Books Set in the United States: California: Silicon Valley

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, by John Carreyrou (2018)

In 2003, Elizabeth Holmes, a college dropout, founded Theranos, a biotech company that was revolutionize the way blood tests would be analyzed.  Elizabeth had a phobia of needles, thus devised a novel idea for blood testing using only a drop or two of blood ~ a finger prick instead of a venous draw.

Elizabeth Holmes came from a wealthy and connected family.  While still a student at Stanford, she took a class on controlled drug-delivery devices from Channing Robertson, a leader in the chemical engineering department at the school.  She convinced him that she had a new idea for a method testing blood.  She further convinced him, and many other prominent people, to serve on the Board of Trustees of a new company she would create. Over the years, her board would include such dignitaries as former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger.

Using her connections, Elizabeth was quickly able to raise more than $700M from investors for her start-up company.  She also convinced Walgreens drugstore and the Safeway grocery chain to invest, with the promise that they would have exclusive rights to utilize her device as a part of their wellness programs.  Unfortunately, a few drops of blood were not sufficient to run the range of routine blood diagnostics.  Blood tests using her devices routinely gave false results, seriously putting peoples lives in danger.

Elizabeth hired Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, to be her number one executive at the company. He was a hot tempered manager.  Together, the two created a very toxic work environment. Elizabeth and Sunny demanded complete loyalty.  Anyone questioning methodology would be either marginalized or fired.

Elizabeth was obsessed with Steve Jobs, and soon began to dress all in black, in imitation of Jobs.  She lured away several of Apple employees to work at Theranos.  While initially excited about working in a biotech company, the former Apple employees soon became disillusioned and left.

The book describes how Elizabeth and Sunny deceived potential investors as to the efficacy of the technology.

In 2015, the author, an investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal, got a tip about the goings-on at Theranos. He quickly began asking questions. When he seemed to get too close to the truth, Elizabeth turned her legal team on him and his paper.  She was able to hire one of the most prestigious lawfirm that threatened to destroy both the author and the paper.  This tactic had worked on employees deemed to be disloyal. The paper, however, refused to back down.

Tyler Schultz, grandson of George Schultz, briefly worked at Theranos.  When he became disillusioned by the company, he was threatened by the company's legal team.  They tried to strong-arm him into signing various disclosures after he left the company's employment.  They even used his famous grandfather as leverage.  Unfortunately, this caused a riff between George and Tyler that appears not to have been repaired.

Theranos was exposed, and as of the publication of the book, Elizabeth and Sunny have been indicted on criminal charges.  In addition, both have been involved in civil suits.

This book reads like a crime story.

Read: January 30, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in the United States: Idaho

Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover (2018)

The author, Tara Westover, comes from a very dysfunctional family, whose father is a fundamentalist who distrusts the government, public schools and the medical establishment.  He had built a bunker stocked with provisions, including fuel, so he will be ready when the End of Days arrives.

Tara is the youngest of seven children born into an extreme Mormon fundamentalist family.  Most of the Westovers were born at home so as to avoid the hospitals.  Her mother was forced into becoming a midwife, albeit unlicensed.  She also cooks herbs and essential oils as home remedies to treat any and all ailments, including life-threatening burns.

Tara’s father is clearly the head of the house.  What he says it the absolute law.  Tara’s mother meekly defers to her husband.  The father runs a junkyard and expects all his children to join in the family business.  A couple of the older sons “escaped” to the outside world, but with the exception of one brother, did not pursue a formal education.

Her childhood is fraught with traumas, from life-threatening car accidents, to serious burns and an abusive older brother.  How she survived her childhood is a miracle.

Tara learned to read from poring over the Book of Mormon and writings of the Mormon forefathers.  After she decided she wanted to go to college, she had to study on her own to learn enough mathematics to score well on the ACT exam.

At age 17, she first finds herself at BYU in an environment entirely foreign to her.  Everything she sees goes against what she learned in her family’s world.  She has such limited worldly experience, that she didn’t ever realize that she was supposed to read and study her art text book.  College life is all the more difficult because Tara fails to tell her professors and roommate that she never attended school.  When asked about her high school, Tara evades the question.  It would take years before Tara is comfortable enough in her own skin to acknowledged her upbringing.

I found this to be a riveting book.

Read:  January 22, 2019

Books Set in Europe: England

The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory (2009)

The White Queen is a historical novel about Elizabeth Woodville, a widowed commoner who married the Yorkish King Edward IV.  The novel recounts the period in England near the end of the War of the Roses, the fight for the crown between the Lancasters and the Yorks.  The symbol for the Lancasters was the red rose; and that of the Yorks a white rose, hence the moniker of the struggle between the two families.

Elizabeth’s first husband, John Grey, was killed in battle fighting for the Lancasters. She was left with two young sons, so she set her sights on the young Edward, the victorious York king.  The married in secret (a fact), and it appears to have been a true love match.  They would ultimately go on to have 10 children together, including two Princes of the Tower.

After their marriage is made public, Elizabeth is made Edward’s Queen consort. She immediately begins to place her family members (formerly supporters of the Lancasters) into positions of power, much to the dismay of Edward’s extended family and supporters.

The novel is told through the eyes of Elizabeth.  The fight between the two families is not over during Edward’s reign. Battles continue.  Elizabeth is constantly worried about the fate of her growing family as her husband, the King, is off fighting to keep his crown.

After Edward’s death, the crown should pass to the eldest son ~ the 12 year-old Edward V.  He is placed under the protection of his Uncle Richard in the Tower.  As history tells us, the circumstances of the young prince remains shrouded in mystery.  Was he killed on orders of his uncle, who later became Richard III?

In the author’s notes following the novel, the author provides a brief summary of what is known about the life and times of Elizabeth Woodville and her sons, the Princes of the Tower.

I enjoyed the first part of this novel, but got dragged down somewhere in the middle. It doesn’t help that there were so many essential characters named Elizabeth, Edward and George involved with the royal court during this period of history.

Read: January 7, 2019

3 Stars