Rating: 
Summary: Lament of an Angst-ridden Ageing Boomer Geek-ette
Review: "Close" is a rambling autobiographical story about an aging boomer. The book contains a few pearls about crunching code, but is otherwise unremarkable. She's Jewish, she's bisexual, she's an ex-Bolshi, she could have been rich, she's lonely, she wants to be alone, she loves technology, she hates what its made her. Please. Sections of the book have appeared in zines and print articles, where they read better. Techies will recognize the story, but its not very interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Haphazard, frenetic, lost and rather dull life of programmer
Review: An interesting idea, but the author gets lost in the unnecessary and mundane details of her life rather than focussing on the issues the book ostensibly represents. I was misled by the title and described subject and felt cheated at the end of the book when I realised I had no real sense of the direction of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book on the real conditions of programming
Review: Anne Wilson Schaef, author of books on dysfunctional organizations, writes "the addictive system is without a memory." Ms Ullman preserves a memory (unlike one of her techie boyfriends, clearly addicted to the nihilistic techie response to stress, which is to put oneself under erasure.) I do hope to hear more from her.
Rating:
Summary: A Meditation on Programming Versus Life
Review: Anyone who's ever tinkered with programming knows that the most difficult part is reducing the "real world" to machine-readable variables. Ellen Ullman's wonderful book is a meditation on life, love, the human condition and how it's always messier than a good program. She wishes her life was more like a good COBOL routine. It's entertaining and you'll learn a lot about subroutines and anarchocapitalism and "creating wealth" in these Microsoft greed years.
Rating:
Summary: Badly flawed book has much good material
Review: As a programmer, I liked the passages which described the anguish and meaning which are a well kkept secret in our line of work. But this is primarily a woman's book, and I am not a woman. Descriptions of Ms. Ullman's sexual preferences and exploits are, frankly, unwanted information as far as I am concerned, and make no mistake: These are the central issues of this book. "Close to Ellen Ullman" might have been a better title.
Rating:
Summary: This is a remarkable book
Review: As far as I'm concerned, Close to the Machine is the smartest, deepest, most elegantly-written book yet about life in the New World. I read it fresh, without having seen any reviews, and was knocked out. The book is a genre-bender - part memoir, part modern romance, part essay, part human, part geek. And completely original.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book now
Review: As I read this book I felt a keen sense of familiarity. I live this life as well, down to every detail but being Ellen Ullman. I've had the same experiences; the rush of programming on a great project, the hits and near misses on stock options, the empty cubicles, the rush of a new contract, the longing for the regularity of an old-fashioned company, etc. I also know first hand about the culture of the neighborhood she describes, since I too live in a loft down there, although I am married, male, and have a kid. In fact, as I got my WSJ the other day, I saw hers stacked on top of mine. I have never met her, but because of the similarities in our lives as described in the excellent book, I do know that what she says is far far truer than any of the books that purport to tell everyone outside of the area about high tech here.
But the book resonates not because we're neighbors; her book is true, and well written. Two reasons enough to buy this book ASAP. Skip "Start-Up" and "Architects of the Web" (please). This is the real thing.
Rating: 
Summary: Some pros, but mostly cons
Review: Ellen Ullman is obviously an adept coder and is able to describe both the great highs and great lows of being "close to the machine". However, as an actual author, she's a bit tedious and occasionally eye-rollingly vapid: her surprisingly generic sex scenes seem like quick masturbatory breaks, almost as if she felt the need to remind us that "programmers have sex lives, too". And she shows some occasional touches of her own techno-fear, especially when disparaging the nomenclature on a web-browser's interface (she pooh-poohs the usage of "home" on the browser, apparenly forgetting that "home" has also been the traditional name for users' directories on UNIX systems). Probably a good head-nodding read for legacy techies, the post-web generation will most likely sigh "Oh, get OVER yourself" a few times before flinging this one across the room and going back to reading WIRED.
Rating: 
Summary: An Important response to high-tech hyperbole.
Review: Ellen Ullman provides a load of thoughful commentary on the nature of computer code and the professional class that writes it. Hers is a uniquely qualified voice in this realm, and she has a real talent for illustrating a highly arcane topic in ways that anyone can understand. From her observations about the environment in which software engineers operate and her descriptions of the effects it has on their personal and emotional lives emerges a troubling picture of an industry without roots, without long-term vision, without commitment. It is a lonely world of big money, scarce leisure time, high-powered connections and low-powered social lives. The perspective is middle-aged, the tone serious, the credentials of the author superb. This book is thoughfully written, nicely readable, highly useful to anyone who wants to acquire a broader context for understanding the impact of computing on daily life.
Rating:
Summary: Not so much cyberspace as personal space, but recommended.
Review: Ellen Ullman's very personal story of her life as a bisexual woman
and as a woman in a field (still) dominated by men is a good read.
She writes about the love and fascination with computer technology
which many of us share, the loss of a rather distant parent,
which many of us have suffered, and the life of a somewhat lonely
person, which many of us are. The technology is not overwhelming, the personal story is more than
a little too revealing, but it all works.
I highly recommend 'Close to the Machine'
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