Inside the Cult of Kibu: And Other Tales of the Millennial Gold Rush
Book Reviews | Jan 4th, 2007
Author: Lori Gottlieb and Jesse Jacobs
Publisher: Perseus Publishing
Genre: Social Science/Current Events
Pages: 256
Retail Price: 3.98
Buy on Amazon.com link
Now that enough time has elapsed for us to process the roller-coaster that was the dotcom boom and bust, so begins the onslaught of books set out to analyze the phenomenon and its effects on all aspects of business and society.
But this book isn’t one of them. Rather, it’s a collection of anecdotes from many different players of that absurd game, including CEOs, managers, designers, promoters, publicists, venture capitalists, and New Media journalists. In fact, it’s misleading to call Gottlieb and Jacobs authors — their writing only serves to slightly bridge all of the humorous and insightful stories by the dozens and dozens of contributors.
The reminiscing is entertaining if predictable — you get a good sense of the mania that led the startup craze, the feverish Dionysian carousing that followed, the mismanagement and ignorance of reality that doomed it, and the flock mentality that powered it all. The tales feature teenage CEOs, grotesquely lavish parties, office sex, cash thrown freely about, and later, disgruntled employees, axe meetings and pink slip parties. Basically, everything you’ve already imagined, only with juicier details.
It’s a fluffy book that doesn’t attempt to answer the Whys of the dotcom craze. Instead, it focuses on the thrill ride itself, and in that it succeeds through the amusing stories from the New Economy’s winners and losers.
Bottom Line: Fluffy but amusing look at the dotcom bubble.
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