Saturday, November 6, 2010

Book #48 THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES By: Ben Mezrich


Ben Mezrich knows where to find a good story. It seems that his non-fiction pieces are usually argued about when it comes to the validity of the facts-however- it makes for good reading and films that have twice now surpassed their literary parents.

The story of facebook (particularly between Mark Zuckerberg/Eduardo Saverin) is reminiscent of the creation of Microsoft (ie: Bill Gates/Steve Jobs). Sure, the story contains drinking, partying, psycho girlfriends, drug-charges, etc- but the interesting part of the story remains in the corporate world with Sean Parker's Eve Harrington-esque coup.

While I would recommend this book (particularly to people with corporate or entrepreneurial interests)- I recommend the film more. Sacrilegious words, I know- but completely true. When writing about real life it's hard to find a good story-arc; life is usually not tied up with a bow so our lives can't really fit into the general formula for a story. In this case the film format had more freedom to create that arc. Still Ben Mezrich knows where to spot drama in real life.

B

*NY Times Book of the Times

No comments:

Post a Comment