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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
If you don't work in the tech industry, skip this book. Boring, shallow characters and zero plot. Not at all an engaging read.
Made me cry at the end so that must mean its probably pretty good.
An exploration about how technology can bring people closer together. A more optimistic take on the subject, which makes sense considering when it was written, compared to what we are used to now. Technology is used to enhance people and our ability to communicate.
An exploration about how technology can bring people closer together. A more optimistic take on the subject, which makes sense considering when it was written, compared to what we are used to now. Technology is used to enhance people and our ability to communicate.
I used to reread Microserfs all the time, but I haven't read it in years, long enough that this was the first time I noticed that Dan's mom is a librarian.
It's a little shakier than I remember it, possibly because I've grown into having different conversations with it than I used to. It's still full of heart and breathtaking sentences, and I still bawl at the ending.
For a book so deliberately entrenched in 90s tech zeitgeist, it's surprising how well it holds up. Aside from the occasional jarring contrast (90s Apple v present Apple), it still captures ideology in the Information Age better than any other book I can think of.
It's a little shakier than I remember it, possibly because I've grown into having different conversations with it than I used to. It's still full of heart and breathtaking sentences, and I still bawl at the ending.
For a book so deliberately entrenched in 90s tech zeitgeist, it's surprising how well it holds up. Aside from the occasional jarring contrast (90s Apple v present Apple), it still captures ideology in the Information Age better than any other book I can think of.
It’d be easy to satirize a group of 20-something hard-coding Microsoft developers, but this has quite the opposite spirit: warm-hearted, funny and memorable.
This book covers the ups and downs of an ordinary life. I appreciate that the author didn't hide a lot: the boring, the insecurities, the ups, etc. and told all of it in this flat narrative voice. This basically is the Computer Science Nerd version of Bridget Jones's Diary, and I'd recommend it to CS types.
A snapshot of a time not so long ago, these people are familiar, even if I was never one of them. They are filled, despite their constant craving for some "life" they insist they do not have, with optimism and joy. I don't think I view the modern tech world with that kind of hope and so the whole story reads like one of a bunch of rosy faced kids who have the luxury of not knowing about the current hell world the Internet is today. Oh, for that dream of the nineties!
See, so, at one point, Daniel (the narrator) explains another character's obsession over this device called an "answering machine." He is always anxious to see if he has messages, so he checks it with a zealous frequency. Meditating on this habit, Daniel envisions a world where we are all connected all the time, with no need to check messages or remember things because it will be all available to us automatically. He imagines this to be a key toward ultimate common understanding and peace.
He's just so adorable, I want to squish his naive little cheeks!
Anyway, I enjoyed this little piece of diary work probably more than I should have because it allowed me to live vicariously in this era that I let pass me by while I, I don't know, watched cartoons and read terrible fantasy novels. Also, as I've mentioned before, I'm a sucker for ensembles. At the beginning, Daniel gives us the run down on his housemates and I worried that that would be the end of each of these characters' development as I struggled to remember all of their names, but by the end of the first part, they are all distinct and memorable people.
And then it had a sobby ending which came out of that ol' left field. It's not a sad ending, so don't worry about that. I just didn't expect this book about wo/man-children to be capable of eliciting anything other than a knowing arch of the eyebrow. So, good job, Douglas! Maybe there was a reason I read your Eleanor Rigby, twice, in a row, after all.
See, so, at one point, Daniel (the narrator) explains another character's obsession over this device called an "answering machine." He is always anxious to see if he has messages, so he checks it with a zealous frequency. Meditating on this habit, Daniel envisions a world where we are all connected all the time, with no need to check messages or remember things because it will be all available to us automatically. He imagines this to be a key toward ultimate common understanding and peace.
He's just so adorable, I want to squish his naive little cheeks!
Anyway, I enjoyed this little piece of diary work probably more than I should have because it allowed me to live vicariously in this era that I let pass me by while I, I don't know, watched cartoons and read terrible fantasy novels. Also, as I've mentioned before, I'm a sucker for ensembles. At the beginning, Daniel gives us the run down on his housemates and I worried that that would be the end of each of these characters' development as I struggled to remember all of their names, but by the end of the first part, they are all distinct and memorable people.
And then it had a sobby ending which came out of that ol' left field. It's not a sad ending, so don't worry about that. I just didn't expect this book about wo/man-children to be capable of eliciting anything other than a knowing arch of the eyebrow. So, good job, Douglas! Maybe there was a reason I read your Eleanor Rigby, twice, in a row, after all.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Bittersweet, outdated but still somewhat funny (strictly geeky insider jokes).
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes