Plano Reads: Uncanny Valley

Join the Brown Bag Book Club for a discussion of Uncanny Valley which meets in-person in the program room at Parr Library on Thursday, July 28, 2022 at noon.

Uncanny Valley a Memoir by Anna Weiner

Print; Large Print; eAudiobook; eBook

Unicorns disappoint. That is the hard lesson Anna Weiner learns from her stint in Silicon Valley. Wiener was in her late 20’s, working in publishing, a series of jobs that paid so little she remained financially dependent on her parents. Tired of being broke, Weiner decided to leave New York City for Silicon Valley. She begins with a short stint at an e-book start-up. Realizing she is a poor fit for their company, her bosses helped her find a position in customer support at a data analytics start-up expected to be the next unicorn (a start-up achieving a $1 billion evaluation). A job with excellent pay and amazing perks, but a debatable product, it left her feeling out of sync with reality. She continued to fail upwards and was promoted to middle management. Her position and healthy salary gave Wiener a bird’s eye view of the excesses, motivations, and dysfunction in the tech world.

A funny and alarming story.

“Wiener is an entertaining writer, and those interested in a behind-the-scenes look at life in Silicon Valley will want to take a look.” – Publisher’s Weekly, 2019

Equal parts bildungsroman and insider report, this book reveals not just excesses of the tech-startup landscape, but also the Faustian bargains and hidden political agendas embedded in the so-called “inspiration culture” underlying a too-powerful industry. A funny, highly informative, and terrifying read.

Kirkus, 2019

“A compelling takedown of the pitfalls of start-up culture, from sexism to the lack of guardrails, Uncanny Valley highlights the maniacal optimism of the twentysomethings behind the screens and the pitfalls of the culture they are building.” – Booklist, 2019

Join the Brown Bag Book Club for a discussion of Uncanny Valley which meets in-person in the program room at Parr Library on Thursday, July 28, 2022 at noon.