The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich Arrow Books HK$136
Ben Mezrich did his research on Mark Zuckerberg but his efforts were undermined by the Facebook CEO's refusal to be interviewed for The Accidental Billionaires. That explains sentences such as 'Maybe somewhere inside of Mark's thoughts' and 'One can imagine that'. Mezrich has made a mint writing about brainy college geeks: Bringing Down the House, about MIT students who card-counted their way to millions in Las Vegas, was made into the movie 21. But cobbling together a story about 'sex, money, betrayal and the founding of Facebook' proves too big a challenge without the co-operation of all the major players, including Sean Parker, who has since founded a social network for online political activism; the Winklevoss twins, who rowed for the US team at the Beijing Olympics; and Eduardo Saverin, an early business partner, who makes clear his prime motivations at college were to meet girls and make money. Saverin recently won the right to be listed as a co-founder of the company, which began as a social network aimed at the college market. The Accidental Billionaires is entertaining but superficial. One could say the same about Facebook.