A fun book about Jim Clark

This book gently pokes fun at a man who one of the most widely acclaimed entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Jim Clark is not the richest man in Silicon Valley, or the richest tech entrepreneur, but he is widely regarded as the most entrepreneurial of the super-rich in Silicon Valley.

The book presents him as a likable, slightly tormented, mild misfit. Of course he's a man of nuclear will; all great entrepreneurs are. But this book doesn't portray him as a bellicose tyrant, the way Steve Jobs is often portrayed. And it doesn't portray him as a borderline autistic, diabolical businessman, they way Bill Gates is often portrayed. The portrayal is closer to a character on the popular TV show, "The Big Bang Theory". There is something in the portrayal that it is funny and likable in a way that is similar to almost every geek I've ever known. In this regard the book is very well written. And the narration was excellent.

On a personal note I inherited the office that Jim Clark inhabited as a grad student at the University of Utah, about a decade after him, where I too earned a Ph.D. in computer science. When I moved into the office I found a raincoat and an umbrella standing in the corner, made to look like a mannequin without the mannequin. It was referred to as the "Invisible Grad Student". Rummaging through the pockets of the raincoat I discovered an old printout, on old style computer paper, of the department student directory. Jim's name was highlighted. After asking around I discovered that it was widely believed that the Invisible Grad Student was the work of Jim Clark. But all that was known for sure was that it had at one time been his office. When I pointed out that this might be valuable and inquired about rather the department wanted to keep these artifacts in a safe place, the items were stolen. Since at that time all the grad students had keys to everybody else's office, the list of suspects was intra

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Disruptions and Disruptors

“Never was a man’s love of risk so beautifully amplified by his environment as Clark’s was in Silicon Valley.”
― Michael Lewis, The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story

I did like Lewis' exploration of the relationship of Investment banking and the information technology companies that seemed to weed up in Silicon Valley during the late 90s. The normal venture technology relationship seemed to invert in Silicon Valley. Power shifted from the money men to the idea men, or perhaps not even the idea men, but the risk men, the development men. It was, and still is, a bit of an aberration in business space and time. This book focuses on Jim Clark, who ended up wet-nursing three different IT start-ups (Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon).

Like his fellow Princeton New New Journalism master, John McPhee, Michael Lewis does a phenomenal job of finding and fleshing out the exact right person to serve as the locus for an even bigger story. This book is nominally focused on Jim Clark, but really is about the technology bubble of the late 1990s. Jim Clark just happens to be a near perfect example of the best and worst of that particular place and time in America's economy.

Not my favorite Lewis. Not because it isn't well written, but mainly subject matter. I'm more of a value man (Graham & Dodd), not a kamikaze investor. The whole idea of the New New thing is both interesting and a bit repellant to me. I love disruptive businesses, but I'm just not a fan of the smoke and mirrors of the early parts of these businesses.

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Desperately in need of editing; painful narration

Would you try another book from Michael Lewis and/or Bruce Reizen?

Michael Lewis is a great author and I've enjoyed many of his books - both traditional and audible formats. This book doesn't seem to have the characteristic voice and insights of Lewis, perhaps reflecting the influence of Reizen.

Has The New New Thing turned you off from other books in this genre?

I'm a big fan of this non-fiction genre.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator attempts to give voices/accents to the individual characters in the story. The result is distracting and irritating. For example, his attempt to embody the Indian characters sounds half-way Irish and all the way irritating. I almost stopped listening to avoid being subjected to any more of this narration.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The New New Thing?

The book itself is too long, punctuated by long descriptions of scenes of minute conversations or details that simply don't sufficiently add to the story to justify inclusion. I would edit the book by 20%. I would also replace the narration.

Any additional comments?

If you are a fan of Michael Lewis and looking for a book that reflects his quality of writing and insight, skip this one.

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Narrator must teach speed reading!

The book was good but I will avoid this narrator for now on. He reads way too fast, and I couldn't enjoy the book. I will have to read this one.

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Dreadful Read - Way too much filler

What disappointed you about The New New Thing?

