Wired - A Romance (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Louis Rossetto had a strange effect on people..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, San Francisco, John Plunkett (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a staffer at Wired, the magazine that started and fueled Internet economy hype, Wolf watched the rise and fall of an era from his desk. And he took notes. His story, however, doesn't rise above the slew of boom-and-bust books; despite a few colorful details, much of it involves dull talk of stock options, money and control. Wolf follows Wired's founders, Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalf, from their beginnings publishing European trade magazines to launching a wildly successful, influential magazine. The pair left Europe for San Francisco in the early 1990s to create "the mouthpiece of the digital revolution." Like most new businesses, Wired was launched with its founders' (here, especially Rossetto's) force-of-will, financial bootstrapping and an overwhelming sense of mission. In the early days, employees had to buy their own pens. "[Rossetto] was not just being frugal," Wolf writes. "The pens-or rather the absence of pens-had a meaning: hold on to your independence; do not get lazy; do not lose your identity; do not merge with the group." Indeed, Wired created a unique corporate culture, in which management brought employees to the hills north of San Francisco for a bit of media strategizing and pot smoking, and IPOs were printed in neon colors instead of the standard b&w format. Although not a tell-all, Wolf's story provides some gossipy tales of backstabbing, bruised egos, multimillion-dollar deals and steamy affairs. But as a romance, the story is bittersweet. Overspending and personality conflicts eventually forced the sale of Wired, albeit for a tidy profit. Like so many similar tales, what started as an attempt to change the world became an unseemly struggle for money and control.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Wolf, a contributor to such magazines as Wired, tells the story of Louis Rossetto, who, with his companion, Jane Metcalfe, sets out on an adventure to prove that computers would make every existing authority obsolete. The saga begins with the two of them developing Wired magazine and then expanding their efforts into the Internet arena. Rossetto was driven by ideology, commitment, and rank stubbornness, which ultimately earned them $30 million when the whole enterprise was sold in 1999 for $390 million. We can consider this a "morality play" with intrigue and lengthy battles involving greed, betrayal, and many other human-nature characteristics. It is a story of winners and losers, of bitter struggles and politics involving former and current employees, investors, and other board members, and readers will decide for themselves who acted admirably and who did not. Rossetto's risk-taking odyssey with Wired is just one of many tales about the highs and lows experienced by players in the Internet bubble of the late 1990s. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (July 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375502904
• ISBN-13: 978-0375502903
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,411,887 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beginnings of Wired Magazine, October 8, 2003

By	"cmosbaek" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This book is well written and an easy read - it's hard to put the book down. Wired-A Romance is a story about the people who started the cutting edge magazine Wired. People interested in the beginning of the Internet revolution should find the book fascinating. Also, people interested in the business of starting a company and seeing where the big monetary payoff comes will also find it worthwhile.

The founder of Wired, Louis Rossetto, is strong-willed man and in the early 1990's has a definite view on how the world will change with the upcoming wired revolution. Rossetto's vision and character are essential for the magazine's quick success, but later these same traits almost cost the magazine's investors dearly.

An interesting tale by a talented writer. I recommend this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coming Unwired -- a tale of the dot NOT com, September 16, 2003

By	Joyce Schwarz "Joyce Schwarz" (Marina Del Rey, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Wired, a romance is a fascinating tale. Author Wolf is a contributing editor at WIRED magazine and he tells this story with an insider's viewpoint. No doubt WIRED changed modern journalism, but how much did it contribute to the bluff and fluff of the Dot Com era that soaked so many average investors? That's a tale that Wolf never quite measures up in. More business data would have been helpful. But we get the flavor of the times. WIRED should have and actually DID see the diversification of the communications world and the convergence of telecom, film, records, books and more. They did issues on BIOTECH and covered new technologies but the flavor of the time was DOT COM and somehow they became entwined in the not com aspect of what went wrong in the 90's. Wolf's viewpoint is only part of the larger story of why they didn't go public and how they managed to sell out for a fortune to Conde Nast. It's a pleasant read but most of us on the seesaw knew the story well. What we need really is a skyhigh view of what it was all about and the good and the bad and the ugly that evolved from that Silicon Valley bubble that almost blew us all away.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slim Volume For Nerds' Summer Enjoyment, July 30, 2003

By	David Gurgel (Roseland, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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I read Gary Wolf's 262-page account of the founding of Wired Magazine by Louis Rossetto and his moll, Jane Metcalfe, in one sitting. The subtitle, "a romance," is more about Louis' remarkable (half mad) passion for publishing in the digital age than about his courting of the beautiful Jane. Louis' passion for Jane is likely to have been great too since they are still together today living in France with children and $30 million (small change for a position thought to be worth hundreds of millions two years earlier) from the buyout of Wired by current publisher, Conde Nast, in 1998.

I have read Wired since its beginning but have tossed my copies. After reading this book I bought a nearly complete set of issues on Ebay for the first seven years (1993-2000), including the premier issue from January 1993, thinking I would enjoy reading some of the early issues again. In any case, they look nice in my library.

The author is a Wired editor with first-hand knowledge of all but the earliest of Rossetto's years at Wired.

If you are fond of the history of Silicon Valley (as I am), then this is for you. Otherwise there is not much here for the average Joe.