BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –Bill Cook’s business ventures in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, genetics, real estate, retail management, and travel services have made him a billionaire, yet he continues to lead a modest life, involving himself in a variety of philanthropic activities that have included historic preservation and even a marching band. The Bill Cook Story: Ready, Fire, Aim! is the riveting, first-ever biography of the entrepreneur who, working from the spare bedroom of his Bloomington, Indiana, apartment in 1963—with a $1,500 investment—began to construct the wire guides, needles, and catheters that would become the foundation of the global multi-billion-dollar Cook Group. Biographer Bob Hammel, with extraordinary access to Cook, his files, and his associates, has created a vivid portrait that celebrates this exceptional self-made individual and his great American success story.

Bob Hammel served as a sports editor and columnist on Indiana newspapers for 50 years. For 30 of those years he was sports editor and columnist for the Bloomington Herald-Times. The recipient of many honors and awards for sports writing, he is the author of eight books, including Beyond the Brink with Indiana (IUP, 1987) and A Banner Year (IUP, 1993). With Bob Knight, he co-authored Knight: My Story. Hammel lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

Book Information—

The Bill Cook Story: Ready, Fire, Aim!

By Bob Hammel

424 pages, 75 b&w photos, 25 color photos, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Cloth ISBN 978-0-253-35254-5 $24.95  

Publication Date: October 2008

To order call 1-800-842-6796 or log onto http://iupress.indiana.edu/

EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact:                                                                                   

Valerie McClanahan, Publicist, 812 855-5429, vmcclana@indiana.edu