Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Amusing Portrayal of an Era., April 5, 2002
People who worked in the high tech industry are going to love this book! I've never worked in Silicon Valley (even though I have worked in NYC's Silicon Alley), but still, this book rang so true. The book doesn't really have a main character, but instead focuses on the tales of a few people. Paul Armstrong: a programmer, Liz Toulouse: the liberal arts graduate who tries to work in high tech, Steve Hall: the free bits hacker (Free Bits = Open Source), and Barry Dominic: the CEO of a multinational technical company, TeraMemory. The plot covers a period in the life of these characters in the crazy events which took place around 1999-2000 - the internet bubble era. As part of the story we get to see the environment, coworkers, workplaces of the main characters - the author has truly captured the essence of these. But more than just a very accurate portrayal of the time, "Silicon PFollies" is simply a funny book!
I guess people who have never worked in high tech might not get all the inside jokes (I'm not sure I got all of them either), but I believe they will still enjoy a very amusing book - and get some of what it meant to be a part of the internet craze - I couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic as I read about the CEO's "motivational speeches"..
The dot.com period might've been an illusion, but it still was quite an experience for me - and I think this book relays that feeling quite well. Highly recommended!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great fun, if sometimes trite, February 12, 2001
This book starts out hilarious. The writer's knack for humor shines through. The jokes are scathingly accurate in the portrayal of Silicon Valley life, and the characters are recognizable in nearly any company. With a fantastic robot vs. machine battle and a hilarious system administrator (complete with multiple facial piercings), this book keeps the humor level strong. Toward the end, it tends to slow down as the writer abandons straight humor and tries to develop sympathetic characters, out-of-place poignancy, and an emotional ending. It seemed like a poor attempt to be Douglas Coupland and capture the emotional power of "Microserfs" which, with such a strong, hilarious beginning, was really unnecessary. One warning for the lay reader: A person will get a good deal more out of this book with at least a little knowledge of the technology lingo: enough to get the jokes but not enough to realize when he's making it up as he goes along.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, well-rounded sendup of Silicon Valley!, January 23, 2001
What a book!We hear about the trends, the business, the management fads that come and go like each season's fashions. But in the end, it comes down to the people, and what we do in our day to day lives, and the peculiarities that make life interesting. And this book captures it all. Corporations vs. creative, free-thinking individuals, and the individuals winning out. We hear it all the time, but Silicon Follies puts us inside the mind of both as we follow a typical dotcom's lifecycle through the eyes of its engineers, CEO, salescritters, and marketroids. We also see the people on the outside, the liberal arts graduates doubting if they are doing the right thing, and the people trying to save what hasn't been overrun by the dotcoms, keeping the artistic spirit alive. And the technology, the quirks, the tradeshow panic, it's all sent up in a brilliant, hysterically funny book. The best part of the book is that it's all accurate, down to the hardware that only responds to stuffed animals and the packed Chinese restaurants. But it's more than a dot.comedy. The book has wonderfully poignant moments which make it that much more real. There's a hint of sadness behind the humor, the touch of what has been lost, that makes us appreciate what we do have, and tells us to enjoy it while we can. I'm waiting for the sequel!
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