How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

There are three things you should know about Toby Young.

• First, he's a little shit.
• Second, he has a passionate fetish for self-destruction.
• Third, he's probably a genius.

With these powers combined, Young dove head first into the creme de la creme of the New York elite (as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair) and intentionally shit on every upper crust carpet he could find. He infuriated the biggest and the brightest, embarrassed himself, his friends, his employer, his country, and burned every bridge he's ever laid eyes on. In the end, no matter how talented, there is only one thing Young is good for: a tell all memoir where his uncouth tendencies and desire for dirt-dishing works to his advantage. In this book he shines.

If you have an interest in the fashion, publishing, or publicist world, this book will take you inside Conde Nast (or Conde Nasty as Young calls it) and give you a tell-all glimpse (that Young swears is 99% genuine) of how crazy it all gets. For that alone the book is worth reading. In addition, however, you'll also get a host that describes unbelievable bourgeoisie events with brilliant skill and humor. The book is hard to put down. (Of course, Young will not only get on your nerves, he'll make you want to reach into the pages and twist his bloody neck. But that's all part of the fun.)

All in all, an interesting, highly-accessible book that I enjoyed. I recommend it.