The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-04-08 14:54:53
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Brad Stone
- ISBN：0552167835
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
**Winner of the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award**
'Brad Stone's definitive book on Amazon and Bezos' The Guardian
'A masterclass in deeply researched investigative financial journalism 。 。 。 riveting' The Times
The definitive story of the largest and most influential company in the world and the man whose drive and determination changed business forever。
Though Amazon。com started off delivering books through the mail， its visionary founder， Jeff Bezos， was never content with being just a bookseller。 He wanted Amazon to become 'the everything store'， offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices。 To achieve that end， he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked。 Until now。。。
Jeff Bezos stands out for his relentless pursuit of new markets， leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing， and transforming retail in the same way that Henry Ford revolutionised manufacturing。
Amazon placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet。 Nothing would ever be the same again。
'Brad Stone's definitive book on Amazon and Bezos' The Guardian
'A masterclass in deeply researched investigative financial journalism 。 。 。 riveting' The Times
The definitive story of the largest and most influential company in the world and the man whose drive and determination changed business forever。
Though Amazon。com started off delivering books through the mail， its visionary founder， Jeff Bezos， was never content with being just a bookseller。 He wanted Amazon to become 'the everything store'， offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices。 To achieve that end， he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked。 Until now。。。
Jeff Bezos stands out for his relentless pursuit of new markets， leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing， and transforming retail in the same way that Henry Ford revolutionised manufacturing。
Amazon placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet。 Nothing would ever be the same again。
Reviews
Rafa Lobomar
，
Great history of Amazon during its first 18 years。 A company both missionary and mercenary， that within its disorder and problems （for example with employees， publishers， tax plans， etc。） prospered in aggressive markets and that since the publication of the book until today - 8 years later - its growth has been substantial。
Dinara Radjabova s
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Book about a hard journey to success。
Glen Oliver
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Audience: Tech geeks， Entrepreneurs， Online shoppers， Engineers， Amazon fans， Amazon haters， Bookstore owners， Book lovers。The Good: - Behind-the-scenes glimpses of the what makes Amazon tick （from epiphanies to tantrums）;- Inspiring and idea-generating if you are an aspiring entrepreneur。The Bad: Too many characters （executives， investors， etc。） to keep track of if you are not intimately familiar with the company and the industry。 The Ugly: The way Amazon staff and competitors are treated may l Audience: Tech geeks， Entrepreneurs， Online shoppers， Engineers， Amazon fans， Amazon haters， Bookstore owners， Book lovers。The Good: - Behind-the-scenes glimpses of the what makes Amazon tick （from epiphanies to tantrums）;- Inspiring and idea-generating if you are an aspiring entrepreneur。The Bad: Too many characters （executives， investors， etc。） to keep track of if you are not intimately familiar with the company and the industry。 The Ugly: The way Amazon staff and competitors are treated may leave a bad taste in your mouth。Verdict: A well-written account of the rise of a tech giant。 。。。more
Kien Le Trung
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Great book！
Zach
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Fascinating look at a tech giant。 JB is still out there， he's still making news。 Amazon is no longer run by JB and it's it own thing now。 That's the only weakness of this biography。 What's next？ Still this book is worth reading because now I can follow the story with a wealth of context。 Fascinating！！！ Fascinating look at a tech giant。 JB is still out there， he's still making news。 Amazon is no longer run by JB and it's it own thing now。 That's the only weakness of this biography。 What's next？ Still this book is worth reading because now I can follow the story with a wealth of context。 Fascinating！！！ 。。。more
Olesya Leontieva
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The book is good to read。Gives you more perspective what is going under the shining sign 'Amazone'。 You can make your own mind about Bezos and his creation according to your values。As a result of this book， I understand that I don't want to work in this company or to make any business with them。 But to be their customer is very convinient。I can give more compassion to my friends who work in Amazon after reading this book。 🙂 The book is good to read。Gives you more perspective what is going under the shining sign 'Amazone'。 You can make your own mind about Bezos and his creation according to your values。As a result of this book， I understand that I don't want to work in this company or to make any business with them。 But to be their customer is very convinient。I can give more compassion to my friends who work in Amazon after reading this book。 🙂 。。。more
