Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Wiener

Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Wiener

I devoured this book in about a day. It was a very cathartic read. I’ve never met Anna, but we know some of the same people, and it turns out I even worked in an office two floors above her at one point. It’s weird to have what feels like shared memories with someone you’ve never met.

There’s perhaps too much self-loathing and negativity for me to recommend this to anyone who hasn’t lived in SF and/or worked in tech, but Anna’s criticisms are all spot on. The late-00s/early-10s felt like a special time in tech, and this memoir really captures what it was like, albeit in a deeply cynical way.