Product Description

A red paperclip is currently sitting on my desk next to my computer. I want to trade this paperclip with you for something bigger or better, maybe a pen, a spoon, or perhaps a boot. If you promise to make the trade I will come and visit you, wherever you are, to trade. So, if you have something bigger or better than a red paperclip, email me. Hope to trade with you soon! Kyle PS: I'm going to make a continuous chain of 'up trades' for bigger or better things until I get a house. 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. Suddenly his inbox was full of responses. The trading had begun. Did he get the house? You'll have to read his story to find out. He certainly did a lot of trades and met a lot of interesting people, including Alice Cooper. One small paperclip was to be the beginning of a great big adventure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109659 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
My name is Kyle MacDonald. I was born on October 3, 1979 in Montreal, Canada. Since the day I was born, I've done lots of things. I climbed trees, made friends and traveled. I like to do things. Doing things is awesome. More than one million people have visited my website oneredpaperclip.com. I do an average of ten radio interviews a week. I don't have a publicist. I've never submitted a press release or called a single radio station. It's all happened by word of mouth.

Customer Reviews

A better concept than an adventure story
The concept of one red paperclip trading up to a house seemed genius and entrepreneurial and as the book develops it is interesting to see how a simple concept can pay such dividends.

However as the other reviews have pointed out, the quality of the writing does not equal the concept and the author becomes quite irritating as his trades progress. MacDonald decides it fit to add his patronising business and life advice on the end of each trade which is not particularly welcome from a self-confessed slacker who at the age of 25 takes his parents with him to every trade and gets his hair cut by his mother!

Likewise as the trades move on, he becomes rather moralistic with his items treating them as finding puppies the right home which creates an over-emotional mood for a book which would have read better staying as a light-hearted adventure.

At times it can be engaging as you meet the people and see what traded into what, and it will do a job if you have time to kill on public transport, but it's a below average book overall and I would not feel inclined to read another by this author.

Plod, plod, plod...great idea though
When I first heard about the idea I thought it was fantastic, so I had no concerns about buying the book when I saw it. I now wish I hadn't bothered. The book is simply so ploddingly written that it took me three attempts to get about 2/3 of the way through and I haven't yet summoned up the enthusiasm to try again. What should be a brilliant story drags from the first few pages. The end may be better but I can't see me bothering to find out. If only he had found a decent ghostwriter we could have had a good story and a good book, but when you know the story and the ending you want some enjoyment and entertainment along the way and I found this sadly lacking.

Great idea, great read
I am a big fan of bizarre adventure stories of the kind written by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace and after hearing about the One Red Paperclip quest in the news last year I thought I would go ahead and buy this book.
The idea of trading up a paperclip to a house is a brilliantly simple idea and Kyle MacDonald describes the initial background to this idea as well as all the trades he accepts (and some he doesn't) in the hope of eventually getting the house. He also describes the media attention that the quest starts to develop as well as the ever increasing number of visitors and supporters at his website.
I didn't know what to expect prior to reading the book having read no reviews at all of it beforehand but I have to say it really was as enjoyable and entertaining as I could have hoped for. It is a very easy to read book which covers the story to the perfect level of detail and with a great sense of humour that is maintained throughout.
Highly recommended.