TOW #8: The Accidental Billionaires, Ben Mezrich

A risk must always be taken in order to receive a big reward. Ben Mezrich, the author of The Accidental Billionaires, told the story of the risks that Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and the other founders of Facebook had to take in order to become billionaires. Mezrich connects with the audience by his use of a third person omniscient to tell the true story of how Facebook was founded and the relationship between Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.

Mezrich effectively keeps the audience interested and connects to their emotions by telling the story using third person omniscient. By sharing the story in third person omniscient, Mezrich was able to express multiple characters‘ emotions rather than just one viewpoint. This allows the audience to see different events, such as Eduardo’s shares being cut down, from different character’s viewpoints and to begin to form their own opinions because they are not focused on the viewpoint of only one character. The use of third person omniscient was also very effective for this story because it allows the reader to understand what Mark Zuckerberg and others were debating in their heads when making business decisions. For example, the reader is able to understand why Mark did not want to work with the Winklevoss twins. This use of narration enabled Mezrich to share the thoughts that the characters felt and helps the reader to further understand what went into the creation of Facebook.

The use of third person omniscient also helps describe the relationship between Mark and Eduardo. To keep the book more interesting, Mezrich includes the drama in their relationship. The choice of narration enables drama to be created because the reader can understand how Mark and Eduardo viewed each other from an outside perspective. The story begins with both of the characters at a party for the Phoenix, an exclusive club at Harvard. Mezrich describes Mark as someone who looked very out of place at the party, whereas Eduardo caught the eye of the members and was selected to be further evaluated. The ability to share events like this from an outside perspective allows the reader to be able to see the jealousy that may have been created from Eduardo’s selection into the Phoenix. 

Mezrich’s use of third person omniscient allows him to effectively tell the story of the founding of Facebook as well as add drama to the story by sharing the relationship of Mark and Eduardo.