• The New New Thing

  • A Silicon Valley Story
  • By: Michael Lewis
  • Narrated by: Bruce Reizen
  • Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (1,055 ratings)

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The New New Thing  By  cover art

The New New Thing

By: Michael Lewis
Narrated by: Bruce Reizen
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Publisher's summary

In the weird glow of the dying millennium, Michael Lewis sets out on a safari through Silicon Valley to find the world's most important technology entrepreneur, the man who embodies the spirit of the coming age. He finds him in Jim Clark, who is about to create his third, separate, billion-dollar company: first Silicon Graphics, then Netscape - which launched the Information Age - and now Healtheon, a startup that may turn the $1 trillion healthcare industry on its head.

Despite the variety of his achievements, Clark thinks of himself mainly as the creator of Hyperion, which happens to be a sailboat - not just an ordinary yacht, but the world's largest single-mast vessel, a machine more complex than a 747. Clark claims he will be able to sail it via computer from his desk in San Francisco, and the new code may contain the seeds of his next billion-dollar coup.

On the wings of Lewis' celebrated storytelling, the listener takes the ride of a lifetime through this strange landscape of geeks and billionaires. We get the inside story of the battle between Netscape and Microsoft; we sit in the room as Clark tries to persuade the investment bankers that Healtheon IS the new Microsoft; we get queasy as Clark pits his boat against the rage of the North Atlantic in winter. And in every brilliant anecdote and character sketch, Lewis is drawing us a map of markets and free enterprise in the 21st century.

©2001 Michael Lewis (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about The New New Thing

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • lm
  • 04-17-14

Great text, HORRIBLE performance

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Seriously, this has got to be the WORST reading of an audiobook I've ever heard. I literally cannot enjoy and/or concentrate on the story because the reading is so bad. It's too fast, and too crisp--you can't relax into the story the way you can with most books (i.e., every other audiobook I've ever listened to).

What was one of the most memorable moments of The New New Thing?

Not going to spoil the book.

What didn’t you like about Bruce Reizen’s performance?

He spoke too quickly. Also, yeah it's great the guy can do voices, but those voices aren't really necessary if the listener can relax into the book. This man read as though he had no understanding of what he was reading--he read too quickly, with no inflection, and the only time he slowed down was when he did one of those voices, but by then he'd done such a horrible job on the lead-up that the voice ended up being more of a distraction than anything. I don't know if he's just normally a fast-talker or he had too much coffee that day, but holy crap it's horrible. You guys should commission a re-reading, seriously.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining slice of internet history

You won't learn much but it's a pleasant and relaxing story of a less known part of internet history.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator and voices ruin the story

The narrator and his terrible voices distract from, and ruin, the story. All voices are in some variation of a gimmicky southern drawl, and most sound like artificial 1920’s noir radio hosts. The ridiculous changing voices are entirely distracting from the content. Maybe goofy voices have their place in fiction, but it diminishes the quality of what should be a huge and epic history within this book.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible accents, not the best Lewis

Despite an interesting topic and a big character, this book pales in comparison to the other Michael Lewis books I’ve read and loved. Also the narrator was reeeeeally over reaching with the different voice and accent for every character.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

explains start of web browsing

Michael Lewis talks about Jim Clark, the founder of silicone graphics and netscape. Michael Lewis always comes up with the personalities behind key. It advances in our culture perand Jim Clark was an amazing personality.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • SK
  • 07-07-23

Flat

Narration is flat…story isn’t as deep or enthralling as other of Michael Lewis’ books.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Should have been a magazine article

Then entire book could have summarized into 4 chapters rather than such a long winded book of 20 odd some chapters

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Silicon Valley history

Excellent run down of life in the Valley during its infancy and eventual explosion. Enjoyed the book!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Ruined by narrator

Narrator ruined the story. failed attempt at accent sounded more like narrator was mocking the characters

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • AK
  • 03-11-22

It Was Okay

It was just okay. It’s not as good as some of his other, earlier books.

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