Uncanny Valley: A Memoir

Uncanny Valley: A Memoir

<p><b>One of <i>Vogue</i>'s 22 Books to Read This Winter</b><br><b></b><br><b>"A definitive document of a world in transition: I won't be alone in returning to <i>Uncanny Valley </i>for clarity and consolation for many years to come." ―Jia Tolentino, author of <i>Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion</i> </b><br><b></b><br><b>The prescient, page-turning account of a journey in Silicon Valley: a defining memoir of our digital age</b></p><p>In her mid-twenties, at the height of tech industry idealism, Anna Wiener―stuck, broke, and looking for meaning in her work, like any good millennial--left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She moved from New York to San Francisco, where she landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble: a world of surreal extravagance, dubious success, and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory, and, of course, <i>progress</i>.</p><p>Anna arrived amidst a massive cultural shift, as the tech industry rapidly transformed into a locus of wealth and power rivaling Wall Street. But amid the company ski vacations and in-office speakeasies, boyish camaraderie and ride-or-die corporate fealty, a new Silicon Valley began to emerge: one in far over its head, one that enriched itself at the expense of the idyllic future it claimed to be building. </p><p>Part coming-age-story, part portrait of an already-bygone era, Anna Wiener’s memoir is a rare first-person glimpse into high-flying, reckless startup culture at a time of unchecked ambition, unregulated surveillance, wild fortune, and accelerating political power. With wit, candor, and heart, Anna deftly charts the tech industry’s shift from self-appointed world savior to democracy-endangering liability, alongside a personal narrative of aspiration, ambivalence, and disillusionment.</p><p>Unsparing and incisive, <i>Uncanny Valley</i> is a cautionary tale, and a revelatory interrogation of a world reckoning with consequences its unwitting designers are only beginning to understand.</p>