Paul Carr Turns Out Brilliant – A Review of “Bringing Nothing To The Party” December 21st, 2009
Paul Carr just released his book for free on the internet, and my somewhat bemused self decided to download a copy and burn through it this fine Sunday. You indeed are reading this on a Monday, given that I decided to drop sledging this review to go gamble my small brains out at a poker table. But I digress.
This review is a bit self-reflective, but I shall try and keep my ego from intruding overmuch. It is, after all, about Paul’s book.
Paul Carr is a bit like a better, older, and somehow wiser version of your humble reviewer. Especially if you think about him before he recently stopped drinking. That cease-fire on his liver made little sense to me before I read his book. Allow me space to explain.
Drinking and technology have long been bunkmates for a wide number of reasons. Some personal favorites of mine include the philosophy that we internet people seem keen on being full of shit (it cannot just be me), and that drinking helps us do that, but with more confidence and hiccoughs. Also, many people have pointed out to me that we internet folk tend to move a touch faster than other people (perhaps), and that alcohol slows us down a notch (a still larger perhaps).
Fair points, and they both fell home on Paul Carr. Carr it turns out, was quite the party man. That was me practicing how to use British understatement. Paul Carr made myself and half my friends, combined, look Mormon. Well, that’s not true. I bet I could take on Paul for a night of stupidity. But his regularity would me crumple into a small ball and cry. Paul used to be a class-a party fiend.
Paul Carr’s book is a damn fun ride. I give it my full recommendation as a blogger, and my full push as a reader of better things than I can write myself. Go read the free copy, and then buy a real copy for a friend. Trust me, once you start reading it, you will not stop until the end.
The book is really more a walk-along of his life, than any specific commentary of note on a genre. Paul is why this book is so much damn fun. Paul combines a brilliant mix of “smart enough to get along while bumbling your cues,” with a dash of almost prodigal disregard to “common sense,” all rolled into one long party with a late afternoon lunch the next day and a column to pen.
To my personal entertainment, Paul and I are alike in a few ways. I freely admit that this might color my view of the book. Paul strikes me, as I said, a better version of myself. This book tickled me pink.
But I do think that this book, which I feel that calling a romp is dead-on, has a limited audience. If you like technology in any way, or have ever woken up and had a blank slate where the last night was, pitched a VC, or perhaps pitched an investment banker while sloshed (I have actually done that), then you need to read this book. Paul is a gifted writer with one hell of a tale.
Oh, and why does it makes sense to me that Paul gave up drinking? I think that there comes a time in a person’s life that waking up “still pissed” and hungover to the point of vomiting, unable to move until 2 p.m. gets old. Paul got there.
So, I’m going to have to crack a bottle to toast Paul’s book. I suppose that I am drinking for two. Bottoms up, here’s to you Paul.
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