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A review by scribepub
Live Work Work Work Die: a journey into the savage heart of Silicon Valley by Corey Pein
In the spirit of George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, Corey Pein takes us on a gonzo misadventure through the underbelly of Silicon Valley, exposing the dystopian comedy behind the techno optimism with wry observation and gleeful contempt. A helluva ride.
Joe Hagan, Author of Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine
All praise to Corey Pein for jumping headfirst into the cesspool of Silicon Valley and returning without having lost his mind or sold his soul. His reports from the front lines of the startup frenzy are hilarious and terrifying. While all eyes are glued on President Trump, a shortsighted and reactionary techno-oligarchy aims to amass a fortune at the cost of the common good. There’s no app that can save us. But this book can at least wake us up to the dystopian future under construction.
Astra Taylor, Author of The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age
Pein’s absurdly funny journey is a Through-the-Looking-Glass tale for the dying days of tech utopianism. Built on the creative vanity of this new class of talentless speculator and designed entirely without human need in mind, this world of nonsense quickly turns dystopian when seen from the perspective of a worker and renter trying to make his way through it.
Angela Nagle, Author of Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right
You sleep in a pantry because you can’t afford a real apartment. You exploit yourself, destroy your health, and ruin the lives of millions when you finally succeed. You think of crime as a great business model. You embrace some of the worst politics ever devised. And you call it progress. Silicon Valley, the capitalist miracle. That is the American nightmare as Corey Pein brilliantly describes it, and it is not a work of the imagination. This is really happening, and soon it will be happening to you.
Thomas Frank, Author of Listen, Liberal and What’s the Matter with Kansas?
Both entertaining and damning, Pein’s book unmasks the shell game being run by venture capitalists in an industry that is not nearly as benign as it claims to be.
Publisher’s Weekly
Deeply unsettling … A clearheaded reckoning with the consequences of the tech industry’s disruptions and the ideology that undergirds it.
Kirkus Reviews
Like Jon Ronson, Pein combines serious journalism with humour and his own antics for an entertaining and caustic mix. If Silicon Valley and Black Mirror had a book baby, it would be Live Work Work Work Die.
Booklist
The Silicon Valley that Pein uncovers is not unlike dystopian visions we are accustomed to seeing in science fiction.
The New Republic
Impressive ... Reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels in both style and conceit, Live Work Work Work Die is a combination of New Journalism and muckraking told with an anthropological eye ... Alternately amusing and horrifying.
Salon
Fluent … entertaining … funny.
Justin Tyler Clark, The Los Angeles Review of Books
Despite and perhaps a little because of its lackadaisical approach to its subject, Live Work Work Work Die manages to capture something essential about Silicon Valley that has eluded other authors.
Nikil Saval, The New York Times
Pein's vivid account makes for fascinating reading about Silicon Valley and the tech industry and the often heartbreaking experiences of would-be entrepreneurs/techies struggling to achieve success.
Lucy Heckman, Library Journal
American investigative reporter Corey Pein is the latest to join the so-called “tech-lash”, the global pushback against the supremacy of tech … Pein identifies a growing “tech fascist” movement that embraces dubious philosophies and “neo-reactionary” ideas such as eugenics and the abolition of universities and government.
Megan Lehmann, The Australian
His just-published book, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey Into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley, portrays a corrosive culture: start-ups funded by millions of dollars of venture capital where employees struggle to describe what is actually being produced; stressed start-up “chief executives” who work like navvies and rarely see pay-day; venture capitalists who would happily support an enterprise that would break the law so long as they could get in and out before everything collapsed; and a naked interest by those at the top in turning consumers into lab rats.
Shelley Gare, The Saturday Age
The book is a must read for any young people interested in working in technology.
Zachary Houle, Medium
An incisive portrait of a self-obsessed industry hellbent on succeeding by whatever means necessary.
Martin Coulter, Business Insider Australia
Joe Hagan, Author of Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine
All praise to Corey Pein for jumping headfirst into the cesspool of Silicon Valley and returning without having lost his mind or sold his soul. His reports from the front lines of the startup frenzy are hilarious and terrifying. While all eyes are glued on President Trump, a shortsighted and reactionary techno-oligarchy aims to amass a fortune at the cost of the common good. There’s no app that can save us. But this book can at least wake us up to the dystopian future under construction.
Astra Taylor, Author of The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age
Pein’s absurdly funny journey is a Through-the-Looking-Glass tale for the dying days of tech utopianism. Built on the creative vanity of this new class of talentless speculator and designed entirely without human need in mind, this world of nonsense quickly turns dystopian when seen from the perspective of a worker and renter trying to make his way through it.
Angela Nagle, Author of Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right
You sleep in a pantry because you can’t afford a real apartment. You exploit yourself, destroy your health, and ruin the lives of millions when you finally succeed. You think of crime as a great business model. You embrace some of the worst politics ever devised. And you call it progress. Silicon Valley, the capitalist miracle. That is the American nightmare as Corey Pein brilliantly describes it, and it is not a work of the imagination. This is really happening, and soon it will be happening to you.
Thomas Frank, Author of Listen, Liberal and What’s the Matter with Kansas?
Both entertaining and damning, Pein’s book unmasks the shell game being run by venture capitalists in an industry that is not nearly as benign as it claims to be.
Publisher’s Weekly
Deeply unsettling … A clearheaded reckoning with the consequences of the tech industry’s disruptions and the ideology that undergirds it.
Kirkus Reviews
Like Jon Ronson, Pein combines serious journalism with humour and his own antics for an entertaining and caustic mix. If Silicon Valley and Black Mirror had a book baby, it would be Live Work Work Work Die.
Booklist
The Silicon Valley that Pein uncovers is not unlike dystopian visions we are accustomed to seeing in science fiction.
The New Republic
Impressive ... Reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels in both style and conceit, Live Work Work Work Die is a combination of New Journalism and muckraking told with an anthropological eye ... Alternately amusing and horrifying.
Salon
Fluent … entertaining … funny.
Justin Tyler Clark, The Los Angeles Review of Books
Despite and perhaps a little because of its lackadaisical approach to its subject, Live Work Work Work Die manages to capture something essential about Silicon Valley that has eluded other authors.
Nikil Saval, The New York Times
Pein's vivid account makes for fascinating reading about Silicon Valley and the tech industry and the often heartbreaking experiences of would-be entrepreneurs/techies struggling to achieve success.
Lucy Heckman, Library Journal
American investigative reporter Corey Pein is the latest to join the so-called “tech-lash”, the global pushback against the supremacy of tech … Pein identifies a growing “tech fascist” movement that embraces dubious philosophies and “neo-reactionary” ideas such as eugenics and the abolition of universities and government.
Megan Lehmann, The Australian
His just-published book, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey Into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley, portrays a corrosive culture: start-ups funded by millions of dollars of venture capital where employees struggle to describe what is actually being produced; stressed start-up “chief executives” who work like navvies and rarely see pay-day; venture capitalists who would happily support an enterprise that would break the law so long as they could get in and out before everything collapsed; and a naked interest by those at the top in turning consumers into lab rats.
Shelley Gare, The Saturday Age
The book is a must read for any young people interested in working in technology.
Zachary Houle, Medium
An incisive portrait of a self-obsessed industry hellbent on succeeding by whatever means necessary.
Martin Coulter, Business Insider Australia