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There's a whole genre of semi autobiographical books about tech startups, and this one covers Paul Carr's experiences in the London Internet industry circa mid 00's and his travails therein.

Paul pulls few punches on his own shortcomings, and does a more than adequate job of setting the scene of a particular time and place. Providing good color around the people and feel of what it must have been like to watch people starting various well hyped and funded ventures and then proceeding with his own efforts are some of the high points here. (Having co-founded a couple of companies in Silicon Valley, the tone here rang true, and I came away feeling somewhat empathetic at the pressure the author was under, seemingly all the time.)

If there were one nit, it was that everything finished a bit cleanly. While it was clear what happened, I was left with the feeling that the end of the affair didn't receive the same attention as the beginning, and that Paul's ex-cofounder may have received a gentler treatment than the other folks who crossed his path.

A good dose of humor made this an enjoyable read. Also, if you happen to know anyone in the book, or follow Paul's writings in TechCrunch or on the web, this will, perhaps, explain some things.

"True Confessions of a New Media Whore" is the subtitle. Paul Carr is a journalist who decides to become an entrepreneur, mostly for the money. This funny and sometimes sad story is the result. I got the Kindle version, and enjoyed it tremendously.

Stumbled upon Carr's latest book The Upgrade: A Cautionary Tale of a Life Without Reservations and enjoyed it so decided to check out this, his older book. I must say it's just as entertaining, and historical when it comes to the big success wise stories, fads and failures of the early Internet phenomenon, it's very educational. You'll learn for example that Google is actually a typo and what Google's real name was supposed to be. How these companies that don't actually have anything tangible for investors to see actually get their investment dollars and make money through the fact that Paul after being jealous of all these other people making millions of a basic idea which he was reporting on, decides to try and be the next big thing with a company called Friday Cities. We readers are along for the ride as he tries to get investor dollars and a heap of users on the web. If you're familiar with his drunken exploits in his next book there's a fair few in here as well, although not as many. He does get arrested though for not having the money to pay a cab and gets up to a few other adventures.

Overall I found this book a bit more educational and a lot less far fetched than The Upgrade, the Upgrade was maybe a bit more interesting to me but that's more because it's set in hotels and the travel industry. Still this is a good read, as just as good a place as any if you're interested to know how Facebook, Google, Yahoo and the other dominant players came to be.

I bought this on a whim after reading a column by Paul Carr on Techcrunch. The book will interest anyone who follows the tech community or even people who read lots of blogs online, as the book is about the entrepreneur scene as well as the online journalism scene.

His account talks of the first dot com bust, as well as the web 2.0 resurgence. After getting sick of seeing all his peers and the people he wrote about get rich, he tries to do it himself. The journey is hilarious but also thought provoking in the theme of finding what one truly wants to do with their life. This book struck a cord with me.

Paul can come off as a bit elitist sometimes, but in a hilarious snarky way. I'm pumped I found this little gem and I can't wait for his next book.

(I read a PDF version of Bringing Nothing to The Party as this Kindle edition wasn't yet available)

Read this book - if you are an entrepreneur (or have ever thought about it). Paul captures a moment in time - the mid-2000's and the ups & downs of entrepreneurship, writing, new media and more with humor and for the amount of drinking that is depicted remarkable clarity.

I am a recovering entrepreneur myself, with a handful of failures and half-completed projects behind me and I suspect more to come in my future, reading this book I found myself alternatively amused and identifying my own, very eerily similar experiences in the past. In at least a few instances I know people Paul refers to and interacts with personally (and for the most part he captures these people & interactions with an ear that rings true & accurate).

A great if at times humbling read.

And oh yeah - great fun (and funny) - of course much of the humor is of the self-deprecating form and Paul's self-criticism is both fun and at times a bit painfully close to home.

Paul Carr has a unique "tongue in cheek" style of writing that makes this book an engaging read while getting the point across.

The title says it all. A very solid read.

It's a simple book so there's not much to this review. Carr weaves a hilarious tongue-in-cheek story about technology bubbles. It's nice to see a narrative of that world that: A. doesn't take it seriously and, B. isn't stuck in Silicon Valley.

When I started reading this book, I had no idea what it was about. I read Carr's humourous article on Tech Crunch where he announced that due to his publisher's limitations for distribution in North America he would release his eBook for free. I was intrigued. The reading didn't start until a couple weeks later, but I'm definitely glad I started it. I constantly found myself laughing, either at a satirical article he wrote years ago, or something from his drunken evenings. I learned a ton about some of the very companies whose websites I have been using for years and even more about their UK brother and sister sites.

Bringing Nothing to the Party provides an in-depth knowledge of UK internet start-ups along with a few of the big name American companies. It pulls you into the world of the founders and creators, shows you their seemingly limitless capabilities, parties and events; it makes you want everything they've got.

I found many parallels with my own life of the same 10 year period - watching the nobodies turn to millionaires over night thanks to their brilliant yet often fleeting ideas, and wanting so much to be part of it. But it goes much further than that. Carr has considerable knowledge of the inner workings of these crowds due to his writings as a journalist. As one of the few internet informed journalists, he was welcomed to their 'inner-circle' despite describing himself as more of an outsider. Ultimately the close proximity was probably a major factor in his constant need to become one of them, leading to his own start-up company.

The real centerpiece of the story lies in what it truly means to become an internet millionaire. The story dives into the difficulties of starting and running an innovative internet-based company and, more importantly, the things you need to do and the person you need to become to make it successful.

If you have any interest in how the big internet sites we all use today started, how their founders spend their free time or how all of this faired in the UK, then I highly recommend the purchase of this book.

Having been part of the same era as Carr, I can only say that reading the book can only be described as having been too drunk at a party, waking up embarrassed but over time remembering it with a smile thinking "those were the days". I laughed out loud many times and the second after frowned feeling it is crazy it happened just a couple of years ago. And not on another planet. The world was mad back then, and yes, we had a hangover for years, but honestly I hope we throw another ball soon.