‘Chaos Monkeys’ Is A Guide To The Spirit Of Silicon Valley: Book Review
- JONATHAN A. KNEE - NYTIMES
- 12 août 2016
- 2 min de lecture
There is plenty not to like in Antonio García Martinez’s Silicon Valley tell-all, “Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley” (Harper). An author whose biography boasts that he “lives on a 40-foot sailboat on the San Francisco Bay” is not well positioned to lampoon the social mores of the West Coast tech culture.
The book’s dedication “to all my enemies” who made the oeuvre possible confirms the impression that the blizzard of score-settling that follows is less than balanced. The aphorisms are sometimes lazy, the facts can be sloppy, and the studied cool – all the while insisting that “I am the uncoolest person you will ever meet” – can be grating. I also could definitely have done without learning about Mr. García’s weakness for “strenuous fornication” and drunken romps in the Facebook broom closet.
And yet, somehow, “Chaos Monkeys” manages to be an irresistible and indispensable 360-degree guide to the new technology establishment.
AUDIO : "Chaos Monkeys" author Antonio García-Martinez: Silicon Valley isn’t a nice place
Antonio García-Martinez, author of the new tell-all book, "Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley," talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about starting a company, getting acquired by Twitter, and defecting to Facebook one year before its IPO. García-Martinez knew from the start that he wanted to write a book, and the end result doesn't mince words with its subjects. He says one of the big takeaways from "Chaos Monkeys" is that Silicon Valley constantly lies to itself, and that that mass delusion has helped it succeed.
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