The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook is the ultimate example of just how horrible human beings can see. If Thomas Hobbes was looking for proof that human beings are inherently evil, he would simply need to open this book and read. Ben Mezrich may be telling a true story, but this tale is an almost unreal example of the constant greed, evil, jealousy, and fighting that humans are capable of. If this book is an example of true human nature, the world is doomed.
The first tidbit of bad human behavior occurs immediately in the first chapter. Right away Eduardo, a main character, is lying about his abilities to make himself more likely to get into a fraternity. The lying is one thing but changing who he is just to find acceptance among his peers seems like a negative example of human nature. Eduardo understands Social Darwinism and knows that only the strong can survive, so he makes himself strong even though it costs him his values. While this does not seem like a big deal, this little act sets the scene for later behavior in the story.
The further along the story gets, the crazier the behavior becomes. Soon after Eduardo's impressive lying, Mark Zuckerburg hacks into the computers of every fraternity and sorority in Harvard. This displays that human greed trumps all and that Mark was willing to let his own desires become more important than the privacy of others, the school rules, and even the law.
Later on Mark lies to the entrepreneurs that hire him and he tells them that he is incapable of making their website. A few days later he launches his own website that is almost identical to theirs. Mark is not above lying and stealing to get ahead in life, a tendency that shows the evil that humans have managed to achieve. Later on the entrepreneurs that had originally hired Mark decide to take legal action against him; they try to fight for justice. When they take their case to the president of Harvard they are completely ignored, showing that humans are willing to ignore injustice because it is easier than fighting injustice head on.
Once Thefacebook gains success Sean Parker wants to be part of it so he can get rich. Like parasites that attach themselves to stronger beings to survive, humans try to link themselves to success even if they had nothing to do with the success.
It may sound pessimistic to call humans greedy, evil, jealous creatures, but The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook has definitely not given any evidence to contrary views. Ben Mezrich has painted his cast of characters to be some of the most evil beings on the planet. The story may be dramatic, but maybe there seems to be some truth in Ben Mezrich's take on human nature.
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ReplyDeleteAs Honors kids, we possess the uncanny and unlimited ability to stretch almost any literature into a complex metaphor, a deep theme, or find some profound meaning that may or may not exist. This book about the origins of the Facebook is, by no stretch of the imagination of even the most over-analytical Honors kid, profound or deeply interesting in any way, shape, or form.
ReplyDeleteIn the first 100 pages of the novel, I read an innumerable amount of scenes depicting the "drama" of creating a website. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of the book is its redundancy. The specifics of HTML can only be dramatized to a certain extent before it starts getting ridiculous. The main focus of the novel, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, is clearly and repetitively a nerd. Looking through each scenario that Zuckerberg appears in in the first 100 pages, we are reminded again and again that he is sporting the same nerd uniform. Do I need to be reminded every 7 pages that Zuckerberg likes to wear sandals and a sweatshirt with the hood up? Do I need to hear the word "awkward" every time that Zuckerberg is mentioned? No, probably not.
While at times overly melodramatic, the plot moves very quickly, although most of the action is divided between Mark's "awkward" social mishaps as seen through the eyes of his best friend, chief investor, and narrator of the story, Eduardo Saverin, and dramatic readings of the Harvard newspaper "The Crimson" by two male model twins and their sidekick who are knowingly in partnership and unknowingly in competition with Zuckerberg to create a Harvard-based social networking website.
But I don't hate the "Accidental Billionaires" in its entirety. My favorite aspect? The book reads like a copy of "People" or "Us", and no further interpretation or depth needed to read the articles found in these tabloids is needed to read this book. And just like you won't be able to find a metaphor in your Biology textbook without stretching the meaning a considerable amount, it is humanly impossible to reasonably find anything but the facts in "The Accidental Billionaires". While the material is arguably interesting, the presentation is just a little short of pathetic.
