"The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal" by Ben Mezrich

I think I would re-title this book "Facebook: It's Not as Interesting as You Might Think." Like a good chunk of people who have read this book, I saw The Social Network and thought it was a fantastic movie. I thought that this book would be interesting. Sadly, it was not. I found The Accidental Billionaires to be bit of a snoozefest with some swear words thrown in. Don't get me wrong, I am not offended by swear words, but I have to say that I found it extremely jarring when such words were used in prose and not just in quotes. It was one of the many things that took me out of this book.

Ben Mezrich informs the reader at the beginning that he did not get any input from Mark Zuckerberg (who is said to have declined to be interviewed). I think the book lost a lot of focus because of that. The point of view flits from Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and the Winklevoss twins, but because I knew that anything written from Zuckerberg's perspective had to be a fictionalized account, it really took me out of the story. And that's what this felt like; a story. I didn't really feel like I was reading about real life moments, but instead it came across as a novel that still needed some editing. Have you ever had a kid tell you a very long story that is filled with "and then this happened" moments? Reminds me of this book a little too much.

I would probably read another book about the founding of Facebook and the drama that ensued because of it (the story really is interesting), but it won't be this one. If you haven't read this one yet, go ahead and just watch The Social Network. It's the same information, but told much better.



Happy Reading!
-Melly