Saturday, August 13, 2011

Nerd of the Year


Did you ever watch "The Social Network"? If so, you probably might (or might not) of heard of The Accidental Billionaires where the author Ben Mezrich (with help of Co-Founder Eduardo Savrin as his main consultant) narrates the story of Facebook from its pumped up beginning to its chaotic ending.
The story is narrated by Eduardo Saverin himself and it takes place in Harvard University where twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss alongside their friend and business partner Divya Narendra decide to launch "The Harvard Connection" --- a dating site designed exclusively for Harvard students only. However, for the project to happen, the twins need a professional for the job of programming the website   and publishing it on the Internet. That is when Mark Zuckerberg, an out of this world computer genius who is struggling to fit in sociably, launches while drunk an on-campus website called "Facemash" --- where girls are ranked according to their looks. With the site's success, it grabs the attention of the twins leading them to offer Zuckerberg a job as the programmer for their future website. Inspired, Mark decides to work on a separate project with the help of the Brazilian Eduardo Saverin that is similar to Harvard Connection called "The Facebook" --- a much more advanced version of The Harvard Connection. Instantly, the site turned out to be a tremendous hit on campus. But the question is: In a scale of 1 - 10 how furious are the Winklevoss twins in terms of this topic?
One of the things that really caught my eye in this book is how it changed my views about Harvard University. Before reading this book, I honestly thought that Harvard was an all "Nerd School" filled with people that stuck to the books all the time that never stepped into a night club or came close to having a girlfriend/boyfriend. Clearly, I was completely wrong about my thoughts and by reading the book, the reader gets to learn a lot about Harvard's traditions, social life and fraternities especially. Another great thing about this book is how short the chapters really are (the longest chapter consists around 10 to 15 pages max.) so the reader can flip from chapter to chapter at more ease without cramping in the middle of bulky and boring chapters like other books.
To wrap it all up: what I think about this book? If you loved The Social Network like I did, then I don't know why your not in a bookstore buying this book right this second!
Recommended for fans of: The Social Network (Movie), The Facebook Effect, Mark Zuckerberg

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