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Utopian Entrepreneur (Mediaworks Pamphlets) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Cmdr. B. Laurel, a Navy test pilot, and I rode a modified F-14 into the desert floor..." (more)
Key Phrases: utopian entrepreneur, culture workers, Purple Moon, Paul Allen, Silicon Valley (more...)

4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Life can be tough for those who care about the world around them. Just ask Brenda Laurel, whose efforts to infuse social responsibility into her software company led to Purple Moon's spectacular failure on the cusp of the dot-com boom. Her slim memoir, Utopian Entrepreneur, explores her work in girls' games, virtual reality, and the intersection between art and tech.

The writing is fluid and ranges from childhood memories to boardroom battles; readers can't help but amass insight into the difficulties of maintaining one's soul in a heavily commercialized world. Though the book's design is too strongly reminiscent of the dense early-'90s typeface frenzy, this will only be a minor distraction for most readers. Laurel's narrative jumps and slides through new layouts and type sizes like a monkey and holds the attention firmly throughout. While Utopian Entrepreneur won't give any hints on making money, it will explain one human's vision for doing business right. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly

Although Brenda Laurel's start-up venture, Purple Moon (a company dedicated solely to creating software for girls) failed, she walked away from the experience with a cornucopia of knowledge about technology and economics. She shares those lessons in Utopian Entrepreneur, a guide to those seeking socially positive work in the business world. A stream-of-consciousness style and unique layout come together to present important messages, like "good research is never done," "be a realist" and "pay attention to what you learn."

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Product Details

Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press; illustrated edition edition (September 1, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0262621533
ISBN-13: 978-0262621533
Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #423,861 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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This item is part of The Mediaworks Pamphlets Series.

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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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First Sentence:
Cmdr. B. Laurel, a Navy test pilot, and I rode a modified F-14 into the desert floor. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
utopian entrepreneur, culture workers

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Purple Moon, Paul Allen, Silicon Valley, Star Trek, David Liddle, Rob Tow

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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 13 books:

Utopian Entrepreneur (Mediaworks Pamphlets) by Brenda Laurel on 4 pages
The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker by George Lucas on page 10, and page 51
Blue Mars (Mars Trilogy) by Kim Stanley Robinson on page 60
Computers as Theatre by Brenda Laurel in Back Matter

See all 13 books this book cites

18 books cite this book:

The Video Game Theory Reader by Mark J. P. Wolf in Front Matter, page 235, and Back Matter
Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge on page 348, and Back Matter
Cornucopia Limited: Design and Dissent on the Internet by Richard Coyne in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students (Design Briefs) by Ellen Lupton on page 75, and Back Matter
Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing by Stephen Kline in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 18 books citing this book

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	80% buy the item featured on this page: Utopian Entrepreneur (Mediaworks Pamphlets) 4.8 out of 5 stars (5) $12.75
	9% buy Rhythm Science (Mediaworks Pamphlets) 4.3 out of 5 stars (11) $16.46
	5% buy Shaping Things (Mediaworks Pamphlets) 4.1 out of 5 stars (13) $9.74
	4% buy Design Research: Methods and Perspectives 3.3 out of 5 stars (12) $20.50

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

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4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Quick Read from an Important Game / Media Designer, November 6, 2001

By	Kurt D. Squire (Madison WI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Note -- i tried to change this to 5 stars, because 2 years later, i still draw quite a bit from this book. the system doesn't seem to want me to change it though.

At its heart, Utopian Entrepreneur is a Purple Moon post-mortem -- what can be learned from the life and death of Rockett Movado, the spunky heroine of the Purple Moon games. Born from concerns about the technological gender gap, Purple Moon sought to build a suite of games based on solid research. Why didn't more girls play games? What are the differences in how girls and boys approach digital media? How might designers create interactive digital entertainment that would appeal to girls? Purple Moon spent months on these questions, interviewing and surveying thousands of girls. Educators, game designers, media theorists, gender scholars, or anyone looking for a good cocktail party quote will find some of these facts fascinating. Girls don't mind violence as much as a lack of good stories and characters; girls are more likely to blame themselves for computer failure than boys are. Good, useful stuff.

(...)this little gem is a bargain. As the initial book in MIT's new Mediawork pamplet series - "zines for grownups", Utopian Enterpreneur offers concise prose, compact design, and short segments that make it perfect reading for between meetings or waiting at the airport. The unique layout helps break up the text and enrich the reading experience. Pulling off such a personal book is not easy, and the graphic design definitely contributes to the book's success. At times though, the interplay among images, space, and type feels superfluous failing to add nuance or underscore the meaning of the text.

Checking it at just around 100 pages, Utopian Entrepreneur is so readable and engaging, that I only wished Laurel had more space to share more of her experiences at Purple Moon and lessons learned from the past twenty years in software design. Whether it's expanding this book, starting a new company, or helping invent a new digital industry, I, for one, am eager to see what she does next.

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great thoughts on living and working in the tech industry, September 17, 2001

By	Nathan Shedroff (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First off, I'll cop to knowing Brenda Laurel, but I don't feel obligated to review this book because of it. I read the manuscript many months ago and was moved by Brenda's ablity to describe her personal experiences in a way for everyone to both enjoy and learn from. It's not a long book and it will definately leave you wanting more--not because there's not enough there but because what is there is so nice to read.

I think most of us in the tech industries--especially designers--often have conflicts about what kind of work we do vs. what kind we WISH we could do. Brenda's book is optimistic, funny, touching, and enraging at times because she describes her experiences navigating these conflicting forces. What happened to Purple Moon was a travesty and anyone who envisions building a company with any social goals in addition to making money should treat this as an important piece of research.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking Homeward, December 27, 2001

By	Nick Baldasare (Columbus, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

I don't work in the tech industry but a friend of mine referred this book to me. Laurel's message is significant to anyone interested in the betterment of planet earth. In a scant 100 pages she speaks volumes to those up against the wall that divides commercialism and art.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast and easy, but intectually stimulating read
Quite an interesting read. Laurel presents her experiences into the technological world in an easy to understand, stream-of-consciousness way. Read more

Published on September 26, 2004 by Katherine M. Meadows

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading
Like Nathan, I also know Brenda well, so my endorsement has a bias--but so does everything I say. This is one of the most enjoyable *business* books I've ever read. Read more

Published on September 28, 2001

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