Early life Brodie was born in
Newton, Massachusetts, the elder son of Mary Ann Brodie and Richard Brodie, a child psychologist. He graduated from
Newton South High School and entered
Harvard College in the fall of 1977, concentrating in applied mathematics with an emphasis on computer science. He left Harvard after his sophomore year and moved to
Palo Alto, CA to work for
Xerox Corporation's Advanced Systems Division (ASD), where he met
Charles Simonyi and helped develop the
Bravo X word processor for the Alto computer. Simonyi became a mentor to Brodie at Xerox and took him along when he moved to
Microsoft in 1981.
Microsoft Simonyi hired Brodie in 1981 as Microsoft's 77th employee and a founding member of the Microsoft Application Division. Brodie distinguished himself at Microsoft by creating the first version of
Microsoft Word in less than seven months. Brodie's primary accomplishment as Gates's assistant was the management of the Cashmere project, which was released as Word for Windows. During the Cashmere design, Brodie came up with the idea of the
Combo box (a combination text box and drop-down menu widely used today), the
Ribbon (a strip of buttons at the top of the screen used to display and change formatting), and the squiggly red underline that checks and flags spelling errors automatically.
After leaving Microsoft Between his stints at Microsoft, Brodie embarked on a self-improvement quest, taking numerous courses and participating in retreats, seeking an answer to "why money and success didn’t make me happy." He wrote about his experience in his first book,
Getting Past OK: The Self-Help Book for People Who Don’t Need Help, first published in 1993. It became a regional bestseller and was republished by
Warner Books. He followed it with
Virus of the Mind (1995), which explored the new field of
memetics from a practical point of view.
Hay House bought the rights to both books and currently publishes them in many languages worldwide. Brodie spoke about his books on
The Oprah Winfrey Show and
Phil Donahue.
Poker player Apart from his careers as a programmer and author, Brodie has found creative ways to integrate his love of sports and games into his professional life. In 2003 he joined the professional
poker circuit. He has finished in the money in five
World Series of Poker events and six World Poker Tours. Until
Black Friday, he played as a
Full Tilt Poker pro under the screen name Quiet Lion. He appeared on
NBC's game show
Identity and played himself in the movie
The Grand. In 2023, Brodie bested 440 players on his way to winning the 32nd annual
World Recreational Gambling Poker Tournament (WRGPT) after 221 days of play. His efforts earned him $0 and an immutable place in poker history. Brodie currently resides in
Kirkland, Washington. ==Writings==