The New New Thing could easily have been penned today in relation to the 2020 - 2021 tech boom. Indeed, while the dotcom boom was much larger in scale, the ideology that propelled the boom of that era and the current one is essentially the same.

In TNNT, Michael Lewis trails Jim Clark, the founder of multiple billion-dollar companies such as Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon. It's fascinating to read about Lewis accompanying him on his experimental boat and even taking the risk of boarding a helicopter piloted by Clark (albeit under supervision).

Lewis provides us with an inside look at the excesses of Silicon Valley, the intense competition, and the types of people who thrive there. Jim Clark is unable to focus on a single thing; he's constantly in pursuit of the "new new" thing. He's not the kind of person you'd desire to spend a Friday evening with, but if you had the opportunity to be with him on a Monday, he might just make you extremely wealthy.

Lewis takes us into Clark's boat, some court proceedings of Netscape's conflict with Microsoft, and the early days of Healtheon. At times, Lewis appears to be the only one who is self-aware of the absurdity. How can Healtheon, without a product, no revenue, and employees with no understanding of American healthcare, promise to revolutionize it and be valued at over a billion dollars? What is the "diamond" that initially failed to charm and then suddenly captivated investors?

This is an extremely well-written book, similar to everything that Michael Lewis pen down. At this juncture, the luster has faded from all the companies that were mentioned in this book. Consequently, this could be aptly titled as the old new thing.

SGI has ceased to operate. Netscape is no longer a significant entity. The healthcare ecosystem has not been successfully mediated by Healthion or WebMd. Online financial services do exist and are being steered by both online firms and incumbents, not by myCFO.

On the other hand, other firms that were established around the same time, such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, have grown into economic and online behemoths.

As a result, this book documents the excitement and opportunity at a particular moment in time, as well as some of the key players and the dynamics. It emphasizes the wealth creation for the main actors and the ephemeral nature of value in this sector.

It was a wonderful read and highly interesting.

This is the story of James Clark, the brilliant mind behind Silicon Graphics and Netscape, presented in a semi-biographical style. Mr. Lewis delves deep into the idiosyncratic nature of this valley billionaire. The tale is masterfully crafted and has the potential to inspire many. It is just one of the numerous rags to riches stories that have emerged from the tech world.

However, while the story is entertaining, I find myself unable to recommend this book wholeheartedly. I don't view the valley as a utopia generator. It has its fair share of flaws, and the so-called czars of the valley are no more perfect than any other individuals. There are other books out there that might offer a more comprehensive and balanced perspective.

It's important to note that this review is a reflection of the subject matter and not a criticism of the writing style. Michael Lewis is, without a doubt, an excellent writer. His ability to bring the story to life is truly remarkable. But in this case, the content fails to meet my expectations.

Perhaps for those who are solely interested in the glamorous side of the tech industry and the rise of billionaires, this book might be a good read. But for those seeking a more in-depth understanding of the real issues and challenges faced by the valley, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

In conclusion, while Michael Lewis's writing is top-notch, the subject matter of this book leaves something to be desired. It's a story that has its moments but ultimately falls short of being a must-read.

Michael Lewis never fails to astonish me. Truly, it is extremely difficult to express in words just how outstanding this book is. It is an amazing story penned by a remarkable author.

This book should indeed be regarded as a national treasure. As time goes by, I can only imagine that the significance of this book will continue to increase. For not only is it an incredible narrative, but it is also a wonderful piece of historical writing about Silicon Valley, the Internet Boom, and the pioneer of both, Jim Clark.

I found myself laughing, being inspired, facing challenges, and almost on the verge of crying. What more could one possibly desire?

Thank you, Michael. Your work has left a profound impact on me and will surely do the same for countless others who have the pleasure of reading this remarkable book.

Like Gatsby reaching for the green light, Jim Clark gropes for some ethereal idea of success.

Whenever Clark captures that thing, it turns out to not be what he wanted and his search begins anew.

Clark is a complex figure. He is undeniably brilliant, one of those rare people who genuinely view the world differently.

In the New New Thing, Lewis provides a portrait of someone captured by what Keynes would call the animal spirits.

