What an odd belated Christmas present.

I’ve just received transcripts of two reviews of The Book, that appeared in Australian newspapers when it was published there last month.

I’m not really sure what to do with them, so here they are. The first seven words of the first para of the Age review basically sum up my life. As do the first nine of the second.

Bonzer.

Bringing Nothing to the Party: True Confessions of a New Media Whore (The Age)

Paul Carr
Hachette, $32.99

PAUL CARR USED TO BE A journalist whose job entailed hanging around cocky young IT entrepreneurs and writing about their various get-rich schemes and multimillion ventures until one day he decided he wanted to be a participant, not a mere spectator.

Motivated simply by the lure of money and fame, he started up a hybrid internet and publishing company specialising in rather risque web-to-print publications, followed by a site that allowed city dwellers (specifically Londoners) to share miscellaneous information about their town. Bringing Nothing to the Party is a very entertaining, voyeuristic account of Carr’s journey to achieve dot com success by becoming “a new media whore”.

The book is full of flagrant namedropping. There’s even more shameless gossip about the endless rounds of boozy socialising, otherwise known as peer networking that Carr found himself engaged in – necessary to make the right contacts to raise capital for one’s start-up company of course.
What’s great about this expose of the incestuous web of cyberspace opportunists is that you don’t have to be a computer whiz to enjoy it; Carr keeps the technicalities to a minimum, and his breezy, witty, honest narrative brings plenty of chuckles to the party.

…

Bringing Nothing to the Party: True Confessions of a New Media Whore (Adair Jones, The Courier Mail)

Paul Carr
Hachette Livre, $32.99

THIS is a truly funny book. Part history, part memoir, it’s also a brilliant and hilarious piece of journalism.

Nerdy wunderkind Paul Carr lands a multi-book deal at the age of 19. This early success leads to a job at The Guardian, writing their new media column, which in turn gives him instant access to London’s most successful internet entrepreneurs, a wild, ambitious, hard-drinking bunch. For the next few years, Carr attends their parties, conferences, launches, and networking events, always impressed and more than a little annoyed that younger, less intelligent people are able to make millions overnight. All it takes, he figures, is one good idea and a little perseverance.

At the age of 25, Carr decides it’s time to get a piece of the action. His goal: to achieve the same kind of instant fame, acclaim and, best of all, riches. Armed with his one idea, Carr pursues capital, assembles a staff, organises publicity, works long hours and — outrageously — fails.

His personal quest is set within the fast-paced, super-hyped culture of New Media, in which luck and timing prove to be more critical than the good idea. His stories touch on how Google got its name, the “Jennicam’” (which launched a thousand reality TV shows), cases of cyber-extortion, Google bombs, selling pixels and the rise of social networks. Peppered with buzzing adjectives and laugh-a-minute anecdotes, Bringing Nothing to the Party is a highly readable textbook on what to do and what not to do in the world of internet start-ups.

…

Is $32.99 (AUS) a lot? Anyone?