It was a cold, rainy Friday night and I was oncall for the weekend. So literally my phone was attached to my hip. Now being oncall does not necessarily mean I am housebound but everyone knows Murphy's law if I am out having a nice dinner or at a movie I will be called.
So I got into my nice plush warm and cozy bathrobe and cracked open An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, I bet you thought I was going to say I cracked open a great bottle of wine. Remember I am on call and need clarity of thought. I read late into the night because I found the book both Bizarre and Fascinating.
A woman (April) is a design consultant in New York working for a startup that has her working all the time. She worked late and was about to jump on the subway when she realizes she has forgotten her subway card and has no money in her wallet.
She decides to walk back to her office and stumbles upon this hugh statue the likes of which she has never seen. This statue had just appeared from thin air because it had not been there before. She immediately calls her videographer friend and hauls him out of bed to meet her at the statue. They create a video and it goes viral. The book then tells you the story of April and the statue, a story that becomes larger than life.
The book clearly makes a statement on how social media creates media sensations The internet has created a beast that needs to be feed more and more information and everyone wants to be the one to get the story out first or get their five minutes of fame. Read the book and tell me what you think.
