Kara Swisher lost her patience. The self-proclaimed “San Francisco liberal lesbian Donald Trump” was arguably the most accomplished technology journalist of the past 30 years, but her disappointment with the people she once covered closely led her to gradually shift to an activist role. There is. In February of this year, she published her memoir titled “Burn Book.”
Writing a memoir at this point in her life may seem like an odd choice for her. Her career doesn't seem to be over yet, as her turn as an activist and the launch of her 2015 podcast Recode Decode shows. So why write a memoir that quickly becomes outdated? Because this is not a Swisher story, but, as the book's subtitle says, a “technology love story.”
Swisher's choice to write a memoir ultimately gives her a unique personal perspective on the issues in the tech industry she describes. These days, there are only a few scathing criticisms of the tech fraternity, but most of them are inhumane. For example, journalists, politicians, and experts who often provide insight and commentary have seen firsthand a very strange party hosted by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, where everyone was invited dressed like a baby. Never. Not only do people not have the level of access that Swisher has, they also don't have the anger of someone who has spent 30 years around these idiots.
Only memoirs can be this mean.
The best summary I can give of this premise is at the beginning of the first chapter of this book.
“I know you came here to hear about tech billionaires like Elon.” [Musk] and mark [Zuckerberg] and cheryl [Sandberg] and peter [Thiel] and jeff [Bezos] and steve [Jobs] and tim [Cook]. please do not worry. You'll get to meet all of them, just as I've done over his 30-year career covering these greats. But this is a book about me and technology, and that relationship started out as a meet-cute love story that soured over time. ”
And she can certainly satisfy the audience's desire for humorous stories of high-tech bros. The funny stories she tells about Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos and many others vent her distaste for media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whom she affectionately calls “Uncle Satan.” There is. Not only is it very satisfying to see something written, but it's also very personal.
One of the most amusing and unfortunate examples was her deteriorating relationship with Musk, which ultimately culminated in an email he sent her with the subject line, “You're an asshole.” The two were once very close, but the pressures of her wealth and fame caused Musk to become increasingly immature and paranoid. All attempts to maintain contact with Ms. Swisher have been attacked by uncooperative trolls whose mismanagement of X, formerly known as Twitter, has caused racial slurs to appear on her trending page. It was interpreted as
Throughout her memoir, she anchors her comments and reflections on her tech colleagues on the man she once knew: Jobs. She spends a large portion of her book praising this man, framing him as a responsible figure like few left in the tech industry.
Mr. Jobs' obsession with quality design and privacy, and the lack of ego fragility that allowed him to develop in some ways personal growth, is not something Meta's board has, but Swisher. He strongly emphasizes this fact.
Her memoir is one of the most entertaining pieces of nonfiction I've ever read. The quote “Praise Kara Swisher” on the book's jacket and first few pages is a series of insults directed at her, primarily by her tech peers. She also refuses to add her footnotes to her own books because “I'm not Bob Woodward.” Almost every page contains a sharp, pithy insult to the most powerful people on earth..
This memoir is one of the few books I've read in my life where I could feel how much fun the author had writing it. For most of us who are outraged by the state of technology, our frustration is political.But for Kara Swisherthey are personal.
It should be noted that the book does not have an index, and Swisher left a note explaining why, saying, “You need to read this book from cover to cover to see what it says.” There is. I appreciated the joke, but as someone who will definitely be referring to this book again, I was quite disappointed by the lack of an index. My only complaint is that Swisher teased Peter Thiel's prank at the beginning of the book, but it never really came through in the end.
However, despite these complaints, I cannot recommend this book enough. It's a fairly quick read and a lot of fun. Nothing can keep you more up-to-date on perhaps the most pressing issues of our time, and it's also very entertaining.
