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katiep858's review
2.0
Couldn't finish this one. Seemed like a very one sided opinion of the tech giants not based on actual facts. Got about 60% of the way through and decided my time was better spent reading things I actually enjoy.
btwalsh's review
2.0
Glad this book was a very short read, since it’s not worth much of anyone’s time. I tend to not write my thoughts up on books I’ve read in a formalized fashion, but this one can’t slip by.
Galloway’s writing style is insufferable, and right off the bat in the introduction demonstrates himself to be an egomaniac misogynist who has a chip on his shoulder for everything wrong that has happened to him over the course of his career. Yes, things happen to him that cause problems in his life (many businesses he’s been a part of have been crushed by the likes of Google and the others), not problems from how he acts in the face of the cards he’s dealt. To paraphrase:
I can’t work in big companies — they don’t listen to my superior opinions so I had to become an entrepreneur.
🙄 🙄 🙄
He’s clearly done well for himself financially over the years and has a cushy job teaching at NYU that he seems to loathe, and he can’t escape the fact he was on the losing end of lots of tiny (irrelevant) skirmishes in the broader battlefield of the Big Four’s rise to power.
Here is the premise of the book: these companies are always written about and studied, but Galloway is in his mind the first to think of them in a unique and new way. The groundbreaking take, paraphrased:
Apple/Amazon/Facebook/Google accumulated capital and advantage and recognized what they had going for them and how to leverage it for money and power.
Not only is he so “whip smart” in his own view, but his writing is a bizarre mix of facts melded with with opinion and ridiculous statements explicitly designed to provoke any reader capable of reason. One example:
“People are drawn to the brand of Apple in order to appeal to the opposite sex and to feel closer to god, or to become more godlike themselves”
There is simply so much salt in his writing, you’d expect him to be trying to preserve food before refrigerators came around. He’s clearly smart (not as smart as he thinks he is) and pithy, but wholly unlikable by any and all conceivable measures.
When mentioning companies often build on ideas from other firms missing a key way of bringing something to the market (think of where Apple and Microsoft are compared to Xerox), he snidely adds that “inspiration from others” is “Latin for theft”. Red herrings abound in his writing, where there is clearly some backstory as to why he is upset about some facet of society, but is completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand. On the topic of Apple, he writes “the world needs more homes with engaged parents, not a better fucking phone”. Sure, and remind me where Apple comes in to the rescue for that problem?
He’s also bitter that when he consulted the NYT on how to save their failing business that he couldn’t convince the powers that be to have Google acquire them. He makes sure you don’t forget that this would have been brilliant, and it was his idea, and everyone else was too stupid to realize it. Finally, he makes a Bruce Jenner trans joke while talking about LinkedIn in the context of its acquisition by Microsoft. What?
I’ll let this verbatim excerpt speak for itself, since it is emblematic of how the entire book reads:
“Drive a Porsche, even at fifty-five miles an hour, and you feel more attractive — and more likely to have a random sexual experience. Since men are wired to procreate aggressively, the caveman in us hungers for that Rolex, or Lamborghini — or Apple. And the caveman, thinking with his genitals, will sacrifice a lot (pay an irrational price) for the chance to impress.”
He claims Facebook is always listening with the microphone in your phone with the most sinister of intent and has a citation to back it up. When you check that citation, it is an article that states that this claim is likely not completely true, but provides steps on how to revoke microphone access to the Facebook app just in case. This article also links to Facebook’s official press site that (of course) states they only use the microphone when you are actively using the app for a feature that requires audio capture, such as live streaming, and that captured audio does not contribute to the ads you are shown. That Galloway doesn’t caveat this in his writing directly instead of relying on the reader to flip through his footnotes is completely irresponsible, and he knows exactly what he’s doing by sowing FUD to get you to nod your head with him as you blithely read on.
Given that this is a 2-Star Book in my opinion, and not a 1-Star Book — here’s why: there are some decent bits in here, but not many. I’ve tried to separate the wheat from the chaff, and here’s where I’ve landed:
- History favors the bold, and compensation favors the meek
- Benjamin Button economy: a concept by which companies like Facebook and Google and their products age in reverse, getting better and better with more usage, quite unlike your Nike running shoes. Invest in Benjamin Button companies, and you’ll build a nice nest egg
- Here are the 8 key factors that explain why Apple/Amazon/Google/Facebook have risen to power in such an astounding manner: product differentiation, visionary capital, global reach, likability, vertical integration, AI / lots of user data, accelerant for careers as a talent draw, and desirable geography
All told, I cannot recommend anyone contribute to the success of this book, or the goober behind it. He says that these companies are so commonly known and written about by armchair pundits who think they’re on to something new that no one’s ever thought of before, and he’s partially right.
