Rating: 
Summary: Bruce Reizen's narration should get an award
Review: Due to lack of time, I purchased the unabridged tapes to listen to during my commute, and I plan on listening to it again and again. Bruce Reizen does a masterful job of narration, and if he actually did all the voices of the different characters, he's the most talented reader I've ever heard. Buy the tapes. You won't regret it.As for the content of the book, I found it very informative. Although I work in high tech, I am not someone who keeps up with the who's who of Silicon Valley. It was very interesting to learn about Jim Clark and his role at SGI, Netscape, and Healtheon, as well as his passion for discovery and his disdain for traditional corporate organizations. He's one of the few engineers to 'make it over the fence', and get the financial reward he deserved without selling out and becoming 'managerial'. If you are an engineer or other technical specialist who's watched executives rake in the big salaries, bonuses, and stock options while you're worried if your annual raise will keep up with inflation, you'll cheer him on. His yacht, Hyperion, was an important foil to Jim Clark's character. It seems superfluous at first, but it gives insight into his need to find new ways to conquer and control through technical wizardry. Michael Lewis brings this adventure to life, even if you, like me, could care less about sailing. I thoroughly enjoyed both the story and the narration, and have been recommending this book to all my friends.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not another Liar's Poker
Review: Michael Lewis attempts to take on explaining the growth of the Net and the Silicon Valley through the career of Jim Clark, but falls short of expectations. Though lucid and humorous in parts, the overall impact is flat. Focuses too much on the man and not enough on his machines, barring the Hyperion. The book dwells at length on Hyperion to bring out the idiosyncracies of the main protagonist.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the beef?
Review: From what I heard, this is a great book on the industry. But this should have been a magazine essay given the amount of substance that this book had. Sure, The New New Thing can be entertaining, but in the end, there's not much there there.
Rating:
Summary: Lewis's Version of Internet IPO
Review: I was really expecting to like this a lot. Although I enjoyed parts of the book, it is not 1/100th as good as Liar's Poker. I don't know much more about Jim Clark than before I started reading the book. I found the details about the Hyperion boring. Still other parts are mildly entertaining. If you haven't read Po Broson's First $20M is Always the Hardest Part don't waste your time on this. I hate to get caught on details, but indicating Microsoft as an NYSE company was an enormous loss of credibility for me. Lewis' IPO, easy money for him, not much for the benefit of the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Too much fun to be a "business book"
Review: Jim Clark is every journalist's dream. He's a card, a ham, an original, a one-of-a-kind eccentric. Best of all, he's a billionaire. Lewis uses Clark as his vehicle to describe the new economy that has been born in Silicon Valley. No, not everyone is as flamboyant and bizarre as Clark, but he makes it easy for Lewis to make his point: a new uncovnentional economy requires new, unconventional entrepeneurs and leaders. One of the best aspects of Lewis' book is how he spends more time on writing about Clark and his non-business exploits than he does about Clark's businesses themselves. This is where Lewis is at his best. Business writing isn't known for producing laugh-out-loud page-turners. But that's the kind of book this is.
Rating: 
Summary: Oportunity Missed
Review: This is a very funny book, easy to read, very Michael Lewis style. The problem with it is that Michael Lewis becomes a victim of the strong personality of Jim Clark and spends too much time describing meaningless details of Clark's unorthodox behavior. Instead, I think that Michael Lewis could have gone a bit deeper into the heart and soul of Sillicon Valley and give us a more objective perspective of The New New Riches. Maybe Lewis got a few stock options from Clark to make sure that the book was going to say only good things about him..........
Rating:
Summary: The Fun Fun Book
Review: This is vintage Michael Lewis. Entertaining and informative at the same time. The book reads like a novel, you want to keep reading even if you know some of the details of the story. It describes the essence of the New Economy and the new world of financial markets and fully illustrates how this era of entrepreneurial capitalism combined with the breakthough potential of current technological developments are different from any previous experience. Venture capital is now in the sphere not only of public consciousness but public participation. And reading about Silicon Graphics certainly made me glad that I avoided an investment in their stock when their troubles appeared to be only temporary. The book has something for anyone interested in the world of business and investing, whether a professional or casual observer.And it will probably reinforce whatever your existing prejudices may be, either that this is a once in a several hundred year opportunity or an insane speculative bubble - or perhaps both.
Rating:
Summary: The eccentric personality of Silicon Valley ...
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this unabridged audio novel about Jim Clark and his eccentric personality. As a programmer in the Valley and living only five minutes away from SGI and Netscape it was really interesting to learn more about the founder and Venture Capital of the Valley. I really enjoyed how Brillance Audio did the unabridged novel. Dubbed to six tapes it was really fun to listen to the whole story, while I programmed at home. As a developer I don't have any free time to read but I have hundreds of hours to listen to audio novels, especially good ones like this. I really feel for Jim Clark though, being the conceptulist of the new new thing is tough work and frustrating. I'm looking forward to the day when he gets so upset with the local TV that he creates five 24 hour education channels, One for math, physics, science, biology and geography that air the videos and some new ones. (I'm a little eccentric too) I look forward to Michael Lewis's next novel and hope it is as enjoyable as this one. Great narration by Bruce Reizen.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing book
Review: This was quite an amazing book. It's written exceedingly well -- it manages to keep Jim Clark as the central character of the book without deifying him. Lewis allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about Jim Clark and, in fact, the "New Economy" at large. Very recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Stand back my brain is going to explode!
Review: I read this book on tape. It was well read and I found it hard to put down or turn off. I highly recomend it for those who are original thinkers, the rest of you might find it long and too detailed. I loved the book and wish I could hang with Jim.
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