Uncanny Valley follows Anna Wiener's move from her dead-end publishing job in New York, to the land of opportunity in tech out West. As she moves between start-ups, and as scrutiny of tech companies increases, Wiener herself begins to become increasingly disillusioned with her work and the industry as a whole.

This started as a really engaging listen, the juxtaposition between Wiener's life in New York and her move into tech was really well described. However, it did feel a little overlong and felt like we repeated a lot of the messages around sexism and excessive wealth in the organisations. I will say this may have been exacerbated by having to take a pause in listening to this because of my Spotify credits; though if you read a fair bit about the tech industry I'm not sure this would necessarily offer anything new.

 

Great read for those interested in a retrospective on the 2010s tech industry. 

Author was in Silicon Valley during its heyday and she takes an interesting look at the darker side of the tech industry, although nothing in the book truly shocked me. 

The book could be slow at times and I lost my focus, especially in the second half, but that’s pretty standard for me when reading most nonfiction. As someone who has worked for start ups, I could relate to a lot of her experiences with the toxic culture, imposter syndrome, and lack of work-life balance!

Wiener had some interesting critiques but I wish she would’ve delved deeper, especially about the issues of privacy violations and sexism in tech. It felt kind of glossed over and nothing substantial was said.

I didn’t enjoy how she alluded to other companies using vague descriptions instead of just naming them. I felt proud when I correctly identified the companies but for someone who constantly mentioned how tech isolates outsiders, she reinforced that isolation with that style choice. But who knows, it could’ve been a legal thing which I’d understand.

The way the synopsis is written I was expecting shocking things but since I’ve worked in tech/at start ups and my husband is in tech, I knew a lot of this stuff already. I’d recommend for anyone unfamiliar with the inside world of the tech industry and wants to learn more! 

Summarizing the book in one sentence I’d say: A story of white men and their audacity 😂

really really liked this