Michael Scott Scott
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What an Amazing Story！Brad Stone has written this incredible story about Jeff Bezos and his unwavering drive to build， what we now have， Amazon's Everything Store。 It was a difficult， painful， fantastic experience and I'm a frequent user of Amazon delivery， prime videos and the Kindle。 There is a lot that wasn't/isn't pretty， so we must ask ourselves are we better off now than before Amazon？ Read this book， I'm certainly better off by reading this well written and page turning story。 Thanks Brad What an Amazing Story！Brad Stone has written this incredible story about Jeff Bezos and his unwavering drive to build， what we now have， Amazon's Everything Store。 It was a difficult， painful， fantastic experience and I'm a frequent user of Amazon delivery， prime videos and the Kindle。 There is a lot that wasn't/isn't pretty， so we must ask ourselves are we better off now than before Amazon？ Read this book， I'm certainly better off by reading this well written and page turning story。 Thanks Brad！ 。。。more
Lucy Macartney
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"Steady progress toward seemingly impossible goals will win the day。 Setbacks are temporary"A challenging book to get through at times but overall a good summary of how Jeff Bezos prioritised playing the long game in order to become one of the biggest companies in the world。 "Steady progress toward seemingly impossible goals will win the day。 Setbacks are temporary"A challenging book to get through at times but overall a good summary of how Jeff Bezos prioritised playing the long game in order to become one of the biggest companies in the world。 。。。more
Samiye Selimi
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good book
Josh Labove
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Being Amazon—at least being Jeff Bezos—just never felt all that dramatic to me。 It’s hard to write about tech， especially tech run by adults that steadily improves and brings boxes of savings to our doorstep。 Amazon sounds—correction Bezos sounds—like a tough guy to work for。 Not sure I’d call this a good business principles read or in any way relaxing。 Pages go on with the author introducing new employees （mostly men）， each new addition bringing the hope of some white hot drama。 It never comes， Being Amazon—at least being Jeff Bezos—just never felt all that dramatic to me。 It’s hard to write about tech， especially tech run by adults that steadily improves and brings boxes of savings to our doorstep。 Amazon sounds—correction Bezos sounds—like a tough guy to work for。 Not sure I’d call this a good business principles read or in any way relaxing。 Pages go on with the author introducing new employees （mostly men）， each new addition bringing the hope of some white hot drama。 It never comes， which feels like the grandest endorsement of Bezos’ micromanagement: nothing really happens here， we just keep getting better， and occasionally a smart guy with a weird laugh has a temper tantrum。 。。。more
Finnegan Howard
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The Everything Store is a very detailed backstory of Jeff Bezos and Amazon as a whole。 With this large of a topic requires a lot of detail to fully understand， and this book does a great job of understanding it。 My one problem is that the pacing is pretty bad， but the book is good overall。 So， I would recommend this to anyone interested in Amazon， Jeff Bezos， or e-commerce as a whole。
Alyssa
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Make hard decisions， even if not everyone's happy with them。 Decide what you're good at。 Make hard decisions， even if not everyone's happy with them。 Decide what you're good at。 。。。more
Abhishek
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Since Brad stone had access to Mr。 Bezos himself， that's why this is probably the only book I will read about Amazon and actually pay attention。The caution against boiling down the complex reasons of the company's success into a neat narrative is given upfront。 The iterative approach to growth eliminates a "aaha" moment and at the same time ensures that win sticks for long term。As this book is a few years old， it doesn't cover the AWS bit in detail and totally skips the Alexa era。 I would love a Since Brad stone had access to Mr。 Bezos himself， that's why this is probably the only book I will read about Amazon and actually pay attention。The caution against boiling down the complex reasons of the company's success into a neat narrative is given upfront。 The iterative approach to growth eliminates a "aaha" moment and at the same time ensures that win sticks for long term。As this book is a few years old， it doesn't cover the AWS bit in detail and totally skips the Alexa era。 I would love a follow up to this book which would cover the total domination on other sectors as well。It's no secret that customer is the central focus of the company NOT the competition。 It's a very useful way to think about business and life in general as well。 The obsession to measure everything is once again comes up as a theme through the narrative。 Figuring out what numbers are telling you is always important。 They never lie。Brutality of Amazon and Jeff is the spine of their success。 Sometimes they take it too far with their treatment of workers。 Personally， I don't think I'd like to work for him。A very insightful read indeed。 。。。more