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Galloway’s writing style is insufferable, and right off the bat in the introduction demonstrates himself to be an egomaniac misogynist who has a chip on his shoulder for everything wrong that has happened to him over the course of his career. Yes, things happen to him that cause problems in his life (many businesses he’s been a part of have been crushed by the likes of Google and the others), not problems from how he acts in the face of the cards he’s dealt. To paraphrase:
I can’t work in big companies — they don’t listen to my superior opinions so I had to become an entrepreneur.
🙄 🙄 🙄
He’s clearly done well for himself financially over the years and has a cushy job teaching at NYU that he seems to loathe, and he can’t escape the fact he was on the losing end of lots of tiny (irrelevant) skirmishes in the broader battlefield of the Big Four’s rise to power.
Here is the premise of the book: these companies are always written about and studied, but Galloway is in his mind the first to think of them in a unique and new way. The groundbreaking take, paraphrased:
Apple/Amazon/Facebook/Google accumulated capital and advantage and recognized what they had going for them and how to leverage it for money and power.
Not only is he so “whip smart” in his own view, but his writing is a bizarre mix of facts melded with with opinion and ridiculous statements explicitly designed to provoke any reader capable of reason. One example:
“People are drawn to the brand of Apple in order to appeal to the opposite sex and to feel closer to god, or to become more godlike themselves”
There is simply so much salt in his writing, you’d expect him to be trying to preserve food before refrigerators came around. He’s clearly smart (not as smart as he thinks he is) and pithy, but wholly unlikable by any and all conceivable measures.
When mentioning companies often build on ideas from other firms missing a key way of bringing something to the market (think of where Apple and Microsoft are compared to Xerox), he snidely adds that “inspiration from others” is “Latin for theft”. Red herrings abound in his writing, where there is clearly some backstory as to why he is upset about some facet of society, but is completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand. On the topic of Apple, he writes “the world needs more homes with engaged parents, not a better fucking phone”. Sure, and remind me where Apple comes in to the rescue for that problem?
He’s also bitter that when he consulted the NYT on how to save their failing business that he couldn’t convince the powers that be to have Google acquire them. He makes sure you don’t forget that this would have been brilliant, and it was his idea, and everyone else was too stupid to realize it. Finally, he makes a Bruce Jenner trans joke while talking about LinkedIn in the context of its acquisition by Microsoft. What?
I’ll let this verbatim excerpt speak for itself, since it is emblematic of how the entire book reads:
“Drive a Porsche, even at fifty-five miles an hour, and you feel more attractive — and more likely to have a random sexual experience. Since men are wired to procreate aggressively, the caveman in us hungers for that Rolex, or Lamborghini — or Apple. And the caveman, thinking with his genitals, will sacrifice a lot (pay an irrational price) for the chance to impress.”
He claims Facebook is always listening with the microphone in your phone with the most sinister of intent and has a citation to back it up. When you check that citation, it is an article that states that this claim is likely not completely true, but provides steps on how to revoke microphone access to the Facebook app just in case. This article also links to Facebook’s official press site that (of course) states they only use the microphone when you are actively using the app for a feature that requires audio capture, such as live streaming, and that captured audio does not contribute to the ads you are shown. That Galloway doesn’t caveat this in his writing directly instead of relying on the reader to flip through his footnotes is completely irresponsible, and he knows exactly what he’s doing by sowing FUD to get you to nod your head with him as you blithely read on.
Given that this is a 2-Star Book in my opinion, and not a 1-Star Book — here’s why: there are some decent bits in here, but not many. I’ve tried to separate the wheat from the chaff, and here’s where I’ve landed:
- History favors the bold, and compensation favors the meek
- Benjamin Button economy: a concept by which companies like Facebook and Google and their products age in reverse, getting better and better with more usage, quite unlike your Nike running shoes. Invest in Benjamin Button companies, and you’ll build a nice nest egg
- Here are the 8 key factors that explain why Apple/Amazon/Google/Facebook have risen to power in such an astounding manner: product differentiation, visionary capital, global reach, likability, vertical integration, AI / lots of user data, accelerant for careers as a talent draw, and desirable geography
All told, I cannot recommend anyone contribute to the success of this book, or the goober behind it. He says that these companies are so commonly known and written about by armchair pundits who think they’re on to something new that no one’s ever thought of before, and he’s partially right.
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
montyb1990's review
4.0
A bit repetitive and very similar to his YouTube videos, but I enjoyed his straight to the point writing and arguments.
clairejdavis's review against another edition
3.0
interesting read but this guy seems like a total asshole lmao