So.

Peabody asked himself if he was as smart as all those around him said.

His conclusion?

"I was smart enough to realize I was getting lucky."

The book is a slender (58 pages) description of how he looks at the world, and how to judge if you're the sort to try a bold venture of your own or, rather, manage someone else's.

I think it's worth the $10.46 Amazon's charging for it.

From the book:

The best way to ensure that lucky things happen is to make sure a lot of things happen.

At restaurants and technology start-ups, the drug-testing policy is: bring your drugs in on Friday and we'll test them over the weekend.

Don't ever accept "no" for an answer. Train yourself not to shut down when you hear the word "no." That is in fact just the time to really start fighting.

Over omelets and orange juice Steve Case, in 1993, told me that Tripod would never work.

Your ego is both the most dangerous and the most useful weapon in your entrepreneurial arsenal.

In business, admitting you don't know something is difficult. First, you have to admit it to yourself. And then, in order for it to make any difference, you have to admit it to your colleagues. You can't take the second step unless you successfully complete the first. Unfortunately, most people can't even find the first step, much less take it.

In business it never pays to get indignant in any way. The more often you stay calm and gracious, the better off you and your business will be.

Start-ups attract sociopaths.

I suspect that there are a lot of people who would save themselves years of heartbreak and disaster if they read this book and then really looked at themselves to see if they have what it takes to succeed in creating a business from the ground up.

But those are precisely the ones who're so smart they won't bother.

And they're right: they are smart.

Too bad, though, about not bothering....