Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos is an innovator of the 21st century. He is presented by Bill Gates as one of the greatest pioneers and a visionary in many respects, in so far as he developed the website Amazon.com which is now famous worldwide and enables people to have better access to books. Contrary to other e-businesses which suffered from the crisis at the beginning of the century, his risky bets turned into outstanding achievements and his company managed to overcome difficulties and improve its profits. Bill Gates praises

him for his legacy: he marvels at Jeff Bezos’s imaginative and daring spirit, and admires his last project, the Kindle, even comparing its creator to Gutenberg who, just like Bezos, revolutionized people’s access to books.

Bill Gates portrays Jeff Bezos as a hero of modern times. According to Gates, Bezos succeeded

in developing Amazon at a time when the Internet was only taking its first steps.

The author pays tribute to his fellow pioneer of new technology and looks up to him as he

succeeded in fulfilling his dreams and ambitions. Pioneers are given heroic status by the

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Risk Innovation and flair (intuition)

– “make a big bet”

(l. 9)

– “quitting a promising

career” (l. 9-10)

– “start Amazon when a lot of people didn’t yet even know

what the Internet was” (l. 11-12)

– “a new and more efficient way for people to find books” (l.

14-15)

– “a fundamentally new way to conduct a consumer retail

business” (l. 16-17)

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author who expresses admiration of their insatiable appetite for progress. He provides the

example of one historical figure who fit this profile, Gutenberg, and puts Bezos on an equal

footing with him.

This article illustrates the notion of progress since Jeff Bezos revolutionized our access

to books through Amazon and, more recently, thanks to his new invention: the Kindle.

Now people can order and retail books wherever they are and whenever they want. This

technological progress is profitable / beneficial to all individuals who are eager / keen /

willing to improve their access to culture thanks to this innovation. Moreover, one may even

consider Amazon to be social progress as it is a means of bringing

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