Staff Picks

1."Aspen Cooks" by The Thrift Shop of Aspen
2."The History of Aspen" Sarah Barlow-Perez
3."The Elephant Whisperer, My Life with the Herd in the African Wild" by Anthony Lawrence
4."Loving What Is" by Byron Katie
5."The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
6."In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" by Daniel Mueenuddin
7."Sanctuaries in the Snow" by David Wood
8."The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides
9."Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
10."Raylan" by Elmore Leonard

    
Reveiw

‘Beyond Tallulah: How Sam Wyly Became America’s Boldest Big-Time Entrepreneur’
by Dennis Hamilton
To those of us who know Sam Wyly as the quiet and genial owner (along with his wife Cheryl) of Explore Booksellers it is sometimes hard to imagine him as the bold entrepreneur and business innovator that this book demonstrates that he so clearly is. “Beyond Tallullah” expands on the themes and material that Sam presented in his own book, “1000 Dollars and an Idea,” and also gives a more in-depth perspective of Sam’s upbringing, family history, and business accomplishments.
 The title arises from an experience in Sam’s early life when he was playing football for his high school alma mater Delhi Hi (sic) in Louisiana. As related in the book, the chief rival of the Delhi Bears was the Tallulah Trojans. And since, of course, the most intense rivalries are those with one’s neighbors, to lose to them was to discredit the entire season, no matter how good it was. (As someone who was also brought up in the deep south and educated in that fiery crucible known as “Southern football,” I found this part of the book to be particularly interesting.) Not to give it away, but when Delhi Hi did ultimately triumph over those wastrels down the road in Tallulah (I’m sure they are all perfectly nice people), it presented Sam with the big question: “Now what?” Sam answered that question for himself and all of us by getting on the road to becoming “America’s Boldest Big-Time Entrepreneur” and at the same time became one of the foremost leaders in modern business today.
 This book that is not just a biography of a man who made good by dint of genius and good luck; it is also the history of an American family that would not allow itself to be undone by the Depression and raised their children to be forthright, hardworking and to trust their own judgement. “Beyond Tallulah” could also be a template for those who wish to try their own hand at becoming a big-time entrepreneur, but be wary, and remember Sam’s admonition, “If you don’t know who you are, becoming an entrepreneur is an expensive way to find out.”     

 — Mark Billingsley