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24 reviews for:
One Red Paperclip: How A Small Piece Of Stationery Turned Into A Great Big Adventure
Kyle Macdonald
3.02 AVERAGE
24 reviews for:
One Red Paperclip: How A Small Piece Of Stationery Turned Into A Great Big Adventure
Kyle Macdonald
3.02 AVERAGE
An overall entertaining book. The way it's written isn't the best, but you get a sense for who the author is by it's clumsy style... and the story is pretty great.
Read this a while back while on holiday. Easy read and made me chuckle throughout. The fact that it's a true story adds to the enjoyment. And it leaves you with that lingering thought "I want to try this".
A bit of fun. One of those internet things that take on a life of their own, fed by obsessive folk, not least the author, who discovered another use for one red paperclip right at the end of the book.
Some philosophical observations at the end of each chapter, most of which I skipt, but overall, it's pretty much a textbook on how to become an internet sensation. Nowadays, he'd use Twitter and Facebook and Youtube and the process would probably take a month instead of a year.
The book was enjoyable. A few surprises along the way, a few funny moments, such as juggling payphones in an airport terminal to give interviews around the globe, a bit of waffle here and there.
Bottom line? I liked it. I'm not going to try to swap a rubber for a jet fighter - I'd use my weekly fuel ration just backing it out of the garage - but I'm certainly not going to discount the power of the internet. And the madness of the obsessed.
Some philosophical observations at the end of each chapter, most of which I skipt, but overall, it's pretty much a textbook on how to become an internet sensation. Nowadays, he'd use Twitter and Facebook and Youtube and the process would probably take a month instead of a year.
The book was enjoyable. A few surprises along the way, a few funny moments, such as juggling payphones in an airport terminal to give interviews around the globe, a bit of waffle here and there.
Bottom line? I liked it. I'm not going to try to swap a rubber for a jet fighter - I'd use my weekly fuel ration just backing it out of the garage - but I'm certainly not going to discount the power of the internet. And the madness of the obsessed.
I really loved this book.
It was exactly what I needed at the moment a light novel with some humor that was easy to read.
I read it in no time and would recommend it highly as a light book as it is very interesting.
It was exactly what I needed at the moment a light novel with some humor that was easy to read.
I read it in no time and would recommend it highly as a light book as it is very interesting.
A little rambling in places this was an enjoyable memoir about a crazy year in which the author managed to trade from a red paperclip to a house. Lots of funny moments to enjoy, overall a pleasant read.
Canadian slacker decides he'd rather play Bigger and Better (a game where you start with a small object and trade for progressively better things) than look for a job. He starts with a paperclip, and over a dozen or so trades, winds up with a house, and becomes an internet celebrity along the way. I think the synopsis of the story is more interesting than the actual telling, but maybe that's just me. I could have completely done without the bogus, high-school-motivational-speaker-esque affirmations between the chapters, though. Had I known this was going to be a "follow your dreams" self-helpy sort of thing, I wouldn't have bothered.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
What a sweet idea and book! I enjoyed MacDonald's project and reading how he moved up from a paperclip to a house. I enjoy his perspective on life--he's very open and accepting. It was comforting to read about something so happy.
The story itself is interesting, but could EASILY have been summarized into one long article. This is an INCREDIBLY poorly-written book that tries too hard to be funny and beats you over the head with every joke at least three times.
Case in point: he's driving a van across Canada. Someone asks him to deliver something for her. His response:
"'I don't know, it's not like I have hundreds of cubic feet of extra cargo room or anything...'
'Yeah right!' she said.
I laughed. There were actually many hundreds of extra cubic feet of cargo room left in the truck. That's why it was so funny. Extra cubic feet of cargo are like that."
See what I mean? Why did his editor not tell him to cut all that shit out? Oh, and several full pages in later chapters are taken up by comments on his blog, which I skipped entirely. Obviously, he couldn't come up with enough material of his own -- and even straight-up says something like "glad these comments are writing my book for me!"
Weird Canadian things I had to look up: carpet bowling (a sport), cube van (moving truck), toque (beanie), eave troughs (gutters). Again, why didn't his editor have him add in the non-Canadian term for an international audience?
Case in point: he's driving a van across Canada. Someone asks him to deliver something for her. His response:
"'I don't know, it's not like I have hundreds of cubic feet of extra cargo room or anything...'
'Yeah right!' she said.
I laughed. There were actually many hundreds of extra cubic feet of cargo room left in the truck. That's why it was so funny. Extra cubic feet of cargo are like that."
See what I mean? Why did his editor not tell him to cut all that shit out? Oh, and several full pages in later chapters are taken up by comments on his blog, which I skipped entirely. Obviously, he couldn't come up with enough material of his own -- and even straight-up says something like "glad these comments are writing my book for me!"
Weird Canadian things I had to look up: carpet bowling (a sport), cube van (moving truck), toque (beanie), eave troughs (gutters). Again, why didn't his editor have him add in the non-Canadian term for an international audience?
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced