How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (memoir) to sue him) and "Vanity Fair"'s own Graydon Carter. Young also describes awkward run-ins with American celebrities including Nathan Lane, Mel Gibson and Diana Ross. Throughout the book, Young describes being tormented by his friend "Alex de Silva" (speculated to be Sacha Gervasi), a former colleague of Young's who manages to succeed in America in every way that Young does not. The title of Young's book is a parody of the title of Dale Carnegie's 1937 perennial bestseller, "How to Win Friends and Influence People"; a parody by Irving Tressler titled "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" was also
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (film) How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (film) How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is a 2008 British comedy film based upon Toby Young's 2001 memoir "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People". The film follows a similar storyline, about his five-year struggle to make it in the United States after employment at "Sharps Magazine". The names of the magazine and people Young came into contact with during the time were changed for the film adaptation. The film version (adapted by Peter Straughan) is a highly fictionalized account, and differs greatly from the work upon which it was built.