Idea Man; Killer Story

 

After reading Bill Gates' autobiography, I thought it only fair to hear from his cofounder, Paul Allen, who sadly passed away in 2018. He wrote this book in 2011, and I was pretty impressed with how much he predicted, even back in the 70s: everyone carrying around their own calculator sized computer, AI, and streaming services surpassing cable TV. He was a bit off the mark about print books going away (he did say in 20 years, so he still has six years to go, but I don't think it's going to happen that soon). He truly was an idea man. 

Paul left Microsoft in 1983 after a health scare made him realize he wanted to live his life, not be cooped up in an office 20 hours a day having Bill yell at him. He had his issues with Bill but he also admitted that he brought out the best in him and he never had another partnership so successful. 

Paul wisely hung onto the majority of his Microsoft stock, so when it went public in 1986 he was a multi-millionaire overnight. Then a multi-billionaire. He used his wealth to enjoy his life, and even though it was short, it sounded like he really did pack the most into it that he could. He bought sports teams, yachts, and funded museums, charities, and commercial spacecraft. He seemed to have an interest in a million different things and spread his money around. It was a fascinating book. 

One might think, given my penchant for true crime books, that I also love true crime television. Not so. While I do occasionally enjoy a well made documentary on true crime, I find the TV shows so repetitive. It seems like it's always spouses cheating and killing each other. It depresses me that there are so many murders out there. 

At any rate, Claire was a producer for 48 Hours and hunted down stories for the show. She would attend trials and try to set up interviews with the main players, pitching it to the network. It sounds like a nightmare job to me, to be honest. Going up to complete strangers who are most likely grieving in some way and trying to set up an interview? No thank you.  

The cases she wrote about were interesting enough, but the real story was the behind the scenes details about how she researched and procured the interviews, pitched the show, and everything in between. It was interesting, but it didn't change my opinion about true crime TV.