I have begun to whittle down my stack of books that have been hanging over my head for a while now. Most recently I started, and finished in a few days, The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. The book describes itself as “The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal”. I’ve read many of Ben Mezrich’s other books, including Bringing Down the House – which the movie 21 was based on – so figured I couldn’t go wrong with The Accidental Billionaires.
For the most part, the book is incredibly interesting. It details how Mark Zuckerberg came to founding Facebook, originally known as thefacebook, and the many people that he dealt with on this journey. Amazingly enough, Zuckerberg is not actually the main character of this story. The focus is more on Eduardo Saverin, Mark’s orignal cofounder of Facebook.
Before reading this book it is necessary to realize that this book is written by someone who was not there for any of these events, and his sources are no doubt quite biased against Mark Zuckerberg. With this is mind, it is hard to know which parts to believe and which to shrug off as fiction. But nonetheless, the book is an exciting story, and definitely worth reading. I wish that is had focused less on the controversy that surrounded the founding of Facebook, and more on the growth and evolution of Facebook after its founding. Maybe I’ll have to pick up David Kirkpatrick’s The Facebook Effect to get that part of the story?
For those who don’t care to read the book, Aaron Sorkin adapted it into a movie titled The Social Network. The trailer of the Social Network was recently released, have a look below:
This trailer is intriguing because it really screws with the timeline of the events, making the plot unfollowable unless you have read the book or know the story. The movie comes out October 1st, and it would be an understatement to say I am looking forward to it!