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Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind Hardcover – April 1, 2014

by Biz Stone (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 465 ratings
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Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, discusses the power of creativity and how to harness it, through stories from his remarkable life and career.

Things a Little Bird Told Me

From GQ's "Nerd of the Year" to one of Time's most influential people in the world, Biz Stone represents different things to different people. But he is known to all as the creative, effervescent, funny, charmingly positive and remarkably savvy co-founder of Twitter-the social media platform that singlehandedly changed the way the world works. Now, Biz tells fascinating, pivotal, and personal stories from his early life and his careers at Google and Twitter, sharing his knowledge about the nature and importance of ingenuity today. In Biz's world:

Opportunity can be manufactured
Great work comes from abandoning a linear way of thinking
Creativity never runs out
Asking questions is free
Empathy is core to personal and global success

In this book, Biz also addresses failure, the value of vulnerability, ambition, and corporate culture. Whether seeking behind-the-scenes stories, advice, or wisdom and principles from one of the most successful businessmen of the new century, Things a Little Bird Told Me will satisfy every reader.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grand Central Publishing
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 2014
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781455528714
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1455528714
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Twitter cofounder Stone dropped out of college to design book jackets, just one of the quirky turns of fate that set him on a nonlinear path to social-media entrepreneurship. He recounts having enough chutzpah to call himself a genius when he suffered lack of confidence and direction, enough audacity to ask for a job at Google on the strength of his experience as a blogger when he lacked a college degree, never mind a PhD in computer science. He and Evan Williams, who joined Google after selling Blogger, later left the relative safety of Google to start several ventures, most of which failed, before developing Twitter. While chronicling his setbacks and successes, Stone offers solid advice and inspiration: opportunity can be manufactured, creativity is a renewable resource, embrace constraints, failures can be assets, asking questions is free, empathy is essential to success. Readers will enjoy the tales of the ups and downs of Silicon Valley among major players, from Google to Apple to Facebook, as well as the insightful advice that can be applied to any career or enterprise. --Vanessa Bush

Review

"Things A Little Bird Told Me is a moving, funny and illuminating life story, and Biz pours himself into the telling, bringing a unique gift of perspective to anyone dreaming of taking risks, changing their lives and changing the world." --Arianna Huffington

"In THINGS A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME, Biz gives away all his secrets to success. I advised him against it. If you're not inspired and informed by this book, then you haven't read it." --Stephen Colbert

"Biz Stone's anything-but-ordinary journey both surprises and inspires. Things A Little Bird Told Me is a peek into a unique mind that, I'm happy to add, entertains us as well." --Ron Howard

"As someone who has personally experienced Biz's generosity and genius, I'm thrilled that readers of Things a Little Bird Told Me can now draw inspiration from his values and vision. A must-read for anyone who wants to tap their creative potential." --Charles Best, Founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org

"Most tales of startup success revolve around a lone genius out-maneuvering the competition. But the story Biz Stone tells is a riveting-and often hilarious-break from that tradition: a story of collaboration, sharing, and the power of networks."--Steven Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1455528714
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing; First Edition (April 1, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781455528714
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1455528714
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 465 ratings

About the author

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Biz Stone

Biz Stone

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Biz Stone was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1974. For the past decade, Stone has been developing large scale projects that facilitate the open exchange of information. He is the Co-founder of Twitter, Inc and advisor to several technology startups. Recruited by Google in the early 2000's, Stone met and collaborated with Evan Williams--the pair would later exit the search company to work on their own startup. Twitter was founded in 2007. Stone has been recognized by Time Magazine as one of the most influential persons in the world. He lives in Northern California with his wife, Livia.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
465 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

J. Morris Hicks
5.0 out of 5 stars Great preparation for meeting Biz in person tonight
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2014
Verified Purchase
I have been "following" Biz Stone for about six months now and have come to greatly respect him from the many articles I've read and the many videos I've watched. This book is the icing on the cake. In a nutshell, I see Biz as an exceptional human being with a great deal of creativity, integrity, compassion and a genuine desire to make the world a better place. While reading this book on Kindle after it arrived from Amazon yesterday, I have been copying/pasting a few key quotes from the book that resonated with me. Here's one of the first, "If you take an idea and just hold it in your head, you unconsciously start to do things that advance you toward that goal. It kinda works. It did for me."

This book does an excellent job of documenting the incredible birth and global spread of Twitter AND has introduced Biz's newest venture: Jelly. I've got a feeling that we're going to be hearing a lot more about this creative start-up aimed at connecting the world even further, all built around the altruistic concept of empathy and "doing good."

I am writing this review from Amtrak #141 riding between Stamford, CT and Washington DC (just passed through NYC), where I am attending a book-signing lecture that Biz is giving at the synagogue at 6th and I. After the event, I plan to give Biz several small items that will hopefully interest him in lending his superior talents and resources to help unite humanity in the most important process in the history of the world---preserving Mother Nature's ability to sustain our civilization and ultimately our future as a species. What could be more important than that?
5 people found this helpful
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Mario Vega
4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting to know about the other side of the common story
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2019
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The narrative is very clear and easy to follow from the author’s perspective. Small but very significant details through his personal and professional career made a strong point to understand how he acted the way he did.

It’s a book not focused on technology but focused on the soft side of the entrepreneur and his road to a huge success
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Maxim P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it! Could not recommend enough!
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2014
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Where to even begin? Biz's writing style is phenomenal. I first read his writing in one of last year's issues of Wired; I barely knew who he was, but I loved the article so much, I cut it out and pasted it in my journal - the only Wired article I've done this with. In it, he recounted the story of Genius Labs, which he mentions in the opening to the book.