Lincoln Karuhanga
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Fantastic read on what it takes to build something new into such a large operation。Good reminder that it takes smart， gritty， clear minded， ruthless people at the top and people who understand the fundamentals all the way down。And when you do grow， being honest and ruthless about disrupting yourself is really important because all the great companies somehow become complacent。Also a good nudge to reflect on the ethics of some of this ruthlessness（aggressive negotiation， driving prices down and a Fantastic read on what it takes to build something new into such a large operation。Good reminder that it takes smart， gritty， clear minded， ruthless people at the top and people who understand the fundamentals all the way down。And when you do grow， being honest and ruthless about disrupting yourself is really important because all the great companies somehow become complacent。Also a good nudge to reflect on the ethics of some of this ruthlessness（aggressive negotiation， driving prices down and aggressive tax avoidance） and whether one can still be great without it。Oh， and "Why are you wasting my life？" will forever be a fav 😂 。。。more
Harsh Kedia
，
Book out shows that How Jeff made a decision to quit his financial firm and start his own company。His focus to leverage new coming internet technology and enhance customer experience。However the methods Amazon used was totally rude built on excessive dependence on employee exploitation。 Employees forced to work in such harsh conditions and the work of call centres being mentally abusive， shows the company and its CEO inhuman。 A good read to know the in’s outs of working in start up and destroyin Book out shows that How Jeff made a decision to quit his financial firm and start his own company。His focus to leverage new coming internet technology and enhance customer experience。However the methods Amazon used was totally rude built on excessive dependence on employee exploitation。 Employees forced to work in such harsh conditions and the work of call centres being mentally abusive， shows the company and its CEO inhuman。 A good read to know the in’s outs of working in start up and destroying individuality of your own employees。Also a comprehensive book elaborating what it takes to be an entrepreneur in today’s times。This book shows that Amazon just like Gotham was not always a good city and was built on inhuman grounds。 。。。more
Neha Singh
，
I just finished reading this book and have mixed feelings。 It’s inspiring how Amazon transformed itself into the everything store despite the recurring challenges like consistent losses due to everyday low prices on its site， the dot com bubble， huge competition from eBay and then Google。 The initiative it took upon for providing cloud infrastructure-as-a-service is remarkable and so useful to so many students， freelance developers and startups which can’t be said enough。 Reading about how the s I just finished reading this book and have mixed feelings。 It’s inspiring how Amazon transformed itself into the everything store despite the recurring challenges like consistent losses due to everyday low prices on its site， the dot com bubble， huge competition from eBay and then Google。 The initiative it took upon for providing cloud infrastructure-as-a-service is remarkable and so useful to so many students， freelance developers and startups which can’t be said enough。 Reading about how the services like EC2 and S3 developed and panned out is quite fascinating。The development of Kindle and the following chapters of the book confuses you of what to feel。 On one hand， you are using the device and services while knowing how Amazon ruthlessly forces publishers to digitise their collection and lower the prices。In the end， I would have loved it more if the book had given details of the pre-IPO period more。 Overall， I would say it’s a decent read。 。。。more
Mustafa Aga
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I recommend to read it cause it gives you insights on Jeff ways of thinking。 Wonders your traditional thinking and make you questions so many things about business， leadership etc。
Swapnil Agarwal
，
Jeff is an embodiment of long-term thinking。 He emphasizes doing what's best for the customer， even if it translates to huge losses in the short term。 However， I feel that this is not the definitive story of Amazon。 It has cherry-picked bits and pieces， unlike Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs。 Jeff is an embodiment of long-term thinking。 He emphasizes doing what's best for the customer， even if it translates to huge losses in the short term。 However， I feel that this is not the definitive story of Amazon。 It has cherry-picked bits and pieces， unlike Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs。 。。。more
