Inside The Cult Of Kibu: And Other Tales Of The Millennial Gold Rush [Hardcover]

Lori leaves medical school for a job at Kibu because, as she freely admits, she's hoping to make millions off company stock. That's the motivation of virtually everyone in the book -- though a few occasionally profess some passion for the work, everybody's generally interested in looking important, going to swanky parties, and quickly getting rich. The interviews with various other dot-commers seem to be transcribed without editing -- they're full of "and then I was like...and then she was like" - type language that's annoying and sometimes impenetrable. The choppy assembly of the interviews doesn't cohere well as a whole, and some of what's presented is contradictory (one person will swear funding for Internet startups was ridiculously easy to come by, then another will say that is just a myth). The authors were apparently unable to get any really successful (read: really interesting) Internet veterans to contribute to the book. Though she is sometimes self-deprecating, Lori herself comes off as trying too hard to be hip, and the fact that she got fired before the company folded makes a reader wonder if she's just bitter, and that's the source of some of the unflattering portrayals of everyone else she worked with.

This book was written in only five months, and the haste shows. There are some amusing anecdotes here and there, but as a whole it's a real waste of time.

However, most of the book is basically the same pretentious self-important name-dropping and glad-handing that that defined the whole dot.com era. Many of the anecdotes are pretentious "remember whens" from people with weapons-grade arrogance. Its funny to listen to self-important 30-somethings bash self-important 20-somethings, as if the 30-somethings, because they worked at Wendy's after college, somehow have this deep well of wisdom the 20-somethings don't. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man will be king.

I also became a bit tired of reading sob stories from individuals who obviously live lives of extreme privilege bemoan the burden of managing morons and chaos. When I hear these well-to-do ex-dot.commers whine about mismanagement and stupidity its hard to have any sympathy for them. They never had to really suffer or work; they just rode the wave and didn't win.

Okay, I am being a bit harsh. And my reaction is really why I gave this book 3 starts. As pretentious, preening, and self-important as this book is - it does a pretty good job of capturing exactly why the dot.com era was such a joke.

This isn't a bad book, or a great book. It's interesting, its a quick read, and its got some good points. Just be prepared to wade through the pretentious BS.