I am so, so disappointed with this book.
There are not many books that I will pre-order. But given how smart, timely and successful Nick Denton’s family of blogs are, there was no way I was going to let this book go unread. I wanted my copy ASAP. Pre-ordered and even went for the fast shipping.
Boy, did I learn a lesson. It’ll be a long time before I pre-order a book again, no matter who it is by.
(Maybe the fact that even the editorial review had to be written by a dead guy should have tipped me off.)
Granted, it is funny at times, and predictably snarky. But otherwise, it has absolutely no redeeming value. It is merely a (shallow) parody of a business book. Granted, Gawker never promised it would be a book of any substance. What they did do, however, was to promote it in their trademark pithy style in the exact same manner as they would if it *had* been a book of substance.
It is rather like showing up at a pancake dinner, paying, waiting in line, and getting a single pancake for your $9.95.
"But sir, the sign *did* say ‘pancake’ dinner…" would be the accurate but disingenuous reply.
There is absolutely nothing there that might teach you how the Most Successful Blogger in the World thinks. In fact, this book may very well be an extremely clever joke designed to extract a huge paycheck (as if Denton needed it) from the Gawker readers without in fact revealing anything of substance at all. That would be in line with Denton’s history of brilliant thinking, and be a totally in-character respone to the hyperattention placed on him by the blogging world.
As a 50-click+ per day Gawker reader, I feel quite used. The sad thing is, there is a fantastic, must-read book to be written from Gawker’s amazing run.
But this ain’t it.
Prediction: This book will quickly skyrocket to the top of the biz list, due to the Gawker readers’ preorders. But it will fall quickly, because Emperor Denton is quite naked.
Next review on Amazon:
Gawker owns the online blog universe. Well-written, off-kilter, intelligent writing about the Media world of New York – it’s a website I check several times a day. So you can imagine my frustration with this book of theirs. Substanceless is perhaps the best way to describe it. It’s a joke about media but none of the jokes hit. It attempts to give some information as well but almost all of it is advice from the perspective of that thick-rimmed glasses-wearing intern who always seemed to pick fights with everyone at your company. I rather get punched in the face than reread this book.
