Publisher : W W Norton Company
Publication Date : 2000 01 01
>> Another great book by Michael Lewis
I read this book because I am a fan of Michael Lewis and I enjoyed reading Liar s Poker and Moneyball This book is about Jim Clark and Silicon Valley Clark was an unsuccessful college professor who founded three billion dollar companies Silicon Graphics Netscape and Healtheon I personally liked the part about Silicon Valley I found it very educational to learn how an idea can be taken from scratch and at the end sold in the public markets through an IPO After reading this book people who are constantly chasing the next hot IPOs may wake up and realize that most of the money has already been made by the founders venture capitalists and investment bankers before leftovers are served for the public
Mariusz Skonieczny author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market Learn how to invest your money how to pick stocks and how to make money in the stock market
>> Not a bad read although nothing spectacular
One has to remember that this book was written during the burst of the Internet bubble At that time the general view is that the Internet bubble were purely speculative and would not have any lasting impact Michael Lewis went against the conventional wisdom at the time and described in a series of tales the transformational powers of the web still being played out The stories did not quite make a coherent whole However the observations were relevant
In terms of writing this book does not compare favorably to the master piece Liar s Poker Therefore I give it a 3 star
>> The Boat
It s all about the boat Here Michael Lewis follows the career of Jim Clark founder of Silicon Graphics now SGI Netscape now well something else and then Healtheon something else again Along the way Clark makes a zillion dollars and gets investment money as easily as turning on a tap Although this book is quite old now in terms of Internet years the same basic lessons seem to be applicable in today s well until 2008s crash anyway environment That is a suffer from ADD or is it ADHD and know when to spin the message way beyond hyperbole Clark comes across as a super intelligent hyperactive child Had he been 15 years old he d have been put on a cocktail of drugs and told to sit in the corner and be quiet Instead he s given hundreds of millions of dollars of investors money on business plans and ideas written on what feels like restaurant napkins Lewis the writer seems to be dragged along for the ride hanging on for dear life
Reading it now after the IT crash of 2001 and the General Collapse of 2008 I have no pity for how any of those people might be suffering now They had the very very high life Clark however doesn t forget the small people who have helped him along the way and makes sure that stock options are given out to those slaving over the hot keyboards
All through the book though Clark s dream of owning the biggest sail boat ever holds the story together and act as a message of the size of the plans Clark has And how no matter how big Clark sees or wants something there are still physical laws that limit him One thinks that if Clark could rewrite the laws of the universe he would Or at least start a company with investors money to try and do it float it on the NASDAQ then live off the profits Until the next New New Thing comes along
