---
title: "The Great Beanie Baby Bubble"
type: Book
date: 2022-02-24
rating: 8
author: "Zac Bissonette"
genre:
  - ['Business', 'Audiobook']
year: 2015
status: Finished
image: the-great-beanie-baby-bubble.jpg
colorSortKey: [0, 22, 0]
---


This book was a marked contrast from [[The Everything Store]] which I read immediately prior to it, and largely disliked (or perhaps more accurately — was _intensely nonplussed by_.)

This book had everything I wanted: a plethora of research and factoids in an arena of which I was largely unaware; a strong, opinionated narrative angle with room for nuance; an utterly captivating story from start to finsih. Bissonnette took a larger-than-life story (and I mean that:  the details of this book are pretty wild, and his marriage of "personal" and "professional" narrative works much better here than I otherwise like) and placed it in a useful context and had me riveted from start to finish. 

I think there are pieces of this book that don't stand up to the highest levels of scrutiny. The personal details are more salacious than rigorous (though they certainly paint a realistic, if not bombastic, picture); I wish Bissonnette spent more time on the nuts and bolts of the early days of the craze going viral, rather than doubling down on anecdata. But this was a _fun_ book that teaches you a few things, too.