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Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos, With an Introduction by Walter Isaacson Hardcover – November 17, 2020

by Walter Isaacson (Introduction), Jeff Bezos (Contributor)

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In Jeff Bezos's own words, the core principles and philosophy that have guided him in creating, building, and leading Amazon and Blue Origin.

In this collection of Jeff Bezos's writings—his unique and strikingly original annual shareholder letters, plus numerous speeches and interviews that provide insight into his background, his work, and the evolution of his ideas—you'll gain an insider's view of the why and how of his success. Spanning a range of topics across business and public policy, from innovation and customer obsession to climate change and outer space, this book provides a rare glimpse into how Bezos thinks about the world and where the future might take us.

Written in a direct, down-to-earth style, Invent and Wander offers readers a master class in business values, strategy, and execution:

The importance of a Day 1 mindset
Why "it's all about the long term"
What it really means to be customer obsessed
How to start new businesses and create significant organic growth in an already successful company
Why culture is an imperative
How a willingness to fail is closely connected to innovation
What the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us
Each insight offers new ways of thinking through today's challenges—and more importantly, tomorrow's—and the never-ending urgency of striving ahead, never resting on one's laurels. Everyone from CEOs of the Fortune 100 to entrepreneurs just setting up shop to the millions who use Amazon's products and services in their homes or businesses will come to understand the principles that have driven the success of one of the most important innovators of our time.
Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos is co-published by PublicAffairs, an imprint of Perseus Books, and Harvard Business Review Press.

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Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos, With an Introduction by Walter Isaacson

jeff bezos, amazon, creating, building, principles, philosophy, business, success, leadership, lead

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A Wall Street Journal Bestseller

About the Author

About Contributors Jeff Bezos and Walter Isaacson:
This book is a collection of writings and public statements by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon. Bezos is also the founder of aerospace company Blue Origin, which is working to lower the cost and increase the safety of spaceflight, and he is owner of the Washington Post. In 2018, he founded the Bezos Day One Fund, which focuses on funding non-profits that help homeless families, and on creating a network of tier-one preschools in low-income communities. Bezos graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University in 1986, and was named TIME Magazine's Person of the Year in 1999.

Walter Isaacson is the author of several books, including The Innovators and Leonardo da Vinci.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard Business Review Press; 1st edition (November 17, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1647820715
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1647820718
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.74 x 5.08 x 7.76 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #47,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #228 in Leadership & Motivation
- #254 in Entrepreneurship (Books)
- #1,579 in Memoirs (Books)

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Walter Isaacson
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Walter Isaacson is writing a biography of Elon Musk. He is the author of The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race; Leonardo da Vinci; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution; and Kissinger: A Biography. He is also the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He is a Professor of History at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chairman of CNN, and editor of Time magazine.
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Jeff Bezos
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Customers find the book insightful, with one review highlighting how it crystallizes Bezos's ideals and thinking. Moreover, the writing is well-crafted, with one customer noting it's a great easy read about Amazon. Additionally, customers appreciate the book's efficiency, describing how it drove extraordinary success. The material quality receives positive feedback, with one review praising its well-structured arrangement of publicly available materials.

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61 customers mention "Insight"53 positive8 negative

Customers find the book insightful and inspiring, with one customer highlighting how it crystallizes Bezos's ideals and thinking.

"This was a great read. Bezos is a wicked smart dude. He quotes Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham, Buffett’s teacher at Columbia...." Read more

"Worth reading. Interesting and quick read. Very inspiring and impressive on how much Amazon has done in such a short period." Read more

"...and reflections, offering a unique perspective on innovation, leadership, and the future of technology during the time when Jeff Bezos was the CEO..." Read more

"...Although this book does provide good insights into Mr. Bezo's childhood and family life, it is a shame the author didn't (or wasn't allowed to) mine..." Read more

57 customers mention "Readability"53 positive4 negative

Customers find the book readable and well-written, with one customer noting it's an easy read about Amazon.

"This was a great read. Bezos is a wicked smart dude. He quotes Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham, Buffett’s teacher at Columbia...." Read more

"Worth reading. Interesting and quick read. Very inspiring and impressive on how much Amazon has done in such a short period." Read more

"...It includes an introduction by Walter Isaacson...." Read more

"...This fact and the second reason combine to make this an interesting book, but not the exceptional narrative it could have been had it taken a more..." Read more

4 customers mention "Efficiency"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's efficiency, noting how it drove extraordinary success, with one customer highlighting its operational effectiveness.

"...a figure and more about understanding the principles that drove extraordinary success. Definitely recommend adding this to your reading list!" Read more

"...(customer obsession, low fixed costs, operational efficiency) that would later be his reasons for success." Read more

"A great easy read about Amazon and How Jeff’s idea and persistence came to fruition...." Read more

"Jeff’s bezos rocks, he has good intentions. Works hard and helps other. He’s very inspirational and admirable. I’ll chase my dreams." Read more

4 customers mention "Material quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the material quality of the book, with one customer noting its well-structured arrangement of publicly available materials.

