5 ms·
Oooh. Po Bronson is probably my favourite author. There's something about his writing style that pushes my buttons. It's probably worth nothing that he used to
by goatforce5 17y ago
Oooh. Po Bronson is probably my favourite author. There's something about his writing style that pushes my buttons.
It's probably worth nothing that he used to do a lot of writing for Wired magazine (eg http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.12/hotmale.html http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.12/hotmale.html ) and his second novel, The First $20m Is Always The Hardest, was about a startup ( http://pobronson.com/index_first_20_million.htm http://pobronson.com/index_first_20_million.htm ).
His site has lots of excerpts and monologues worth reading (eg http://pobronson.com/The%20Cooks%20Story.pdf http://pobronson.com/The%20Cooks%20Story.pdf is totally awesome).
He's also has the distinction of being the author of my favourite novel. Here's the first chapter: http://pobronson.com/filth.htm http://pobronson.com/filth.htm (love that first line!).
- quickpost 17y agoI also loved Bombardiers. Great book that didn't get a lot of traction - highly recommend it for anyone considering a career in finance.
- goatforce5 17y agoIt came out at the wrong time - people didn't want to believe that the financial industry was screwed up. If it got re-released now (or if someone finally made a movie of it) people would probably be more receptive. Pointless anecdote: went to see him give a talk a few years back in London. I bought his new book, got him to sign it, and then whipped out my first edition hardback of Bombardiers that I picked up in Oz years previously. He seemed surprised(/touched) to see it, we had a little chat, and then he wrote a genuinely nice message in the book. He's totally a class act.
- SkyMarshal 17y agoI loved Bombardiers too. Catch-22 applied to the financial 'industry'. Those are the only two books I've read that managed to pull off that style of satire. If anyone knows any others, I'd love to know.
- Psyonic 17y agoNot really related at all to this discussion, and not technically the first line (though its on the first page), but this line from Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer was the most captivating book starter for me ever: "I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive." How could you not keep reading after that?
- myth_drannon 17y agoSimilar to the writing on Nikos Kazantzakis tomb "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."
- JoeAltmaier 17y agoFree == dead?
- SingAlong 17y agowow that line is simply superb "It was a filthy profession, but the money was addicting" :D also, the article can be read in one page here: http://www.fastcompany.com/node/45909/print http://www.fastcompany.com/node/45909/print print version tho :)