Bigger, better barter. Kyle MacDonald embarked on a fascinating sociological experiment when he decided to see whether the bartering system could get him from one red paperclip to a house. He succeeded, and his book follows his experience of fourteen trades in the course of one year.
People who claim they lack the resources to succeed will feel like slackers after reading about the story of a man who gained everything after starting from almost nothing. MacDonald proves that a novel idea will get you far; it’s just too bad that the reader doesn’t gain anything from his retelling. The book is an autobiography styled as a self-help guide and is filled with repetitive writing.
MacDonald chronicles his meteoric rise to fame, and the media brouhaha that surrounded him was no doubt aided by his average guy persona. People probably felt reassured that someone so normal could achieve so much. Although his plucky-guy attitude gets MacDonald far, his attempts to be inspiring and provide insightful lessons at the end of each upgrade, such as “Just trade it,” “Now was four words ago,” and “If you want to, you can,” leave the reader empty handed.
At times, his dumbed-down writing is borderline insulting. He pans out the advice, “Buy low, sell high, but don’t get addicted to the drugs,” and follows with an explanation that the comment is funny because the part about drugs “make(s) you think about ‘high’ in a different light. ‘High’ as in intoxicated instead of ‘high’ as in high value.” Makes you wonder if he was high when he was writing this crap.
MacDonald has a gift for living great experiences – not writing about them. Visit his website or wait for the movie, which is in the works, but don’t buy the book. If you must have a read, take some advice from MacDonald and barter for it – just as long as you don’t pay cash.
– Rihoko Ueno
One Red Paperclip
Author: Kyle MacDonald
Paperback, 272 pages
$13.95, Three Rivers Press
Release: August 7, 2007