"Nothing new, but a nice curated collection...." Read more

"This is a well constructed anthology containing all of Jeff B’s annual letters to amazon.com shareholders, along with selected speeches to the..." Read more

"Well structured Arrangement of publicly available materials..." Read more

"Great intro from Walter and nice compilation of materials..." Read more

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Just some dude
How do you spell profit? P-R-O-P-H-E-T.
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2024
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This was a great read. Bezos is a wicked smart dude. He quotes Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham, Buffett’s teacher at Columbia. Lots of great leadership, business and life wisdom in this book.
Reading about the origin of Amazon Web Services (something near and dear to my heart after working in tech for a couple years) was fascinating.

AWS sales grew faster than marketplace sales. Amazon had no direct competitor in the cloud for 7 years, which is unheard of.

He also goes into reading balance sheets at one point which was really interesting. I didn't read this book expecting a mini masterclass in valuing companies so that was a bonus.

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Lindsay
Great read
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2024
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Worth reading. Interesting and quick read. Very inspiring and impressive on how much Amazon has done in such a short period.

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Alex Covtun
Insightful and inspiring collection from Jeff Bezos
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2024
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Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos offers an incredible look into the mind of one of the most influential entrepreneurs of our time. The book brings together Bezos’ writings, speeches, and reflections, offering a unique perspective on innovation, leadership, and the future of technology during the time when Jeff Bezos was the CEO of Amazon.

Overall, the collection is both insightful and inspiring. Bezos’ thoughts on long-term thinking, failure, and customer obsession are deeply thought-provoking, and they provide valuable lessons for anyone interested in business, entrepreneurship, or personal growth.

All in all, the book is a must-read for anyone looking to gain insights from one of the world’s most successful business leaders.

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Alex Covtun

Insightful and inspiring collection from Jeff Bezos

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2024
Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos offers an incredible look into the mind of one of the most influential entrepreneurs of our time. The book brings together Bezos’ writings, speeches, and reflections, offering a unique perspective on innovation, leadership, and the future of technology during the time when Jeff Bezos was the CEO of Amazon.

Overall, the collection is both insightful and inspiring. Bezos’ thoughts on long-term thinking, failure, and customer obsession are deeply thought-provoking, and they provide valuable lessons for anyone interested in business, entrepreneurship, or personal growth.

All in all, the book is a must-read for anyone looking to gain insights from one of the world’s most successful business leaders.

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Steve Anderson
Hidden in Plain Sight Lessons on how Bezos Grows Amazon
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2020
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Over the last few years, I've had the opportunity to do a deep dive research into Amazon to ask how did Jeff Bezos grow Amazon to the size it is today?

And I'm excited to share with you this new book, Invent & Wander, the collected writings of Jeff Bezos. It includes an introduction by Walter Isaacson. This book is a compilation of all of the Letters to Shareholder Jeff Bezos has written over the last 22 years. Part 2 includes additional information and transcripts from interviews Bezos has given over the years.

The Amazon.com website went live in July of 1994. Bezos began by selling books online, something that hadn't been contemplated before using this new thing at the time, called the internet. After great initial success, in May of 1997, Amazon filed for an initial public offering (IPO) to raise additional capital to support their already fast growth. The initial stock price was $18 per share, and they raised about $54 million Amazon would use to fund their continued growth. If you had invested $10,000 in 1997, it would be worth about $12 million – a phenomenal 120,000% growth.

Jeff Bezos wrote his first 1997 letter to shareholders published in April of 1998. Bezos wrote a new letter every year for the last 22. He renamed shareholders to shareowners in a subsequent letter.
Bezos shared his secret sauce for growing Amazon – hidden in plain sight – in each of these letters. The best way to highlight what you will get out of reading these letters is to highlight what Isaacson said in his introduction. "Here are the five that I think are most important:"

Focus on the long term. Bezos talked about this in the 1997 letter. It's what I call, Apply Long Term thinking. At Amazon, we will make decisions based on long term investment. Meaning we're not going to do short term Wall Street quarterly earnings thing we look to the future and are planning and investing for the future, number one number two.

Focus relentlessly and passionately on the customer. Bezos calls this Obsess over customers and invent on their behalf.

Avoid PowerPoint and slide presentations. It is interesting Isaacson included this as a key point. I believe this is one of the keys to Amazon's ability to continue to invent. This process has come to be called the 6-Page Narrative, which is described in the 2017 Letter. In 2004 Bezos send an email to his senior leadership team called the S-team, and said, No longer will PowerPoint presentations be allowed in our senior leadership team meetings. Instead, people will write a narrative and hand it out at the document at the beginning of the meeting. I believe it is one of those critical components to Amazon's invention toolkit they continue to use today.

