Rating: 
Summary: Oh, so that's why ...
Review: Self-described Gen X slacker and dilettante (and now author and comedian) Mike Daisey responded to the following ad in the *Seattle Weekly*:
CUSTOMER SERVICE TIER 1: LAME TITLE - COOL JOB. He says "the rest of the ad mentioned good pay, flexible hours, and a 'hip and quirky work environment." Thus began his endeavours within our Host here at Amazon.com. In the beginning, he says, life in Amazon Customer Service "was half socialist boot camp and half college party dorm." He later was promoted to "Business Development." It is an often humourous glimpse within the belly of this beast - fleas and all. (I was going to say "warts and all," but then we're talking about Dog Years here - and there is some discussion in the book about employees bringing their dogs to work, and I'm going to talk about Pets.com in a minute - so I modified the metaphor.)
I don't know how true the information is - some of it would explain events that have occurred in this reader's experiences with Amazon.com. Hmmm. And his description of the Dot.com frenzy, especially the rise and fall of Pets.com, is entertaining and astute. Darn, I miss that sock puppet dog!
Rating: 
Summary: Why would anyone work a 70 hour week? Daisey knows.
Review: Alright, so Mike Daisey is one of the many who experienced the frenzied storm of life at a dot com. The reason I enjoyed 21 Dog Years so much is that it's about much more than that. If I were to take a stab at it I'd say the real kernel of the story is Daisey's relationship with work in general; Amazon is a bit of a red herring. He gives a genuinely funny accounting of how a guy from northern Maine finds himself temping in Seattle, disaffected and primed for the seduction of stock options and the chance to make history. This isn't just Daisey at Amazon. This is everyone 5+ years out of their liberal arts education and wondering just what the hell 50, 60, 70 hours of their life every week is worth. What are we trying to prove? What's really important? 21 Dog Years begs these questions as we follow Daisey on a most entertaining ride through dot com culture. This book is a treat you'll be trading amongst the cubes.
Rating: 
Summary: Amusing read when it's not overreaching for meaning
Review: There was a lot I could relate to in this book. As a twenty-something college grad with a useless liberal arts degree living in Seattle during the dot.com boom, I was in the same boat as Mike Daisey. I even applied for a customer service job at Amazon.com back when Mike did, but never heard back (after reading this book I realize I probably didn't quite meet the quirky/over-educated profile they were looking for). However, anyone who's ever done customer service will immediately relate to Daisey's tales of dogmatic training classes, unpleasant customers, metrics-obsessed micro-managers, and the wide array of characters you find inhabiting the CSR position.Once Daisey is promoted out of customer service into the nebulous "Business Development" department, the book loses some of its steam. Not because there aren't more amusing tales of co-workers and pointless busy work, but because Daisey tries to turn his personal story into a commentary on the rise and fall of Amazon.com (if not the entire dot.com industry). When he discusses the folly of Pets.com, it's nothing we haven't already heard, nor does it bring any additional insight to the countless news stories and books on the dot.com boom and bust. I also found his self-analysis to be a bit overdone. For the most part it didn't bother me, but by the end of the book he seems too determined to find meaning in his time at Amazon.com, when it is clear there is none. It also struck me as ironic that he could find so much fault in Jeff Bezos and the Amazon.com organization. If anything, he got exactly what he wanted -- material to write and perform with.
Rating:
Summary: A humourous & "philosophical" dot-com-mentary of sorts
Review: I was close to putting down this book before I got to the middle of it, but something kept calling me back to it, as odd as it may sound. I was actually very entertained by the few opening pages, since Daisey sure has an odd way of 'knowing' himself and making fun of how (much of a slacker) he is and how he's gone about life so far being that way. Something else that caught me were his ficticious e-mails to Amazon's head, Jeff Bezos, which are a consistent way he has to wrap up every chapter in the book. Granted that he keeps on bring in new "characters" into the story (he actually seems pretty good at disclosing when he's talking about a real person -his BizDev boss, Employee #5, for example- as opposed to when he's aggregating traits from several different characters into one, as a literary license -his peer Cody, for instance), the problem with the book is that his humorous style starts getting old after a few chapters. So, you can see how, when I was close to the middle, the book felt quite heavy. Yet I stuck with it. While I don't feel particularly fond (or sorry) that I did finish it (it is not like a lifechanging book, if you must know), I did find a couple of things of value beyond the sheer fun he insists on making of Amazon:
1) Regardless of what company you work for, it is not healthy to idealize them. All companies (like the people they're made up of), even the best ones have flaws, which makes any idealization of them a flawed process, destined to disilussion those who can't deal with anything but perfection from their "idols".
