Microserfs | 
|  | | | Title: | Microserfs | | Author: | Douglas Coupland | | Publisher: | Harper Perennial | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 19 June, 1996 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0060987049 / 9780060987046 | | List Price: | $14.00 | | You Save: | $2.10 | | Amazon Price: | $11.90 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Narrated in the form of a Powerbook entry by Dan Underwood, a computer programmer for Microsoft, this state-of-the-art novel about life in the '90s follows the adventures of six code-crunching computer whizzes. Known as "microserfs," they spend upward of 16 hours a day "coding" (writing software) as they eat "flat" foods (such as Kraft singles, which can be passed underneath closed doors) and fearfully scan the company email to see what the great Bill might be thinking and whether he is going to "flame" one of them. Seizing the chance to be innovators instead of cogs in the Microsoft machine, this intrepid bunch strike out on their own to form a high-tech start-up company named Oop! in Silicon Valley. Living together in a sort of digital flophouse --"Our House of Wayward Mobility" -- they desperately try to cultivate well-rounded lives and find love amid the dislocated, subhuman whir and buzz of their computer-driven world. Funny, illuminating and ultimately touching, Microserfs is the story of one generation's very strange and claustrophobic coming of age.
Amazon.com Review
Microserfs is not about Microsoft--it's about programmers who are searching for lives. A hilarious but frighteningly real look at geek life in the '90's, Coupland's book manifests a peculiar sense of how technology affects the human race and how it will continue to affect all of us. Microserfs is the hilarious journal of Dan, an ex-Microsoft programmer who, with his coder comrades, is on a quest to find purpose in life. This isn't just fodder for techies. The thoughts and fears of the not-so-stereotypical characters are easy for any of us to relate to, and their witty conversations and quirky view of the world make this a surprisingly thought-provoking book. " ... just think about the way high-tech cultures purposefully protract out the adolescence of their employees well into their late 20s, if not their early 30s," muses one programmer. "I mean, all those Nerf toys and free beverages! And the way tech firms won't even call work 'the office,' but instead, 'the campus.' It's sick and evil."
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Customer Reviews:
• Quick Delivery 21 April, 2008
Product arrived in excellent condition and was delivered within a week's time, although I chose standard delivery.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1051FDYMLA4X0
• Half A Great Book 19 January, 2008
I thought that the first half of this book was brilliant - it was funny, insightful and fast paced. However, the second half was much less fun as the focus moved away from the work the characters obsess over and focused on the relationships they don't put enough time into. Overall, I enjoyed the book but wished that the last 100 pages had been compressed into about 50.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A19A7DS1RY7DJ9
• For Software Developers/not For Software Developers 02 February, 2008
If Microserfs were a Jeopardy contestant, its dream board would be:
* Nerd vs. Geek
* Literary Encryption Techniques
* Esoteric Double Entendres
* Silicon Valley: Then & Now
* Material and/or Mental
* The Body Sucks?
NOTE TO SELF: Do not read this book again as long as I'm still working in software.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1L94WV25FV2QT
• `we Assume That Tomorrow Is Another World' 12 June, 2008
I first read this novel in 1996 just after it was published. Twelve years later and in a new century, it is disturbing to read how much of this is still relatively realistic. It is almost as though the organisational arrangements and lifestyles described have been adopted both as a management and lifestyle model and transplanted, at least in part, around the world.
This book was funny in 1996 when it seemed in part a satirical comment on the new world of geeks and technology. Now it seems more ironic. Many of those for whom this was an accurate depiction of life in the 1990s are still caught in this time warp. The tragedy is that so many others have joined them.
If you have not already read this novel and wondered about the design of a working world in which human interaction through technology has largely replaced direct human interaction: the time is right. After all, in reading this review you are relying on the technology developed by geeks and nerds.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1DYMH30TSRONY
• A Ggod Read 16 October, 2008
A great way to spend an afternoon. As a past resident of Silicon Valley is brought back fond memories. Read and Enjoy
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2SOUVJZI7E8WR
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