In the "New New Thing" Lewis shows that this process has happened in the buying and selling of High Tech companies (if not their products) and he shows how Jim Clark got rich based upon his reputation.
The book gives a good and fairly candid view of Clark. I felt that Lewis kept his distance from the subject and avoided being swept up in the hype of Clark driven companys. Lewis's writing is fresh and enjoyable. The stories about how High Tech companies get started and how VC's and engineers work together to create companies were interesting and informative.
Lewis focuses entirely on Clark, so it is difficult to tell if Clark's ability to make money based on his name is limited to him, or if there are others who are achieving the Rock Star status he has.
Overall well worth reading.
"The New New Thing" is the story of how three multi-billion dollar business enterprises were not enough for a man who's vision of the future pushed engineers, accountants, venture capitalists, the rest of the computer industry, as well as the general public, into taking a flying leap into the future. Michael Lewis will entertain you with a cast of colorful characters who brought computers and Internet access into nearly every American household and with the hanger-ons who became millionaires in the process. Your eyes will open wide to how Silicon Valley operates on the theory of planned obsolescence, and you'll see enough back stabbing and espionage to conclude that modern businesses are still old-fashioned when piles of money are involved.
I do not agree with some of the posts here stating that the author lives and breathes on the words of Jim Clark. He was a business man that believed there were opportunities and quickly acted upon them. Like everything else, there will always be great and poor business decisions from a leader. No one is an exception here; including Mr. Gates.
So, back to the review; this is an excellent book to give folks an insight into the crazy late 90's, where business vision was accelerated 10 fold. Some big successes and many failure stories.