Synopses & Reviews
The high-energy tale of how two socially awkward Ivy Leaguers, trying to increase their chances with the opposite sex, ended up creating Facebook.Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg were Harvard undergraduates and best friends-outsiders at a school filled with polished prep-school grads and long-time legacies. They shared both academic brilliance in math and a geeky awkwardness with women.
Eduardo figured their ticket to social acceptance-and sexual success-was getting invited to join one of the universitys Final Clubs, a constellation of elite societies that had groomed generations of the most powerful men in the world and ranked on top of the inflexible hierarchy at Harvard. Mark, with less of an interest in what the campus alpha males thought of him, happened to be a computer genius of the first order.
Which he used to find a more direct route to social stardom: one lonely night, Mark hacked into the university's computer system, creating a ratable database of all the female students on campus-and subsequently crashing the university's servers and nearly getting himself kicked out of school. In that moment, in his Harvard dorm room, the framework for Facebook was born.
What followed-a real-life adventure filled with slick venture capitalists, stunning women, and six-foot-five-inch identical-twin Olympic rowers-makes for one of the most entertaining and compelling books of the year. Before long, Eduardos and Marks different ideas about Facebook created in their relationship faint cracks, which soon spiraled into out-and-out warfare. The collegiate exuberance that marked their collaboration fell prey to the adult world of lawyers and money. The great irony is that while Facebook succeeded by bringing people together, its very success tore two best friends apart.
The Accidental Billionaires is a compulsively readable story of innocence lost-and of the unusual creation of a company that has revolutionized the way hundreds of millions of people relate to one another.
Ben Mezrich, a Harvard graduate, has published ten books, including the New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House. He is a columnist for Boston Common and a contributor for Flush magazine. Ben lives in Boston with his wife, Tonya.
Review
"The film adaptation of Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal is bound to be better than the book....But here's the rub: You won't be able to put...[it] down. The story's far too compelling, and entirely too personal, to toss aside. This is your life Mezrich is writing about, after all. Because you know that while you should be getting that work assignment done or playing with the kids or kissing your spouse you are, instead, eyeing your NewsFeed for updates from friends and contemplating a sassy Status Update and watching your Wall for signs of alliances and plugging in your gmail account to boost your Friend List. Face it: You are a Facebook junkie, and the accidental billionaires did this to you. Heaven knows you owe it to yourself to figure out how and why." Ellen Urbani, The Oregonian (read the entire )
Synopsis
The bestselling author of
Bringing Down the House pens the incredible true story of the accidental creation of Facebook, and the even more amazing tale of what followed.
Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg were Harvard undergraduates and best friends — outsiders at a school filled with polished prep-school grads and longtime legacies. They shared both academic brilliance in math and a geeky awkwardness with the opposite sex. The two figured their ticket to social acceptance &mdah; and sexual success — was getting invited to join one of Harvard's elite final clubs. But on their road to getting punched into the famous Phoenix Club, they found an even more valuable ticket to social stardom — one lonely night Mark Zuckerberg hacked into the university's computer system, creating a ratable database of all the female students on campus, subsequently crashing the university's servers, and nearly getting himself kicked out of school. In that moment, in his spartan Harvard dorm room, the barebones framework for Facebook was born.
What followed — a real-life adventure filled with unimaginable wealth, sex, exotic locales, six-foot-five identical-twin Olympic rowers, and betrayal — makes for one of the most entertaining and compelling books of the year. The great irony is that Facebook succeeded by bringing people together — while at the same time, it tore two best friends apart.
About the Author
BEN MEZRICH is the author of eleven books, including the international bestseller Bringing Down the House, which spent sixty-three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was made into the movie 21, starring Kevin Spacey. Ben lives in Boston with his wife, Tonya.