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Oct 17, 2011

Petra X rated it:

When I read a book that has a great deal of biographical detail and where the subject refuses to co-operate and where there are too many phrases like, 'he must have thought', 'he could have surmised', 'maybe he felt', I think that even if the author is as well-respected as Mezrich, this is probably a load of balls.

Modern society, the media, cannot stand those who refuse to have a publicist, give interviews, employ a stylist and have a dozen employees referred to as 'my people'. It More...

8 comments like (27 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2011

Elaine rated it:

Listening to audiobook, I could tell from the outset that it was going to be terrible. Normally, I'd have quit, but I decided to stick with it for the story. Soon I realized that I was listening to it for the entertainment value of its badness. The book, seemingly untouched by an editor's hand, is dense with stereotypes, cliches, hyperbole, adolescent fantasies (which seem to be the author's more than those of the main characters), mixed metaphors, inappropriate comparisons, and comical malaprop More...

3 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jul 04, 2011

Juliana rated it:

The author's way of writing a real story had already captured me on the other book about the MIT boys and Las Vegas. This time was no different. His storytelling is catchy and you won't stop reading so soon. I finished it in one day, after 200 pages.
Don't be fooled, though. The real story behind the creation of Facebook can be found only with each founder. This book and the movie based on it are only a part of the story.
Also this was the basis for my course conclusion work on journalism, ab More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2010

Tom rated it:

Here is one of the rare cases where I say the film ("The Social Contract") is better than the book. Mezrich's version of Facebook's founding is a fast read but one told primarily through the eyes and voice of Eduardo Saverin, the partner who has claimed he was cheated and misled by Facebook originator Mark Zuckerberg. As such, it is just one-half of the usual "he said/she said" story. Since the book was published in early 2010, we don't know yet the final outcome of Saverin's More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2011

Vivian rated it:

First, let me note that I liked the film "The Social Network" written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by David Fincher: beautiful craftsmanship, excellent acting, terrific writing, good direction ... BUT I worried when I saw it. I knew that it was not a bio-pic in any way, shape, or form. I knew that it could not be taken as documentary in any way, shape, or form, and that Mark Zuckerberg had nothing to do with it. After viewing it, I felt it should carry a disclaimer clearly stating tha More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Mar 02, 2011

Nathan rated it:

It's written at about the level of a James Patterson novel, and filled with a surprising amount of conjecture and hearsay. I hope the movie is better.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 26, 2011

Ashok rated it:

This is a fun story written a bit hastily and clumsily, but still worth a read. Because one of the two main protagonists, Mark Zuckerberg, the actual dude who created Facebook (his name used to appear at the bottom of every page, 'A Mark Zuckerberg Production'), refused to speak to Mezrich, he had to make do with second-hand and even third-hand sources. That makes for some silly turd-person passages - and a lot of journalistic hedging as he speculates on what so-and-so might have thought, or sai More...

0 comments like

Jan 02, 2012

Danny rated it:

This is the second book by Mezrich I've listened to, and I've decided I don't really like his approach, which is to attempt to make his characters seem lovable but unlikeable. Or maybe he's genuinely trying to get inside their heads, and he just tends to pick stories featuring unlikeable folks. Who knows.

I haven't seen the film adaptation, "The Social Network," but I figured I should read this book. Still, it's not like I was going to excise Facebook from my life if I disco More...

0 comments like

Jul 27, 2011

Franck added it

Voici une enquête passionnante sur la genèse du phénomène Facebook. Ou comment un petit génie de l'informatique a créé sans le vouloir la Poule aux Oeufs d'Or en surfant sur la mode des réseaux sociaux. C'est une histoire qui n'aurait jamais pu avoir lieu ailleurs qu'aux Etats Unis où il n'est pas impossible de se faire prêter 500 000 $ par un capital-risker qui croit en votre projet. D'ailleurs, existe-t-il un autre pays qui peut ériger en star un vrai geek qui passe sa vie derrière son écran ? More...

0 comments like

Jul 22, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

Ahh, Facebook. The bane of my existence. Just because I am not a member (for lots of reasons) doesn't mean I don't want to know what the big deal is. I am that way with a lot of stuff and FB is just something else on that list. This book was pretty much just a longer version of the article I read in Rolling Stone last year that enhanced my anti of this website and the author actually uses that article as a source. It can be found here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/2...

Rig More...