The book was laden with filler and nonsensical information not necessary to tell the story of Jim Clark's wealth growth in the tech market by purchasing the right stocks at the right time.

What could Michael Lewis have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The nearly 10 hours of listening and 350 page book could have been shortened to probably 100 pages and 3 hours. The narrator trying to use voices & dialects when telling stories was lame, I nearly jumped out of my chair when he would scream profanities.

Would you be willing to try another one of Bruce Reizen’s performances?

Maybe - I fault the author's content rather than the narrator, I think he was trying to make the book interesting.

What character would you cut from The New New Thing?

Not necessarily characters as the number of lame tales that seemed to have no purpose in telling the story of Mr. Clark. Not a style of biography writing I enjoyed.

Any additional comments?

Was given this as a first read in a start-up book club at work, I spend a great deal of time driving and working long hours. I thought audible may be the easier way to get through the first book during a busy time at work. I can guarantee I'd never have finished the book if sat down to read. On the plus side I found the monotonous nature of the story helped me focus and come up with a new outlet for white noise. I can't wait to find out who picked this miserable book.

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An adequate story with an overzealous narrator...

The story of Jim Clark is very interesting, but it's hard to make an entire book on his effect on Silicon Valley, as well as differentiate how his interaction with Venture Capitalists is different than Google's or shaped a path that simply wasn't available previously. Michael Lewis does his best though, and it would make for a fun listen if not for a narrator that feels it's necessary to "perform" every character uniquely. The choices for accents and tones proves extremely distracting from the story, and affects the listeners appreciation of Michael Lewis' work.

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Excellent

I really enjoyed this audiobook. Beautifully narrated. Especially the antitrust trials with microsoft. I must have gone back to that part about 10 times, very funny.

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Good Story Ruined by bad narration

Good story about Jim Clark that is ruined by the narrator trying to give each character a unique voice. Interesting review of startups from the 90’s.

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Meh

I've read many of Michael Lewis' books and was captivated with the others but this one fell flat. He spends WAY too much time talking about Jim Clark's boat. Also, I'm pretty sure he made a bet with someone that he could use the word "grope" a thousand times in a book - spoiler alert: he won the bet.

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2 stars for entertainment.

3 stars for dry biographical information about a guy and the computer industry in the 1990s.

I read three other nonfiction books by this author and was fascinated. But this book was not as entertaining. It was dry. It felt like newspaper journalism about one guy and his computer industry activities during the 1990s. It felt obsolete. His 1990s companies are no longer around or in the public eye. The author’s other books were entertaining because they showed people doing strange, outrageous, impressive, unexpected, shocking, stupid, or incompetent things. Those kinds of things don’t happen in this book. The best audience for this is someone wanting to study computer industry history.

The author interviewed and accompanied Jim Clark. He interviewed people who knew or interacted with Jim. He read through Jim’s personal materials. The author did not show any criticisms or comments from Jim’s competitors or people who did not like him. It was almost as if the author felt gratitude for access and didn’t want to write anything negative. I could be all wrong, but I wondered.

JIM’S STORY:
Jim Clark had a difficult childhood. He joined the NAVY which helped him pay for college. He obtained a computer science Ph.D. He was a concept guy, thinking of new things and starting businesses. He expected others to finish things and keep them going. His company startups included Silicon Graphics, which created 3-D imaging used in movies (filed for bankruptcy in 2009), Netscape (killed by Microsoft), Healtheon (merged into Microsoft’s WebMD), and myCFO (sold to Harris Bank). I added the parentheses information. Some of that happened after this book was published. Jim was behind the first antitrust lawsuit filed against Microsoft. His companies initially made him a billionaire. For several years Jim spent a lot of time creating computer software to run his huge sailboat, Hyperion. The book probably spends too much time on the building and programming of that ship and its maiden voyage which had many computer problems.

NARRATOR: Bruce Reizen was ok, but several times I felt he was speaking too fast – like he was running a race.

GENRE: computer industry nonfiction, biography.

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