David Haller
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The best biographies of entrepreneurs are biographies of their businesses。 Pretty informative！
Gulo
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A much more robust source than expected， this book details the rise of Amazon up until 2013。 It also provides some insight into the character of its somewhat mysterious founder， Jeff Bezos。 What is probably most shocking to me is the scale of Amazon operations even before 2013 which I， an employee at an Amazon warehouse at the time， was not remotely aware of。 As an employee I was intimately familiar with the culture-less work environment， rabid circumvention of taxes， terrifying negotiation tact A much more robust source than expected， this book details the rise of Amazon up until 2013。 It also provides some insight into the character of its somewhat mysterious founder， Jeff Bezos。 What is probably most shocking to me is the scale of Amazon operations even before 2013 which I， an employee at an Amazon warehouse at the time， was not remotely aware of。 As an employee I was intimately familiar with the culture-less work environment， rabid circumvention of taxes， terrifying negotiation tactics （shipping， books， sellers， etc。）， and complete distrust of employees （arguably， correctly so… there were some thieves in our lot） but never was it discussed how Amazon was on the forefront of completely reshaping our technological environment; it had already reshaped the shopping experience but the whole web-services side was never discussed at work。It seems that the economic recessions ~2000 and ~2008 were where Amazon truly shone the brightest。 Those years were crucial and the drive and focus of company leadership kept the company afloat and maintained its course in economically-relevant waters。 Ferociously growth-focused。 That’s been Amazon in a nutshell and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down much。As of 2021， Bezos has shockingly stepped down as the CEO of Amazon。 2021 is also in the aftermath of what’s proving to have been a series of state-sponsored years-long hacks only revealed in 2020 （which seems to have utilized a blindspot in the USA’s counter-hacking entities’ legal purview through services like Amazon Web Services （AWS）） and AWS website de-platforming following far-right groups’ raid on the USA Capitol building。 The incredible expansion of the many forms of Amazon is showing that it has bursted out of the legal barriers of traditional business and is in a multinational and category-less grey-zone （is it a tech company？？ Is it a store？？）。 To boot， the company has expanded well outside of nation-state barriers and in many ways holds more political and economic clout than many nations; there’ve even been some joking suggestions that Amazon should purchase the indebted Cyprus: 。 The implications of such a massive entity as Amazon are extraordinary and exciting - though also quite terrifying。 One can’t help but question what the end goal of Amazon actually is - if it has one。 In the book， Bezos is portrayed as a curious kid who wanted to change the world。 Honestly: mission accomplished。 I don’t know that anyone could argue otherwise。 However， now that that goal is completed， what comes next？ Is the business destined for eternal growth？ Seeing as though profit hasn’t been a metric of extreme focus， will it become the focus？ Assuming it cannot grow infinitely （a safe assumption）， what will be the conditions of an eventual decline？ Will there be a multi-national movement to cull the behemoth or restrict its questionable tactics？ Will the United States forbid collective national actions against the company or， perhaps more interestingly， will the United States move to cull it as well？ What would the fallout of either situation look like？ （Same questions with Google， Facebook， etc。） I expect that the comforts that Amazon supplies will woo many economies and its growth will continue for at least another decade… but that prediction isn’t based on anything substantive。 My one takeaway quote: “It’s easier to invent the future than to predict it。” -B。 Stone***Posted on Goodreads， an Amazon-owned company。 。。。more
Cormac D
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If your interested in the man behind the giant Amazon you will love this read。It tells you about Jeff Bezos and his growth as an entrepreneur， also you are shown the philosophy of Amazon and how it has grown to the goliath it is today。Putting customer experience first every time。
Jorge Bueno
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 Frugality， super long term vision， laser focus。 You can email him， question mark’s forwarding emails to team。 2 pizzas meetingsThe people who do well at Amazon are often those who thrive in an adversarial atmosphere with almost constant friction
Andrew Wood
，
Good book - could use an updateAmazon is omnipresent and has gain relevance and velocity during the pandemic。 This book does a good job taking us from start to 2014。 A lot has happened since then， including the Whole Foods purchase。 It would be good to see an update addition that continues the story and analysis。
