Winter Reading: The Facebook Books

I love Facebook. When the trailers for The Social Network started coming out, I was ecstatic. I decided to prepare myself by reading The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, the book which the movie was based on. While looking for that book I also came across The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick. I decided to read both of them but they're quite different so I thought I'd do a quick comparison for you!

You can tell how different the books are just by looking at their covers. Mezrich's shows lingerie and alcohol and claims that the founding of Facebook is "a tale of sex, money, genius, and betrayal." Kirkpatrick's, on the other hand, is very clean cut and offers the reader a look at "the company that is connecting the world." Without even reading them you know that Mezrich is the "fun" author and Kirkpatrick is the "serious" one. However, I found both books equally enjoyable.
The Accidental Billionaires was an incredibly quick read. I got sucked into it and couldn't stop!  Mezrich tells the story of the founding of Facebook, starting with Mark Zuckerberg's days as a Harvard undergrad. He explains how Zuckerberg decided to make Facebook and how it quickly became bigger than Zuckerberg ever imagined. I was incredibly disappointed when it ended! The book ends before Facebook gets as big as it is today, and so I found myself wanting to know more.  
Luckily, The Facbeook Effect filled this void. It told the same story as The Accidental Billionaires (not as dramatically, of course) but went into much more detail about the context of Facebook. Kirkpatrick discusses the rise of social networking sites and where Facebook fit in among sites like Friendster and MySpace. He goes into more detail about the business aspect of Facebook, telling the stories of companies who desperately wanted to buy Facebook (but failed). He also talks about the decisions behind adding new features such as photos, the wall and the news feed. It's not as thrilling but, to me, it was just as interesting! 
I would suggest The Accidental Billionaires if you're looking for a dramatic history of Facebook that reads like it could be a fiction novel. If you're truly interested in the history of Facebook as a website and a company, I'd look towards The Facebook Effect. And if you just love Facebook like I do, then you should read both! 
I've already pre-ordered The Social Network on DVD and I can't wait for it to get here so I can show it to my family. None of them have seen it yet! If you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out. Have you read either of the Facebook books? Which would you prefer to read?