Microserfs

Rating:
Summary: everything that is important about engineering culture
Review: After reading Tracy Kidder's acclaimed (by the New Yorker crowd) Soul of a New Machine, I thought to myself "here's a guy who spent 12 hours/day with engineers for an entire year and learned nothing about engineering, nothing about what matters to engineers, and nothing about the hearts and minds of engineers. After reading Microserfs, I thought "here's a guy who seems to have spent a week with engineers and effortlessly absorbed everything that is important about engineering culture, everything that matters about working at a big company, and everything that matters about working at a startup." Coupland's writing is better crafted here than in his earlier books, e.g., Generation X.

Rating:
Summary: Quality Read...Highly Recommended
Review: This book is a personal favorite, one that I recommend to quite a few people. Having grown up in the area it was interesting to read about various landmarks and areas of interest that I could relate to, which added immensely to the value of the read. Anyone in the technological rat race should take a few days to read through this book. You will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Geekiness == Goodness
Review: I read this book while I was studying on the island of Crete off the coast of Greece -- a time when I was going into serious technology-withdrawl. It was a heaven-sent bit of humor. The random thoughts pages with references to old school "coolness" such as Electronic Arts, Commodore 64s, Atari 2600s, etc. were fun flashbacks.

I was, however, disappointed with the way the book moves away from geekiness into gooey, lovey-dovey, "life is grand" thoughts towards the end.

Rating:
Summary: Shiny cover, empty pages
Review: While the idea was cute, I really had a tough time with this book.

First off, there's no real plot to speak of --just various unlikeable characters making whiny pop-culture references at each other for 200 pages. The page count is padded out with a few randomly-inserted pages of Coupland himself making random commentary about his personal fetishes in random-size fonts. Finally, the entire mess culminates in the astounding revelation that Legos are cool.

This one gets two stars because the concept is sound and the picture on the back cover of the author fondling a phallic-looking Lego plane was unintentionally funny.

I just hope that someday a better author can do the concept justice.

Rating:
Summary: Most readable, fun Coupland book...And that's no joke! HAR!
Review: Very profound commentary on careerism and individuality, whichI think is what Dougie set out to write...The first Redmond-based 90pages are more enjoyable than the rest of the book, as REM asserts,because they don't explicitly try to pound home the moral of the story...Unyielding devotion to a big, unfriendly corporation is a recipe for unfillfment...Subtlety. The existential platitudes in "Microserfs" are nothing, in terms of scope, compared to those in "Girlfriend in a Coma" and "Life After God"...Which is the main parallel between it and "Generation X", debut, famous, demographic-naming, blah, blah, blah.

I'm not an expert on mid-nineties technological counterculture, so I can't pass judgement on Coupland's accuracy in depicting in, but "Microserfs" is a good book that I enjoyed reading...Certainly not Doug's worst (that honor would go to a certain 366-page rough-cut previously-mentioned short-story collection that was published in 1994. Ooh, I'm such a cheeky bastard). Read it with someone you love.

Rating:
Summary: a fabulous book
Review: I bought this book when it first came out and I can't even count how many times I have read it since then. The story is interesting, it keeps you involved, and it allows you to look into the computer nerd culture. Not being a part of it myself I don't know how accurate it is, but I don't really care. It is a fun, easy read, and this book always cheers me up when I am feeling down. It is a true favorite of mine and I recommend it to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Good Start, but the Whining is Overdone
Review: I thought the first part of this book (when the "serfs" still worked at Microsoft) was good. Especially fun where the comments about BILL and the observations of what its like to be at the bottom of the career ladder. However, the narrator's continual whining about how he doesn't "have a life" got very annoying. From what I can see, his life is more interesting that 99% of the people I know. Its also hard to believe that the male characters find such compatible girlfriends in Silicon Valley, where women of any kind are at a premium. All in all, its still a good read, especially if your a programmer.

Rating:
Summary: Simply put: Funny Funny FUNNY!
Review: I could wax poetically about the many aspects of brilliance contained in this Coupland novel, but so many others have done so quite brilliantly. By far, best reviews written on Amazon. I would, however, like to say that I've read this book 4 times and each time it is laugh out loud funny. I liked this book even better than Generation X and Girlfriend in a Coma for this reason. I bought this book for my boyfriend who is a die hard "techie" that hadn't picked up a book of prose/fiction in years (if it isn't in Discover magazine or Scientific American he hasn't read it) This book actually renewed his interest in reading, much to my delight. Not many books have the power to do this.

Rating:
Summary: Archetypes for the brighter-than-average
Review: A lot of reviewers seem to love or hate this book based on its references to The Bill, Star Trek, politically aware grrlies, and such forth.

But unless your experiences on the high school football team have left you with a visceral hatred of all things 'nerdy', you should be able to enjoy this book without a Comp Sci degree. Disadvantaged, oppressed, sometimes confused characters set out towards the distant horizon of opportunity, at great risk to their personal and financial security. In the course of their journey they bond, learn about life, and discover strengths and weaknesses in themselves and each other that they never even suspected. Don't let the lack of covered wagons fool you. This is the Great American Pioneer Story, which every generation needs a version of for its own.

Stylistically, this is quirky enough to be engaging, but by no means difficult.

All in all, highly recommended

Rating:
Summary: The Partridge Family goes "90s"
Review: Three stars are a result of: Five stars for learning about aspects of the computer industry in an entertainng manner, four stars for writing style, two stars for plot, and one star for making the characters tolerable to read about. By Page 200, I was really hoping that an earthquake would just swallow the lot of them up.

The story is presented as a diary written by a very precocious "geek", and is a combination of irrelevant (though often interesting, but just as often pompous) insights blended with the continuing saga of his similarly precocious aren't-we-all-crazy buddies. The diary format, combined with the off-balance typeface, works well towards conveying "inside" information of what it's like to spend one's life coding -- though after a while, it was hard to reconcile how these people were able to work continuously and yet find time for all their hobbies, hijinks, etc. I suspect that the reality would be too horribly boring to write a whole book about.

The oddest part about the book is the cult-like group-comraderie that felt like a cross between an updated version of the Partridge Family and some religious cult. Anyone who walks into these people's lives is unquestioningly welcomed into their group, as their "nuttiness" somehow glues them all together. The diarist only needs five minutes with any stranger in order for said stranger to, paraphrasing, become an "important part of his life". It was also very hard to reconcile how these people could be so cynical about absolutely everything except each other, and of course, newcomers to the group.

So...it's all worthwhile for the computer stuff and the many digressions, but do not expect to care much about what actually happens to these people. Consider them a bunch of props, and all will work out fine.