onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Boo_Hoo_135_Million_18_Months_a_DotCom_Story_from_Concept_to_Catastrophe');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0099418371'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Boo Hoo: $135 Million, 18 Months... a Dot.Com Story from Concept to Catastrophe

by Ernst Malmsten, Erik Portanger, Charles Drazin

I'm starting with one of my absolute favorite books about startups-- I distinctly remember checking out boo.com (a site to sell high fashion) soon after it launched and thinking "wow, this is one of the worst web sites I've ever seen." Well, wait until you read the story of the narcissistic founders, the insane amount of money they burned through, the crazy parties... it's really beyond belief. A terrific snapshot of the absolute peak of the Internet bubble.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Boo_Hoo_135_Million_18_Months_a_DotCom_Story_from_Concept_to_Catastrophe');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Boo_Hoo_135_Million_18_Months_a_DotCom_Story_from_Concept_to_Catastrophe');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0099418371'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 385 page paperback |$4.22 |5 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Defying_Gravity_The_Making_of_Newton');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0941831949'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Defying Gravity: The Making of Newton

by Markos Kounalakis, photography by Doug Menuez

The Newton was burdened from the start: saddled with poor battery life, a high price, and (most notoriously) wildly inaccurate handwriting recognition, it's remembered mostly as a giant flop. But when you look past the surface, the story of the Newton's creation is actually quite remarkable, and this book does a great job showing the enormous technological hurdles surmounted to create the first true popular handheld computer. (And you know what? I owned one, and the handwriting recognition wasn't as bad as everyone thought. :-)

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Defying_Gravity_The_Making_of_Newton');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Defying_Gravity_The_Making_of_Newton');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0941831949'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 200 page hardcover |$0.82 |6 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Startup_A_Silicon_Valley_Adventure');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0140257314'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure

by Jerry Kaplan

This terrific story of the rise and fall of Go Computing is one of the best technology books I've ever read. Go was devoted to making the first pen-based tablet computer (before the Palm Pilot and Treo) and Kaplan tells the story with verve and style. The scene in the boardroom, where he throws down a legal pad and helps the room of VCs imagine that it be the computer itself, is mesmerizing, and captures the essence of how startups create a vision -- and try to translate that pie-in-the-sky vision into a tangible product. A real page-turner.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Startup_A_Silicon_Valley_Adventure');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Startup_A_Silicon_Valley_Adventure');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0140257314'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 336 page paperback |$10.88 |44 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/High_Stakes_No_Prisoners_A_Winners_Tale_of_Greed_and_Glory_in_the_Internet_Wars');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1587990652'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">High Stakes, No Prisoners: A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars

by Charles H. Ferguson

This book is the story of a company that created a piece of software to build web pages which was subsequently acquired by Microsoft and renamed "FrontPage." (Perhaps you've heard of it...) What I like about this novel is its total lack of restraint; the author isn't afraid to really tell it like it is and "name names." Fun gossip about some of the most famous technology people and companies mixed with good business startup story.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/High_Stakes_No_Prisoners_A_Winners_Tale_of_Greed_and_Glory_in_the_Internet_Wars');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/High_Stakes_No_Prisoners_A_Winners_Tale_of_Greed_and_Glory_in_the_Internet_Wars');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1587990652'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 400 page paperback |$20.75 |42 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Burn_Rate_How_I_Survived_the_Gold_Rush_Years_on_the_Internet');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/B000H2MBVW'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet

by Michael Wolff

Amazon says:
Burn Rate is the story of Michael Wolff's transition from journalist to entrepreneur in the Internet business -- a business in which the investment elite beat down doors to invest vast sums of money in companies whose chief product seemed to be red ink. His story could easily have been bitter but is instead both fascinating and hilarious. His money-losing company's negotiations with Magellan -- a search-engine company that Wolff eventually discovers is also financially unstable -- are comical. The scene where key big shots from a major publisher fall all over Wolff in their eagerness to buy an all-but-worthless name and database are a complete farce.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Burn_Rate_How_I_Survived_the_Gold_Rush_Years_on_the_Internet');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Burn_Rate_How_I_Survived_the_Gold_Rush_Years_on_the_Internet');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/B000H2MBVW'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 272 page paperback |$7.95 |89 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/The_Leap_A_Memoir_of_Love_and_Madness_in_the_Internet_Gold_Rush');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0395839343'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The Leap: A Memoir of Love and Madness in the Internet Gold Rush

by Tom Ashbrook

Amazon says:
In 1996, after 12 years as an international reporter and top editor at the Boston Globe, Tom Ashbrook reconnected with his old college roommate, Rolly Rouse, to begin a quixotic project: a CD-ROM architectural pattern book that would allow baby boomers to design their own homes. While at Harvard, Ashbrook worked on the project and later decided to make the "leap from security to risk" and devote himself to it fully, despite the economic uncertainty for his family (including three kids) and his wife's recurring doubts. He and Rouse raised some money from family and friends, recruited a few staffers, vaulted into a new world of venture capitalists and partnership disputes and morphed into an Internet company, HomePortfolio.com. Momentum and tension build as the partners scramble for connections, run out of money and Ashbrook's marriage frays. Ultimately, credit cards, fortuitous funding and a dash of New York Times publicity save the day.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/The_Leap_A_Memoir_of_Love_and_Madness_in_the_Internet_Gold_Rush');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/The_Leap_A_Memoir_of_Love_and_Madness_in_the_Internet_Gold_Rush');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0395839343'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 320 page hardcover |$20.00 |27 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Fd_Companies_Spectacular_DotCom_Flameouts');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0743228626'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">F'd Companies: Spectacular Dot-Com Flameouts

by Philip J. Kaplan

Amazon says:
Philip J. Kaplan's F'd Companies offers an unapologetically acerbic opinion on dozens of the most outrageous. Kaplan pulls no punches as he bluntly dissects Web failures that remain dazzling for their pretentious plans and audacious executions. There are big names like Webvan ("a classic example of PAYING more for products than they were SELLING them for") and Go.com (a "portal to nowhere"), but most here are less well known despite similarly burning through cash like a cyber-brushfire. In explicit language, Kaplan skewers the likes of Iam.com (which lost $48 million trying to convince models and actors to post their portfolios on the Net), OnlineChoice.com (which spent $20 million to learn consumers weren't interested in group buys of electricity and other utilities), HeavenlyDoor.com (which sunk $26 million into a site peddling caskets and burial plots), and Eppraisals.com (which dropped $15 million on an effort to sell online evaluations of antiques). The result is consistently profane, frequently hilarious, and usually right on target.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Fd_Companies_Spectacular_DotCom_Flameouts');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Fd_Companies_Spectacular_DotCom_Flameouts');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0743228626'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 208 page hardcover |$0.01 |105 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Me_by_Me_The_Petscom_Sock_Puppet_Book');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/074341313X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Me by Me: The Pets.com Sock Puppet Book

by the Pets.com Sock Puppet

Finally, I'm including this strange, silly little book-- it's not about the company Pets.com, per se; it's a series of photos of the (famous!) puppet with witty captions. Though the company failed, the sock puppet ad campaign was a stroke of marketing brilliance, and this book is a testament to the campaign's wit and fun, as well as a perfect memento of the go-go Internet bubble of the late '90s.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Me_by_Me_The_Petscom_Sock_Puppet_Book');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Silicon_Valley_Failures/Me_by_Me_The_Petscom_Sock_Puppet_Book');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/074341313X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 64 page paperback |$0.01 |6 reviews