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Summary: You don't need to know about business to enjoy this
Review: Lewis writes with great wit and charm. This book takes you to the beginning of Internet stock-market mania, chronicling Jim Clark, an engineer, company founder, and sailing enthusiast who is always focusing on "the new new thing."As much as I enjoyed this book, I found that it ran out of steam about three-quarters of the way through. Still, it was lots of fun.
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Summary: Great Way to Analyze Innovation in the New Economy
Review: A great look inside the life and mind of Jim Clark....a man with vast prescience and hubris. Highly recommended to those with an interest in innovation, venture cvapital, technology, and the Internet.
A solid attempt to break down the porcess of innovation and the lens with which to look at the world in order to find and bring the new new thing to the broad market.
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Summary: THE DAY THE TECH WRECK HEADED SOUTH
Review: .
If you liked Sandra Bullock in "The Net " you'll love Jim Clark in "The New New Thing ".
In both that movie and Michael Lewis' book, you'll learn diddlysquat about the Internet or the Web. Instead you'll get some hyped up, impressionistic flim flam hoping to move us, and entertain us with the exciting new world (as it was) of the Internet (circa mid 90s). The movers and fakers come straight from central casting.
The book floats along with Clark's cyber-yacht "Hyperion" as the centerpiece of the action. The fate of this boat, with its over-engineered, 25 SGI workstation driven technology was a disaster waiting to happen. Its bloated pretentiousness and lack of real connection with maritime fundamentals (just forget about the weather) is a good allegory to what was going on in those 5 fantastic years that followed the Netscape IPO of 1995. Those investors who went along for the ride thought they had discovered the fail-proof money making machine.
Lewis as a writer and Clark as an engineer, turned billionaire and aspiring yachtsman, appear to know very little about the fundamentals of sailing. You can't cross the Atlantic Ocean " in a straight line as quickly as possible" as Clark commanded his skipper. ( p316). There are some basic elements such as winds, currents and the curvature of the earth to contend with.
There is no doubt that Clark is a driven man, unashamedly escaping his past. There is a strong element of psychobiography in this book. For Clark everything has to be new. The mystery of the old tarnished tuba from Clark's schooldays, which sits in a corner of Clark's guestroom, is one of the keys to the past that Lewis reveals to the reader.
The most worthwhile part of the book (p398) is when Lewis reflects " Why do people perpetually create for themselves the condition for their own dissatisfaction?"
On the following page, he observes " People who are unhappy with the way things are, tend to remain unhappy even after they have changed them." These are profound insights. It is a shame that Lewis distracts us with all the trivia in between.
This book confirms that the two high points of the Californian economic miracle (Silicon Valley and Hollywood), are both a product of a systemic frustration with the shortcomings of reality. What else do we need to drive our hoped-for progress as a civilization and at the same time "enrich" our popular culture? Materialism, whizz-bangery and vicarious thrill seeking fills the gap.
Those readers who have limited familiarity with the technology behind the Internet revolution, deserve more explanation of the significance of the key underpinning developments that were central to Clark's enterprises. Microsoft and the Browser Wars get a good run but surely the role of non-Windows operating systems such as UNIX warrant some passing comment in this book.
Lewis's writing style can be tiresome particularly his use of the F--- expletive on almost every page. Adding color to the dialog is one thing, and it may reflect the way some people talk, but it is more distracting than useful in a work of non-fiction like this.
The author evidently resides in Paris (France not Texas) these days. From that locale, you would think he would be less parochial when discussing the eating habits of non-Americans. He sneers at the cheese sandwiches the young Dutch investment analysts eat for breakfast, and what's worse, on two occasions when talking about the two smartest engineers on Clark's payroll (who just happen to come from India) he refers to the faint smell of curry which follows them around. This has more than a faint smell of racism about it. We are given a number of references to Filipino monkeys (seaman) just for good measure.
The climax of the book is when the Hyperion has engine failure in mid Atlantic. If this book is ever going to make it as a movie, it will need some good continuity work. On page 345, with the yacht's motor stopped, the engineer goes down to the engine room --- "It was hot. It was loud enough that Robert needed ear mufflers". Did he forget to turn the Hi Fi down?
With so much emphasis in this book on the ups and downs of stock prices, you would think the author and Clark would know when things were heading south. Most of the time they were at sea in the Hyperion no one knew the direction of the wind. The yacht with its over-reliance on technology is reminiscent of lots of bloat-ware that choke up our PCs. The Hyperion was lucky it didn't disappear into a fatal blue screen of oblivion.
The most fascinating scene in the book is where Clark, only two days into the voyage across the Atlantic, becomes totally bored with his new toy boat. This says it all.
"The New New Thing " provides a valuable insight into one of the key personalities of the Internet market frenzy of the late 1990s. Unfortunately, since we all seem to be consumed these days by chasing newness, this book (and the lessons it teaches) will be totally forgotten in a few years time. Henry Ford would be at home in Silicon Valley today. History is still all bunkum when technological advancement, takes precedence over people or nature
For readers who want real insights on where the Web came from, the people who were responsible for it, and the business cultures that have emerged in its wake should read "Architects of the Web", Robert H Reid's great book from 1997. "The New New Thing" in contrast looks like a tired relic from the last century only two years after publication.
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Summary: insight into irreverence
Review: An interesting narration of how it (the internet revolution) all started! But what makes this book particularly fascinating is its insight into the character of Jim Clark. You finish the book strugling to understand Clark, but you don't resent Lewis for not giving you a clearer picture of Clark because you realize, like Lewis, that Clark is basically amorphpous!! Fascinating!!!
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Summary: Michael Lewis is one our most perceptive writers
Review: I am a computer engineer who has lived in Silicon Valley for 25 years. I just couldn't put the book down. I have met some of the characters and have been in some of places Lewis describes. I think he has captured them better than any one. Visiting Dayton, Ohio's aviation parks last summer, the park ranger said it was the only place in the world the airplane could be invented at that time. If you wonder why the silicon/internet technologies are happening in this place, this book will enlighten you. Lewis is one of our most perceptive and funniest observer of the economic scene today. He won't diagram it out for you, but he captures the smell and spirit of the place and the people in it. There is a spirit to this place that is unique, you have to work and live here to understand it. Short of that, read this book.
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Summary: Been there, done that
Review: This is an entertaining book. But then I read Soul of a New Machine by Tracey Kidder from 1981. This Pulitzer Prize winning book is clearly the inspiration for Lewis's book. Right down to the protagonist Clark/West and the sailing scenes there is an uncanny resemblance. Read the original. It's much better.
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Summary: The time is now.
Review: This book's time is now. To understand what has happened in Silicon Valley, this book is invaluable. A teriffic read. All internet investors must read this book.
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Summary: Well-written and enjoyable...
Review: An interesting look at Jim Clark, another complex Silicon Valley character. The book was well-written and enjoyable, though I wish it was more insightful. If you know the industry well, skip this book. If you want a good primer on the Internet and the world of venture capital, this may be a good book for you. The nice thing is that it is a very quick read.
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Summary: Intriguing book... MUST READ
Review: Michael Lewis's outstanding perspective on this new economy is a must read for anybody interested in business and finance. While the New New Thing is insightful and educational, Michael somehow keeps things humorous. This is your best bet if you are looking for something both informative and entertaining.
