The true story of four computer nerds who tried to build a revolutionary online network based on privacy & control; a David v Goliath startup effort that ended not in a billion dollar buy-out but in personal tragedy.
Jim Dwyer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter with the New York Times, has written or cowritten six books. He lives in New York City.
Praise for More Awesome Than Money
“The courageous and ingenious actions of these four NYU
students and the Diaspora hackers who come in their wake will make
you want to stand up and cheer. In an age of self-absorbed tweeting
and friending, these young people are our Rocky Balboas and Martin
Luther Kings. This book is proof that we are no longer customers of
social networks, but rather the merchandise. The advertisers are
the true customers, and our private thoughts, desires, and needs
are exploited, sold, and bartered among them like trading
cards—long after we’ve hit the delete button. The tragic death of
the talented programmer Ilya Zhitomirskiy stands as testimony to
our own inertia about the commercial forces that seek to control
us. I’m glad I met this young man on these pages, and I'm glad that
the deeply talented Jim Dwyer—who also wrote the best book on 9-11
you'll ever read—brought him and his friends to us with such
stirring clarity. It’s a superb work, and a great read.”
—James McBride, author of The Good Lord Bird and The Color of
Water, winner of the National Book Award
“Jim Dwyer’s More Awesome Than Money is the story of four young men
who dared to go up against the (new) machine—in this case,
Facebook. By turns funny, poignant, scary, heartbreaking, and
hopeful, More Awesome Than Money includes everything you need to
know about how your personal information is being manipulated on
the Internet, and what to do about it.”
—Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd
“Books have been written about those who struck it rich in Silicon
Valley. The four young idealists in this engrossing book did not.
Their dreams of creating a more noble social network failed.
Their names will not shadow Mark Zuckerberg. They may not be
deemed ‘cool.’ In the deft hands of author Jim Dwyer, they are
‘cool,’ and complicated. We follow them down the rabbit hole as
they, like other forgotten names, travel from euphoria, to doubt,
to dissension, to dissolution. Readers of this suspenseful
narrative will not soon forget the mountaintop-to-valley drama they
endured, the classic business and human mistakes they made, nor the
nobility of what they hoped to do.”
—Ken Auletta, author of Googled and Greed and Glory on Wall
Street
“Failure is all to common for startups, but this is the best-told
story of failure I’ve read. I was rooting for the improbable the
whole way. It perfectly captures the texture of Silicon Valley’s
humanity and dreams better than any success story could.”
—Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired, and author of What
Technology Wants
“[A] worthy endeavor…Dwyer has painted a detailed portrait of the
enormous difficulties facing female programmers and entrepreneurs
in Silicon Valley.”—New York Times Book Review
“[A] tumultuous story of four young men…offers a useful vantage
point for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of Silicon
Valley’s culture . . .”—Wall Street Journal
“[A] lively account…[that] finds heroism and success, betrayal and
even, ultimately, tragedy in the hurtling pursuit of a
cause.”—Washington Post
“Dwyer’s account . . . is a thrilling read, astoundingly detailed
and researched, alternately suspenseful and heartbreaking.”—Daily
Beast
“[A] lively account of Diaspora’s creation as an alternative to the
Silicon Valley megaliths. Like any account of the memorable early
days of a revolution, Dwyer’s reporting finds heroism and success,
betrayal and even, ultimately, tragedy in the hurtling pursuit of a
cause.”—Denver Post
“A thoroughly compelling account recommended for those interested
in general technology books and business narratives. This book is a
welcome addition to the literature on start-ups, particularly for
its focus on notions of privacy in the digital era and how
entrepreneurs are working to address these critical needs.”—Library
Journal
“This is a greatly informative book.”—Booklist
Praise for 102 MINUTES
“A masterpiece.”—Kevin Baker, The New York Times
“A heartstopping, meticulous account.”—The New York Times Book
Review
“Impressive.”—People magazine
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