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One Red Paperclip: Or How an Ordinary Man…
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One Red Paperclip: Or How an Ordinary Man Achieved His Dream with the Help of a Simple Office Supply (edition 2007)

by Kyle MacDonald

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22615119,035 (3.35)10
Kyle MacDonald wanted his own house. The problem was he didn't have a job and he didn't have any money. Thinking back to his childhood he remembered the game he loved to play - Bigger and Better. It was a way of trading your old stuff to get bigger and better new stuff. Legend had it, some people managed to trade an old biro for a brand new car! This got Kyle thinking. If that kind of entrepreneurial spirit could turn tiny objects into big ones, then why not try trading up to a house? And then he saw it. One red paperclip, sitting on his desk, holding the pages of his CV together, ready to go out into the world and help him find the job that would eventually get him a house. But that didn't sound nearly as much fun as trading. So he wrote an internet advert hoping to trade one red paperclip and suddenly his inbox filled with responses: the trading had begun. Did he get the house? Well, you're about to find out! One thing's for sure, he did a lot of trades and met a lot of very interesting people. One small paperclip was the beginning of a great big adventure.… (more)
Member:brittanygates
Title:One Red Paperclip: Or How an Ordinary Man Achieved His Dream with the Help of a Simple Office Supply
Authors:Kyle MacDonald
Info:Three Rivers Press (2007), Paperback, 310 pages
Collections:Your library, Checked Out From Public Library, Read but unowned
Rating:****
Tags:None

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One Red Paperclip: Or How an Ordinary Man Achieved His Dream with the Help of a Simple Office Supply by Kyle MacDonald

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» See also 10 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
This book is mildly amusing. If you want to learn about resourcefulness, hustling or going on an adventure by conducting a social experiment and meeting all kinds of strangers, read this book. One Red Paperclip would have been a good book, were it half as long and the writing style more to-the-point. ( )
  jd7h | Jan 21, 2018 |
This book took me a little longer than expected to finish.
I liked the story behind the book, but the book itself wasn't that interesting to get through.
I constantly found myself trying to skip sentences in the book, because I wanted to get on with the story, but didn't feel like reading it all, because I didn't feel like it made any difference to the story.

The story IS very cool and amazing but the book about it just make it seem so easy, and a little boring.
It was an okay read, but I don't think I will be reading it again. ( )
  ct92 | Mar 21, 2014 |
Fascinating concept, interesting story ... whilst I lost interest in the motivational advice and found his humour a bit grating - admired his chutzpah and ability to keep momentum on his project and think what he achieved (including building a huge international following) definitely worth a book. ( )
  tandah | Apr 6, 2013 |
Interesting memoir by a slacker who traded his paperclip for a series of things, culminating in a house. Prose struck me as awkward, especially the bathetic inspirational divisions between chapters. ( )
  satyridae | Apr 5, 2013 |
Written in an easy, whimsical, conversational style, Kyle MacDonald tells how he traded a red paperclip for a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan, in 14 trades. It is an interesting read as an examination of modern internet culture.

Along the way, Mr. MacDonald realizes that the process is as important, perhaps more important, than the outcome of his attempt to secure a house. I, too, was interested in this aspect of the story. However, his attempts to make inspirational or motivational comments between chapters often didn't work -- he'd have done better to let readers draw their own inspiration.

I hope he's enjoying Saskatchewan! ( )
  LynnB | May 3, 2011 |
Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
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Kyle MacDonald wanted his own house. The problem was he didn't have a job and he didn't have any money. Thinking back to his childhood he remembered the game he loved to play - Bigger and Better. It was a way of trading your old stuff to get bigger and better new stuff. Legend had it, some people managed to trade an old biro for a brand new car! This got Kyle thinking. If that kind of entrepreneurial spirit could turn tiny objects into big ones, then why not try trading up to a house? And then he saw it. One red paperclip, sitting on his desk, holding the pages of his CV together, ready to go out into the world and help him find the job that would eventually get him a house. But that didn't sound nearly as much fun as trading. So he wrote an internet advert hoping to trade one red paperclip and suddenly his inbox filled with responses: the trading had begun. Did he get the house? Well, you're about to find out! One thing's for sure, he did a lot of trades and met a lot of very interesting people. One small paperclip was the beginning of a great big adventure.

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