I bought it.
This was the breakthrough Kindle moment, not that you've seen any press about it. I doubt there's enough physical inventory in stores. They're gonna run out...if they're not reprinting right now. This is the world we used to live in in music. All that money wasted on printing and supply chain, shipping, returns, it's gone with digital. Along with gatefold covers and credits, but you lose something in every revolution, the march forward is always imperfect.
And no one talks about record stores anymore. For so long every magazine had an owner lamenting the passing of his dream. I remember a story in "Newsweek," where the owner said selling records was the only thing he was good at. Better prepare for the future, because it involves change. And if you don't adjust, you're gonna be left behind. The truth is they're making new people every day, and those people need jobs, and they've got fewer encumbrances and newer knowledge and the fact that you've got experience...doesn't always trump them.
So I didn't have to go to the store to buy "Fire and Fury." Thank god. Do I really want to get in my car, fight the traffic, park, and then hopefully find the book in stock when I can just click to download it?
This is like when a musician dies. Most famously Elvis. He was on the back nine, no one was paying attention, he passes and there's no inventory. Now when someone dies their tracks zoom up the Spotify chart. And I'd be stunned if this isn't one of the best selling Kindle titles ever. Not that we can get that info. Funny how the music business is moving towards transparency, you can see the exact number of plays on Spotify, but the number of books sold?
Good luck.
But it's much lower than you think. And the publishers don't want this info out there. But obfuscation always hurts your business. Which is why transparent Silicon Valley gets all the money.
So, no one proofread "Fire and Fury." You start hitting misspellings and missing words almost from the get-go. And the truth is you find these mistakes in most new books, which speaks to the fact that no one reads them before publication. Send one to me, I could mark it up easily. Not that I'm the only one. The author is mesmerized, in the zone, he misses the mistakes, but couldn't anybody at Henry Holt give it a read?
Of course they did, they decided to publish it. A lawyer(s) was worried about lawsuits.
But first and foremost a book is to read. And forgetting about the mistakes above, "Fire and Fury" is absolutely riveting. You cannot put it down. Because Michael Wolff can write.
I liked the old Michael Wolff better. Before the suits, before the divorce, when he didn't take himself so seriously. I loved "Burn Rate." But now he wants to be just like those he chronicles and it doesn't wear well on him. He's a scrapper. And everybody hates him for it. But he's doing God's work here.
Because the written word rules.
Yes, he who writes down history owns it.
The world runs on gossip, but the final version is printed, and Wolff is the ultimate arbiter.
This is not about left and right, this is not about working the refs. This is insight into what truly happened, and whether it's true or false, it's the best account we've got. Janice Min testified that she was at that dinner with Ailes and Bannon, she says every quote is true, are we really gonna undercut and denigrate a woman in this instance, one who started off in gossip and then became a publishing majordomo? You can come from nowhere and make it in America, and if you don't wish you were in that room where it happened, you're lying.
But the reason the book works is because of ego.
People can't help but talk.
Which is why David Geffen's image was tarnished forever, by agreeing to a biography by Tom King.
Same deal with Jann Wenner. He just couldn't handle it that he'd fade away, he needed someone to write his history, and then Joe Hagan did and he didn't like it.
At least Steve Jobs died. Otherwise he'd be bitching about Walter Isaacson's account of his life.
The big winners can't help themselves. They're incomplete, they need the accolades. Admire those who hold back, who never do press. Like Jerry Perenchio, who you still don't know, who recently died. If you worked for him and spoke to the press you were fired. Because the talent was the driver and the press was not on your side.
Who agreed to let Wolff into the White House?
It appears nobody.
Proving once again that despite all the security, if you just show up, you can go so far. Kinda like the people bitching their photos were stolen from Apple's servers. No, there was no "hacking," the perpetrator just guessed your weak passwords. It's somebody else's fault, never your own.
So Trump is a bozo. This book is definitive. Argue all you want, but we're no longer listening.
Although he still is President. But for how long?
That's the story here. Trump is gonna go or be neutered, it can't go on like this.
Just like Bannon had to talk, the attrition will get to Trump. Everybody expects things to happen overnight. But that rarely occurs. The weight just keeps being lifted onto the camel's back until it collapses. That's a big lesson here. Be patient, play for the long term, it's coming.
Also, it's astounding how the press has reacted to Wolff's book. Very few people read it, they reported on the penumbra. And soon they'll be on to something else. They're all about eyeballs, not about substance. But substance always rules in the end. He or she who puts in the time succeeds. And what you find out is Trump never put in the time, never.
But he won.
Why did he win?
It's the power of television, the power of celebrity, the juice of America.
But also, despite being the consummate insider, he takes the position of an outsider, and in a world where everybody feels screwed over a great percentage of the public wanted to turn over the table, try anything new, they were sick of business as usual. Yup, you get that in "Fire and Fury," Trump is nobody's man, and this maverick spirit can be found appealing.
Furthermore, reading "Fire and Fury" it's reinforced how we live in a two-tiered society, one of insiders and outsiders. Never have we known more about what the insiders' lifestyles, but really we know nothing.
We read about private jets, island vacations, but we're not privy to the conversations, where the overlords cut up the country and share the spoils. Ailes and Murdoch think they run this world.
As for Bannon, he's the interloper with a brain who thinks he can succeed.
But he's propped up by the Mercers' money. Who've seemingly abandoned him now. But it's too late, because money pales beside power. Sometimes they're one and the same, frequently they are not. Bannon is a household name these days. He can reach his constituency via the internet, assuming he's not forced into the slow lane by the FCC.
Don't look at this as a snapshot, but a movie. We're past the halfway mark. The spikes and lulls should not be overinterpreted, stop listening to the bloviating nitwits on cable news.
And you can stop listening to those with an agenda.
You've just go to read this book and know...
We've hit a turning point.
P.S. I just checked on Amazon, the hardcover is sold out, they're saying new orders will be shipped in 2 to 4 weeks, but you can have the Kindle edition...RIGHT NOW!
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