Post 2
ReplyDeleteThough Ben Mezrich tells an interesting story in The Accidental Billionaires, it does not seem entirely true. Mezrich sites twenty-two sources in the back of the book, he clearly follows the story of the actual founding of facebook, and there are some ironclad facts, but frankly, parts of the book seem made up.
It is as if Ben Mezrich has "Fact A" and "Fact B" and he has to draw a connecting line in between them. But instead of drawing a straight line between A and B, Mezrich makes the line swoop and zigzag and swirl around. He includes details that, while interesting, are not very pertinent to the story.
I understand that if Mezrich did not include these details, the book would simply be about computer programming, and no one wants to read about computer programming. I do not mind the author making a story more interesting, but Mezrich has made two major mistakes in his interesting details(made up parts). His first mistake is making them completely dramatized and not very realistic. Mezrich honestly spends as much time describing Mark Zucherberg smelling a girl's perfume as he does describing Zucherberg's launching of Facebook. His other mistake is making the made up parts more interesting then the true story.
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook seems to follow this pattern: Factual event, drinking scene, description of real people pertinent to the story, college hijinks, description of computer programming, college life, actual meeting that occurred, sex scene, actual event. I don't mind adding some interesting details to a story, but when the details rule the book, the author has gone too far.
Post 2- Page 25
ReplyDeleteThe first reaction most people will probably have when they read this is “Wow this is the second blog post and you’re only on page 25?” Long story short, I was unaware that the Independent Reading Project had to be done in a group, but I’m grateful that Mrs. Huss gave me the opportunity to start over again. Ironically, I used Facebook to get in touch with the other members and inform them that I was joining their group.
In The Accidental Billionaires, Ben Mezrich attempted to explain how an innocent college-dating service spiraled into the largest social network in the world, all in 220 pages. The author openly admitted in the three page disclaimer that he had twisted and manipulated many accounts of what had happened in order to make the story more dramatic. He then tried to down-play how the majority of the dialogue in the novel did not actually occur, except for in his own head. By the time I was reading about how Mezrich never even conferred with Mark Zuckerberg about the novel, I gave up the notion that there would be any historical significance to The Accidental Billionaires.
A few pages into the novel, my worst fears had been confirmed. The author gave the same generic one-dimensional description of Mark Zuckerberg, a socially awkward nerd. This lost points for Mezrich on characterization, as he did not try to delve farther into Zuckerberg’s genius. I really wish that the novel would have given a deeper insight into Zuckerberg’s world, instead of just labeling him. On a purely literary level, the imagery and dialogue in the novel were impeccable. The author seemed to have a knack for describing the fuzz on a bee, without boring the audience. His descriptions brought me into a different world, and many times I felt as if I were right next to Eduardo or Mark at a low-budget frat party.
Without a doubt, I found myself subconsciously flipping the pages of the book, anticipating what would happen next. I really only have one critical comment for the author, while he is very talented, his skills are more geared towards narrative and adventure books. In a way, by making the founding of Facebook sound like an adventure, Mezrich butchered what actually happened. It was only after I accepted that the book was written simply for entertainment, that I was able to fully immerse myself in Mezrich’s work.
Post #2
ReplyDeleteWhile I could spend this whole post disagreeing with Robert's points, (this book is NOT "written simply for entertainment"- that's just an excuse for poor writing) I'll talk about the motivation of the characters in the novel instead.
I think that motivation is the single most important thing in a story. It drives the characters' actions, which, in turn, drives the plot of the novel. Simply discovering someone's motives reveal a huge part of who they are.
With that said, Mezrich uses this form of characterization to add some dimension to his characters. The "socially awkward nerd", Zuckerberg, is made infinitely more interesting when one discovers his motives. He is definitely not just creating Facebook for the heck of it. He's probably not getting that much of a thrill from formatting and HTML. No, he's creating Facebook for a variety of reasons.
Some of Zuckerberg's apparent motives: to be accepted into one of the prestigious frat-style Finals Clubs at Harvard. To prove his superiority over jerks like the Winklevoss twins. To get back at the girl that dumped him at the very beginning, driving him into a drunk website-creating and database-hacking rampage. And, apparently most importantly, to pick up girls.
