It's a new tech city quick.

Brad Stone is the author of the everything store Jeff Bezos and the age of Amazon.

Brad, thanks so much for calling in from a hotel room for us.

Thank you.

Now, Brad, this is not an authorized biography.

Is it?

Well, I would say it falls somewhere in the murky middle.

Amazon actually opened a lot of doors for me.

I think they kind of saw the inevitability of this kind of account now that they're nearly

20 years old and 90,000 employees and have really changed the way the world shops and

reads.

It wasn't authorized in the sense that Steve Jobs gave access two years ago to his biographer

Walter Isaacson.

Obviously, the circumstances are a lot different and Bezos is so focused on the future.

It doesn't really like to reflect on the path, and of course, it's very secretive.

But he allowed me to talk to Amazon's senior executives and friends and family members.

I mean, one of the ways you describe Amazon's culture is notoriously confrontational.

And you describe Bezos saying that he likes the truth comes when ideas and perspectives

bang against each other sometimes violently.

Is that how you explain his success, do you think, in terms of building this company?

I think it actually does have a lot to do with Amazon's success.

I mean, look, we've all worked in places where there are high performers and low performers

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