The First Billion Is the Hardest

on the money.  In easy and colorful language he tells us where we are going wrong and what we must do about it.  The country should listen to him — now!” —Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway “It is inspiring to see Boone Pickens tackling the big issues, daring himself to think bigger, putting forward wind, water and energy ideas that are nothing less than paradigm busters. This absorbing and illuminating book shows why Boone has been more successful than just about all his competitors, and, more crucially, why the problem of resource scarcity may not be as insoluble as some think.” —Jeffrey Immelt, CEO, General Electric “Boone Pickens was among the first to grasp that corporations can be marvelous catalysts for progress if individual investors are given a say in what their priorities should be.  Today, as humanity faces resource scarcity and dwindling supplies of cheap energy, the responsibility that has devolved to entrepreneurs, and the investors who back them, has never been more immense.  Yet, in recounting his own story of comeback after comeback and tackling some of history's biggest oil, wind and water projects, Boone shows that sometimes all it takes is rejecting the ‘usual’ and striking out across virgin territory.  In that sense, Boone is a pioneer, and this is a pioneer’s story.  Even now, the man they call the Oracle of Oil is blazing new paths that may, indeed, lead us out of the predicament we find ourselves in.” —Carl Icahn, Chairman, Icahn & Co., Inc.