The incredible story of Iridium - the most complex satellite system ever built, the cell phone of the future and one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in American history - and one man's desperate race to save it
John Bloom is a veteran investigative journalist, a three-time finalist for the National Magazine Award and a Pulitzer Prize nominee. He is the author of nine books, including Evidence of Love, which won the Edgar Allan Poe Award. He lives in New York City.
[A] pacey business book... It's worth reading not just for the wild
ride that involves secretive Saudi Sheikhs, plucky terrorists,
never-say-die businessmen and Bill Clinton, but also as a reminder
of how vast businesses can be vastly dumb, how much success is down
to good fortune and why if you have tech stocks in your pension
fund you'd better make sure that they are the right ones... A
thrilling boom-to-bust corporate drama. The sooner someone turns it
into a film starring Bradley Cooper as Colussy, the better.
*The Sunday Times*
A prize-worthy example of the investigative genre... John Bloom has
achieved in Eccentric Orbits an admirable balance of the human and
the technological in what is at hear an age-old tale of one man's
triumph against apparently insuperable odds.
*Literary Review*
An inspiring history as well as an effective business thriller.
*New Scientist*
Eccentric Orbits not only offers good corporate drama, but it is an
enlightening narrative of how new communications infrastructures
often come about: with a lot of luck, government help and investors
who do not ask too many questions.
*The Economist*
Eccentric Orbits is a remarkable work. I had known about Iridium
but not about its fascinating history. John Bloom's writing style
is attractive and the level of detail is astonishing. This was a
page-turner for me!
*Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google*
Eccentric Orbits is both a novelistic thriller and a cautionary
tale, a page-turner about a reach for the heavens and a business
primer on a near-fatal fall back to the earth.
*Julian Guthrie, author of THE BILLIONAIRE AND THE MECHANIC*
Impeccably researched, and in smooth, easy prose, John Bloom
interweaves fascinating historical trivia about the space race,
satellites, and global communications with detail-filled
personality snapshots and cringingly revealing, often disturbingly
humorous, insights about the many ways big business can shoot
itself in the foot.
*John Brewer, former president and editor-in-chief, New York Times
Syndicate and News Service*
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