0 comments like

Jul 18, 2011

Bhargavi rated it:

Sometimes it is just difficult to define what a good book really is.Is it something that is overflowing with robust language and literary merits or something that really quickens your heartbeat and makes you want to turn pages in anticipation of what happens next?. A lot of people have reviewed this book as a pedestrian effort with almost a frat-boy style of writing. I do tend to agree with the frat-boy comment ,but I do think that this story demanded the kind of handling Ben Mezrich More...

0 comments like

Jul 14, 2011

Caitlin rated it:

After watching "The Social Network" and finding myself really obsessed with the movie, I decided to pick up the book that started it all. And, I wasn't disappointed one bit. A fascinating look at these real-life people, Mezrich gives a more equitable look than the movie does. Reading it, I found it harder to pinpoint a villain or hero in the story. They were just people -- people who made decisions, who created and destroyed relationships, who wanted to be a part of something bigger th More...

0 comments like

Jun 17, 2011

Scott added it

Quick read - bought for $2 and finished in the same day. (Thank you, Green Apple!) The book was interesting enough to read, to get context on the creation of Facebook and the people involved, but the heavy usage of the literary device of "recreating dialogue" is a bit hit or miss, often making the book seem too simplified or sensationalistic. For better of worse, the author's writing style makes the book read very much like a Hollywood script.

While it seems that the book li More...

0 comments like

May 29, 2011

ReviewBuku rated it:

Di balik ketenaran facebook, terdapat persengketaan yang cukup serius. Saya rasa inilah yang ingin ditunjukkan oleh buku ini. Buku ini ditulis oleh Ben Mezrich, penulis yang juga alumnus Universitas Harvard. Mezrich menulis riwayat dibuatnya facebook dalam bentuk novel. Namun, novel ini ditulis berdasarkan data – data asli yang berjumlah ribuan, termasuk wawancara dan juga catatan – catatan pengadilan. Menceritakan kisah dibuatnya facebook dengan gaya naratif khas novel membuat buku ini menarik More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 27, 2011

Lily rated it:

My God this SUCKS!!!!!!!!

It's not shocking that this book is so bad. Mark Zuckerberg has so much money and so much power that no one can force him to spill his guts. Lots of people resent that. But even assuming that the worst is true, about Mark and his empire, was Ben Mezrich the BEST author they could find to trash this guy?

Ben Mezrich doesn't write like someone who loves books, or who enjoys reading. He writes like he is blind drunk in a frat house at 3 AM, and trying More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2011

jess rated it:

We listened to this audio book as a family on a drive from Olympia to San Francisco (Spring Break Whoo!) which was, first of all, no small feat of a drive because 1. one of us is fourteen 2. one of us had not slept more than 3 consecutive hours in several days 3. one of us (the primary driver) is neither a confident stick shift driver or very tolerant of being interrupted in the middle of audio book reading.

Somehow, though, the stupid facebook book managed to suck us all in and prov More...

8 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 26, 2011

Tad rated it:

This is the definition of page-turner. A gripping, quick read that I just could not put down. Since I had seen the movie ("The Social Network"), I knew the story already but still found myself pulled in by this account. As to how much of this book is true, it's hard to say. I would guess that there's more truth in here than Mark Zuckerberg would like us to believe. Admittedly, I would like to hear his side of the story but since he refuses to talk, we are left to speculate. Facebook ha More...

0 comments like

Feb 13, 2011

Jennifer marked it as to-read

There are a lot of things that fascinate me. The Ins of Harvard is one, Facebook is another.

Majoring in Computer Science I've interacted with more than my fare share of Zuk'rburg types. None of which share his level of intelligence but I am confident in saying that the minds behind the creation of the culture-beast that is facebook share a certain geek trait that I first encountered in undergrad and still fascinates me to this day.

You see the fascinating thing about a praise More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2011

G N added it

This is not a high energy book!

You'll have a much better time watching the movie The Social Network (I did, on the plane, from Munich to Singapore), you might even come away with a sense of who was nasty and who was nice, but reading the book is like eating white toast bread. Tasteless. And disappointing. Being a firm believe of the old cliche that the book is better than the film, I was expecting to come away with some tangible insights. I didn't.

It's nothing to do with More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2011

Kathy rated it:

Accidental Billionaires is about the founding of Facebook. This book is based on interviews done by the author. Most of the book reads pretty easy anyone who has a Facebook account should definitely give it a go.

Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, students at Harvard, both geeks who lack much of a social life. Eduardo is more interested in social activities than Mark and tries to join the Phoenix Harvard club. Mark, out of frustration, creates Facemash a site for rating girls which a More...

0 comments like

Nov 28, 2010

Murphy's rated it:

(from Murphy's Library - http://www.murphyslibrary.com/ - rated 2 and a half there)

If you have read the Murphy’s favorite books #3: Inkheart, Cornelia Funke, you know I gave up on reading the book after watching the movie. With The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook — A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, the story was kinda similar—and before all the fans of this book start to yell at me, I said kinda. And, before you keep reading, I’d like to warn you that this is More...

1 comment like

Nov 21, 2010

Jim rated it:

This was really entertaining, despite the whole account listing badly to one side because the author could not get even a snatched conversation with Mark Zuckerberg - the founder and driving force behind Facebook. Resultantly he has to rely on what seems to be the view of a spurned partner, Eduardo somebody, who, as far as I could see, put up the money to get the site off the ground and precious little else. He was a friend of Zuckerberg, if the latter could conceive of what that was. It is a bi More...

0 comments like

Nov 20, 2010

Christine rated it:

The story of Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, creators of Facebook. I believe this book was the basis for the movie “The Social Network” (which I have not seen). Mark and Eduardo are portrayed as socially inept, Harvard social outcasts and computer/markting geniuses. One night, as almost a form of revenge for being spurned yet again, Mark sits down and writes a program for a social networking site for the students of Harvard. Not a total success, it gets him into trouble at the school, b More...

0 comments like

Nov 12, 2010

752 rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Nov 07, 2010

D.w. rated it:

This has the potential to have been a great insight into the founding of a company that is clearly having an impact of the early part of the 21st century. In the hands of a better writer I should imagine it would have done so. Anchor Books made a mistake in not seeing that a Michael Lewis caliber author was needed.

Two things cause this book to be glaring as a could have been.

The first is no Mark Zuckerberg. It may be understandable that when writing a biography about such a s More...

0 comments like

Jun 26, 2010

Melissa rated it:

A big "eh." For the first few chapters, I was really thrown off by Mezrich's writing style. He just tries too hard. I kept thinking he was trying to be a writer instead of actually being one ("the white and blue-colored crepe paper....one of the bowing so low that its taffeta-like curls threatened to overwhelmt he oversize punch bowl perched below"..." is a tame example). I was interested to see I wasn't the only reader annoyed by this. Admittedly in later chapters, I fo More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Apr 29, 2010

David rated it:

quick, sometimes amusing, read about the creation of Facebook. As possibly the last person in America not on Facebook, I was unfamiliar with the back story. As might have been predicted, the college students who started it weren't prepared to handle the skyrocketing success, and friendships imploded in multiple lawsuits about who created what when and who was cheating whom on the money.

Unfortunately, the author was unable to get the single most central character, Mark Zuckerberg, t More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 17, 2010

Trish rated it:

I hadn't read any of Mezrich's earlier books, though they are extremely popular in Boston, due to the MIT angle for Bringing Down the House. I expect that some of his earlier work was easier to complete, since he had the cooperation of the people he was profiling. In the case of this book, Mezrich could not get Mark Zuckerberg to go on record. Since the book is about Zuckerberg's (and others') accomplishments in establishing Facebook, I'd have to say that must have been a big disappointment to M More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 16, 2009

Thurston rated it:

Ugh...

Sub-magazine fiction, stretch across wide margins on all side (perhaps a symbol of the vapidity). Hey Facebook is a fascinating fad, and in this day and age, that can generate quite a bit of revenue.

Even when I was young and drawn to rock music, I hated that sort of perpetual idea that "we are in it for the girls." That's part of the tease of the book's artwork and "story." I'd rather read a Pelevin treatment of this story... Grabbed this book s More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 04, 2009

Jsnyder02 rated it:

Why do people like Ben Mezrich? This story itself, about Facebook, was fascinating and kept me reading. The author, however, made me want to vomit. His writing style is AWFUL. He made it clear he knew nothing about the subject matter, by describing technological aspects of the story in ways that didn't make any sense (no, he doesn't need to be a website creator himself, but he has to develop enough basic vocabulary to write intelligently). Also, he wrote this book without being able to get an in More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

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