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How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Gates Gill
Publisher: Gotham
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
Buy New: $2.78
You Save: $10.22 (79%)
New (41) Used (26) Collectible (1) from $2.29
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 10958
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 1592404049
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9781592404049
ASIN: 1592404049
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Now in paperback, the national bestselling riches-to-rags true story of an advertising executive who had it all, then lost it all and was finally redeemed by his new job, and his twenty-eight-year-old boss, at Starbucks.
In his fifties, Michael Gates Gill had it all: a mansion in the suburbs, a wife and loving children, a six-figure salary, and an Ivy League education. But in a few short years, he lost his job, got divorced, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. With no money or health insurance, he was forced to get a job at Starbucks. Having gone from power lunches to scrubbing toilets, from being served to serving, Michael was a true fish out of water.
But fate brings an unexpected teacher into his life who opens his eyes to what living well really looks like. The two seem to have nothing in common: She is a young African American, the daughter of a drug addict; he is used to being the boss but reports to her now. For the first time in his life he experiences being a member of a minority trying hard to survive in a challenging new job. He learns the value of hard work and humility, as well as what it truly means to respect another person.
Behind the scenes at one of America s most intriguing businesses, an inspiring friendship is born, a family begins to heal, and, thanks to his unlikely mentor, Michael Gill at last experiences a sense of self-worth and happiness he has never known before.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Good Read January 7, 2009
Joyce S. Tullock
I bought this book as a Christmas present for my Son, I think he read it in one sitting. He passed it on to me, I took a little longer to get through the book not because I didn't like it, I went back and re-read a few parts. Highly recommend this book
 Transformation is Superficial at Best December 30, 2008
Doggie Mama (Mountain View, CA USA)
This book was insincere. Contrary to the "everyone else" of the subtitle, Mike comes off as a self-indulgent, status-conscious elitist, feeling the need to let the reader know that he has rubbed elbows with the rich and famous. This would have been a much better story if he had left those vignettes out and told the reader what he really learned from his experience and how it changed his outlook and behaviors. For example, I didn't see an attempt to make amends to his children for years of benign neglect. The only transformation I saw was in wardrobe, not in attitude. A jerk is still a jerk, whether he's wearing a pinstriped suit or a green apron.
 Really enjoyable read .... December 30, 2008
Holly Kincaid (Fishers, IN USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Since it's the holiday season, I was looking forward to reading a book that wasn't too "heavy" and had a good, uplifting message. I found this in my to-be-read stack and settled in to enjoy. What a great book -- I was not disappointed !
The author has grown up in a very financially secure family and was given lots of material advantages as he was growing up. Big homes, a famous father and excellent East Coast schools were just part of the picture. As you read the book, you find out that what is happening to him internally is vastly different from the picture-perfect outside the family shows the world. While there is no violence or physical abuse, his father is distant and uninvolved and his mother isn't emotionally healthy either. He grows up fairly lonely and constantly feeling he isn't good enough for his parents. You find this story out via flashbacks as we follow him in his present-day job at Starbucks.
He arrived at Starbucks after being let go from a major advertising firm. He appears to have spent every dime he made and has no financial cushion to fall back on. In addition, he messes up his relationship with his wife by cheating on her and having a child out of wedlock. He ends up divorced, living paycheck to paycheck and questioning his entire belief system.
I loved the fact that he discovered who is really is (warts and all) and what he really enjoys. Several reviewers critized him for still "not getting it", but I think they are being too hard on him. He is doing the best he can and unlearning what was programmed into him for 64 years. He is not perfect, but who is? He is on a journey of discovering himself and is very honest about his steps forward (as well as backward) along the way. I LOVED the way he looks at himself objectively and openly talks about who is used to be vs. who he is now.
I also thought the Starbucks story was great. Being a fan of Starbucks, and coffee houses in general, I liked finding out a bit about what it is like to work there and what the company culture is. What a wonderful inside look at something you normallly wouldn't get to see.
This is a great book for anyone who has ever questioned the life they are living and searched for their own happiness regardless of what other people think. What an inspiration !!
Inspirational, Quick Read December 28, 2008
Jordan Gold (Arcadia, CA USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a great book. I read it in less than a day. It tells the story of a man who was on top, a member of Skull and Bones from Yale, part of a privileged society, someone who spoke with Hemingway, Thurber, Frost, Eliot and other literary giants and then made a career in advertising, only to be thrown out of the society because he was too expensive and no longer young (at 53). He spends the next ten years struggling as a consultant, loses his identity and cheats on his wife. He gets another woman pregnant and then gets divorced, losing everything in the process, including his four children, who see him grudgingly.
Starbucks, in the form of Crystal, the store manager at 93rd and Broadway, throws him a life raft. He takes it eagerly and learns many menial tasks in a rebirth for him. He is finally happy.
Gill tells this story in a compelling way and keeps you reading. The character development is very good, and you feel close to others in the store in addition to Crystal.
I felt very happy for him as I finished the book, as he definitely is in a better place than he ever was before. It appears that he has a better relationship with his children, his health is better, and he is happier.
As other reviewers have noted, Gill still doesn't have his priorities straight. His work comes first and always has. He also glosses over the fact that he had a child out of wedlock with another woman and ruined his marriage and his life.
But, he picked himself up and took pride in small things and got happiness out of life. Kind of makes you want to work for Starbucks!
This is being made into a movie by Tom Hanks and Gus Van Sant. No details beyond that, however.
Exactly as they promised December 16, 2008
Scott Johnston (Arlington, MA USA)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I would buy from them again without hesitation. Book was in better condition than I thought, and was sent on time without any hassles.
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