The current #1 movie in the country is The Social Network – if you don’t already know, it’s the movie about the making of Facebook. (don’t be ashamed if you didn’t know – I’m so in the dark that I haven’t actually seen a single ad for this movie although I’m certain they are everywhere – curiously not during football games though) So, what does the bookstore nerd do when a big movie comes out? Especially since I don’t really do movies anymore – I haven’t watched an entire movie in probably a year. Well, of course the bookstore nerd doesn’t go to the movie – he reads the book. The Social Network is based on Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book Accidental Billionaires. (Mezrich is the guy who wrote Bringing Down the House – the book about the M.I.T. students who beat Vegas)

Lemuria has been trying very hard lately to figure out how to give the best service we can to our customers on Facebook – I actually think it’s a great tool for us to communicate with you. Facebook is trying to help you put your social experience online. 500 million people are on Facebook – that’s one in 14 on the planet. So, a lot of people are on Facebook, but also folks are  logging in more often and stay on Facebook longer than any other site. We know you’re on there, so please “like us” on Facebook and dialog with us so we can learn how to give you the best service that we can on Facebook.

But what about the book? Accidental Billionaires is fast paced, sexy, and gives you all of the inside scoop about the “social network” of friends who started the ultimate “social network” website. (Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, and friends) It illustrates very well the excitement of those first days. There seems to be no question that the original idea came from Zuckerberg’s frustrations with the dating scene on the Harvard campus. I think it has a few faults – it’s hard to tell what Facebook was in those first days. It sounds like it was just a profile that others could view – a pure ego site.  I know the actual evolution of the site doesn’t make for a page turner, but a little bit of info would have been nice. My other criticism is in the origin of the title, Accidental Billionaires, I think the idea that Zuckerberg just stumbled onto this idea is false. The book downplays all of the continued work and creativity still going on that keeps Facebook vibrant and constantly in the media – it may be that all of those who got rich by being “friends” with Zuckerberg got “accidentally” rich, but I don’t believe for a second that it was an accident for Zuckerberg himself.

So, enjoy the movie and if our bookstore is important to you then consider letting us into your social media world by “liking” us here. Thanks

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