Authoritas

Success Has Many Fathers, But One Has The Proof.Aaron Greenspan was just like any other recent Harvard graduate until the day he read that one of his many software inventions, a web site for college students called The Facebook, was apparently worth billions of dollars—and someone else was taking the credit. Shut out of his creation by his own classmate and the venture capital world while simultaneously trying to find his way in life, Greenspan sat down to write his story. What emerged was a tale of ingenuity, triumph and betrayal that follows an idealistic boy with a knack for machines and his autistic brother from public school to the hypercompetitive college admissions process, to the gates of Harvard Yard and beyond.Authoritas sheds light on the American educational system and the daunting process of effecting change through Greenspan’s often amusing recountings of his own experiences in the classroom. Time after time, he earnestly tries to learn from teachers with diverse and pronounced idiosyncracies, only to find that he learns more on his own. Raised in the so-called suburban paradise of Northeast Ohio, Greenspan eventually finds an outlet for his frustration with school through the creation of his own computer consulting company, whose logo he derives from the abstract scribbles on a Stride Ride shoebox as a seventh-grader. By the time he reaches high school, Greenspan has unwittingly distinguished himself from his peers with an enviable hourly rate, two employees, and the title of "President & CEO," clearing the path for entrance into one of America’s top universities.Between his battles with vast bureaucracies, the immense challenges of coping with his brother’s autism, and the ordeal of watching the astronomical growth of his Facebook from the sidelines, Authoritas amounts to an engrossing account of life that students, parents, teachers and entrepreneurs will all relate to.