Welcome to Litsy!

This was my #DoubleSpin #MoreMehThanYeah
Anna Weiner at 25, leaves her low level job in NYC publishing to move to San Francisco and throw herself into the world of high tech in it‘s infancy. As a young woman, in a very bro culture she‘s subjected to a toxic workplace but stays on because the temptation of BIG MONEY & possibilities is to large to ignore. The memoir starts out strong but soon became repetitive and soul crushing.

“Later, I would mourn these conceits. Not only because this version of the future was constitutionally impossible—such arbitrary and unaccountable power was, after all, the problem—but also because I was repeating myself. I was looking for stories, I should have seen a system”

A.W.‘s excellently written insights of working in Silicon Valley are alarming but like many have said, not completely surprising. I‘m glad she decided to write—great book!

This was a strangely disorienting read, that I could connect with in so many ways. Do check it out if you can.

Amazing memoir! It‘s a coming-of-age story for those who feel betrayed by the very American idea that work should be your passion, combined with an insider‘s reflection on Big Tech (& gender). It really spoke to me as covid forced a career change on me from education to tech.

Big Data Dreams

I hated this book, the same way I hated living in San Francisco for three years in my early twenties, the solid mass of gentrified apathy that strangled everything that was ever good about that place. But it was a very accurate portrayal of the place, even if there was no one left to root for at the end.

Completely captivating. Weiner doesn't shy away from going into exactly what it was like to be a woman in Silicon Valley in the mid 2010s. She's sharp & observant & witty & fascinating.

“Job listings were an excellent place to get sprayed with HR‘s idea of fun and a twenty-three-year-old‘s idea of work-life balance.”

“The presentation that evening was top-shelf: a fireside chat between two venture capitalists. There wasn‘t an actual fire, but the VCs looked sweaty, close to pitting out. Even from the back row, the office felt moist. I‘d never been in a room with so few women, so much money, and so many people champing at the bit to get a taste.
It was like watching two ATMs in conversation.”

It‘s frightening to take a peak of a lifestyle that is right around the corner from me, yet is a different world entirely. I became increasingly stressed out until the end. I was relieved when it was over.

This was an illuminating, thoughtful, and devastatingly funny account of the absurd excess and abuse of Big Tech, which tracks the tension of utopianism and iterative misogyny in the industry. Wiener‘s a phenomenal writer whose withering gaze is fueled by her gift for understatement. As someone who covers tech for a living, this is essential reading; as someone who recently worked in publishing, the first 30 pages were unbearably relatable.

Anna Wiener ended up in tech startup culture almost accidentally and details here her experiences. The chatty style of her writing makes her very relatable. I can‘t say anything here truly surprised me, more reinforced what I‘d learned previously, though I have to say I find “god mode” incredibly chilling.

An interesting look behind the curtain of life in tech. Weiner has a great voice and often uses startling comparisons to offer an insight. Her tendency to both praise and critique a thing can feel like hedging at times, but overall I enjoyed. I listened to the audiobook version...

Silicon Valley from a female and liberal arts perspective. Well written and a condemnation of bro culture. There are a few negatives though. She appears to be drawn to the negative side of Silicon Valley despite despising it. This becomes somewhat confusing as she berates herself and others at the same time. I do however like her revelations and the thought process.I also like the fact that the book is written from a liberal arts perspective

A memoir about working in Silicon Valley during the Golden Age of startups. She writes about being a woman in male-dominated spaces and also about being a non-tech person in places where everyone values innovation more than the traditional workplaces she is used to. Wryly funny and great observations. I highly recommend.

Meh, this was... fine? Kind of a less entertaining version of the show Silicon Valley. I have a real eye rolling aversion to the tech industry so it definitely reaffirmed my feelings about that.

Like, not love. I was feeling this at the beginning but it fizzled somewhat for me. This #memoir is about a literary agent changing careers and working as a fish out of water at several tech startups. She refers to Facebook repeatedly as "the social network everyone hates but can't stop logging into" (ok probably not a direct quote because I listened to the #audiobook), but never actually names Facebook, Amazon or her companies. Tech bro culture.

Finding this #audiobook pretty entertaining 🎧
A humorous and sardonic take on tech startups in Silicon Valley. 💻

I didn‘t love this audiobook, but it was a decent listen. Definitely an interesting take on Silicon Valley and those in tech startups view themselves and their world. I‘ll admit she had me laughing out loud at some of her turns of phrase and the ways in which she called out the oblivious privilege of her mostly white, mostly male colleagues.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ At 25, Anna Wiener left her NYC publishing job and jumped feet first into the San Francisco tech boom. Without blatantly naming names, she describes what it was like as an undervalued female working for two different tech companies. Silicon Valley has always fascinated me. This didn‘t exactly knock my socks off, but she‘s a talented and engaging storyteller. What a last name, though. Brutal.😆

▶️🎧 Getting my nonfiction fix while painting our 🤬hallways. One is a rather steep, high-ceilinged stairway, and total pain in the ass, but at least I have a book in my ears.