Guided by hubris, Clark is perpetually trying to wrangle the limitations of humanity with technology.

Despite his monetary success, Clark's happiness is fleeting.

Although some say the book is outdated, I believe its depiction of the irrational exuberance towards the Silicon Valley tech companies in the late 1990s may provide a useful lens through which to view the current valuations of the money hemorrhaging darlings of investors, such as Uber, Lyft, Snap, and so on.

At the very least, it's worth reading for historical context.

The story of Jim Clark serves as a cautionary tale. His unrelenting pursuit of success, driven by his unique vision and boundless ambition, leads him on a never-ending cycle of disappointment.

Despite achieving great financial wealth, he fails to find true fulfillment.

This may be a common theme among those who are overly focused on material success.

The book also offers insights into the mindset and culture of the Silicon Valley tech industry during a particular period.

By examining the past, we can gain a better understanding of the present and perhaps make more informed decisions about the future.

Overall, The New New Thing is a thought-provoking and engaging read that offers valuable lessons for both investors and society as a whole.

Michael Lewis is truly a remarkable author, and it seems that he can do no wrong.

This particular book was published over twenty years ago, yet what is truly astonishing is how relevant much of its content still is today.

Lewis vividly depicts a world filled with eccentric programmers and founders. In this world, companies are often valued based on their promise rather than their actual profit. We witness dramatic IPOs and the seemingly overnight creation of vast amounts of wealth.

He brilliantly captures the palpable excitement that surrounds rapidly growing companies, those that claim to have the potential to disrupt entire industries.

The Bay Area stands out as a remarkable concentration of both wealth and brainpower, and through Lewis's words, we gain a clear understanding of just how closely these two concepts are intertwined in today's society.

However, Lewis doesn't shy away from showing us the darker side of this tech-driven world. He reveals the brutal workdays, the insatiable greed, and the hedonic treadmill that can leave even billionaires feeling dissatisfied with their status.

This book should undoubtedly be considered essential reading for all tech workers, as it offers a comprehensive and unfiltered look at the industry they are a part of.

I truly enjoyed this remarkable book and gleaned a wealth of knowledge from it.

Reading it felt like embarking on an exciting journey through the vibrant landscape of Silicon Valley. There, I had the privilege of encountering numerous highly talented developers of computers and software.

These individuals were responsible for the development of the personal home computer as we know it today. However, their influence extended far beyond the realm of technology. They also turned the financial world upside down, challenging the traditional norms that had dominated American business until then.

Take Jim Clark, for example. He burst onto the business scene with bold, innovative, and never-before-tried business strategies to finance his ground-breaking discoveries.

On the surface, this book appears to be about computers and the Internet. But beneath the surface, in the complex and dynamic business world, is where the real magic happened.

Previously, wealthy individuals who controlled vast sums of money held the power to decide whether a new venture was worthy of financing or not. However, the author reveals how engineers and software specialists took a revolutionary approach.

They bypassed the traditional gatekeepers of finance and went directly to small investors, offering high-risk ventures that, surprisingly, paid off handsomely.

Jim Clark, a true genius, had a humble upbringing. He was even expelled from high school due to his unruly temperament. But his intellect and determination led him to earn a PhD in computer science.

In 1979, his brilliance shone through with the development of a highly successful computer chip that revolutionized computer graphics and virtual reality games.

In 1995, he relocated to Silicon Valley and founded Netscape, a browser that sparked the Internet boom. He launched Netscape directly to small investors, and it became an enormous success. By 1999, Clark's net worth had skyrocketed to billions of dollars.

Clark's passion for technology extended beyond the business world. His pet hobby was to control his sailboat, "Hyperon," entirely through the Internet.

Although remote control is now a common concept, no one had ever attempted it through the Internet before Clark. His experiences and the challenges he faced during this endeavor add an interesting and humanizing side story to the book's main narrative.

However, Clark's success with Netscape was not without its challenges. Bill Gates' Microsoft Explorer emerged as a formidable competitor.

Clark feared that a rival browser could potentially undermine Netscape's position as the world's first window to the Internet. Microsoft, under the leadership of Bill Gates, had already achieved great success in the personal computer market.

They developed their own browser and bundled it with their PCs, presenting a significant threat to Netscape. Clark was vocal about Microsoft's allegedly unfair business practices and monopoly power, and he ultimately played a role in having Microsoft sued by the U.S. government.

Clark's ambitions did not stop with Netscape. He embarked on an even more ambitious project: the comprehensive Healthscape project.

At that time (1996), Americans were spending a staggering one and a half trillion dollars annually on healthcare. Clark believed that a significant portion of this cost, approximately one-third, was wasted on paperwork.

He envisioned a future where healthcare would be computerized, eliminating the need for cumbersome paper-based processes. He started with a simple diamond-shaped diagram, with "Consumers," "Providers," "Doctors," and "Payers" at each of the four corners.

In the center of this "magic diamond" would be an Internet program, "Healthscape," designed to tie everything together.

Clark sold this vision directly to small investors, once again demonstrating his ability to do the new new thing. He managed to accumulate a substantial amount of investment to implement the programming.

Over time, his magic diamond evolved into "The Chart of Many Bubbles," consisting of eleven component parts, including "Consumers," "Health Plans," "Employers," "labs," "Hospitals," and more. All of these components communicated through the central bubble, "Healtheon," which was the heart of Clark's ambitious Internet healthcare system.

Healtheon showed great promise and generated significant revenue. However, in the end, some major potential customers pulled out, leaving Clark's project in a somewhat precarious position.

Overall, Michael Lewis' "The New New Thing" is a captivating book that provides readers with an in-depth look at the developers of the Internet industry.

It delves into the details of how these individuals developed the Internet, with a particular focus on their daring and innovative approaches to financing their ventures.

It also offers a glimpse into the more human side of these tech pioneers, including their hobbies and personal pursuits.

This book is not only informative but also highly engaging, making it a must-read for anyone interested in the history and evolution of the Internet.

If not anything else, this book is truly mighty inspiring.

Obviously, Jim Clark is vividly painted as a heroic figure. However, that's not the most crucial aspect. What holds great significance is that it depicts a clear picture of how the democratization of the computer-world, especially the Internet, has revolutionized the role of the engineer.

Jim Clark is among the very first individuals who transformed the nerd, the geek, into a really cool dude, someone who leads rather than follows.

I particularly relished the passages regarding Hyperion, the sailboat boasting the highest mast. They expounded a great deal about the zeitgeist of those times and are astonishingly comic as they accurately convey the enormous gap between the geeks and the computer illiterates.

Still vividly remembering the days when one could amass millions just by selling a domain that was previously registered and the record IPOs that were an everyday occurrence, it is extremely hard to fathom nowadays that there was no Internet, no online services to prevent one from leaving home for something as mundane as shopping.

I firmly consider "The New New Thing..." as one of the essential reads for anyone who has an interest in becoming an entrepreneur and contemplates startups.

The book "The New New Thing" offers a vivid portrayal of Jim Clark, the founder of notable companies like Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon. It also delves into the characters of the naysayers, sycophants, and other so-called "smart idiots" who surrounded him, with a few reasonably normal people making guest appearances. Almost everyone in the book is driven by avarice and/or fear. Surprisingly, for a book set in Silicon Valley, there are few tributes to technological innovation or the noble goal of making the world a better place. In fact, several programmers express regret for getting too "wrapped up in the technology" and not considering the market context of their work more. Lewis writes that the purpose of the technology was simply "to make money" and had no higher purpose.

Of course, "that's how it works". I believe "The New New Thing" did a great job of uncovering the truth. Yes, startups should strive for innovation, but to survive, they must innovate in a way that benefits their investors. It's a no-brainer. Some might find this depressing, but it also serves as a reminder for me to be more pragmatic, especially since I'm interested in the role of venture capital in influencing sustainability and social justice. Despite what the book revealed about how Silicon Valley operates (or at least how it did in the 90s), I still maintain a positive outlook. As much as one can claim to "believe" in buzzwords, I truly believe in entrepreneurship and innovation. I'm just a bit less naïve now.

