Bringing Up Bill

theodp writes "Over at the WSJ, Bill Gates Sr. describes what it took to turn an unruly 12-year-old into Microsoft's founder and the world's richest man. This included throwing a glass of cold water in the boy's face when he was having a particularly heated argument with his mother at the dinner table. 'He was nasty,' says Libby Armintrout, Bill's younger sister. 'I'm at war with my parents over who is in control,' Bill Gates recalls telling a therapist, who told his parents that their son would ultimately win the battle for independence, and their best course of action was to ease up on him. The rest, as they say, is history. The accompanying Gates Family Album is also worth a look."

Comments

Re:I for one..

[ultranova]

Yeah, he is. Just because you hate him doesn't mean plenty of people don't admire what he's been able to accomplish. I don't always agree with the man's methods, but the fact remains that what he's done is damn impressive.

Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot also managed to accomplish a lot. That doesn't make them worthy of admiration, thought. And while Gates hasn't killed anyone (AFAIK), the only thing he accomplished was building an empire at the expense of everyone else, which is what these other "great men" also accomplished.

Simply because a villain is successful doesn't make him any less a villain, or any more worthy of admiration. And Gates is a villain.