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In 1989, Michael Lewis snagged the country's attention with Liar's Poker, his raucous account of the fast-paced, double-dealing bond market and the S&L crisis it caused. In the balloon-thin Internet boom, he has once again found a subject worthy of his high-spirited cynicism. Lewis's writing is crisp and his examples of 14-year-old stock market manipulators and outlandish IPOs cry to be read aloud. Excellent beach read.
New York Observer
[C]onsistently smart, and its highpoints are among the high points of Lewis' writing life.
BusinessWeek
A wake-up call at a time when many believe the net was a flash in the pan.
Next does not come too late to the crash-and-burn Internet book fest. It comes just in time—at the speed of a falling safe.
People
Lewis is a master of the far from obvious, giving a jargonectomy to big concepts.
Robert D. Hof
His book is a wake-up call at a time when many believe the net was a flash in the pan.
—BusinessWeek
Polly Labarre
Michael Lewis has a knack for tapping the business zeitgeist.
—Fast Company
Rob Mitchell
[U]nderstated humor and keen-edged sociological observations...
—Boston Herald
Richard Pachter
A fascinating view of the future of global commerce, which, clearly, is well underway.
—Miami Herald
Entertainment Weekly
A thoughtful and entertaining look at the rise and fall of our new Internet-driven economy.
William C. Gibson
Lewis has many good and useful things to say in this book, and he says them in an easy and witty way.
—New Orleans Times-Picayune
Jon Katz
[P]rovocative and entertaining....Lewis is a gifted journalist and a smart observer.
—Wall Street Journal
Boris Kachka
Don't miss his last chapter: "The Unabomber Had a Point.
—New York
Newsweek
[Lewis] has a natural talent for spinning hilarious scenes and uncovering wicked details.
Alden Mudge
[S]wift, sharp, often-funny narratives...compelling.
—BookPage
Christopher Caldwell
[C]onsistently smart, and its highpoints are among the high points in Lewis's writing life.
—New York Observer
USA Today
Next does not come too late to the crash-and-burn Internet book fest. It comes just in time—at the speed of a falling safe.
Publishers Weekly
Putting an engaging and irreverent spin on yesterday's news, Lewis (Liar's Poker; The New, New Thing) declares that power and prestige are up for grabs in this look at how the Internet has changed the way we live and work. Probing how Web-enabled players have exploited the fuzzy boundary between reality and perception, he visits three teenagers who have assumed startling roles: Jonathan Lebed, the 15-year-old New Jersey high school student who made headlines when he netted $800,000 as a day trader and became the youngest person ever accused of stock-market fraud by the SEC; Markus Arnold, the 15-year-old son of immigrants from Belize who edged out numerous seasoned lawyers to become the number three legal expert on AskMe.com; and Daniel Sheldon, a British 14-year-old ringleader in the music-file-sharing movement. Putting himself on the line, Lewis is freshest in his reportage, though he doesn't pierce the deeper cultural questions raised by the kids' behavior. As a financial reporter tracing the development of innovative industries like black box interactive television and interactive political polling from their beginnings as Internet brainstorms, Lewis reminds readers that the twin American instincts to democratize and commercialize intertwine on the Internet, and can only lead to new business. In the past, Lewis implies, industry insiders would simply have shut out eager upstarts, yet today insiders, like AOL Time Warner, allow themselves "to be attacked in order to later co-opt their most ferocious attackers and their best ideas." (July 30) Forecast: Lewis's track record, a major media campaign and a 12-city author tour through techie outposts will make this hard to ignore. As abreezy summer read, it's fun enough, but those looking for profound business insights will be disappointed. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
USA Today
"Next does not come too late to the crash-and-burn Internet book fest. It come just in time—at the speed of a falling safe."
