How do people—from comics to CEOs—grow little ideas into commercial, money-making staples? They experiment with little bets, John Allen Nelson explains. His enthusiastic narration keeps the listener’s attention on this exploration of the process of taking small steps that lead to creative business breakthroughs. Nelson strays into the nasal tones familiar to listeners of business-related audiobooks. But by deliberately using a varied pace and alternating emphasis throughout the array of quotations and dialogue, Nelson makes up for some of the standard fare to be expected from this genre. He pronounces each word crisply, pausing to distinguish between exposition, facts, historical overviews, and personal anecdotes.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2011
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
The readers can't compensate for the unbearably pompous prose style of this extended parable about corporate politics and strategy.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
An engaging experience.
This audiobook deals with everything from the historic investments that led to world-dominating companies, such as the Chinese technology company Tencent, to predicting the products and services of the future. An audiobook of such complexity requires a narrator who can handle the task, and David Thorpe manages it admirably. Thorpe uses his masterly voice, which sits somewhere between that of a BBC World Service presenter and an easy, relaxed Home Counties accent, to guide listeners through a sea of numbers, acronyms, and terms such as YP, RPS, and market cap. Rather than simply reading, Thorpe presents the work with excitement and enthusiasm, and this enjoyment transfers to the listener.
An engaging experience.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2026
Duration: 13 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781668103425
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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