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Comment by pdq | Hacker News Reader

I'm in the middle of Chaos Monkeys, and am enjoying the author's excellent prose, while walking through the sausage factory of startups. There's also some interesting YC insights, as the author's startup went through it.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Monkeys-Obscene-Fortune-Failure...

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I just read this recently, and the gonzo account of working in tech was very well done. I just wish the writing wasn't so boorish in parts. It seemed like the author felt the need to exaggerate some of the already ridiculous at face value tales of working in ad-tech and at Facebook. All of the crude metaphors and comparisons throughout the book didn't add much for me, but his story was interesting enough to keep me going.

I finished this recently and liked it as well. My "policy" is to read every technology company related memoir or corporate history that I can get my hands on, and I found this one more interesting than most as a narrative.

I also like these. just read the facebook and twitter ones. which did you also find and like?

posted a list on sibling comment

Neat "policy". Also curious about your favorites. Any you can recommend?

Sure, here are my top picks:

Interesting Story

- Soul of a new machine

- Hackers by Levy

- Masters of Doom

Lots of interesting information, not so compelling as a narrative:

- Open: How Compaq Ended IBM's PC Domination

- Elon Musk (bio by Vance)

- Softwar (Larry Ellison)

Related to tech, but not really tech:

- The Decipherment of Linear B

- Oglivy on Adviertising

- The Great Beanie Baby Bubble

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