The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future

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Product Description
With a Plan for Reducing U.S. Oil Dependency

It’s never too late to top your personal best.

Now eighty years old, T. Boone Pickens is a legendary figure in the business world. Known as the “Oracle of Oil” because of his uncanny ability to predict the direction of fuel prices, he built Mesa Petroleum, one of the largest independent oil companies in the United States, from a $2,500 investment. In the 1980s, Pickens became a household name when he executed a series of unsolicited buyout bids for undervalued oil companies, in the process reinventing the notion of shareholders’ rights. Even his failures were successful in that they forced risk-averse managers to reconsider the way they did business.

When Pickens left Mesa at age sixty-eight after a spectacular downward spiral in the company’s profits, many counted him out. Indeed, what followed for him was a painful divorce, clinical depression, a temporary inability to predict the movement of energy prices, and the loss of 90 percent of his investing capital. But Pickens was far from out.

From that personal and professional nadir, Pickens staged one of the most impressive comebacks in the industry, turning his investment fund’s remaining $3 million into $8 billion in profit in just a few years. That made him, at age seventy-seven, the world’s second-highest-paid hedge fund manager. But he wasn’t done yet. Today, Pickens is making some of the world’s most colossal energy bets. If he has his way, most of America’s cars will eventually run on natural gas, and vast swaths of the nation’s prairie land will become places where wind can be harnessed for power generation. Currently no less bold than he was decades ago when he single-handedly transformed America’s oil industry, Pickens is staking billions on the conviction that he knows what’s coming. In this book, he spells out that future in detail, not only presenting a comprehensive plan for American energy independence but also providing a fascinating glimpse into key resources such as water—yet another area where he is putting billions on the line.

From a businessman who is extraordinarily humble yet is considered one of the world’s most visionary, The First Billion Is the Hardest is both a riveting account of a life spent pulling off improbable triumphs and a report back from the front of the global energy and natural-resource wars—of vital interest to anyone who has a stake in America’s future.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Good advice for America. September 3, 2008
21 out of 23 found this review helpful

Which is the better businessman? First the guy that starts with nothing, makes a bundle, never loses any of his money and therefore doesn't have to do it twice, or the person who makes a bundle, loses it, and then does it all over again? I won't try to argue either point. This may be one for the philosophers. Regardless, T. Boone Pickens falls into the latter group.

I've been familiar with Mr. Pickens for years. As a teacher of economics and marketing, I saw him mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Business Week, etc. Anyone studying manufacturing/energy knows his story. However, in The First Billion is the Hardest we're introduced not only to Mr. Boones back story, but his vision for the future, at least as that vision relates to energy. I, for one, think T. Boone Pickens is dead on target and absolutely correct when he says we can't drill our way out of the current crisis. We have to think our way out of it. We certainly got into the current mess by not thinking. Follow the "Booneisms" and you'll win every time.

The signs have been obvious for more than 30 years. America's energy policy has been short sighted to say the least. I do think that there is a reason for us to drill and explore new fields even though I understand that as far as "energy" is concerned we need to look to other solutions as Mr. Pickens points out. We mustn't forget that a barrel of crude oil isn't simply used for fuel. Yes, we get gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel, diesel, etc. from crude oil. But a large percent of a barrel of crude oil (about 55%?) goes for other uses. Petroleum based products are used everywhere. You can't sign a check (ink and the plastic in the pen), put on underwear (elastic and synthetic fibers) eat a salad (chemical fertilizers), buy a pair of safety lens glasses, without giving a nod to OPEC. The fact of the matter is that even if no foreign oil went to energy uses we'd still be beholding to the Middle East. Our economy along with every other economy in the world relies on petroleum to create a huge spectrum of products.

Mr. Pickens' solutions for the energy situation we find ourselves in are absolutely part of the solution to those problems. However, we need to drill if we want anything approaching independence from our current petroleum masters.

Sorry for the editorial.

The First Billion is the Hardest is an entertaining read. It is easy to see why this dynamic, thoughtful, and insightful man has managed to survive the ups and downs of the American marketplace. He continues to be a leader at a time when most of his peers have retired to a rocking chair.

This is a must read for any American interested in solving the energy crisis.

5 out of 5 stars

No Senior Moments for This Gentleman ! September 4, 2008
12 out of 15 found this review helpful

Having seen this gentleman on TV a lot in the last month or so, I was intrigued by his confident certainty that we could become energy independent quickly and easily. I kept wondering who in the world he was.

Reading his book, I now know that he is one of the most brilliant businessmen in our history. He has lived a jam-packed life full of business accomplishments, many of which have benefited all of us. At the age of 80, after much success and many personal heartaches, he's taking on our country's oil fiasco with a plan that I believe can work. Mr. Pickens' natural gas solution for cars seems like a brilliant way for us to become energy independent quickly, using our most abundant energy source.