2) What goes around, comes around. The author (apparently) tried to go against what he truly was, in trying to be corporate, and it bit him back, because he was a slacker at heart, and as much as he satirized the company's behavior, his was no example to be followed. Simply put, no "wrong" deeds by an employer justify a wrong response by an employee. Still, it took him 21 dog years (3 human years) to realize he was just in the wrong place to start with: good for him that he left! All in all, a book to read in little chunks or in one sitting. Not a source of overwhelming wisdom or a source of endless laughter, but a quite humourous & "philosophical" dot-com-mentary of sorts. A straight-up 3-star book.
Rating: 
Summary: worst book I've "read" all year.
Review: I purchased this book as a remainder for a couple of bucks, and still I feel ripped off. Daisey is a horrible writer, and the anecdotes are a bore. and believe me, this isn't even remotely close to being funny. (I am pretty sure I would find reading that old knock-knock joke with the punch line "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" ten times more amusing than 21 Dog Years.) Why oh why can't I give 0 stars? In a word, "Blecch!"
Rating: 
Summary: Why should we care?
Review: This was an amusing little slip of a book, but in the end, I really couldn't help but be really put off by Daisey's attitude and funny descending into smarmy writing style. He has some good fun at Amazon's expense and okay, who doesn't often have revenge fantasies about their place of employment, but after page after mind-numbing page of Daisey's attempts at self-deprecation (through which he only comes across as lazy and stupid) you'll be glad when you reach the end. And it just ends. For someone who can be, at times, expansive and philosophical there is nothing in the way of an ending to wrap things up effectively. If what he says is true, my appreciation goes out to those who went through the experiences Daisey describes. However, I don't see how it can't be taken with a grain of salt. More power to him, though. Amazon is selling his book.
Rating:
Summary: Based on a true story
Review: Read this as amusing fiction if you must, but don't mistake it for history. The author's exploits at Amazon.com made him a legend in his own mind but never really fooled anybody for long - except perhaps himself. If hindsight has granted the author a new perspective on his journey, it's one distorted by self congratulation and lacking in honest introspection. One might even call it payback. To really understand this book you need to do continual translation. A desperate lateral move, under threat of termination for slacking off, was apparently a "promotion". Getting caught lying about goofing off gets recast as a clever ruse to get ahead. A department name ("Business Development") does false double duty as a job description, when in fact the poor schlub did nothing but customer service email for every day of his 21 tortured dog-years. Who but an overheated venture capitalist would buy this package? Calling a chronic underperformer an insightful social historian doesn't make it true. In the upside-down dot.com world where crushing losses became pro-forma profits and the "new economy" briefly replaced common sense, is it any wonder that such a book would emerge? Step through the looking glass with Mike if you choose but look closely; it's a funhouse mirror to begin with.
Rating:
Summary: Not Just About Amazon
Review: Yes, this book is about Amazon, but that is only a side issue. This is more like Dilbert moved into this decade. It is funny, insightful and accurate. There are some sexual references, so it may not be for youngsters, but it is probably no more than they hear in school anyhow. So, what is the point of the book? It is humorous, which is good. It also helps the rest of us who are stuck in similar situations to laugh at things and get us through it. Although the "letters to Jeff" are a bit off for me, everything else smacks true-to-life for most people, especially the same generation as the author (which might include you and me). It is easy reading and can be read in small chunks of time (great for reading in your "library" or while standing in line). While it is funny, it probably will not make you embarrass yourself if you are reading in public.
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Summary: Saw him give this as a monologue at Edinburgh festival
Review: Mike Daisy gave a spectacular performance to a packed house when I saw him at the Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival on Saturday (9th Auh 2003). His critique of 'customer service metrics' should be required study for all MBA students! Very funny, and very true - he is a lazy person who was taken advantage of by greedy people. The real ..... were the investors, or course, who now have wrecked pensions. His take on the rise and fall of pets.com is a hilarious attack on the soundbite shallowness of making decisions on the basis of PowerPoint presentations! Brian
London
Rating:
Summary: Sophomoric, but not funny
Review: This book was singularly unimpressive. I really wanted to enjoy it, and I really wanted to laugh, whether with or at the author. Unfortunately, it was rarely funny, and the author shows a remarkable lack of insight about himself and about why companies like Amazon are the way they are. There's so much one could say, and so much one could make fun of. It's too bad none of it made it into this book. It *is* pretty funny that the hardcover is listed as remaindered at Amazon as I write this.
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