by Mike Isaac ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019
A page-turning, noteworthy book that adds to the growing library exposing Silicon Valley’s not-so-glamorous underbelly.
A gripping journalistic drama that reveals the details of Uber’s meteoric rise and precipitous fall.
As a Gerald Loeb Award–winning technology reporter for the New York Times, first-time author Isaac has a front-row seat to Silicon Valley’s hotshot companies and founders. In the early 2010s, that meant covering the “unicorn of unicorns” (startups valued at $1 billion or more), Uber, and its founder, Travis Kalanick. As the author clearly shows, the startup worked quickly, subversively winding its way into major cities (even internationally) and breaking dozens of local regulations en route. However, at the same time, the company’s value skyrocketed as it continued to accept massive amounts of funding from several major Silicon Valley funders. Through hundreds of interviews, Isaac pulls back the curtain on the appallingly destructive and misogynistic “bro” culture that was lurking in the shadows. Kalanick was indeed a Wizard of Oz–like character—a magical tech founder who could do no wrong—but he was ultimately revealed as a troubled and deeply flawed leader. It’s nearly impossible not to compare this book to last year’s superb Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou, which told the story of Elizabeth Holmes and the now-defunct biotech startup Theranos. The difference here is that Uber was a wildly successful and entirely real company. Like Holmes, Kalanick was slowly found out, leading to Uber’s disastrous 2017, which Isaac calls one of the single most destructive years for a corporation in American history. The book is not only an indictment of Uber itself, but of Silicon Valley’s founder-worship of the early and mid-2010s, during which those with that holy title were often “treated as Platonic philosopher kings.” It will force readers to reconsider their use of Uber and other ride-sharing companies.
A page-turning, noteworthy book that adds to the growing library exposing Silicon Valley’s not-so-glamorous underbelly.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-39-365224-6
Page Count: 408
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2019
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by Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 2019
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
by Enrico Moretti ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2012
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's...
A fresh, provocative analysis of the debate on education and employment.
Up-and-coming economist Moretti (Economics/Univ. of California, Berkeley) takes issue with the “[w]idespread misconception…that the problem of inequality in the United States is all about the gap between the top one percent and the remaining 99 percent.” The most important aspect of inequality today, he writes, is the widening gap between the 45 million workers with college degrees and the 80 million without—a difference he claims affects every area of peoples' lives. The college-educated part of the population underpins the growth of America's economy of innovation in life sciences, information technology, media and other areas of globally leading research work. Moretti studies the relationship among geographic concentration, innovation and workplace education levels to identify the direct and indirect benefits. He shows that this clustering favors the promotion of self-feeding processes of growth, directly affecting wage levels, both in the innovative industries as well as the sectors that service them. Indirect benefits also accrue from knowledge and other spillovers, which accompany clustering in innovation hubs. Moretti presents research-based evidence supporting his view that the public and private economic benefits of education and research are such that increased federal subsidies would more than pay for themselves. The author fears the development of geographic segregation and Balkanization along education lines if these issues of long-term economic benefits are left inadequately addressed.
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's more profound problems.Pub Date: May 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-75011-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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