Knowing that this complex characterization does exist in Mezrich's novel, whether on purpose or as mere coincidence in the midst of badly written, over-dramatized storylines, makes "The Accidental Billionaires" just a little more bearable.
Knowing the motives of the characters and trying to understand their objectives is only interesting because it is a challenge to find them in Mezrich's sloppy writing style. And by "a little more bearable", I'm guessing you mean "a little less excruciating".
ReplyDeleteIs this just a really horrible book?
ReplyDeletePost 3- Page 105
ReplyDeleteSorry LewKid and Ana, but I have to disagree with both of you on your literary criticisms of Mezrich.
Ben Mezrich is a great author, his dialogue is well-crafted, and his descriptions are spot-on. The Accidental Billionaires is a great book and has provided me with hours of entertainment. On page 60 the book really went into turbo-mode, when Mezrich beautifully described the chain of events that lead to the founding of "thefacebook". Mezrich laid out the pieces of the puzzle, but in the end, let the reader piece the puzzle together. He did this by shifting between different perspectives, ranging from Eduardo to the Winklevoss twins.
However, as the plot progressed, Mezrich's demonization of Zuckerburg shined through. We are constantly reminded of his sloppy appearance down to the lint of his GAP sweatshirt. That was unnecessary and only portrayed the author as a snob, while not adding any value to Zuckerburg's actual characterization.
Mezrich also made more and more references to Zuckerburg as a control-freak, but did not have any evidence to prove it. I personally believe he went a little too far on page 87 when he wrote, "Mark didn't respond...Again Mark didn't answer. He was bobbing a little behind the computer..." I think by page 87, we understood that Zuckerburg was a bit socially awkward, but not to that extent. It felt as if Mezrich was describing a severe case of autism.
Another minor plot discrepancy derived itself from Mezrich's lack of understanding of computer science. By putting into layman’s terms the technical aspect of the creation of “thefacebook”, I personally felt he did not do it enough justice. All in all, I'm so far pleased with Mezrich's writing, but I would love to see a few plot altercations later in the novel.
Post 3:
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Robert's heartfelt defenses of The Accidental Billionaires, I spent quite some time trying to formulate an excuse for why anyone would feel inclined to write in such an unbearable style. I have come up with the following theory.
Mezrich believes that he has to be over dramatic to compensate for the fact that almost everyone can predict the ending of the story. This theory first occurred to me when a friend who saw me reading "The Accidental Billionaires" joked, "Spoiler Alert! Facebook gets really famous". Though this was intended as a joke, I realized that my friend may have unwittingly discovered Mezrich's biggest cripple. Mezrich understands that his target demographic consists of people who either have facebook accounts or have heard of facebook. Mezrich has the disadvantage of not being able to surprise his readers with a major plot twist at the end of the story. To make up for this, he tries to make the rest of the story as surprising and interesting as possible, even when it compromises the truth in the story.
Just thank you, Hannah.
ReplyDeletePost 4: Includes minor spoilers up to page 214.
ReplyDeleteI believe I have found the main reason for disliking Mezrich's style. The key events are so unmemorable and so drowned by unnecessary details, the story is easily forgotten. It is almost impossible to create a timeline for this book because not major events stand out. If you wonder what I mean by timeline, here is an example. Harry Potter Timeline: baby dropped on doorstep, accepted into Hogwarts, Hagrid comes and takes him away, goes to Diagon Alley, meets Ron and Hermione on train, sorted into Gryffindor, etc. But creating a timeline for this book is basically impossible. My best attempt goes something like this: Nerd meets Super Nerd, Super nerd makes website, jocks hate nerd, everyone hates everyone, nerds are famous, everyone does shots with the nerd, everyone makes out with the nerds, anger, love, anger, money, something, someone, Nerds are awkward for the millionth time, indistiguishable business meeting, unmemorable detail. I honestly could not remember three important events from the book if I tried. The unnecessary details that take the stage on the other hand? The made up details dominate the story. I cannot tell you the names of the people who work on thefacebook.com, but I can tell you that Mark Zuckerberg slept with a Victoria's Secret Model. What project did Sean Parker work on before thefacebook? I don't recall, but I do know that Eduardo Saverin's made up girlfriend lit a jacket he gave her on fire. Mezrich made the mistake of making the fake details more prevalent than the story, and the plot took the backseat, leaving Mezrich with an unmemorable piece of garbage.
