Unplugged

Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu

De: Tom Freston

Narrado por: Tom Freston

A freewheeling and riveting memoir from media honcho Tom Freston that takes us behind the scenes of his global adventures—from hitchhiking around the world, to running a clothing export company out of India and Afghanistan, to cofounding MTV, to becoming CEO of MTV Networks, then CEO of Viacom, then later returning to work in Africa and Afghanistan.

Tom Freston’s path to the C-suite was decidedly non-traditional. After getting his MBA, he bartended his way through the United States and the Caribbean, sparking a lifelong passion for travel. After a brief stint on the fast track at an ad agency, he chucked it all and headed to the Sahara Desert and beyond. Entranced by India and Afghanistan, he stayed on for eight years and launched his first big success, Hindu Kush, a company that designed and manufactured contemporary clothing for export to America and other countries.

Freston’s next chapter followed his other passion: music. He joined the small original team that launched MTV where he swiftly climbed the ladder, eventually overseeing not only MTV but also Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT, and other iconic networks. He built a creative powerhouse that transformed global popular culture in cable’s all-conquering heyday.

In this unique memoir of risk-taking, rule-breaking, and warm cultural exchanges, Freston shows how to be successful at living your life on your own terms.

Interesting & Fun story

I enjoyed the story and the way Tom Freston told it. We are similar in age and I was interested in listening to his experiences.

Boomer Adventurer

It was very enjoyable to follow his adventurous journeys since the 1960s. It gave me an interesting parallel to my musical and spiritual adventures during those same years.

Fever Dream of a Life Well Lived

Why travel? Because I can. Because the world is a small reflection of a bigger truth I learned growing up under the Sangre de Cristo light. I can, therefore I will experience. Tom Freston doesn’t just understand that idea. He lives it with the kind of curiosity that makes the world want to reveal its secrets.

Jim Morrison once said that when you die, your life plays back like a cosmic movie. If that’s true, I’d take my seat at the downtown Lensic in Santa Fe, that old palace of stories, just to watch Tom’s film unfold. It would be part desert-lit odyssey, part human meditation, and part wild adventure you couldn’t script if you tried.

There is a touch of Nietzsche in the way Tom moves through the world. Not the gloomy philosopher people misquote, but the one who believed in saying yes to life, chaos and beauty included. That spirit feels familiar to anyone shaped by New Mexico’s horizon, where every sunrise is a dare to go further. Tom accepts that dare with grace, humility, and a talent for turning strangers into chapters.

He doesn’t travel to escape life. He travels so life never escapes him. And somewhere between continents and conversations, you start to realize something. Tom Freston may just be the most interesting man alive, carrying stories that could fill the desert sky and still leave room for more.

So gooood!

I loved everything about this book! What an amazing life and work story this man has had.