"It’s a rare business book that not only provides savvy insights for better business practices but transcends the category altogether to rank as an infectiously inspiring read. Wood endears himself to the reader with his introspection and honesty."
-- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"John’s story is a spellbinding tale of his transformation from Microsoft velociraptor to a new life bringing the amazing gift of literacy to millions of kids around the world."
--MARC AND REESSEN,
cofounder, Netscape Communications
John Wood discovered his passion, his greatest success, and his life’s work-not at business school or leading Microsoft’s charge into Asia in the 1990s-but on a soul-searching trip to the Himalayas. Wood felt trapped between an all-consuming, career and a desire to do something lasting and significant. Stressed from the demands of his job, he took a vacation trekking in Nepal because a friend had told him, "If you get high enough in the mountains, you can’t hear Steve Ballmer yelling at you anymore."
Instead of being the antidote to the rat race, that trip convinced John Wood to divert the boundless energy he was devoting to Microsoft into a cause that desperately needed to be addressed. While visiting a remote Nepalese school, Wood learned that the students had few books in their library. When he offered to run a book drive to provide the school with books, his idea was met with polite skepticism. After all, no matter how well-intentioned, why would a successful software executive take valuable time out of his life and gather books for an impoverished school?
PART1 DISCOVERING NEPAL;LEAVING MICROSOFT
Chapter 1 "Perhaps, Sir, You Will Someday Come Back
with Books" 3
Chapter 2 An Idea Burns by Candlelight 12
Chapter 3 You Need to Get Home Soon! 21
Chapter 4 Woody and John’s Excellent Adventure 29
Chapter 5 Debating a Radical Change 35
Chapter 6 Lonely in a City of 12 Million Strangers 39
Chapter 7 Gates in China 45
Chapter 8 Walking Away 61
PART 2 STARTING OVER
Chapter 9 The Start-up Years: An Object in Motion
Remains in Motion 75
Chapter 10 Making the Ask 87
Chapter 11 Expansion beyond Nepal 97
Chapter 12 A Postcard from Nepal 109
Chapter 13 What Every Entrepreneur Needs:
AStrongSecond-in-Command 118
Chapter 14 September 11 128
Chapter 15 Building "the Microsoft of Nonprofits" 137
Chapter 16 Building the Network 151
Chapter 17 Your Life Is a Mess 171
PART3 HITTING OUR STRIDE
Chapter 18 Putting Girls in Their Place--School! 181
Chapter 19 "Count Me In, Don" 193
Chapter 20 The Students of Cambodia 199
Chapter 21 The Network Goes into Overdrive 207
Chapter 22 Democracy in Action in India 214
Chapter 23 The Tsunami 219
Chapter 24 The Millionth Book 239
Epilogue The Next Chapter of My Adult Life 251
Acknowledgments 255
Index 259