I think the most interesting thing a female character did in this book was light that jacket on fire.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, lighting a jacket on fire is a really stupid, psychotic and irrational thing to do. What a coincidence that the only strong female figure in this novel is stupid, psychotic and irrational.
True, the main characters, in all accuracy, were not female. I don't expect a fictional female heroine to pop up to save Facebook for Zuckerberg. But I do expect Mezrich to portray his fictional female characters in a more flattering light than...well, CRAZY.
It's understandable that one of the main goals of this website endeavor for many of the guys is to attract girls. This is solid, simple characterization of the stereotypical college-age guy. What's disappointing is that Mezrich writes this as though he is an immature twenty-year-old also, not giving any further thought to the depth of the female counterparts in the story than mere status symbols.
You aren't 100 percent correct Ana, there are several female figures in this story:
ReplyDelete1. The insane girlfriend
2. The slutty underwear model that Zuckerberg is sleeping with
3. The girl who drags Zuckerberg into a bathroom stall so they can make out
I get this feeling that Mezrich is living out some weird fantasies through this book.
Emily Wolfram likes the comment above ^
ReplyDeleteAna, truth be told there weren't much females involved in the founding of Facebook in the first place. I strongly believe that the author told it like it was, perhaps if one of founders were female, then the author would have taken a different perspective.
ReplyDeleteIt's very sweet that you would try to defend Mezrich with the "telling it like it is" excuse, but clearly Mezrich does not care about "telling it like it is". Most of the events in the book are clearly fictional, and these female characters were obviously just made up one dimensional characters. If he was going to make stuff up about women, how about not making it sexist? Also, I found two more female characters/ character groups:
ReplyDelete1. The girls who get wasted at a graduation party
2. The girls who are anxiously waiting to get on the f**k truck
I agree with Hannah, and with Robert, but only because I don't think Robert is on the same page about how real the female figures in the book are. The main female characters in the book, although there are very few, are ALL FICTIONAL. The author is not "telling it how it is", he is painting EVERY last female figure in the novel as a psycho, messy, stupid, irrational skank while EVERY last male figure is intelligent and has at least one redeeming quality.
ReplyDeleteAnd I assure you Robert, if you were in fact referring to those fictional female characters as being portrayed accurately ("telling it how it is"), not all women are psycho, messy, stupid, and irrational skanks.
To any outside party reading these comments: Ana and I are not insane feminists. We are merely opposed to the portrayal of women as pyromaniac, slutty messes who only get joy from Vodka and making out with computer programmers.
ReplyDeleteBook Review
ReplyDeleteThe Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook is a story written by Ben Mezrich. While Mezrich says that the book is not fictional, many subjects of the story have disassociated themselves from the story because they claim it is untruthful. The story seems overly dramatic and excessive with details that Mezrich could not possibly know, making his claim that his book is true. Unnecessary drinking and sex scenes make the book slightly explicit and draw the reader away from the main plot of the story, the founding of Facebook. The short and pointless party stories are so entertaining, the reader often forgets that facebook is being founded. Once the reader is able to focus on the story of facebook instead of the story of ordinary frat boys, the reader finds that Mezrich has completely blurred the story. The timeline of the story is very unclear and the events are so similar and indistinct, they blur together easily. The story is not confusing, but Mezrich makes it harder to follow than necessary. On top of a poor plot, Mezrich has painted a cast of one-dimensional characters with dull motivesIt is difficult to believe that young genius Mark Zuckerberg’s only motivation for creating facebook was to pick up girls, yet this is all that Mezrich shows. Mezrich’s poor writing has ruined an interesting and famous story.
