Sex and the Single Zillionaire

1.8 years ago, I took a close look at Tom Perkins as I covered his plenary discussion at the BIO 2004 conference in San Francisco as a newspaper reporter. He was very charismatic and gracious, and even a word "Well..." exhibited how sexy he really was. At that time, I didn't really calculate his age, but was recently stunned to learn he is 74 when I read the book review of this book in the New York Times. Although he lives in a different material world from mine, his novel describing the main character Steven's struggle to find the right woman and the series of disappointments hit home. I was surprised to read his line "I am still looking for Jessie" in Acknowledgments. His acute observation towards Jessie, the executive producer of the reality TV, was very informative to me about what a charismatic man like Tom Perkins would look for in a life partner. Bravo to his friendship dedicating his book to Danielle Steel, an editor of the book and his "amicably" divorced ex-wife.

What a fun read! Tom Perkins captures dreams and many emotions in the book's characters. They amplify the multitude of love's trails with anguish, grief, quest, discovery, sex, family..... He has also peppered and enlarged the story with descriptions and references to places, food, fashion, art, even an investment term - Green Shoe or seeing a green flash... I trust this is the "maiden voyage" with more stories to follow.

From http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/2006/02/book_review_sex.html With a title like Sex and the Single Zillionaire, it's either going to be really good or really bad. This isn't my typical genre of mental floss, but since it is the first novel written by Tom Perkins, the co-founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, I decided it couldn't be missed. The dust cover got me started nicely with Rupert Murdoch weighing in with "Fun, fast - a great read!" and Newsweek commenting "Loved the sex scenes." When Amy saw me pick it up last night, she said, "Tom Perkins - isn't that Danielle Steel's ex-husband?" I read 50 pages last night and when I went to bed, I thought "uh oh, this is going to be a really bad book." I settled down on the couch this afternoon and ripped through the rest of it. When I finished, I agreed with Newsweek and had a smile on my face (although I didn't light up a cigarette - yes - that's an inside joke - you'll have to read the book to get that one.) It turned out to be really good for a first novel of this particular genre! If you like your mental floss with lots of fluff, beautiful men and women, luxurious settings artfully described, a light plot, some primary character development (but not too much), all written with a mega-wealth twist, you'll enjoy this. If you just want to find out how Tom Perkins writes sex scenes, you'll also enjoy it.

I just added this writer to my list of favorites, including but not limited to, Gerry Spence, Laurence Durrell, George Bernard Shaw, and Somerset Maughn. Bought two more for gifts. You will too, and may even vicariously enjoy the.......

I wasn't sure what to expect from an author who is famous in business, but who had never written fiction. This is a wonderful book! It is fast and humorous, the character development is excellent and the romance totally believable. The author says Danielle Steel was an editor, so the novel may appeal to her fans but I think men will find it equally interesting, entertaining and a real page turner. Kathleen in San Francisco