Profits, passion and purpose are the net result of delivering happiness according to Tony Hsieh. Delivering Happiness shares the story of Zappos and personal pursuit of meaningful employment. The opening chapters describe Tony's childhood and early entrepreneurial endeavors. Worm bins, buttons and study guides are all part of Hsieh's (pronounced "shay") progression into the high stakes world of 90's tech. After selling a company  to Microsoft Tony finds himself with lots of money and little desire to continue his work. After investing millions of dollars into various start-ups Tony discovers Zappos and goes all in. Long story short: Zappos is awesome. What makes this company different is its focus on culture and their approach to excellent customer service. The second half of the book includes an extended explanation of the Zappos culture and how they view happiness as one of their chief exports.

If you are looking to hear the story of an underprivileged  boot-strap-puller then you have come to the wrong place.  Tony's story is one of high stakes trial and error. His boldness is rewarded with good timing in this narrative through the golden age of the internet. Through his experiences with the rave culture of San Francisco he discovers a culture of peace, love, unity and respect. PLUR and Friends (the television show) drive Tony to discover more about what makes him happy. This happiness becomes a business model for Zappos and so a legend of customer service was born.

I would not recommend reading this book. It is not a bad book, it is just not that good. The end reward of insightful descriptions of the Zappos culture is not worth the ride you have to take to get there. You would be much better off clicking this link to view the Zappos Family Core values online. Did you click the link? There, I saved you from 253 pages.