As far as being entertaining, The Accidental Billionaires deserves an eight out of ten because it has great descriptions of college parties and soap opera worthy drama. In terms of being a historical account of facebook’s founding, as promised by Mezrich, this book only deserves a six out of ten. The Accidental Billionaires only earns a five out of ten in the category of themes and life lessons because the only real lesson is to trust nobody. As an average of these three categories, The Accidental Billionaires earns a six point three out of ten.
Post 4:
ReplyDeleteAfter reading through Lewkid and Ana R's posts criticizing Mezrich's style of writing, I've summed up the opposition's arguments in a short list.
1. Mezrich focuses too much on the glamour of college (chasing after girls, getting drunk) and as a result sidelines the plot.
2. Mezrich tends to over-dramatize situations
3. Mezrich portrays females in an unflattering light (to be conservative).
I think we have to look at this situation from the author's perspective. Mezrich isn't selling a strictly factual-based timeline of the events that led up to the creation of Facebook, because no one would buy that. He’s trying to market a mainstream book to the mass-media, to the youth of America, which at best has a questionable attention span.
The book's purpose once again, is to entertain, not enlighten. This isn't Dickens or Hemingway, it’s Mezrich. While Mezrich might have over-dramatized some situations, I believe it was necessary to entice the reader. There are many books on Facebook, but I believe by focusing on the details, Mezrich gave a fresh new approach to an old story.
Book Review
ReplyDeleteBen Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires, a novel portraying the creation and establishment of Facebook, describes itself on the front of the first edition as "a tale of sex, money, genius, and betrayal". And this is true- the book dealt with these concepts in this exactly order, which coincidentally was the opposite order of interesting-ness. I would've loved to read a semi-fictional account of the history of Facebook as it pertains to betrayal, genius, money and sex. But no, I read vice versa and it was thoroughly painful.
The writing itself was majorly overdramatic and materialistic. It seemed that Mezrich was more interested in the outfits of these one-million-times-described-"socially awkward" people (repetition is effective in children's books and poetry, not novels) than of their actual thoughts, feelings, and overall more important attributes. Even long after finishing the last page of this novel-length tabloid, I cannot say what Zuckerberg's (the founder of Facebook and one of the main characters of the book) motives were for creating Facebook. I can, however, tell you that he likes to wear GAP sweatshirts, cargo shorts, and flip-flops year-round.
I chose "The Accidental Billionaires" not expecting it to be one of those books that alters how you think. I did, however, believe it would be exciting- the concept in itself is fascinating to me- but rather than being a book that was hard to put down, it turned out to be a book that I was desperate to throw across the room between chapters.
So this is why I give "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich a three, despite my instinct to rate it a solid, honest negative four. Please see the movie, "The Social Network" (based upon the book) or pick up a very old, very outdated copy of People before you even CONSIDER getting yourself a copy of this novel.
I'm still disappointed that such an interesting subject could be written about so poorly. It does not at all give the Facebook story justice.
I just realized that this forum is more interesting than the book itself. Well guys, we beat Ben Mezrich.
ReplyDeleteHannah^
ReplyDeleteEven though I haven't read the reviews yet (but I'm going to try to), I was going to like that comment.
...but then I realized I wasn't on facebook.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBook Review-Separate from Post #4
ReplyDeleteThe Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook has caused quite a bit of controversy in our little independent reading group these last few months. It has been accused of being inaccurate, boring, and even sexist. For me, it has been one of the best books I've read in a while. I don't get much of a chance to read due to my classes and extra-curricular activities, so The Accidental Billionaires provided me with the perfect escape from reality. While Mezrich's descriptions might have been a little flowery and over the top at some points, his sentence fluency and dialogue made up for it. The only problem I had was that Mark Zuckerburg, the main character was demonized and portrayed in a very one-dimensional light. This resulted in the main character not being very believable at some points. If you're like me and you accept that sometimes a book's only purpose is to entertain, then this book will appeal to you. The bottom line is: 8 out of 10 points.