Salon.com > Alexander Cohen http://www.salon.com Sat, 25 May 2013 17:25:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Self-combustion http://www.salon.com/1998/06/12/booksb/ http://www.salon.com/1998/06/12/booksb/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 1998 23:46:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/technology/books/1998/06/12/booksb Perhaps the most telling moment in "Burn Rate" comes a little more than halfway through the book. Michael Wolff, the aspiring Internet entrepreneur, has just succeeded in selling an essentially worthless database of information for "seven figures" to the computer magazine publishing company CMP. He and his lawyer wife, Alison, are discussing their unexpected and somewhat discombobulating coup. Wolff writes: "'Just think,' I said, warming to the moment, 'how many stupid people there are in this world who we can take advantage of.'"

In "Burn Rate," Wolff eventually runs out of stupid people willing to be his dupe. Even CMP wises up. But now, after having dumped his Internet company, Michael Wolff is back, this time in old-fashioned print media, conniving to take advantage once again. We would do well to be wary.

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