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.

y least favorite of the in-depth Lewis books, but that's not saying much. Unlike Liar's Poker, which Lewis thought would bring sweeping change by bringing some sketchy practices to light but still rings true, The New New Thing feels dated now, 10 years later. Nonetheless, as someone who understood the late 1990s tech boom only peripherally, this book was insightful, both in terms of those companies' business models (or lack thereof, as the case may be) and some of the relevant personalities. (Still important: Larry Ellison, John Doerr) Although I doubt commercial interest warrants, this book could use an updated epilogue, particularly surrounding Healtheon/WebMD, which I have to think does not at all match the original vision. As usual, very well written and engaging; always the case with Lewis. I didn't find Jim Clark as sympathetic as I think I was intended to, and as a result some of the chapters focused on him personally (especially his flying a helicopter, and sailing his boat across the Atlantic) dragged a bit.

It's true: this book IS mostly about Hyperion, Jim Clark's huge sailboat, but then again, the book is mostly about Clark himself. If you know how Lewis writes, it's a thread here and there, that weave and become this lively patchwork of ideas and facts, and, in the end, you have a profile of the Valley and one of the main characters that created its allure. Lewis is a master of engaging character portrayals, with intoxicating and hyperbolic prose. He plays objective narrator throughout, sometimes interfering with the plot, but holds no punches in describing Clark's maniacal quest for wealth. In the end, there is a wonderful demonstration that wealth doesn't bring happiness with it. From p. 258: "Why do people perpetually create for themselves the condition for their own dissatisfaction?" -- an retort to Clark's statement that "Once I have more money than Larry Ellison, I'll be satisfied". A few years earlier, satisfaction for Clark amounted to a measly $10 million on the bank; that number mushroomed to $1 billion. Throughout, Lewis conveys the feeling of the Internet bubble of the late 90s; the wealthy, controlling venture capitalists; the insanely-priced IPOs for companies that had no clue how to make money. So yes, that's all a bunch of old old things by now, and if I were looking for a historical account of that period, the book would be worth only 4 stars; yet, I was going for the portrait of Clark, and for those who lived through it, the book is a good behind the scenes look at the creation of Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon.

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.

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.

Very insightful about Silicon Valley and the inners of the tech industry

Michael Lewis knows Silicon Valley and he's an excellent writer. That said, I got a belly full of Jim Clark in this book. Perhaps he is the personification of the creator of the New New Thing in the Valley. But I have to think there are many other people who should have been equally represented in this otherwise wonderful read. What I think the book did very well was to demonstrate the extreme mind set in the valley of dreams. It shows us how the minds of the power brokers work and how things they create get old quickly --- how disposable everything is. Like my Palm Pilot that I bought at Christmas is old hat now. Hey, we've got color! The new new thing. Gotta have it! So read this book. It's really pretty great. You'll tire of Jim. But hey, he's an important dude and the only bad part is, you really won't like him at all when you put the book down. But he won't care. He's on to the New New Thing.

Superbe !

Excellent great read

I was introduced to Michael Lewis via The Big Short and Liar's Poker followed by Money Ball and The Blind Side. For some reason many who loved those books as much as I did that I speak to have never read this one. Was bought as a gift as I had read before. If you subscribe to the notion that history doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes definitely worth picking up as lots of lessons to learn from the tech bubble and the euphoria that drove it!

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

作者はもと証券アナリストとして、アメリカの金融バブルの実態を告発するドキュメントをいくつか書いています。データメトリクスをもとに、弱小球団をメジャーリーグの台風の目（優勝を争う球団）に育て上げた人物のドキュメンタリー『マネー・ボール』、リーマンショックで逆張りをして大もうけをした人物を主人公にした『世紀の空売り』などのヒットがあります。人物中心のドキュメンタリー小説なので、読みやすいです。 この作品は、ジム・クラークという人物が主人公ですが、ハリウッド映画で精密な合成CGを作ることを可能にした、シリコン・グラフィックス社の創業者で、GUI式のインターネット・ブラウザ「ネットスケープ・ナビゲーション」を生み出した、ネットスケープ社の創業者でもあります。その人物の行動規範を「欲望」、「渇望」、「怒り」という切り口から観察したものです。人物描写に優れた作家なので、この作品も充分に楽しめます。