Scan barcode
gordonmacrae's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
Fair play to the author for parlaying an entry-level tech job into a $200k payout and a job at the New Yorker reporting on the tech industry. But I found this book really frustrating. The n+1 story it is expanded from was energetic, insightful, and full of life. This book is, to quote the author, “beautiful descriptions of little substance, arranged in elegant vignettes”.
It consistently skirts any real analysis of the negative parts of Silicon Valley (the sexism, exploitation, and questionable politics). And almost 300 pages of detached, ironic skepticism grows slightly tiring.
It consistently skirts any real analysis of the negative parts of Silicon Valley (the sexism, exploitation, and questionable politics). And almost 300 pages of detached, ironic skepticism grows slightly tiring.
gnoelproduction's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.25
mollywetta's review against another edition
I couldn't put this down! I love all the details and the contradictions the author finds in herself and in the world of tech.
cindypepper's review against another edition
4.0
As somebody who worked in tech for several years in Silicon Valley, I was apprehensive about reading this. Wouldn't I be reading things I already knew -- and had lived? But I figured it might be interesting to read about Silicon Valley from a different lens, that of somebody who had never had a life in tech planned out for herself.
Uncanny Valley is riveting, almost in the way Gossip Girl can entice you by making you feel like you're part of an outer circle but not quite in the inner circle. I love the oblique references to various Silicon Valley companies and people; most are quite obvious in a mutually understood way ("A social network everyone said they hated", "A search-engine giant down in Mountain View") that makes for a nice puzzle. Others require a bit of sleuthing and Googling. Uncanny Valley is stylish, but it's still hawkishly observant and stripped of the rose-colored glasses.
Uncanny Valley is riveting, almost in the way Gossip Girl can entice you by making you feel like you're part of an outer circle but not quite in the inner circle. I love the oblique references to various Silicon Valley companies and people; most are quite obvious in a mutually understood way ("A social network everyone said they hated", "A search-engine giant down in Mountain View") that makes for a nice puzzle. Others require a bit of sleuthing and Googling. Uncanny Valley is stylish, but it's still hawkishly observant and stripped of the rose-colored glasses.
emlh's review against another edition
3.75
I’m glad I read it, and I learned quite a bit. But I felt like she blurred the lines between subjective and objective a bit based on her personal experiences. Also a bit over critical of tech workers in general (eg their personalities and habits)