The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story

This book is just a fun read. It is not an academic book, and Lewis does love to dwell on the excesses or silly points, but Lewis captures better than any other author the culture and people of Silicon Valley, who have legally created a stupendous amount of wealth in less than a decade.There were two parts of the book I particularly loved: First, the part on the engineers from India was compelling. These kids grow up on the brink of starvation and work their tails off to make it to Silicon Valley to seek their dreams. The book keenly demonstrates how Jim Clark is able to harness these kind of people and let their talents operate in the most productive way, and also make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.Second, the best part of the book was the second to last chapter, about how Jim Clark came from absolute poverty in Texas. Clark had to defend his mother from his drunken father, and his mother had only $5 a month after the bills were paid. The book keenly demonstrates how Clark's sense of anarchy and adventure led him to rise far above the hand he was dealt in life.The story of how Clark has made 3 different billion dollar companies is amazing, and even more amazing is that he is using his talents to create a fourth company instead of only sailing his crazy boat.You'll learn a lot when you read this book, it will inspire you, and you'll enjoy it. Read it soon, before the next new new thing makes it irrelevant.

Entertaining and informative. Lewis is a great writer for those who want to read, but never seem to read books. Not his best book, but better than other writers attempts to entertain.

Lewis has a genuine gift for taking complex concepts (as he did in Moneyball, Boomerang, and Liar's Poker) and breaking it down in a narrative format that manages to convey a maximum amount of meaning into the story. In "The New New Thing" Lewis focuses on Jim Clark's ascent in the world of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship and Clark's persistent pursuit of the titular "new new thing."Explaining the how's, why's, and differences between the old way of doing things and the new (or new new) way of doing things can be tricky, because it assumes you have some understanding of how the old (or old old) way of doing things works. I'm not a Wall Street investor, but I felt not only capable of understanding Lewis' framework of explanation, but I felt like I could extrapolate deeper meaning from it. He manages to paint fascinating pictures of all the people involved in the pursuit of the new new thing and how their constellation manages to orbit itself as it becomes standard operating practice in the growing tech industry.I also felt like I could better understand how the minds of billionaire "executives" (as Lewis points out, Jim Clark wasn't exactly sure how to describe exactly what it was he does) and how they anticipate the next new new thing, why it interests them, and how quickly it starts to lose their interest. If you can understand someone like Clark, you can start to understand the industry.

There are two reasons why Liar's Poker was such a great book. First, it profiled some of the greatest characters of Wall Street during the 1980's. Secondly, Lewis was very critical of Solomon. Reading "Liar's Poker" makes you think about how ridiculous traders' views of the world were in the late 1980s.The problem with "The New New Thing" is that Michael Lewis is not critical enough of Jim Clark. Jim Clark certainly was generous to Michael Lewis by letting him tag along on so many of his adventures, and it would probably have been inapproriate for Lewis to be more critical of his subject. But, this doesn't make it an interesting book.If you're looking for the "Liar's Poker" of the Internet, try Michael Wolf's "Burn Rate," or Po Bronson's "Nudist on the Late Shift," both of which contain much more interesting people, much more information about the internet revolution, and much more cynicisim.

This is a story about the dawning of the Internet as we know it. It is the story of Jim Clark and his whims, his thoughts, and ideas that shaped the world of Silicon Valley and the world beyond. It’s also a historical perspective written in the past without the benefit of knowing what we know now so that can be a little frustrating at times, but these are instances of exception rather than overwhelming and do not impact the power of the story. I’d recommend the book if you’re a Micheal Lewis fan as the imagery is as rich and the story is as enrapturing as his other books.

This was interesting as a study of how money subverts. You realize that less is more. I hope the boat owner can come to peace.

From bits on his past life to his genius of the new new thing, Jim Clark and his fellows builders don't cease to amaze and inspire to never stop looking for the future

Printing. quality is very poor

I like the books of Michael Lewis and his style. This one is on history of Internet Boom and the period in the Valley from mid-eighties to end of 90-ties.

Superbe !

I have enjoyed all the Michael Lewis books I have read, enjoying real life events being told in a very readable way. This time I learned about Jim Clark, founder of a number of Silicon Valley companies, making a fortune for himself and for many many employees and investors. As Jim is described having new ideas, convincing others that they will be executable and will make money there is a background story. He has commissioned the building of a boat with the tallest, at that time, mast, to be managed/sailed via on board computers. A good read and Jim an interesting man.