tech's role going forward. It also underscores how our current labor, patent, anti-trust, and tax laws are out of touch.
kyscg's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.25
I've always had a soft spot about Jeff Bezos and the Amazon story. I mean, starting an internet book store and turning it into a global empire worth more than one and a half trillion dollars using leverage, and the power of technology, is extraordinary. I bought a physical copy of Amazon Unbound from a local bookstore, back in 2021, and decided to finally read it this summer.
It's easy to read the book, partly because the story is captivating, but also because Brad Stone can spin a good yarn. So many times, I found myself stopping to think about how unreal what Amazon and Jeff Bezos were doing. Let us give the S-Team some credit too, so this means that the S-Team, and Jeff were working, more often than not, simultaneously, on the following things:
- Echo (Alexa)
- Go stores
- Fresh
- AWS
- Washington Post
- Expansion into India, China, Europe, and Mexico
- Fire Phone
- Kindle
- Primevideo
- Independent delivery system
- Advertisements
- Blue Origin
- HQ2
- Amazon PR
- COVID-19
While reading about Bezos' idea to sell steak on a truck by going around neighbourhoods, I realized that so much of Amazon's seemingly brilliant ideas would never have taken off if they didn't have the capital. So now, the question is, if you gave a lot of people (a statistically significant number) a lot of money, would they reproduce Amazon's results? Culture matters a lot, but are there other cultures that could achieve similar or greater levels of success?
Amazon opened up their store to sellers from China who flooded their market with low-quality ripoffs. So the question is, do you just give everything to the customer and let them make the choice or do you enforce a quality bar that all sellers have to cross? And on the next level, what does it mean for sellers that are making high quality originals if a Chinese clone will always take away their customer base?
Amazon Go and their "Just Walk Out Technology". How do you create the best store in the world?
I don't think Jeff was at his best with Blue Origin, maybe that was one step too much for the great man, maybe he was just unlucky. But Blue Origin should have done so much more.
What is the future of Amazon now? Can they afford to ignore structural and organizational inefficiencies and go innovating again? Or will Jassy have to iron out some kinks first?
These were questions I had, I will end with my favourite leadership principle from Jeff. Principle 8: Think Big. Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It's easy to read the book, partly because the story is captivating, but also because Brad Stone can spin a good yarn. So many times, I found myself stopping to think about how unreal what Amazon and Jeff Bezos were doing. Let us give the S-Team some credit too, so this means that the S-Team, and Jeff were working, more often than not, simultaneously, on the following things:
- Echo (Alexa)
- Go stores
- Fresh
- AWS
- Washington Post
- Expansion into India, China, Europe, and Mexico
- Fire Phone
- Kindle
- Primevideo
- Independent delivery system
- Advertisements
- Blue Origin
- HQ2
- Amazon PR
- COVID-19
While reading about Bezos' idea to sell steak on a truck by going around neighbourhoods, I realized that so much of Amazon's seemingly brilliant ideas would never have taken off if they didn't have the capital. So now, the question is, if you gave a lot of people (a statistically significant number) a lot of money, would they reproduce Amazon's results? Culture matters a lot, but are there other cultures that could achieve similar or greater levels of success?
Amazon opened up their store to sellers from China who flooded their market with low-quality ripoffs. So the question is, do you just give everything to the customer and let them make the choice or do you enforce a quality bar that all sellers have to cross? And on the next level, what does it mean for sellers that are making high quality originals if a Chinese clone will always take away their customer base?
Amazon Go and their "Just Walk Out Technology". How do you create the best store in the world?
I don't think Jeff was at his best with Blue Origin, maybe that was one step too much for the great man, maybe he was just unlucky. But Blue Origin should have done so much more.
What is the future of Amazon now? Can they afford to ignore structural and organizational inefficiencies and go innovating again? Or will Jassy have to iron out some kinks first?
These were questions I had, I will end with my favourite leadership principle from Jeff. Principle 8: Think Big. Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
carrykindleard's review against another edition
4.0
Couldn't really put it down, but unsure if this would be another 5-star read. I love the storytelling of the book, but something's missing...
4/5 - review comes later
4/5 - review comes later
bigcitydreamer's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Slightly less dense than its predecessor, this book nevertheless is thought-provoking and well-researched. It triggered lots of questions personally on the power of Amazon and the uniqueness of a culture that venerates "good" attributes while also lauding the spoils of "bad" attributes in corporate cultures. I will be thinking about this book for a long time, and am curious if a third will come out once we see more of Amazon's next chapters under Andy Jassy.