Customer Reviews

Seattle Memoirs; Inspired by my stint at Amazon.com

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I read "Welcome to California", "I Met a Greek Goddess in Nashville" and "Seattle Adventures" all in the same day. The books have some overlapping. The third book is the story of the author's time spent working at "[...]". It's funny yet bittersweet - I learned things about the large web-conglomerate that I didn't know before.

All of us have stories to tell. Different stories of events that have happened throughout our lives. Stories that are funny or strange but also interesting and true. Seattle Adventures is compilation of just that--one person's stories about life.

Throughout the book, the author takes us on a personal journey through his own life experiences. While sharing his stories, he also offers us a fascinating glimpse into the web industry, allowing the reader to experience what really goes on behind the scenes of the .com world. Readers also experience the beauty and culture of Seattle, as he makes his way through various life adventures.

The author uses a pseudonym, which allows him to freely share his adventures without worrying about his professional reputation. This lends credibility to his adventures, as well as an air of mystery about who he is. There are times when the book lags a little, and the editing isn't always perfect. All in all, however, it is a good and easy read.

Sonnet Erin Brown

Member, Book Lovers SIG of Am. Mensa

This is a memoir of a successful foreign born technologist who moved to Seattle to work for Amazon.com after spending more than a decade in Silicon Valley. Apprehensive and unsure of what he'd find, he is nevertheless a risk taker, admirable and somewhat naive.

What I found most endearing about "Seattle Adventures" was Kalpanik's sense of humor--it's simple and yet complex, silly and yet sophisticated all at the same time! From page 1, I was drawn into his writing style. He is clear, mysterious, funny and the occasionally poetic and creates a diverse writing style.

I recommend this book, it's wonderful.

Kalpanik S. is the pen name of a software industry executive who first came to the U.S. during the dot.com boom of the 1980s. This book is in a journal style - part moving to a new city (Seattle) and part a behind the scenes of his new job at a revolutionary company ("Congo.com" aka Amazon.com). It's a quick, entertaining read - Kalpanik's style of writing is easy to read and humorous. He is also at times brutally honest about himself and the realities of being an executive in the highly fluid IT industry. There's enough descriptions of his working experiences to give a glimpse of the reality employees face, but I still came away feeling like there was much more I could have learned from him.

Seattle Adventures is a compilation of stories from the authors time spent in Seattle. There is a clear honesty in this book and it shows how tough it can be having an executive position in the IT industry.

This is a fast paced and comical read - Kalpanik's style of writing flows beautifully and is really very humorous. English is clearly not his first language but it was still written very well, packed full of fascinating facts. It gives a very thorough look at life in Seattle and an amusing list of adventures.

This book was very educational, if also somewhat emotional, and I am glad to have it, even if it wasn't exactly what I expected. I found it to be written very well and packed full of fascinating facts.

It gives a very thorough look at moving to Seattle and lots of humorous tales that made me smile. I liked that the book wasn't too lengthy so it made nice light reading on a long bus journey.

Author does an excellent job of describing Seattle's manic-depressive climate, as seen from the eyes of an Asian-Indian-Californian and mixing a description of Seattle's three seasons - sunny, gray, gray and cold with his work at Amazon, it would have appeared artificial except his descriptions sound genuine though short, its almost as if he does not want to talk about work.

This book should be read for its breadth of coverage rather than depth of coverage of 4 topics rolled into one - Seattle, immigrant experience, working at Amazon and midlife reflection. Comparing it books focussed on any one of those topics will be unfair.

The book is humorous and well-written with a plethora of photos taken by Dr. Zheng, author's collaborator to illustrate their experiences - Some show the natural beauty of the locations, others show the uniqueness of the folks. I enjoyed the distinctive way in which it was written. I found his relationships with both his wife and daughters to be very special.

I also recommend these other books by the same author: I Met a Greek Goddess in Nashville, Tennessee; The Inferno: An Eyewitness account of San Diego on Fire; Into the Heart of the Mind and Feminization of Las Vegas in Early 21st Century

Good book - a collection of vignettes expanded (as per author's confession) from a series of blogs the author wrote around the time when he moved to Seattle to work for Amazon.

Breaking down the content of the book, you have (in order of amount of content from most to least)

- Impressions of Seattle

- Stories about the author's charming family

- anecdotes of getting hired and working at Amazon.

The book does read more like a journal than a book but I liked that variation - specially, author's voice/ mood reflects Seattle's "seasons" (OK, so there are only two seasons in Seattle - sunny summers, and those gray months but still...) chapters - almost all with clever titles - are short and revolve around an interesting idea; though he uses mystery, symbolism and thinking to read between the lines (for example, in the chapter when one of his favorite colleague leaves the company, he does not directly talk about his emotions, but paints a beautiful picture using nature to bring out his sadness)

The author's best writing comes when he describes something he loves: his wife and daughters.

I'm a romantic at heart and after a long happy summer spent in Seattle as a kid I have spent many days dreaming about going back there. This book took me back and made me yearn once more for a chance to revisit that wonderful place. I loved how the author spoke from his heart and really told his tale through his own experiences and point of view. It was a lovely read and great to while away a rainy afternoon.