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This is the story of how one of the world’s wealthiest and brilliant men, Peter Thiel, conspired to take down one of media’s most powerful men (at the time), Nick Denton, CEO of now defunct and infamous Gawker. The story itself is fascinating, and I appreciate that the author Ryan Holiday provided insight from all parties involved, however this book is absolutely painful to read at times, particularly the first third, and the ending chapters for different reasons. The story itself, could easily be told in half the length, but the book (I guess the author had to find ways to fill up 200+ pages) is filled, especially in the first hundred pages or so, almost entirely of conjecture into the minds of the people involved, repeating the same themes exhaustively over and over again (by the time you are done with the book, you will HATE the word “Conspiracy,” and everything pertaining to it because the word is used, described and explained ad nauseum), and for some odd reason, seemingly endless amount of quotes, from Dumas to Tolstoy- as if the author is trying to show off that, yes, he is well-read (I will get into that later).
Holiday’s bias, though not too overbearing (depending on how sensitive one is and on which side of the political spectrum one lies on), does manifest from time to time. It isn’t a big deal, because after all, this is his book with his narrative, not a piece of unbiased journalism, and to the author’s credit, he did a decent job keeping it relatively restrained. The few occurrences of bias rearing its ugly head, does detract from his work, however, because one is left wondering, what other parts of the narrative is tainted? For example, he paints Peter Thiel as bordering on maniacal, questioning how Thiel can write “a book that railed against multiculturalism and ‘militant homosexuals’ on campus, despite being both gay and foreign born.” From a libertarian standpoint, which Peter Thiel is, it makes total sense- for example, one can be African American, and unsupportive of Black Lives Matter if one sees it as a racist, bigoted, or violent movement. Likewise, a gay man can “rail” against “gay militarism,” if he thinks it is wrong. Holiday also suggests Thiel is a vengeful person, which may or may not be true, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he is, based solely on his decision to take on Gawker. Thiel could legitimately see himself as doing the right thing because the notorious “news” blog has ruined people’s lives, and perhaps the toxicity of its content is bad for society at large. Perhaps Thiel’s actions against Gawker are based not on desires of vengeance, but on a purely philosophical level- that personal privacy is a basic individual right that should not be exploited by yellow journalism behind the veil of the first amendment, lest individual freedoms be sacrificed for the sake of clicks.
From time to time throughout the book, Holiday points that out as well- that perhaps, Thiel acted in some combination of emotions, perhaps a little bit of vanity, a lot of resentment, and a smidgen of altruism. But Holiday makes no mistake to mention that it’s probably mostly out of paranoia, fear, and vengeance. Again, this is where the author’s bias can lead to misunderstanding of a libertarian mindset. This is most apparent when Holiday remarks how Thiel supported Trump at the Republican National Convention, and make a speech along a “list of fools he shared the stage with.” Well, at least Holiday did remark that as a Trump supporter, Thiel was “as at least, halfway sane.”
As stated earlier, however, what makes this book such a painful undertaking- almost chore-like, is that it is treated as if every thought, or action from the parties involved, as the story painstakingly unfolds, needed to be psychologically explained and reaffirmed with an obscure philosophical quote from some historical figure. For example, in one of his many psychoanalysis of Thiel’s decision to act against Denton and Gawker, Holiday explains loquaciously:
“In that it became important for Thiel to see Gawker as singularly bad, the conspirator takes up, often without consent, the mantle of defending (or freeing) a number of other people as his or her real reason for proceeding. It is a sort of self-serving selflessness, a shield against what is to come and the feeling it will provoke... I think of Sherman’s letter to the people of Atlanta, a city he believed must fall for his march to the sea to continue and for the North to win the Civil War. Though he’d once lived in the South… he now saw himself as an instrument of a power that must not be slowed down. To view Atlanta, this city that lay before him and his plans, as the sum total of its people would be to make the whole affair personal, not professional, and thus impossible. ‘You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will… War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.’”
Alone, this isn’t so bad, but this book is filled to the brim with examples of such dramatic, and at times, over-the-top diatribe, with quotes from Cicero to Clausewitz. In fact, just to give you an idea, in ONE page, Holiday quotes Civil War General Sherman, The Count of Monte Cristo (I kid you not) and William James. This is not to say that all the quotes are mundane- some do serve a purpose, particularly Liddell Hart’s (the British Historian) strategies of war, and Machiavelli, whose themes in The Prince, are repeated throughout the book. But when quotes are used exhaustively, it becomes such a burden, that one is left wondering whether to continue on with the book, of skip paragraphs if not pages. You can argue, aside from some build-up of background information on the characters and what Gawker did to Peter Thiel, Part 1 (7 chapters) can largely be skipped.
As the story unfolds, after Part 1, the pace does thankfully pick up and it does become quite fascinating. It is almost as if this story is Machiavelli’s the Prince, or Sun Tzu's the Art of War manifested, depending on, of course, how accurately Holiday’s depiction of the characters are, or rather, how much of it you believe (this is where the author’s bias casts doubt). Assuming all Holiday’s psychoanalysis and conjectures are indeed accurate, readers can expect an intriguing story about how a genius billionaire took down a media mogul.
Finally, the last few chapters do drag, and this is where Holiday takes his narrative freedoms up a notch. He goes excessively into politics. What Thiel’s support of then candidate Trump has little if anything to do with the story, and serves no purpose other than for Holiday to inject some political commentary. He describes members of the movement #Gamergate as “alt-right,” and their style of attack as “loud, insistent, delusional”- a description that can be used to describe any opposing political movement depending on which side one is on, and links them incredulously to Thiel. The rest of the chapter, for some reason, is largely used as an attack on Trump. Ironic, for a person who wrote a book entitled, "Trust me, I’m Lying."
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An extremely intriguing, well written book of the machinations ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2018
An extremely intriguing, well written book of the machinations, peppered with relevant historical quotes and events to add context, that made this book a page turner. The book will give most people something to introspect about, from the morality to the stratagems deployed, to have in their arsenal, albeit with the "downside" that it is potentially a powerful dose of cognitive dissonance (depending on your antagonist). Strategy books of this nature are few and far between, so this is well worth a read.
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2018
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Combines a dramatic story with real insights.
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