The Perfect Store: Inside eBay

When Pierre Omidyar launched a clunky website from a spare bedroom over Labor Day weekend of 1995, he wanted to see if he could use the Internet to create a perfect market. He never guessed his old-computer-parts and Beanie Baby exchange would revolutionize the world of commerce. Now, Adam Cohen, the only journalist ever to get full access to the company, tells the remarkable story of eBay's rise. He describes how eBay built the most passionate community ever to form in cyberspace and forged a business that triumphed over larger, better-funded rivals. And he explores the ever-widening array of enlistees in the eBay revolution, from a stay-at-home mom who had to rent a warehouse for her thriving business selling bubble-wrap on eBay to the young MBA who started eBay Motors (which within months of its launch was on track to sell $1 billion in cars a year), to collectors nervously bidding thousands of dollars on antique clothing-irons.Adam Cohens fascinating look inside eBay is essential reading for anyone trying to figure out what's next. If you want to truly understand the Internet economy, THE PERFECT STORE is indispensable.

Adam Cohen is a member of the Editorial Board of the New York Times. He was previously chief technology writer for Time magazine, and is the co-author of "American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley: His Battle for Chicago and the Nation." He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He lives in New York.