Pour Your Heart Into It

Howard Schultz continuously reminds the listener of his didactic purpose in writing this history of his management of Starbucks: to teach industry how to succeed humanely. But early on it becomes clear that his real purpose is to crow about how he rose from poverty and, without help, became not just a coffee mogul, but a major cultural influence. Not that there aren't lessons here, but they're between the lines of his endless bragging. Here's a book better experienced in this nicely read abridgment than fully on the printed page where Schultz's conceit would soon grow insufferable. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

December 30, 1996
Starbucks CEO Schultz has given millions of Americans a taste for dark-roasted coffee blends--espresso, cappuccino, caffe latte--as served in the congenial atmosphere of pseudo-Italian coffee bars. With Business Week writer Yang, he recalls here rounding up often reluctant investors, opening his first store in Seattle, fending off a takeover, providing stock options and health care coverage to employees while doggedly raising new capital despite early losses--and eventually delivering a 100-to-1 return on investment. As the company grew, with a new store opening daily nationwide, Schultz hired away executives from 7-11 and Burger King, took on Wall Street with an initial public stock offering, all the while developing additional products (Frappucino) and customizing the music tapes played in the shops. As instruction in plain English on how to build a billion-dollar retail specialty chain, it is hard to imagine a more satisfying brew than this memoir. $300,000 ad/promo.

November 1, 1997
The author is the entrepreneur behind Starbucks, the coffee-shop chain with a "passion" for quality coffee. Through the voice of Eric Conger, Schultz speaks poetically about the "mystery and romance" of the "coffee experience." Well, to some people coffee is like that. The program is not so much for those who want to learn about business techniques as for those who love Starbucks. Schultz's story is an interesting one, largely a personal narrative about making it big. At one point the narration says, "It's not about me," but to a great extent the tapes really are. Recommended only if Starbucks has a strong presence in your community.--Mark Guyer, Stark Cty. Dist. Lib., Canton, Ohio