Tracy Kidder

Tracy Kidder, master of the nonfiction narrative and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic The Soul of the New Machine and the bestselling Mountains Beyond Mountains, presents the inspiring story of Kayak.com founder Paul English, a kinetic, unconventional inventor and entrepreneur.

“A Truck Full of Money: One Man’s Quest to Recover from Great Success provides
a clear view into the strange and extraordinarily well-financed world of software engineering and commerce, where individual genius and artistry mingle often with
astonishing vulgarity and greed.  We explore the unknown spaces of the complex workings of the mind of a brilliant software engineer, and this new decade of brutally fast business technology, stunning privilege, and one mans efforts to put his fortune to humane use.” — Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

Growing up in working-class Boston, Paul English discovers the perfect medium for
his talents the first time he sees a computer. Despite suffering from what is later
diagnosed as bipolar disorder, he begins his pilgrim journey through the surreal ups and downs of our brave new world. Relating to the Internet as if it was an extension of his own mind, English discovers that he has a gift for building creative teams of individuals. His innovative management style, rapid success, and  innate sense of fair play inspires intense loyalty. A colleague observes: Some day this boys going to get hit by a truck full of money, and Im going to be standing beside him. When English does make a fortune  as co-founder of the travel website Kayak.com (which sold for almost two billion dollars)  his first concern is how to give it away.

With the power of a consummate storyteller, Tracy Kidder casts a fresh, critical and often humorous eye on the way new inventions and new money are reshaping our
Culture. A Truck Full of Money is a unique portrait of an irresistibly endearing man who is indefatigable, utterly original, and wonderfully unpredictable.

Mitch Jeserich, Host and Producer of KPFA’s Letters and Politics, is a veteran broadcast journalist. He got his start as KPFAs California State Political Reporter in Sacramento before going to Washington DC to cover the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court between 2003 and 2006. In 2009 Mitch launched a pilot program called Letters from Washington, chronicling the first 100 days of the Obama administration, which became Letters & Politics.