I couldn't put this book down, and kept coming back to it every chance I could. Behind Biz's frank, simple writing style are a shining personality and thoughtful, insightful pearls wisdom. I felt inspired, energized, and learned a lot, although Biz never seems to be trying to teach anything.

This books reminded my quite a bit of "Without Their Permission" by Alexis Ohanian, released in 2013. Although Alexis and his writing style are both charming and inspiring, I felt as though Biz's book offered more substance. All these 5-star reviews don't lie. Get it, and go on a fun ride.
2 people found this helpful
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Sherif Mansour
3.0 out of 5 stars Good, basic content and advise
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2014
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Biz tells his story by sharing life and work experiences and lessons learnt from each of those. The book is fairly basic with a key point for each chapter.
The most entertaining chapter is the full story on his experience with Facebook when they tried to acquire Twitter.
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Marilyn Cox
4.0 out of 5 stars How 140 characters proved global empathy is the triumph of humanity
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2014
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For me, this book helped clarify what I want out of my life. Humanize technology, embody and communicate a positive culture, manufacture opportunity, harness creativity, emotionally engage, serve the customer, and do great things. I love when he says his story is about "making something out of nothing, about merging your abilities with your ambitions, and about what you learn when you look at the work through a lens of infinite possibility."
One person found this helpful
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Tim Udinski
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a quick read and has a lot of great stuff in it.
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2014
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If you read "Hatching Twitter" and you use Twitter a lot (like me), then you'll like Biz Stone's insights on how Twitter was built and his advice on building a business of your own. His memories of how Twitter was born are definitely different than Nick Bilton, who wrote "Hatching Twitter" (which was also a quick read and a great book), but Stone gives some great, positive advice on the lessons that he learned from the days when he started to run his own blog, then got hired by Google, then went off to work at Odeo, then to Twitter, and now to Jelly. It's a positive, happy look back at his way to success. I give him credit for being so happy about all of the tough times that he went through while becoming successful. You only have one life, so you might as well be happy, believe in yourself and enjoy the ride.
3 people found this helpful
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Eugene Joseph
5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely buy this book
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2014
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Twitter aside, I think the one thing that really resonated with me about Biz in writing the book is he has a lot of humility and also a lot of empathy to his family, his colleagues, and even to his users. This is sometimes really missing from the corporate/tech world.

For this reason alone, I think this book was so refreshing and authentic to read. Granted if you are someone looking to start a company, you might not have the success that Twitter had, but I think still there are a lot of lessons from the book that don't just relate to starting a company but just to life and also on how important is to be good to those around you.

Do buy this book, it is great to read and I took away a lot from it. I wish him great success with Jelly.
2 people found this helpful
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Jonathan Pickup
4.0 out of 5 stars The new capitalism
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2014
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This is about the lessons that Biz learned while working at twitter. I thought the book would be more about twitter, but the book title is pretty clear. I think Biz makes some great proposals for capitalists, make money but do good while you are ding this. It's a shame that the stock market does not work on these principals as well.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Nico
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesante libro
Reviewed in Spain on May 25, 2020
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Cuenta la historia de cómo fundó la empresa y da su forma de pensar en general
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Saurabh Saha
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that can change your life
Reviewed in India on December 21, 2018
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Well there are quite a few books that move you. This one happens to be one of them. I must confess I did not know much about Biz Stone before I read this book and this one surely left an indelible impression in my mind. This was an enjoyable read and yet everything it reflected is sheer gold nuggets of wisdom. The funny thing about autobiographies is that they are so drab and serious that no matter how hard you try to focus on the monumental moments depicted you tend to unlearn them soon as you have finished reading the book. This one is different. So much so that the language used is so simple and tends to connect with you. I mean here is a guy who started one of the top companies in SF Bay Area. A God to be revered and respected and all he talks about is how much credit card bills he had accumulated as a youngster trying to find meaning in his life. The sneak peek into his life that Biz provides is hilariously awesome. There is no denying that he is unapologetically and unabashedly Genius Biz Stone. Some of the things he has mentioned makes you feel there are solutions lying all around you if you look at them in a creative way than cribbing about it. This book has had a drastic impact on my life and I'd ask anyone who wants to make something out of his life to read this book. It's not about a tech visionary's memoir but it's about how good a life we can lead if we start flocking as a crowd of 7 billion plus.
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jkaonline
5.0 out of 5 stars Great insights into an early stage start up
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2014
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Great insights into an early stage start up, Bix Stone has produced a really easy and valuable read. We used Things a Little Bird Told Me as the basis of our Twitter Case Study. Twitter emerging from a "brain storming" session with no real perception or direction at onset of what was to follow. The management clashes which did ensue should ensure the book is in the reading list of any engaged in business expansion and development. We cannot rate this book more highly, JKA
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Jan Stücke
5.0 out of 5 stars Honest, fun and inspiring to read
Reviewed in Germany on June 10, 2014
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One of the best books I've read in terms of "business". Great to get an intimate look into a beautiful mind. Thanks Biz Stone!
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Kevin T Rooney
4.0 out of 5 stars Is recklessness a good thing?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2016
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Certainly not a blueprint but Inspires some good thoughts and actions to make me just a little more reckless and not to play safe. The world needs more people like this.
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