{"id":4161,"date":"2010-12-31T12:54:27","date_gmt":"2010-12-31T22:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tradingheroes.com\/?p=4161"},"modified":"2025-07-30T00:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T07:35:15","slug":"book-review-the-first-billion-is-the-hardest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tradingheroes.com\/book-review-the-first-billion-is-the-hardest\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The First Billion is the Hardest"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you buy something through one of the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.<\/div><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A couple of weeks ago, I read The First Billion is the Hardest:Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future<\/a> <\/em>by T. Boone Pickens.<\/p>\n

Well, I didn't actually read it…I listened to the audio book.<\/p>\n

Thomas Boone Pickens Jr. (better known as Boone) is the legendary founder of what would eventually become Mesa Petroleum, one of the largest independent oil companies in the world.<\/p>\n

During his time at Mesa, he attempted and completed takeover bids of other oil companies in order to strengthen Mesa's position in the market.<\/p>\n

During some restructuring at Mesa, the management effectively gave Boone the boot and he decided that he was done with the oil industry.<\/p>\n

What he did next surprised me.\u00a0 He took his knowledge of the dynamics of the oil industry as well has his knowledge of corporate mergers and acquisitions and started a hedge fund, BP Capital Management.<\/p>\n

He did well has a hedge fund manager and it was one of his greatest comebacks.<\/p>\n

An interesting investment that Pickens made was in water.<\/p>\n

He bought the subsurface water rights to 200,000 acres of land in Roberts County, Texas.<\/p>\n

That initial purchase of $75 million is now said to be worth $1 billion.<\/p>\n

He sees water as another commodity that will be in short supply in years to come.<\/p>\n

I really liked this book.\u00a0 It was just interesting to learn how he made, then lost, then made a fortune.<\/p>\n

Beyond that however, are his insights into the energy markets and where we need to be going from here.<\/p>\n

He gives a lot of money to his alma mater, Oklahoma State at Stillwater, in addition to many other charities.<\/p>\n

I respect his promotion of responsible outdoor stewardship and he has an amazing Quail hunting ranch called Mesa Vista<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That may seem like a contradiction of terms, but he helps to preserve and regulate the quail population on his ranch as well as improve and protect the natural habitat.<\/p>\n

The only negative thing that I would have to say about this book is that he sings the praises of natural gas waaaay too much, especially towards the end.<\/p>\n

I think he got a little senile towards the end of the book because it seemed like every other sentence talked about natural gas.<\/p>\n

Is it a great alternative fuel?<\/p>\n

Yes.<\/p>\n

Does he have a large stake in it because he believes in it?<\/p>\n

Of course!<\/p>\n

So I guess he is going to mention it a lot, but at one point, I was thinking: “Dude, we get the point!”<\/p>\n

He does promote other alternative energy sources like wind and water based technologies but his focus is primarily natural gas.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, this is a great book and I would highly recommend it.<\/p>\n

It is up there with How to be Rich<\/a><\/em> by J. Paul Getty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What can you learn from one of America’s greatest energy men? Plenty. <\/p>\n

Pickens went from successful oil man to hedge fund manager and lost a couple of fortunes in the process. To find out more about what you can learn from him, check out this post. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2022,"featured_media":4162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204239],"tags":[734],"class_list":["post-4161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trading-education","tag-trading-books","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"yoast_head":"\nBook Review: The First Billion is the Hardest - Trading Heroes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I listened to the audiobook version of this book and here's what I thought of it. 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