Jack McKenna here, checking in from South By Southwest to support my old buddy Paul Carr. He may have told me off not so long ago, despite my fine work here over the years. But, we’ve talked it out and patched things up. You know how things go with bloggers.
Anyway, Paul is also in Austin right now, launching the US edition of his book ‘The Upgrade: A Cautionary Tale of a Life Without Reservations.‘ He’s doing a reading this afternoon at 5 pm at Bookpeople, (603 N. Lamar, Austin, Tx). I’ll be there, and apparently some ‘characters’ from the book are going to be in the audience too. Also, as Paul tweeted a few days ago… I’m going to spare you the embed, actually. Let’s just say the guy is shameless.
The book, for the uninitiated, tells the story of how he gave up his crappy life in London and decided to live as a permanent hotel-based nomad. I’ll let the back cover speak for itself:
Thanks to Paul’s ability to talk his way into increasingly ridiculous situations, what begins as a one-year experiment soon becomes a permanent lifestyle — a life lived in luxury hotels and mountain-top villas. A life of fast cars, Hollywood actresses and Icelandic rock stars. And, most bizarrely of all, a life that still costs less than his surviving on cold pizza in his old apartment. Yet, as word of Paul’s exploits starts to spread — first online, then through a national newspaper column and eventually a book deal — he finds himself forced constantly to up the stakes in order to keep things interesting. With his behavior spiraling to dangerous — and sometimes criminal — levels, he is forced to ask the question: is there such a thing as too much freedom?
The saga includes Paul’s first visit to TechCrunch 50, his meeting Sarah Lacy and Michael Arrington and subsequent adventures with both of them. It also includes the time he was mean about Le Web and a whole bunch of stuff about South By Southwest that he doesn’t like to talk about now. But maybe he will at the reading?
For those of you who can’t make it — which, to remind you, is today at 5pm at Bookpeople — Paul has shown his characteristic generosity in offering TechCrunch a staggering six copies of The Upgrade to give away to readers. To win a copy, simply tell him in the comments why you deserve one. He’ll pick the best six next week.
Ok, see you at Bookpeople.
5pm.
603 N. Lamar.
Austin, Texas.