The Accidental Billionaires Book Review

by John R. SedivycloseAuthor: John R. Sedivy Name: John R. Sedivy
Email: john@capecodbranding.com
Site: http://www.capecodbranding.com
About: See Authors Posts (213)

“The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich was an impulse buy prompted by a 40% off coupon I had received from Barnes and Noble first thing in the morning. At $15 for a hardcover account of the creation of Facebook – I just couldn’t pass it up. Besides, I might get some useful tips on how to create a billion dollar website.

In reality “The Accidental Billionaires” provides little in technical terms of how the company was created and is more of a drama piece, discussing the “sex, money, genius, and betrayal” that ultimately resulted in one of the most successful websites of our time. In all fairness, the words “sex, money, genius, and betrayal” are all contained within the subtitle – so in this case you can judge a book by its cover.

Facebook Origins
“The Accidental Billionaires” is a fun tale of how the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg had come upon the idea of Facebook while attending Harvard. Herein lies part of the problem – who actually created Facebook? Like many things in life – it depends on who you ask. There are at least a few characters in the book vying for credit, perhaps rightfully so given their direct or indirect contributions.

Mark Zuckerberg is painted as a somewhat villainous workaholic who will do anything to make his creation a success. Mark embraces the philosophy of  “deliberate practice” by pushing himself to 20 hour workdays sustained, in order to make his creation a success. In essence, blood, sweat, and tears are what push Facebook to the top. However there are other contributors – in terms of ideas, individuals, and dollars, and herein lies the problem.

What I Liked
I found three aspects of this book to be enjoyable. First, I liked the storytelling in terms of the characters and the environment. “The Accidental Billionaires” is a fairly easy read and the characters are quirky, just as you would expect from a group of college undergrads who created a website. Although one aspect is difficult to discern – if the author is being objective as to the treatment of Mark Zuckerberg. Sometimes there appears to be a condescending tone towards Mark’s character, while at other times it is just passed off as Mark being Mark. Of course, the author could be, and is likely, just portraying the character based on the picture he had received from his multiple sources – all who may be bitter due to being left behind.

The second aspect I really enjoyed was the heart of the tale – the creation and growth of Facebook. The author begins the story before the founding of the website, and therefore set up contributing factors that led to its creation. It is exciting to witness the evolution of Facebook, and the characters along with it, especially considering this is relatively recent history. Anyone who has started a business or created anything, likely understands the fun of watching their “baby” grow – this is the fun part of the book.

Lastly, there was a large unsuspected element to this book – that of secret societies. One of the founding members of Facebook, belonged to the Phoenix S K Club of Harvard. As such, the author provides some insight into this fascinating underworld and discusses the other characters who belong to other such societies, such as the Porcellian Club, which has been likened to, Skull And Bones of Yale. Secret societies are more than a brief mention in this book – it is a theme that runs nearly throughout the entire story.

I am fascinated by secret societies and their role in the Ivy League, and ultimately the world, so I really enjoyed this aspect of the book. Anyone who may be interested in secret societies should check out  “Conspiracy Theories And Secret Societies For Dummies” which is a blog authored by Chris Hodapp. I have not read his book yet of the same title (but intend to), but the blog is an interesting collection of tidbits concerning secret societies and helps sort out the large mess of information out there.

Another View
In closing I really enjoyed reading this book, although I would be interested in seeing another book from Mark Zuckerberg’s point of view. Was he simply a socially awkward, workaholic or was he willing to sacrifice friends, classmates, and professional colleagues in order to propel his business to the top? Or was it simply a matter of others being jealous of his success? In the end it is tough to say as a big piece of the story is missing.

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Filed under Books, John's Articles, Reviews, Social Media | Comments (4)