{ "item_title" : "Eccentric Orbits", "item_author" : [" John Bloom "], "item_description" : "Good corporate drama . . . an enlightening narrative of how new communications infrastructures often come about. --The Economist, A Book of the Year 2016In the early 1990s, Motorola developed a revolutionary satellite system called Iridium that promised to be its crowning achievement. Its constellation of 66 satellites in polar orbit was a mind-boggling technical accomplishment, surely the future of communication. The only problem was that Iridium the company was a commercial disaster. Only months after launching service, it was $11 billion in debt, burning through $100 million a month and crippled by baroque rate plans and agreements that forced calls through Moscow, Beijing, Fucino, Italy, and elsewhere. Bankruptcy was inevitable--the largest to that point in American history. And when no real buyers seemed to materialize, it looked like Iridium would go down as just a science experiment.That is, until Dan Colussy got a wild idea. Colussy, a former head of Pan-Am now retired and working on his golf game in Palm Beach, heard about Motorola's plans to de-orbit the system and decided he would buy Iridium and somehow turn around one of the biggest blunders in the history of business.Impeccably researched and wonderfully told, Eccentric Orbits is a rollicking, unforgettable tale of technological achievement, business failure, the military-industrial complex, and one of the greatest deals of all time.Deep reporting put forward with epic intentions . . . a story that soars and jumps and dives and digresses . . .A] big, gutsy, exciting book. --The Wall Street Journal, A Top 10 Nonfiction Book of 2016Spellbinding . . . A tireless researcher, Bloom delivers a superlative history . . . A tour de force. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)", "item_img_path" : "https://covers1.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/80/212/678/0802126782_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "22.00", "online_price" : "22.00", "our_price" : "22.00", "club_price" : "22.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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