In addition, Clark is a captivating, somewhat charming, and ultimately (sort of) inspiring individual. He is refreshingly honest about his motivation: like everyone else, he desires to amass as much wealth as possible. Towards the end of the book, he tells Lewis, "Just for one moment, I would kind of like to have the most. Just for one tiny moment." Lewis points out that for Clark, this financial goalpost was constantly changing: "Clark played these little tricks on himself so that he would have an excuse, however flimsy, to keep running as fast as he could... he needed people or places to doubt him so that he could prove them wrong."

And (sorry if this sounds a bit toxic), but isn't that a good way to approach life? Obviously, my goals are not the same as those of a tech billionaire (in some cases, they may even be in direct opposition), but if I have a desire, shouldn't I go for it? And once I achieve it, shouldn't I set my sights on something new? Whether "it" is a novel I'm proud of, a certain number of hours of community service, or a personal best in a half marathon - perhaps it's best to live life like Clark, "the least happy optimist there ever was".

2.5 stars. Generally speaking, I have a liking for Michael Lewis. However, I found this book to be rather boring and a real struggle to get through. James Clark, the main character, is kind of an annoying one. I'm quite sure that Michael Lewis intended the audience to perceive him in this way. Moreover, most of what he accomplished isn't that exciting when judged by today's standards. The most interesting segments of the book emerged during his time after Netscape. In a pre-dot-com boom era, he attempts to raise money, and it shows what the venture capitalists (VCs) were seeking back then. Overall, it was mostly a tiresome read and had a rather slow pace. Even the climactic scenes on the boat, I found relatively dull.

I've delved into a significant number of Silicon Valley biographies, which likely gives me a reasonable ability to assess whether one is truly excellent or not. In the instance of this particular book, I must admit it leans towards the latter.

To start with, when I initially picked up this book, I didn't even grasp that it was a full-fledged biography. The title is quite deceiving. I had expected a blend of technology history and business strategy, centered around a key figure who played a role in the events. However, that's not the case. This book is about Jim Clark, and it only touches on the bare essentials of the technologies he helped initiate, like digital graphics and Internet browsers.

As a subject, Jim Clark isn't particularly captivating. He's more puzzling than interesting, which doesn't exactly make for a great read. He comes across as such an All-American idiot that at times he seems more like a caricature. From reading Lewis' other works, I'm aware that he has a penchant for exaggerating real people's personalities and transforming them into characters. But in this case, he seems to have hit the jackpot. The man fumbles around great business opportunities that he stumbles upon and then systematically walks away from them.

Actually, the problem appears to be precisely that Lewis was an insider. This made him think that spending nearly half of the book detailing Clark's attempt to build an overpriced self-navigating boat would be rather exciting, especially since he was one of the dozen people on board during the maiden voyage. It wasn't. The intersection of people who would actually care about these details, given what is supposed to be the central theme of this work, is rather small.

I simply can't recommend this book, even if you have as much of a passion for early Internet history as I do.

The New, New Thing (2001) by Michael Lewis offers an in-depth look at Jim Clark and the internet age. It is among several books such as Nudist on the Night Shift and Triumph of the Nerds that explore the first Dot-com Bubble in Silicon Valley.

Jim Clark founded Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI), a computer company that introduced real-time 3D graphics to the market. He designed a chip called the geometry engine, a VLSI design that performed matrix transformations, clipping, and mapping, and then built a company around it. SGI machines were used to create the computer graphics in Jurassic Park, and SGI developed OpenGL, which became the first major standard 3D API. After founding SGI, Clark co-founded Netscape and became a billionaire.

Lewis follows Clark after the founding of Netscape as he builds a massive computer-controlled sailing boat called Hyperion and starts Healtheon, a startup aiming to revolutionize healthcare by improving billing efficiency.

Clark is an extraordinary individual, and Lewis presents a detailed portrait of the man who grew up in poverty, was expelled from high school, joined the navy, became a physics professor, and then went on to found companies worth billions of dollars. However, the portrayal of Silicon Valley during the Dot-com Bubble is not as strong. It is a challenging period to cover due to the numerous strange disasters and the emergence of huge companies like ebay, yahoo, and Google.

Nonetheless, it is definitely an enjoyable read that provides a remarkable picture of Clark and the technological transformation at the turn of the millennium.