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lucasmiller's review
3.0
I bought this book on a whim, based on the cover when it popped up in my Amazon recommendations list. After reading Matthew B. Crawford's book a few weeks ago, I've been thinking a lot about the internet, creativity, and how people navigate through the world. This book seemed to be a screed against all of that stuff, and looked fun. I appreciate it mostly because it spends the bulk of its pages informing the reader about how social media companies have tricked people into generating free content for them to fuel their advertising revenue while these freshly duped "content creators" believe they are the vanguard of social change, that a new era of free speech and free expression is burgeoning in their hands. The Arab Spring almost worked out guys. guys.
I found this book because of the data that has been mind from me while using Google Chrome. I bought it from Amazon, and am writing a summary/reaction on a social media site. I guess the thematic through line here is that Mr. Kobek sees things in 2016 as pretty hopeless.
A dear friend from college moved to San Francisco a little over a year ago, and his rocky transition to the west coast is mirrored quite closely in this book. There are people aware of the terribleness of the tech culture Mr. Kobek skewers with such verve. He is also a communications director for a internet startup company that is basically an e-reader platform for iPads, so, make of that what you will.
A few marginal notes:
- How much does this remind me of early Tao Lin? Less effort?
- Series of definitions, paraphrased, in place of plot.
- Thesis statement?
- Spelling of words/names keeps changing. Intentional?
- I would rather read the review of this on HTMLGiant than continue, but that is not an option.
- Almost like David Markson, but without the Western Canon or Continental Philosophy (analytic is scratched out)
- Description of viralality and jokes is really good. Warming to whole project.
- Brutal, but how damning would this actually be? Probably pretty damning.
- I wonder if this was brought up at the Mt. Vernon Teachers workshop?
The book does an amazing job of including many of the forms of junk media the author rails against including lists of tweets, liticles, invented words from sci-fi novels, etc. The plot, especially in the first half of the book breaks the fourth wall and falls into a much more essay-ish format, before picking back up with the characters. I often had to look up if authors and books were real or invented.
The five page speech near the end of the book, in which a character yells at San Francisco from a tourist infested scenic overview is magnificent.
I like this book because it is unashamedly participating in the world that it seeks to destroy. It is itself an example of hypocrisy that it asks its reader to at least recognize moving forward. I am guilty of most of the sins the book catalogs, but it goes to great lengths to make sweeping generalizations as sweeping as possible, to the point of making fun of itself. But perhaps that's the only recourse in these times. Recommended. (Even if you just read the trigger warning and the speech)
I found this book because of the data that has been mind from me while using Google Chrome. I bought it from Amazon, and am writing a summary/reaction on a social media site. I guess the thematic through line here is that Mr. Kobek sees things in 2016 as pretty hopeless.
A dear friend from college moved to San Francisco a little over a year ago, and his rocky transition to the west coast is mirrored quite closely in this book. There are people aware of the terribleness of the tech culture Mr. Kobek skewers with such verve. He is also a communications director for a internet startup company that is basically an e-reader platform for iPads, so, make of that what you will.
A few marginal notes:
- How much does this remind me of early Tao Lin? Less effort?
- Series of definitions, paraphrased, in place of plot.
- Thesis statement?
- Spelling of words/names keeps changing. Intentional?
- I would rather read the review of this on HTMLGiant than continue, but that is not an option.
- Almost like David Markson, but without the Western Canon or Continental Philosophy (analytic is scratched out)
- Description of viralality and jokes is really good. Warming to whole project.
- Brutal, but how damning would this actually be? Probably pretty damning.
- I wonder if this was brought up at the Mt. Vernon Teachers workshop?
The book does an amazing job of including many of the forms of junk media the author rails against including lists of tweets, liticles, invented words from sci-fi novels, etc. The plot, especially in the first half of the book breaks the fourth wall and falls into a much more essay-ish format, before picking back up with the characters. I often had to look up if authors and books were real or invented.
The five page speech near the end of the book, in which a character yells at San Francisco from a tourist infested scenic overview is magnificent.
I like this book because it is unashamedly participating in the world that it seeks to destroy. It is itself an example of hypocrisy that it asks its reader to at least recognize moving forward. I am guilty of most of the sins the book catalogs, but it goes to great lengths to make sweeping generalizations as sweeping as possible, to the point of making fun of itself. But perhaps that's the only recourse in these times. Recommended. (Even if you just read the trigger warning and the speech)
arswearingen's review
4.0
This was a very unique book and unlike most of the things I read. Kobek is funny and incredibly critical of the internet, big corporations, and people in general in this book. The style of the book sort of mimics the internet and social media, and the stories he tells throughout are captivating. Despite his harshness, the book is easy to read and really made me think about the things we accept today without even thinking about.
belwau's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
gemchiara's review
3.0
Reading 'I Hate the Internet' proved to be difficult for me. On one hand I liked the political correctness in the book and the way Kobek touches on many different subjects and manages to wonderfully intertwine fiction and fact, but the way the story is told, in the past tense, made me feel as if the author was mansplaining to me. The repetition of certain things instead becomes tiresome as the narrative continues and I feel the character of Adeline, who is a sort of protagonist, is not well developed whatsoever and seems truly dreadful despite trying to seem like a feminist icon. However the story was interesting and a great witty portrayal of the internet age, I just couldn't shake the notion of reading an almost 300 page article of 'why millenials and the internet generation sucks'.
kaydee's review
4.0
Snark level: off the charts
More manifesto than novel, this book captures the current zeitgeist like nothing I've ever read before. It is brilliant and hilarious but also tiresome and ridiculous at times. I loved it and was frustrated by it at the same time.
"The internet was a wonderful invention. It was a computer network which people used to remind other people that they were awful pieces of shit."
3.5/5
More manifesto than novel, this book captures the current zeitgeist like nothing I've ever read before. It is brilliant and hilarious but also tiresome and ridiculous at times. I loved it and was frustrated by it at the same time.
"The internet was a wonderful invention. It was a computer network which people used to remind other people that they were awful pieces of shit."
3.5/5
oopsupsideyourjess's review
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.75
Really easy reading, interesting themes, i very much enjoyed.
the_emas's review
3.0
This book certainly has it's moments of hilarity and incisive prose on the peculiar and at times outrageous world of San Francisco and the tech industry. Interspersed between those moments is the same whiny bitching you've heard from the self-proclaimed cool kids on whatever social media platforms you use. Kobek's choice to define common words for the reader through the prism of a pseudo-intellectual social activist is one example of a device that is at first hilarious, and then overused, and by the end grating.
The main tenet of the book is that for all the discussion of social justice through twitter revolutions or democracy of information through wikipedia, the only thing that is really accomplished on the internet is increased profit margins for Google, Twitter, etc. Instead of creating opportunity, the internet only enables an easier path for large companies to exploit content creators. Thus, as the creator of Mickey Mouse saw little profit from his drawings after selling the rights to Disney, those who tweet and blog see little while Google ads generate sizable profits. When the characters discuss these ideas with one another the conversations can be funny and endearing, but the main character's monologue form rants are tiring and over-the-top.
The main tenet of the book is that for all the discussion of social justice through twitter revolutions or democracy of information through wikipedia, the only thing that is really accomplished on the internet is increased profit margins for Google, Twitter, etc. Instead of creating opportunity, the internet only enables an easier path for large companies to exploit content creators. Thus, as the creator of Mickey Mouse saw little profit from his drawings after selling the rights to Disney, those who tweet and blog see little while Google ads generate sizable profits. When the characters discuss these ideas with one another the conversations can be funny and endearing, but the main character's monologue form rants are tiring and over-the-top.