Michael Lewis - The New New Thing book review

In a nutshell (349 pages), this is yet another brilliant piece of storytelling by Michael Lewis about Silicon Valley and how it came to be the way we know it today. The story is about Jim Clark, best known for founding Netscape, and how he invented the web browser we now know so well, but what’s more is how he convinced people to invest in his companies based on their potential, not their reasonable paper value. This is a much more important fact than is obvious.

What I got out of it

Aside from the outrageous lifestyle and whims of Jim Clark, it truly is amazing how such a brilliant, driven, and brazen individual can so change the world with just sheer willpower. Of course, he did very good and very important work, but many people are capable of doing the work, of making the product, but Clark was able to inform the investing world that they were now going to be doing business his way.

What was difficult

As with anyone so strongly driven by a bad past, Clark could be a painful character to be around. Many of his products and services improved many lives and he made many people very rich, but that does not mean his net effect on the world was very comfortable. For better or worse. That said, he wasn’t kicking dogs or slapping babies, he was manhandling grown businessmen who were either corrupt, incompetent or some form of useless and costly intermediary.

Recommendation

If you enjoy Michael Lewis’s incredible method of weaving together a complex story, you will probably want to read this book. If you want to know why people will pay so much for a company that has no idea how to make a profit, this book is required reading to understand. If you don’t care about technology or finance but enjoy a good story of interpersonal struggles, even you will enjoy this book. It isn’t too dense or complicated to listen to in audio form while doing the chores or driving, which is nice.