I find this man to be one of the most inspiring and interesting Americans I have ever encountered. He has created success after success, and I trust the solutions he suggests for our country. This is an amazing book written by an inspiring American, whose life among other things, clearly demonstrates that chronological age is irrelevant.

4 out of 5 stars

Interesting read and a whole lot of gas and air (sorry, wind)....without the swift boating September 7, 2008
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

The subtitle of the book is a good indication as to why this book reads like a disjointed two mini-books that were patched together. However hard the author tries, the connections his narration attempts in connecting his rise (and fall and rise) to fame to his thoughts on energy plans comes across as forced, at best.

In the "reflections" theme, Pickens narrates in a very avuncular manner, the main events in his clearly illustrious oil&gas career...right from his Mesa days to his BP capital and Clean Energy Fuels (a stock which has been enjoying very robust performance in the past few weeks - coincidence or not). The events related to his mergers/acquisitions make a very interesting read, showing glimpses of a wide variety of characters in the form of CEOs, investment bankers, etc. Overall, this discussion is captivating and provides the reader with an interesting picture on the (relatively) earlier fragmented nature of the industry, thoughts on how companies should be valued (audited reserves), and even some actual trades he'd made. Pickens uses "Boonerisms" as a tagline to change topics or for chapters, and most are quite interesting and apt though sounding banal. There is a chapter on his 'management style' and thoughts on teams which is also a good read. One also gets a ringside view of the key people who are actually executing the strategies at his fund - so, a good clue on succession plans, perhaps.

The thread on energy plan is surprisingly a small section of the book (his website and recent TV ads have more details) and makes the well-known issues of US dependence on foreign oil, peak oil, need for alternative sources, etc. Even a casual observer of this field may not find any of the facts or hypotheses laid out new. The mixing of "oil and water" issues is a distraction to the main theme and given his investments in the field, very self-serving.

Republican energy wonks may actually be disappointed to see Pickens' list of myths on page 2 - on drilling in ANWAR, role of ethanol ("whoever sold this to Bush is an excellent salesman", he explains in a later chapter). Democrats' arguments on "Big Oil manipulating prices" also gets its myth status. For a lead funder of the (in)famous Swift Boat attacks on Kerry, Pickens come across as an equal-opportunity myth deflator. That is welcome. Perhaps thats the only redeeming quality of his energy plan - a sense of sanity, but not a whole lot of details. He does, however, put his money where his mouth is. Any reader interested in this field should keep a keen eye on position changes of the fund (using tickerspy.com, stockpickr.com, etc.).

Overall, an interesting read, but don't expect to develop dramatically new insights on the energy problem. His "reflections" do provide some interesting and worthwhile nuggets. One wishes if Pickens articulation of his energy plan and his reflections were treated separately - but then, he is not a person of patience but of action, and it shows in the book.

1 out of 5 stars

Don't Be Fooled By Pickens. You Better Educate Yourself. September 2, 2008
7 out of 54 found this review helpful

Don't be fooled by Pickens. First, throughout his career he has been seen as very controversial and many would view him as reckless. He only made his first real money by making an easy call -- investing in the Canadian oil sands and collecting extortionist fees that hedge funds allow. Understand that Pickens is on a massive PR campaign to sell Americans this wind power idea. He wants taxpayers to subsidize wind power that is so useless it will need natural gas and most likely nuclear power, not to mention an entirely new power grid. That is why he released this book which was most likely ghost-written.

Now as for his wind energy plan, I SUGGEST YOU ALL DO SOME RESEACCH. WHEN YOU DO YOU WILL SEE IT'S A SCAM. WHAT HE REALLY WANTS TO DO IS USE THIS WIND BS AS A WAY TO MAKE BILLIONS SELLING WATER TO NORTH TEXAS.
You can start by checking these links.

[...]

Search on Google and you will see what his plan is all about.

Face the facts. Wind power is a joke compared to most alternatives. Solar power should be the real focus of America.

As far as Warren Buffett endorsing this book, Warren you are a sell-out and I must conclude you are a dishonest crook. Maybe that is why you are friends with Bill Gates, King Crook of the world.

Of course, most Americans are too ignorant to realize what is going on.

As long as the public buys these empty books they will be written. Publishers know Americans are more interested in buying a book if the person is well-known, even if the book is a rehash of what other less known authors have written about.

Do yourself a favor and turn off the TV. The media is filled with lies and liars, all who stand to make money from fooling you. The worst is CNBC and FOX.

5 out of 5 stars

Motivating Story. You May Be Down But You're Never Out September 3, 2008
6 out of 10 found this review helpful

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