In this memoir, Anna leaves the publishing industry for a Silicon Valley startup. Through a few different non-engineering positions at two startups, she exposes Silicon Valley looking at its own belly button, and it‘s hilarious. (Possibly unintentionally hilarious.)

The sense of entitlement of employees is so extreme it‘s almost comical. It showed how out of touch people in the tech bubble are. And how deeply women are disrespected in tech. 4⭐️🎧

Nice to hear about Silicon Valley from a female perspective; I‘ve heard enough from the tech bro side.

Quirky turn of phrases makes this Silicon Valley memoir highly readable and enjoyable. Her observations of culture and tech were intriguing and interesting. I especially loved her comments about the brogrammmers and their clothes- as if they were to cross a crevasse in the afternoon. Her writing was so good, it calmed me as I read. Good book!

A feminist view of her career in the tech boom in Silicone Valley. It was interesting reading about the many changes in the tech industry, but not much else was memorable in the book.

#Booked2020 #LiveAndLearn winter I like my laptop,tablet ,smartphone, yes! I can be on Litsy!But ,though I love the writing ,there‘s a wistful sadness about how she writes about Tech in the Bay Area .The culture can be quite toxic, if you are not the CEO or developer/coder you are not treated well, even though like any business they could not run without the usual jobs.Lack of diversity, treatment of women ,poor.Driving working people from SF,😢👇

Loving & Hating this book.The author came from publishing, she writes well.Back when I lived thru some dot com booms & busts , more of the tech people stayed on the peninsula.Now it‘s critical mass in SF.😒I looked up my old apartment, my rent was $590 , the most recent one that rented in the building,$2495 425 square feet , studio.I‘m almost afraid to go back and visit.

#booked2020 #LiveandLearn #winter Though I lived in the Bay Area thru several tech booms & busts , I don‘t know much about the tech industry.I read the first 30 pages , smart & fun .Anna started in NY publishing, something I do know about.Need to read 30 pages a day as this book has a wait list at the library.Off to a good start.

Picked this up in the airport last night. I had never heard of this book so I had no expectations but it‘s actually a fascinating recounting of start up culture at the height of the tech industry boom!

I'm finding this book so interesting - life in Silicon Valley has always seemed a bit mysterious, I'm fascinated by it.

I really enjoyed this. So interesting to learn the perspective of an (at the time) ambitious twentysomething startup employee who also considered herself a feminist and a sociological thinker and a politically aware, compassionate citizen. Conflict proliferated, as one would imagine. Her decision making can be questioned (as she did, often), but her insider impressions are fascinating, and her writing is great. (Suehyla El-Attar‘s narration = 😍)

I treated my shelf to some new books this week:
Uncanney Valley by Anna Wiener, and
The Tenant by Katrine Engberg.
I love getting new books!

Just reviewing all of the ARCs that I‘ve read so far this year, so get ready for an onslaught of posts from me...

Uncanny Valley is a memoir of the author‘s time in San Fran working for a tech start-up. She covers how it is to be a woman in such a world, but doesn‘t hide her own failings.

It was funny in places but could have done with editing down slightly - I enjoyed the first two thirds but was a bit bored towards the end.

#netgalley #arc

"It's unfortunate that the world doesn't reward conciseness more. Making books shorter would effectively increase the rate at which we can learn. The broken incentives today are probably halving the rate at which you can learn. Be mad!"

Is this dude for real? ?

Devouring this memoir today!

The New Twenties will be a time to fall out of love with Big Tech, or at least give it and the billionaires in charge some hard rethinking. This Silicon Valley memoir will help start us off very nicely. #arc #netgalley #memoir #technology
Full review at https://www.netgalley.com/book/172047/review/593237

Ferrar Struass drops this one Jan. 14 with lots of advance buzz. Look for this Silicon Valley tell-all memoir to be one of the top nonfiction titles of the winter. I‘m almost halfway through and holy cow. Not knowing the outcome, I am praying 🙏 she escapes San Francisco. I don‘t know how this couldn‘t affect our thinking about tech. #arc #netgalley

I've started to plan a kind of a list for #booked2020 winter. These are my finalists for #millenialauthor
I've asked for an ARC of Uncanny Valley.

Decisions... decisions...