I read this book in about a day. I don't say that to brag. It's just that kind of book. This story about the founding of Facebook will glide by. It's a quick read, but it's also tough to put down. It's non-fiction that reads like fiction, because, well, parts of it may well be fiction. Ben Mezrich is a controversial figure, because he is one of these creative non-fiction types. There is a long note at the beginning on how he employs "the technique of re-created dialogue," and throughout the book we are also treated to the inner thoughts of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, even though Zuckerberg wouldn't talk to him.
There's this disclaimer from Mezrich:
Some of the conversations recounted in this book took place over long periods of time, in multiple locations, and thus some conversations and scenes were re-created and compressed. Rather than spread these conversations out, I sometimes set these scenes in likely settings.
Rather than spread these conversations out, I sometimes just make stuff up, I almost expected him to say. But who cares? It's still a great read, and as an added bonus it might even be true.
I especially enjoyed it because I work at Harvard, and so it was interesting to read about all the secret societies at Harvard. There's also one moment where the company co-founders talk about trying to have sex in the stacks of Widener Library, which was very exciting, not so much because of the sex talk, but because I had actually checked this book out of the stacks of Widener Library. Alas, little of interest was happening in the stacks when I checked it out, but it's not often that your library book mentions sex taking place in your library.
