Larry Ellison
When Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, was in college, someone told him he would look back on his school days as the best years of his life. He replied with the following:
“If that’s true, I’m going to kill myself right now.”
College cannot be the best time of your life. Are you fucking kidding me?
Even if that were remotely true (it’s not!), why would you ever tell yourself that?
So you can spend the rest of your life being sad, keep coming back to campus for football games, and reminisce about your college days until you die?
Larry Ellison dropped out of UIUC after his sophomore year. But of course, UIUC lists him as a “notable alumnus.”
The appendix keeps the examples, guides, profiles, and source trails close. The book gives them sequence, context, and a way to turn curiosity into action.