The book is a quick read, lively and engrossing, and one that I would thoroughly recommend to anyone with an interest in the contemporary art scene. It's much less about art-making than the plethora of peripheral activities the field comprises, and as such, ought to be required reading for those pursuing a BFA or MFA in visual arts. As a funny, often hubristic, but ultimately humane portrait of the leading personalities and subcultures built around this tiny word, it is like nothing I've read before.
On a related note, Thornton has also written a number of compelling articles for The Economist, among other publications. I was particularly amused by her September article on Damien Hirst, which critiques the British art star's market sense in the same way Randall Lane's July Vanity Fair article skewered washed-up pop artist Peter Max. Both writers observe that creating more of something doesn't make it more valuable, a lesson of which economists and artists alike should take note.
All three pieces offer intelligent commentary on the heady days before the collapse, seemingly inevitable in hindsight, in which many key players were oblivious to imminent disaster. For this reason, there's actually a shred of pathos in these accounts, although there's hubris a-plenty as well.
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