DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD AND

    Larry Ellison started the high-flying tech company Oracle with ,200 in 1977 and turned it into a billion-dollar Silicon Valley giant. If Bill Gates is the tech world's nerd king, Ellison is its Warren Beatty: racing yachts, buying jets, and romancing beautiful women. His rise to fame and fortune is a tale of entrepreneurial brilliance, ruthless tactics, and a constant stream of half-truths and outright fabrications for which the man and his company are notorious.

Investigative reporter Mike Wilson, with access to Ellison himself and more than 125 of his friends, enemies, and former Oracle employees, has created an eye-opening, utterly fascinating portrayal of a Silicon Valley success story ... filled with the stuff that dreams and cultural icons are made of.

    MIKE WILSON is an editor at the St.petersburg Times and the author of the acclaimed Riaht on the Ddge of Crazy:On Tour with the U.S.Ski Team.He lives in St.Petersburg,Florida.