One Click

Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com

By: Richard L. Brandt

Narrated by: Neil Shah

Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

An insightful look at how Amazon really works and how its founder and CEO makes it happen....

Amazon’s business model is deceptively simple: make online shopping so easy and convenient that customers won’t think twice. It can almost be summed up by the button on every page: Buy now with one click.

Why has Amazon been so successful? Much of it has to do with Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder, whose business strategy and unique combination of character traits have driven Amazon to the top of the online retail world. Originally a computer nerd rather than a businessman, he had the vision to capitalize on the untapped online marketplace for bookselling and continues to discover new marketing opportunities, from groceries to auto parts. He’s a calculating machine, energetic, passionate, highly aggressive, and out to radically transform retail.

Through numerous interviews with Amazon employees, competitors, and observers, Richard Brandt has deciphered how Bezos thinks, what drives his actions, and how he makes decisions. Anyone in business can learn a lot from the example of Amazon’s ongoing evolution.

Richard L. Brandt is an award-winning journalist who has been writing about Silicon Valley for more than two decades. He is well known throughout the technology community as a former correspondent for BusinessWeek, where he won a National Magazine Award. He lives in San Francisco.

©2011 Richard L. Brandt (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

Praise for Brandt’s Inside Larry and Sergey’s Brain: “In this mustread for anyone who deals seriously with cyberspace, Brandt has a remarkable profile in presentday innovation and potential.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Good Listen, light on details

What did you like best about One Click? What did you like least?

I enjoyed the book, it was a good overall summary of Amazon since the start.

I was hoping for more insight and detail regarding the company.

Great

A very interesting book, it’s engaging and enjoyable. I would recommend it. I also thought the narration was well done.

this is a great book

Gives me a complete view of how Jeff Bezos start Amazon and his philosophy of running the business. It amazed me how smart and forward thinking he is. This is a eye opener.

The Audio book was narrated nicely. The content of the book is excellent. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in E commerce to read this book

Good synopsis of the Amazon & Bezos story

Thoroughly enjoyed listening to One-Click as a reminder of the growth of Amazon. The story explains how Jeff Bezos grew and as such was well positioned to make decisions which fit his character and benefitted Amazon over the long term. A solid walk down memory lane for those who have followed the company for some time and a pretty compelling synopsis for those who wish to learn the tale.

informative but a little oddly written

I'm not sure if it was the narration or the writing but something didn't feel right about the pace of the book. also the story was a little bit all over the place. maybe I don't quite understand why the first chapter got into the explanation of the one click button right away rather than building up to it.

but, still, it was an informative book and I learned a lot about Jeff Bezos which I had no idea about. in particular that he was an engineering and computer type like me. it's instructive to learn the history because it tempers the more recent criticism that he receives.

Fascinating all the way through

I chose to write this book so highly because it was entertaining the entire way through. It was very informational however the storyline was consistent and very easy to follow. I would recommend this book for somebody who is an entrepreneur, or any student that’s learning about business. Jeff Bezos is a pioneer and definitely a very smart man. Although I don’t agree with everything that he’s done at Amazon, however I clearly support the business and am influenced by its presents. Very interesting book, I loved it.

A bit dated but fun listen

Lots of details and it's neutral about Bezos which is good. It rushes at the end but if you want a good history about the beginning of the company, this is a good option

Fantastic Look Into Jeff Bezos and Amazon

This book has a lot of great insights to how this behemoth of a company got started and how they strategically stayed in business by keeping great employees and a visionary leader.

It was alright

The other comments had a good point. It was alright in terms of insight into the past of amazon. But the story itself is okay, the narration is okay, and the voice actor does try to impart some emotion into the story. Overall a nice insight into Amazon's beginnings.

Good up to 2011

Excellent background on Amazon and especially Bezos. Well worth a listen for the history up to 2011 when the book was published. The story continues and a lot has happened since then so now I want to either listen to an updated version or a more current book on Amazon.