Karaoke Nation: Or, How I Spent a Year in Search of Glamour, Fulfillment, and a Million Dollars

Feeling a certain ennui with his career as a journalist, Fishman (A Bomb in the Brain) was seduced at the height of the bubble to join the business fray--or rather the Internet business fray, as the author's main point is distinguishing between the two. After telling the reader about his preconceived notions of responsible, workaday businessmen, Fishman introduces all manner of strange characters who broke that mold while working with him to launch an online karaoke venture. Most prominent, but by no means the most colorful, is hip-hop strategist Russell Simmons. Fishman's frequent confessions of his own ignorance of the ways of business help to balance the fun he has at others' expense. Still, the tone of wide-eyed amusement sometimes becomes tiresome, particularly because so little actually happens in his business world. People dream big, they network and they keep multiple cell phones for use between, and during, strings of meetings. It is only in the last few pages, after Fishman has been edged aside by former partners, that he offhandedly mentions the product actually getting offered. Given the number of books already available from failed entrepreneurs-turned-authors, the world can probably live without another dissection of the mechanics or sociology of the dot-com world. Fishman instead falls back on his more substantial skills as a profile journalist to offer a humorous look at a few people who thrived in that rarefied habitat. It will probably find the greatest appeal among young general readers rather than staid, old-time businesspeople.