Focus on big decisions. Or, what I call, generate high-velocity decisions. Bezos goes into detail in the 2005 Letter. As an organization grows, it tends to slow down decision making to the point that it negatively impacts growth. So to continue growing, you need to be making decisions quickly. He identifies two types of decisions, Type one and Type two. Type one decisions are big bet the farm decisions, and they should be made slowly deliberately with lots of data. Most decisions in large companies are not Type one decision. They are Type two. Type two decisions are easier to change. You can change your mind and decide to change directions. You can turn around and go back through that door, make another decision, change direction.

Hire the right people. In the 1998 Letter, Bezos describes three questions to ask about anyone interviewing for a job. 1) Do you admire this person? 2) Will they raise the average level of effectiveness of the group they are entering? 3) What other dimension do they bring to the job besides skills and experience?

So this is just a small synopsis of the book. I recommend you read the shareowners Letters (Part 1), like a book. Then start reading through Part 2 and listen as Bezos adds depth and dimension to the principle he shares in the Letters.

Be sure to take notes along the way. There is a lot to learn.

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Henry B. Davis IV
Although inventive, I wish this book wandered more deeply into what makes Mr. Bezos and Amazon tick.
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2021
Verified Purchase
This is an interesting book for a couple of reasons. First, Jeff Bezos is an interesting person who, after finding (or more accurately making) his niche, has become a wildly successful businessman. Although this book does provide good insights into Mr. Bezo's childhood and family life, it is a shame the author didn't (or wasn't allowed to) mine this vein of literary ore more fully. This fact and the second reason combine to make this an interesting book, but not the exceptional narrative it could have been had it taken a more biographical approach. Second, the first half of this book is nothing but Amazon shareholder letters from 1997 through 2019 reproduced in their entirety. This makes for horribly repetitive, dull reading. Don't mistake me, there is great content in these letters from which a talented author could weave together a fascinating narrative of corporate growth and societal change for a highly innovative company. Too bad the author leaves this rich literary vein untapped as well. While I recommend this book to anyone interested in innovation, business strategy, or specifically in the Amazon corporation; I have to wish someone will use this work and other material to actually accomplish what this narrative unsuccessfully attempts - providing greater insight into what makes both Mr. Bezos and Amazon tick (what drives them).

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Top reviews from other countries

Spiro Koulouris
Good read
Reviewed in Canada on February 27, 2021
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A inspiring read and deeper dive into Jeff Bezos. Always interesting perspectives and good businsss lessons that will stand the test of time.

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Isabelle
The maker of the great good!!!
Reviewed in Australia on June 15, 2021
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The best biography book that I’ve ever read, so genuine which completed changed my view towards Jeff and the future of our universe. This guy is not only a super genius but also a charity scientist who paved the way for our grandchildren to unleash the unlimited inner space resources. We should all be grateful to him (for building the road to space) and big companies with a long-range mission statement like Amazon. For this, I’ll forever be loyal to Amazon and Bezos. I recommend this book to whoever is interested in living a meaningful life and making small contribution to the society on our own. Besides, Jeff writes beautifully!!

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JR
Copy-pasted
Reviewed in France on December 26, 2020
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Can hardly call this a book. Could have been consolidated by a 5 year old. Nothing new. Nothing that is not freely available.

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Ankita
a good book
Reviewed in India on March 20, 2025
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More letters than actual story but good read overall. Few things are repeated ,ore than 3 times in whole book.

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Consumer
Awesome book
Reviewed in Germany on November 18, 2021
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A deep analysis of Jeff's thoughts and newsletters. I'll recommend book to anyone who wants to learn about the history of Amazon and its visionary leader.

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Insightful and inspiring collection from Jeff Bezos

Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars How do you spell profit? P-R-O-P-H-E-T.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and inspiring collection from Jeff Bezos

Insightful and inspiring collection from Jeff Bezos

Images in this review

5.0 out of 5 stars Hidden in Plain Sight Lessons on how Bezos Grows Amazon

3.0 out of 5 stars Although inventive, I wish this book wandered more deeply into what makes Mr. Bezos and Amazon tick.

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Good read

5.0 out of 5 stars The maker of the great good!!!

1.0 out of 5 stars Copy-pasted

5.0 out of 5 stars a good book

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book

How do you spell profit? P-R-O-P-H-E-T.

Great read

Insightful and inspiring collection from Jeff Bezos

Hidden in Plain Sight Lessons on how Bezos Grows Amazon

Although inventive, I wish this book wandered more deeply into what makes Mr. Bezos and Amazon tick.

Good read

The maker of the great good!!!

Copy-pasted

a good book

Awesome book