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265 reviews for:
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal
Ben Mezrich
3.36 AVERAGE
265 reviews for:
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal
Ben Mezrich
3.36 AVERAGE
I re-watched the movie while reading and felt that everything that was to come in the book would already be spoken for in the movie. It was well-written, but it felt like an explainer for certain less-explored parts of the movie (even though it came beforehand).
2.5 stars. If you saw The Social Network you can skip this book. It is a direct adaptation of the book.
This is the story of the founding of Facebook, which was made into the Oscar-winning movie "The Social Network". i never got around to seeing the movie, so i enjoyed the book for its own merits. it's a quick read (i knocked it out in less than 3 hours), and pretty entertaining for anyone who has ever been involved in a startup. For the 1/2 billion users of Facebook, i guess it would be interesting to find out some about the young Zuckerberg. I am kind of looking forward to the sequel, about how Facebook went from a few million users to contending for top of the world.
I read this over three lunch breaks. It was very easy and very loose. I think that Mezrich has found himself a cash cow in these so-called business books (at least, that's where they're usually shelved) that read like novels. He at least cops to it at the beginning of "Accidental Billionaires," unlike when I read the entirety of "Bringing Down the House" back in 2002 all in one sitting and thought, "Wow, that's amazing that he had that much access."
If he wants to write exposes using created dialogue and by inserting feelings into the heads of his "characters," that's fine by me. But Truman Capote he ain't.
And I liked the movie better.
If he wants to write exposes using created dialogue and by inserting feelings into the heads of his "characters," that's fine by me. But Truman Capote he ain't.
And I liked the movie better.
If I read the word 'surmise' one more time...
Did you see the movie The Social Network? (If not, watch it! It's good.) If you have, then you have read 90% of this book. The additional 10% consisted of: Descriptions of Harvard buildings, more detail about the Harvard Final Clubs, and a little more information on Sean Parker. Also, there were a few scenes in the movie slightly modified from the book to make it more interesting for the screen. (For example, when Mark creates Facemash, in the movie he is surrounded by his roommates and Eduardo, providing dialogue; in the book, he is by himself at the computer, emailing his Computer Science friends.)
If you do choose to read The Accidental Billionaires, keep in mind the the Author's Note at the beginning of the book: Eduardo Saverin did speak with the author (to what length is unclear), Mark Zuckerberg did not. Any scene involving Mark by himself is filled with words like "maybe," "perhaps," "he might have," "most-likely," and "we can imagine." All in all, it was an interesting read, but I saw the movie first, so I didn't get much more out of the book.
If you do choose to read The Accidental Billionaires, keep in mind the the Author's Note at the beginning of the book: Eduardo Saverin did speak with the author (to what length is unclear), Mark Zuckerberg did not. Any scene involving Mark by himself is filled with words like "maybe," "perhaps," "he might have," "most-likely," and "we can imagine." All in all, it was an interesting read, but I saw the movie first, so I didn't get much more out of the book.
The writing style bugged me at times but the story is addicting. I found it hard to put the book down at times. I don't know how much of it is true but still pretty intense sometimes. Although every single person involved was an idiot! Perhaps now, rich idiots, but still idiots!
Very interesting, having read reviews I know that parts were supossedly made up or at least dramatized. But as a person who spends a fair amount of time on facebook it was interesting to read about its development, marketing, expansion and the drama along the way.