Wired

I've developed a minor obsession with the story behind Facebook, sparked, of course, by my deep and undying love for all things Aaron Sorkin. Hell, I love the man so much, I watched every episode of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," even the terrible ones at the end.

When I first heard he was penning the screenplay for "The Social Network" (the seedy and somewhat questionable back story of Facebook), I was beside myself. I needed to prepare. Luckily, Hot Pants (remember him?) has the two books about the ubiquitous social networking site: the one that Mark Zuckerberg approves of and the one he thinks is a steaming pile of poo. They're both great reads but are COMPLETELY different books.

"The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich is racy, gossipy and downright seedy. It's fast paced _ I read it in a day. And it's only from the point of view of the four guys suing Zuckerberg over Facebook's genesis. One is his former best friend who he totally fucked over when the company was still very young and so were they. The other are three Harvard classmates who seem rather whiny and spoiled, stomping their feet and saying "He stole our idea!" even when he kinda did and he kinda didn't. Mezrich makes no bones about admitting he never once spoke with Zuckerberg for the book despite the author's repeated requests AND he confesses to condensing timelines, recreating scenes and generally making shit up. Take it with a grain of salt, but read it anyway. It's fascinating.

The second book is the Zuckerberg-approved tome "The Facebook Effect," which looks not only at the company's start but also at the impact it's having on the world. This time written by journalist David Kirkpatrick who spent many, many hours interviewing the boy genius himself and many others at Facebook. The writing is much drier, much more direct, and it's not as good storytelling as the other book, but Kirkpatrick really dives into the meat of the company rather than simply relying on the he said-she said bullshit that's emerged since the website started. It's a stark contrast to Mezrich's soap opera, spending very little time on the lawsuits against Zuckerberg and instead focusing on the company itself.

Now the movie. *happy sigh*

Really? It was fantastic. Smart, witty, fast-paced. All the things that Sorkin does so well, wrapped up in an adorable little crimson bow (Harvard jokes! Love them!). Forget facts and what's real. This is great storytelling at its core, and Sorkin has not ever said the story is completely factual. In fact, in a New York magazine article, he actually said he argued with director David Fincher to go with inaccuracy when it improved the story. In one scene where it's well documented that Zuckerberg was drinking Beck's, Sorkin said he wanted to have the character consume screwdrivers because that made it appear that he was trying to get drunk. Fincher won in the end and Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Zuckerberg, chugs down beer as he hacks into servers across Harvard.

Go see the movie for sure, but if you've got the notion, pick up the books, too. Join my geek army.