© Getty Images Jeff Bezos’ old Amazon review profile has been unearthed. Getty Images
- Jeff Bezos’ old Amazon review profile has been unearthed by Inc. magazine.
- It contains six reviews from between 2000 and 2006.
- Over a period of six years, Bezos reviewed non-fiction books, a novel, a movie, binoculars, and milk.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Most people know Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world – but he also happens to be Amazon’s 78,951,609th-ranked reviewer.
Thanks to an investigation by Inc. contributing editor Billy Murphy Jr, Bezos’ old review profile has been unearthed.
It contains six reviews from between 2000 and 2006 and offers an entertaining insight into the mind and buying habits of Amazon’s founder and outgoing CEO from before he was a multi-billionaire.
The profile legitimately belongs to Bezos, Amazon said. “I can confirm that this is Jeff’s review profile,” Allison Leader, Amazon’s senior manager for executive and corporate communications, told Inc.
All six of the reviews are generously ranked with five stars – the highest score possible. Over a period of six years, Bezos offered his thoughts on non-fiction books, a science fiction novel, an award-winning movie, binoculars, and milk.
Below are all of the reviews in chronological order of publishing.
1. “Life is Beautiful” review:
The review reads: “This movie is absolutely all it’s cracked up to be. Hysterically funny and simultaneously a tear-jerker – it’s ultimately very uplifting. The cinematography is also fantastic – amazing use of color.
“The DVD has dubbed English as an option, but I strongly recommend going with the subtitles instead so you can hear Benigni’s amazing acting and passion.
Too bad the DVD doesn’t include any deleted scenes. With Benigni, I think it would be particularly fun to see out-takes. Absolutely a great movie!”
2. Canon 18×50 Image Stabilization All-Weather Binoculars review:
He wrote: “The problem with high power binoculars is that humans can’t hold them steady, and that jitter makes it impossible to really look at something without a tripod.
“The image stabilization in this pair solves that problem and holds things rock steady. This is an expensive product that clearly distinguishes itself, and one of those products that technology makes seem a little magic.
“I have only two small complaints: First, for a product this expensive they should pre-install the neck strap for you — not a big deal, but it would be nice for the customer. Second, I wish the lens cap covers were higher quality and attachable to the unit so they wouldn’t get lost. Again, not a big deal.
These are without a doubt the best binoculars I’ve ever used.”
This was his most popular review, with 136 people voting it “helpful.”
3. “The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race” review:
The review reads: “This book is about people – an incredibly interesting assortment of determined, competitive people thrust into a circumstance more challenging and dangerous than any of them expected.
Bruce Knecht captures acts of heroism and frailty, but, in a display of astonishing writerly discipline, he never judges these people. Judging these strong people would inevitably over-simplify the reality of human behavior under life-threatening stress. The way Knecht does it, as we read, we get to wonder how we would react.”
4. “Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship” review:
In April 2002, he wrote: “For those of us who dream of visiting the outer planets, seeing Saturn’s rings up close without the intermediation of telescopes or charge-coupled devices, well, we pretty much *have* to read “Project Orion.”
“In 1958, some of the world’s smartest people, including famous physicist Freeman Dyson (the author’s father), expected to visit the outer planets in “Orion,” a nuclear-bomb propelled ship big enough and powerful enough to seat its passengers in lazy-boy recliners. They expected to start their grand tour by 1970. This was not pie-in-the-sky optimism; they had strong technical reasons for believing they could do it.
To pull this book together, George Dyson did an astonishing amount of research into this still largely classified project. And, maybe because he’s connected to Orion through his father, the author captures the strong emotion of the project and the team. Highly recommended.”
5. “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom” review:
![graphical user interface, text, application, email: Jeff Bezos reviews "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" on January 23, 2003. Amazon]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"48","h":"36","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1gv6xw.img?h=362&w=483&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"}})
© Amazon Jeff Bezos reviews “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom” on January 23, 2003. AmazonIn 2003, Bezos gushed about a 2004 science fiction book. The novel takes place in the 22nd century, mostly in Walt Disney World.
After quoting Star Trek, the Amazon founder praised the book effusively. He wrote: “In this fun, fast book, the clearly talented Cory Doctorow explores a full-on reputation economy. With the help of a sophisticated, real-time network, people accumulate and lose a reputation currency called “whuffie.”
“The ideas are an incredibly rich playground, and the author doesn’t make you suffer through flat characters or clunky prose to get to them. On the contrary, these are totally alive characters set in a deeply conjured world (which world is Disney World, a place you can feel the author’s passion for).
“By the end, you’ll know the characters well enough to be able to judge what impact this new world has — or doesn’t have — on the fundamentals of human nature.
Cory Doctorow deserves much whuffie for this novel. Highly recommended.”
Despite receiving praises from Bezos, author Cory Doctorow has been consistently vocal of his criticism of Amazon on his Twitter.
-Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) January 19, 2021
6. “Tuscan Dairy Whole Vitamin D Milk” review:
© Amazon Jeff Bezos reviews “Tuscan Dairy Whole Vitamin D Milk” on August 9, 2006. AmazonAfter a three-year hiatus from posting reviews, Bezos returned in 2006 to confess his love for vitamin-enhanced milk.
He wrote: “I love milk so much that I’ve been drinking it since the day I was born. I don’t think it was Tuscan though.”
