The Poor Refugee Who Invented Patek Philippe
An evening pause: The history of business is too often ignored, even though it is the lifeblood of our modern technological society. Here is just one example.
Hat tip Cotour.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
There used to be a GREAT magazine named “Audacity”… if memory serves, it was a joint venture between American Heritage and Forbes (back when Forbes was worth reading). It was full of wonderful stories like this. I miss it.
Stephen Fleming: Are you thinking of Invention & Technology, published by American Heritage and Forbes? It did these kinds of stories, and I know because I used to write for it.
I remember the Fuller Brush man:
https://youtu.be/00SXzMPalEI
Cotour–
–lived in Florida briefly in the 1980’s and met an old-timer door-to-door “roach powder” salesman, who made very good money.
pivoting…
Door to Door
https://youtu.be/uYQdXvo469c
1:30:44
The story of Bill Porter [1932-2013] who was born with cerebral palsy and went on to become the top salesman for Watkins.