Jessica Borenstein
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4 stars for the story and content but 3 for the construction - bezos and Amazon story is wild and the most interesting but sometimes the content got lost in the millions of little details， there were more names dropped in this book than in game of thrones。 But still recommend reading for the Amazon story。
Colin Thomas
，
A fascinating study of Amazon’s history， with a special emphasis on Bezos。 Really I knew very little about Amazon’s story going into this， so much of this book was surprising。 There’s something about these revolutionary technology-centric companies （thinking her also of Netflix， Apple， even Pixar） that makes it hard to pinpoint when （or if ever） they truly stop being ambitious， geeky， even il-tempered startups and start being establishment giants。 Amazon is the foremost among these。 At this poin A fascinating study of Amazon’s history， with a special emphasis on Bezos。 Really I knew very little about Amazon’s story going into this， so much of this book was surprising。 There’s something about these revolutionary technology-centric companies （thinking her also of Netflix， Apple， even Pixar） that makes it hard to pinpoint when （or if ever） they truly stop being ambitious， geeky， even il-tempered startups and start being establishment giants。 Amazon is the foremost among these。 At this point it’s outright quasi-governmental。 Today it hosts more than a third of the internet （and its owns this app）， has its own fleet of ships and jets， has powerful presences in virtual every category of media， and can basically ship you any conceivable item for free in 6-48 hours。 It has really gotten to the point of being reviled。 Bezos is our universally agreed upon supervillain and Congress may well break the company up one day soon。 But throughout this book， amidst twenty years of i fathomable growth and success， it never stopped feeling like that was a scrappy workaholic cult of innovation and ambition lead by its brilliant， ruthless， dweeb of a leader。 I would’ve liked more coverage in the book over the negative impacts of Amazon， more labor information， etc。 The book was extremely well reported， but was focused mostly on history and personalities and culture， not impact or ethics。 That’s my only gripe。 Also。。。 Jeff Bezos biological father lost track of his son early in his life and was sought out by the author of this book and was INFORMED OF WHO HIS SON WAS。 He didn’t know who Jeff Bezos was or that his long lost son was the richest man in the world。 This author is a real deal reporter。 。。。more
Yordanov
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A pretty good book。 Far more described than the average business autobiographies。 You can easily grasp Jeff's character and his path towards the top。 A pretty good book。 Far more described than the average business autobiographies。 You can easily grasp Jeff's character and his path towards the top。 。。。more
Jordan Connell
，
Out of dateAt the beginning of the book Stone notes how Jeff Bezos thought it was too soon to write the book。 He was correct。 In the eight years since much has been clarified， theses have borne out， and much more has happened that would have made for a compelling narrative。 The early story was fascinating but as the book got closer to what was then the present-day， it became too granular - for example， would the same book released now have a big section on sales tax？ I’d hope not。
Yuan
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Fantastic insight into Amazon， it's inception and their culture。 Fantastic insight into Amazon， it's inception and their culture。 。。。more
Ciprian Petrescu
，
Essential: my favorite business model， Amazon Prime=0 car crash probability for the client， Prime （up to 1-2 hour shipping is the fastest universal "3D printer"）， Prime allows small businesses to serve many clients with a very small amount of cash flow， Kindle ebooks = free / cheap instant books on multiple devices。 Prime shipping increases people's life expectance by increasing the free time reducing the need for a car+maintenance。 AWS= the posibility to run your business on a powerful and rela Essential: my favorite business model， Amazon Prime=0 car crash probability for the client， Prime （up to 1-2 hour shipping is the fastest universal "3D printer"）， Prime allows small businesses to serve many clients with a very small amount of cash flow， Kindle ebooks = free / cheap instant books on multiple devices。 Prime shipping increases people's life expectance by increasing the free time reducing the need for a car+maintenance。 AWS= the posibility to run your business on a powerful and relatively unlimited server/virtual machine and to control it just a cheap smartphone/laptop （pay as you go - great for R&D and start-ups）。 The book helped me to understant how these great services developed。 It's a good sharing economy model which decreases the need for owning （servers， cars， many employees）。 It's enough for a short review。 :） 。。。more
Andrius Zygmanta
，