Amazon.com Inc.’s CEO and Chairman Jeffrey Bezos has been front and center in the news since August, when The New York Times ran a scathing Sunday cover package about Amazon’s “bruising workplace” and particularly noted the challenges faced by employees who are new mothers. Like 80% of Silicon Valley tech shops, Amazon offered no maternity leaves.

With all the hand-wringing about the dismal state of women in tech (e.g., only 20% of women in Silicon Valley tech shops), perhaps even the most frugal companies are finally realizing that they can’t compete for the best talent when Google and other companies offer generous family-friendly policies for employees.

Monday, Bezos took a dramatic turnaround—he announced to Amazon’s 222,00 employees that the company will now offer up to 20 weeks of paid birth mother leave and also provide up to six weeks for fathers. He also inaugurated a flexible return-to-work program, including the ability to share leave with a spouse who doesn’t work at Amazon, reported The New York Times. The Times also noted that family-friendly policies have also been recently announced at Microsoft Corp. and Netflix.

After reading Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock, detailing Google’s culture and HR policies, I was curious to learn more about Amazon. So I ordered a book I noticed on ebay. I would have saved 14 cents for the book and $3.38 for shipping  if I had checked out Amazon (I have Prime), but I was lazy that evening and clicked on “buy it now.” Here’s my review:

★★★★  The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, by Brad Stone (Audio book read by Pete Larkin). Little, Brown, Oct. 2013.

San Francisco-based Brad Stone, a senior writer for Bloomberg Businessweek, has covered Amazon and Silicon Valley technology for 15 years, for The New York Times, Newsweek and other publications. His experience and expertise shows in this excellent, compelling book.

Stone chronicles Bezos’ trajectory from childhood to the present, weaving a fascinating story about Bezos’ motivation, eccentricity and absolute passion for providing goods at the lowest possible price for Amazon’s customers.

Stone provides nuanced context as he tells the story of Bezos’ development of the company, frequently referring to competitors such as Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Stone includes mesmerizing tales of how Bezos took big risks throughout the years, especially the dot.com crash and the 2007-8 challenges, where his infamous frugality may have saved his company. Amazon and Walmart vacillated from being enemies to frenemies—and back and forth—and the interactions and competition are intriguing.

Stone doesn’t understate the brutal, extremely frugal and often quirky work environment, including the often-demeaning treatment of employees at all levels (echoes of Steve Jobs). Yet, like Jobs, there is something very compelling about his passion for his customers. The book is crammed full of lessons about not being afraid to try things and discard them quickly if they fail and move on. The discussions about how Amazon Prime and the Kindle were developed were absolutely fascinating. Despite Bezos’ obnoxious behavior, at the end of the book, it’s hard not to appreciate his overriding drive to serve customers. [Side note: I highly recommend Becoming Steve Jobs, by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, a wonderful complement to Walter Isaacson‘s authorized biography.]

Let’s just hope that The New York Times report struck a nerve and that Bezos has had an epiphany about how poorly Amazon has treated its women (and men)—and begin to realize that his employees will do even better work if they aren’t bullied and treated like inanimate, fungible robots (no insult intended to robots). Let’s hope he learns from Google et al that if you treat your employees with respect, they are likely to give you their very best work and time. Bezos should walk over to his book department and pick up a copy of Anne-Marie Slaughters’ new book, Unfinished Business, for guidance. I’ve already bought two copies of the book from Amazon, and about 13 copies of Lean In, so do it for your customer, please.

Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX and a freelance journalist for Bloomberg BNA Big Law Business. She is a member of the California bar. Twitter: @MonicaBay  Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu.