888: Kara Swisher’s Memoir was a good time...
In this episode, I read about a pioneer in tech journalism…
Friends, friends, friends.
Welcome back to Teatime Reading where there are books in progress.
For the longest time, I have been a tech aficionado and no matter the different websites and blogs I turn to, I have always known that two names in the industry were head and shoulders above the rest.
Walt Mossberg
Kara Swisher
I remember seeing their interviews at the All Things Digital conference when I was growing up. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and other tech luminaries would grace the stage. As a fan of The Verge and its subsequent Vergecast, I became more familiar with Mossberg than Swisher, but when I learned that the latter had a new memoir titled Burn Book, I became curious.
It was fascinating for me to learn how challenging being a journalist can be, especially when your specific industry is so young. The differences between being a tech reporter and any other sort of journalist was striking.
It was really interesting to see how Swisher was able to cultivate relationships at all levels of Silicon Valley society, and it was fascinating to see the thick skin and detachment that was required in order to deal with the weirdness that was tech CEOs.
When someone is reporting on a industry or area of life like entertainment, I’d imagine that it would lead to interesting opinions on your subjects. This book was enhanced even more, because of her takes on Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and more.
Burn Book also was surprisingly focused on some of the challenges surrounding tech and AI in particular. The obscene wealth and the opulent lifestyles of these executives wasn’t a subject that I was expecting Swisher to discuss, but I was pleasantly surprised.
My only disappointment is that this book felt relatively superficial in those specific critiques. It’s not a requirement for a memoir to be hard-hitting muckraking content, but this felt more like a light memoir with some overarching concerns for the future of AI and social media going into the future.
If you enjoy memoirs from interesting people, Burn Book is a fun read.
Until next time, keep your bookmarks close.
Peace, Love, Pages.
Note: As Always, Affiliate Links are here for your convenience at no cost to you. All reading was at my own expense.