"dot.bomb"

dot.bomb: My Days and Nights at an Internet Goliath (J. "First initials make you look like a douchebag" David Kuo)

Yes, it's another goofy business book. This one covers the rise and unsurprising crash and burn of Value America, a company I'd never heard of, which differed from a typical .com boom/bust story in that it had a vision for a inventoryless system (dealers ship directly to customers), hypothetically cutting costs to a bare minimum. Obviously this didn't work, and if you weren't already put off by that first sentence, you might be interested to read this book. The beginning deals with raising the capital to start the company, and while this could be a little dry, I found that it moved right along. The real meat of the book starts when Kuo joins the company and, well, you know how the .com bubble turned out. Getting there is an interesting ride, if hard to recommend for the general reader - but, like the other goofy business books, I'd recommend picking this up if you see it in your local bargain bin.

Grade: B