Moira Weigel

The title is a trifle misleading. It sounds as if it's a manual for people who want to emulate the richest, most powerful tech bros in the world. How do they do it? And can I do it too?

Instead, it's much more valuable: interviews that document what it's really like to work in tech. In addition to an engineer and a data scientist there's an interview with a cook and a masseuse. A lot of people work in Silicon Valley who are not rich and powerful, and all of the interviewees (with the possible exception of a technical writer, who seems to have a fairly good opinion of the industry) have things to say that need saying. Most AI is hype. The monopolization of talent has hindered creativity and innovation. The people whose work makes lives pleasant for the technocracy are badly paid and have to commute from afar because not only can they not afford to live within two hours of work, they can't afford the places that they live in because they, too, are being taken over by gentrification. This is a nicely insightful collection of interviews that range from technical but accesible - a useful overview of what machine learning and AI really are compared to the hype, for example - to a glimpse into the lives of contract workers who cook or try to unknot the muscles of people who spend too many hours staring at screens.… (mehr)

Kahlil Gibran claimed that work is love made visible, and this book expounds on that analogy, using dating in America as an example. The story of dating is, of course, the story of gender relations, and the author highlights the power imbalances, and resulting unhappiness, that sexism creates and which dating mores reinforce.

The book has an intriguing and elegant arrangement of topics based on overarching themes. "Outs" discusses how "going out" became a discrete activity that allowed people to be private in public, and how the LGBT community affected the way straight people date. "Plans" talks about how planning dates, managing feelings, and family planning came to be seen as female activities, even though both parties in a relationship are affected. I think this novel way of organizing and presenting information is the best part of this book.

The author notes the limitations of her subject: the history of dating in America focuses on White, straight, middle class individuals. She incorporates dating history about people of color, working class people, and lesbian and gay individuals as much as she can, which I appreciated.

This book is a fitting complement to Samhita Mukhopadhyay's excellent earlier book, Outdated: Why Dating Is Ruining Your Love Life. Both are highly recommended.… (mehr)