Description: To understand the magnitude of Bill Gates, one must understand the legions of people who are obsessed with him, in Silicon Valley and Seattle, on the Internet, in the media, and in Washington. In this brilliantly reported, hilarious and singular work of nonfiction, acclaimed journalist Gary Rivlin strips away the puffery surrounding Bill Gates and other titans of Silicon Valley. The result is a comic soap opera, a contemporary variation on Moby Dick, in which Queeg-like enemies such as Lawrence Ellison and Scott McNealy attempt to harpoon the Great White Whale of Seattle. They are joined in their plot to get Bill by a memorable array of players, including Silicon Valley attorney Gary Reback, consumer activist Ralph Nader, former Novell CEO Ray Noorda, Justice Department honcho Joel Klein, and a forgotten scientist named Gary Kildall, The Man Who Could Have Been Gates. Rivlin explores the world of those waging an online war against Microsoft, as well as those who revere the billionaire with bad hair.

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