Status Update

The movie The Social Network came out this year, and the previews made a movie about computer nerds look fun and exciting. Since I usually don't get around to seeing the movie (and, indeed, haven't yet) I thought I would try my hand at the book the movie was based upon instead. It took a long time to come into the library (seems like everyone else had the same idea!) but I finally picked up The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, by Ben Mezrich.

This book tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard student who founded Facebook; his friend and business partner Eduardo Saverin; campus rivals the Winklevoss twins; and the Silicon Valley player Sean Parker. It is a classic rags-to-riches story for the computer age (although, considering it started at Harvard, not too rags to riches.): young nerd comes up with an amazing and revolutionary computer program, drops out of school, and makes a lot of money. Sprinkle in a few lawsuits, some deception, broken friendships and a Victoria's Secret model or two, and you've got a story!

I thought this book was okay - it did not seem nearly as exciting as the movie came across as being. It was still an interesting story, but ultimately similar to other self-made-man stories. Mezrich has a very interesting writing style in which he sets his characters in scenes and recreates conversations. It's sort of like reading a novel, without all the extra insight that a novel writer can provide. This is, I think, a non-fiction book, so Mezrich is stuck with the facts and can't embroider the feelings and motivations of the characters like a fiction writer is able to do. That said, Mezrich is a good writer and I am interested in checking out some of his other works.

Mezrich talked to all the major players in this story except for Zuckerberg himself. While Zuckerberg has a perfect right to refuse to contribute, it does hamper the book slightly in that you never really get inside Zuckerberg's head and figure out what his motivations are. He remains a cipher throughout the book, so you don't really know what's going on with him and why he made the decisions he made, some of which are central to the narrative. Again, this may have been better served by fictionalizing the book, where the author can then impart motivations on to the fictional character of Zuckerberg and provide a rationale for his actions.

I think part of my problem with the book is its outright dismissal of women. Women are either portrayed as sexy objects, looking only to sleep with powerful men, or jealous psychopaths who burn down houses. Did we really need to know that Eduardo's girlfriend tried to burn down her dorm room in a jealous rage? It doesn't really add anything to the story about Facebook and merely serves to slander this girl's reputation. Her name has probably been changed in the book, but we have no way of knowing is Mezrich actually spoke to her or tried to get her side of the story - the story is mainly told from the point of view of her ex, after all (Eduardo). And it adds nothing to the story - Facebook was not created because she allegedly tried to burn down her dorm room. I suppose it's meant to show the "craziness" surrounding the creators of Facebook.

Also, the first website Zuckerberg creates is called Facemash, where Harvard students could vote on the attractiveness of campus women. Zuckerberg created the website in a rage after being dumped by some unnamed girl. He was so furious that he was going to put up photos of farm animals and have the students compare photos of cows, sheep, and pigs with the female residents on campus. This was really insulting to read about and nearly made me want to quit using Facebook. Zuckerberg is mad because he's always been rejected by women. Well, maybe try not wearing around a stupid hoody and flip-flops all the time (as the book implies that he does). Yes, there is more to life than appearance, but come on! A woman is not going to date some guy who looks like a schlub. If he doesn't put any effort into his appearance, how much effort is he going to put into the relationship? Come on, nerds, take a little ownership here and work on your appearance a little bit. You have to look like you care about yourself before someone will want to care about you. Anyway, back to the book: of course Zuckerberg is "redeemed" later on in the book when he allegedly goes to bed with a Victoria's Secret model. Again, the two archetypes of women in this book are represented: the whore and the bitch.

Further, all the characters seemed to be pretty dismissive of Harvard. I always thought of Harvard as a prestigious and elite school, filled with students of an educational mind-set. And I am sure there are some like that - just not in this book! There is a lot more emphasis on campus status than there was on education. Maybe that's a product of elite schools, or just American schools in general: I don't think that's a factor in Canadian schools. Or maybe there were the same power games for status when I went to university and I just was so out of the loop that I didn't realize it! I actually went to school to learn.

At any rate, now that I've read the book I still want to see the movie, to at least see how much it draws from the book and if it's improved by fictionalization. And I will check out some other books from Ben Mezrich, because he is a good author. But I can't say as I highly recommend this book. Of course, you are always welcome to read it and make up your own mind. Let me know in the comments if you read the book and what you thought, or if you saw the movie and what you thought. Maybe I'll even add an update when I've seen the movie.