Wired--A Romance

by Gary Wolf

Book Overview

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Testfor our own age, the story of a dreamer who turned American media upside down-and suffered the consequences Louis Rossetto had no money, no home, no job. Five years... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375502904
• ISBN13: 9780375502903
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The Beginnings of Wired Magazine

This book is well written and an easy read - it's hard to put the book down. Wired-A Romance is a story about the people who started the cutting edge magazine Wired. People interested in the beginning of the Internet revolution should find the book fascinating. Also, people interested in the business of starting a company and seeing where the big monetary payoff comes will also find it worthwhile. The founder of Wired, Louis Rossetto, is strong-willed man and in the early 1990's has a definite view on how the world will change with the upcoming wired revolution. Rossetto's vision and character are essential for the magazine's quick success, but later these same traits almost cost the magazine's investors dearly.An interesting tale by a talented writer. I recommend this book.

Coming Unwired -- a tale of the dot NOT com

Wired, a romance is a fascinating tale. Author Wolf is a contributing editor at WIRED magazine and he tells this story with an insider's viewpoint. No doubt WIRED changed modern journalism, but how much did it contribute to the bluff and fluff of the Dot Com era that soaked so many average investors? That's a tale that Wolf never quite measures up in. More business data would have been helpful. But we get the flavor of the times. WIRED should have and actually DID see the diversification of the communications world and the convergence of telecom, film, records, books and more. They did issues on BIOTECH and covered new technologies but the flavor of the time was DOT COM and somehow they became entwined in the not com aspect of what went wrong in the 90's. Wolf's viewpoint is only part of the larger story of why they didn't go public and how they managed to sell out for a fortune to Conde Nast. It's a pleasant read but most of us on the seesaw knew the story well. What we need really is a skyhigh view of what it was all about and the good and the bad and the ugly that evolved from that Silicon Valley bubble that almost blew us all away.