'Hatching Twitter' by Nick Bilton

Hatching Twitter, Nick Bilton (4)

If you enjoyed ‘The Social Network’, you’ll love this book. It describes the process and people who founded Twitter. As with Facebook, ‘who’ actually founded ‘what’ is more than a tad controversial. I thought Mr. Bilton did a good job being objective – doling out blame and credit equally. As with most start-ups, the main players’ roles and contributions were very dynamic. He focuses on the four who he credits for founding the company and who then proceeded to play musical chairs with the leadership roles, each time leaving someone out in the cold, chair-less.  It is quite shocking to find out how poorly the company was prepared for the fever it produced, quite literally crashing on a daily basis under the weight of new users. The most interesting discovery for me was that the entire concept of Twitter was basically developed by a small group of people who wanted to feel less lonely, to ‘connect to the world through their computer’. Ironic, for what is considered to be a cog in today’s social media, it began as a group of introverts looking for a way to communicate without actually being social (i.e. talking directly with people). Sadly this book seems to be saying that the success of Twitter is not due to excellence in business or technology, but the luck of a concept that appealed to the loneliness and angst of teenagers and certain celebrities (oddly similar in their lack of confidence). This book is particularly timely given the recent Twitter IPO. I confess, immediately after finishing it, I jumped onto my computer to see who is currently on the Board and Management team. Not surprising, there were already some changes. This book is a cautionary tale of the crazy speed of these businesses, even post-bubble.

'Sisterland' by Curtis Sittenfeld

Sisterland, Curtis Sittenfeld (2)

While I enjoyed the beginning of this book, I was very disappointed at the climax. I felt the author had made the main character do something not credible based on her actions thus far. It was a relatively bad thing and normally I would assume that my affection for the character was driving my feelings of betrayal, but in this case I didn’t particularly like the character. The story is about identical twin sisters who live in St. Louis. They share an ability of ESP or ‘sense’, as they call it. One sister, the free spirit, embraces this and eventually makes it her vocation. The other, the practical voice of the novel, dislikes being different and worked over the years to diminish her capability. I enjoyed the concept of the sisters taking different paths and seeing how their lives were affected by their decisions. The family dynamics described in this book are painful, but rang true. The main plot of the story revolves around a prediction of an earthquake by the bohemian sister and how it affects both women and their families. I think the author tried to save the surprise by not giving hints to the protagonist’s climatic actions, but by not allowing for that possibility, the decision/action was not credible to me as the reader.

'Prodigy' by Marie Lu

Prodigy, Marie Lu (3.5)

‘Prodigy’ is the follow-up book to ‘Legend’ (reviewed June 13, 2013), the YA story that introduced two strong characters, Day and June. In this chapter of their story they join the Patriots and work together to take revenge on the Republic who took both their families from them. I liked this book as much as the first, though it had some of the same problems. The moony romance of the two main characters had the completely predictable third parties thrown in to highlight their insecurities. Luckily, what we learn about the rest of the world is more interesting and complicated. We find out how the Republic came to be and what drove the trials, the tests taken by youth to determine who is fit for military duty. Somewhat predictably nothing is as they assumed outside of the Republic, but I think the story was stronger for the good and bad that they find. The book has an ending, but sets up nicely for the just released third book.

'Skinner' by Charlie Huston

Skinner, Charlie Huston (3)

This book was described as a mix between John Le Carre and Neal Stephenson. That’s heady company – though I can see the intent of the comment. The story has the spy angst of Le Carre, with the cyber knowledge and tools of Stephenson. My biggest problem with the book is that it contains relatively complicated passages. Normally something I enjoy, but in this case the complications at the beginning kept me from engaging completely. It was as if Huston wanted to show his cleverness by several flows of buzzword diarrhea. Then, once I got into the story and the pace picked up, I found myself re-reading and stumbling over paragraphs in my haste to finish a chapter. I liked the idea of a spy who has to protect his ‘asset’, in this case a robotics specialist who can also see patterns in the big picture, against all threats. Of course the spy is very broken (his nickname ‘Skinner’ is due to being a real science experiment of his autistic parents by being kept in a BJ Skinner-like box till he was 12 years old), which allows him to do all the bad stuff spies are supposed to do. Once I got into the story and tried to exhibit the patience to read through the complicated bits, I enjoyed the ride.

'Beautiful Ruins' by Jess Walter

Beautiful Ruins, Jess Walter (3)

There were many things about this book that I liked, but something was missing. The story jumps between several locations and characters – all different and interesting. My problem may be with how jarring it was to go from one to another, as if written by alternating authors. Normally, I would applaud Mr. Walter for such a device, but in this case I found it rather annoying. The story starts in a small coastal town of Italy during the early 60’s, when ‘Cleopatra’ was being filmed nearby. A young actress comes to the only hotel, run by a young Italian man dreaming of drawing more tourists to the sleepy town. She was working on the film, but is dying of cancer and has come to meet someone before going to Switzerland for an operation. The story then jumps to present day Hollywood to follow a production assistant with her very annoying producer boss. Multiple characters interact in Italy and are followed to present day. The book had a good mixture of new Hollywood, old Hollywood and Italian travelogue. The wrap-up of characters (how do they all meet again in present day?) felt a bit forced and trite, though it did answer all questions of the mystery that unfolded throughout the book.

'Wool' by Hugh Howey

Wool, Hugh Howey (4)

Hugh Howey is a hero to all self-published authors. What began as a series of self-published short stories became a NYT best seller due to great word of mouth reviews. The book (make sure to get the one with all 5 sections together) deserves the praise – interesting story, fast paced writing style, and somewhat new concepts for a dystopian future. I say ‘somewhat’ as I found it reminded me of ‘City of Ember’, though since it’s targeted for adults ‘Wool’ is more well rounded. The society of the book is completely contained in a 130+ floor silo, buried underground. We don’t know why all of society is in this structure – but the clues are there from the start. As one can imagine- if you know you are buried underground, the view aboveground becomes very important. Citizens who break the law are sent ‘out’ to clean the lenses that allow everyone to see the devastated land above. Unfortunately, the suits they wear to do the cleaning are not robust enough to withstand the elements and the lawbreakers also die outside. In addition to the mystery surrounding this odd crime deterrent, Mr. Howey touches on many other issues with this society such as the hierarchy of those who live on the higher floors, versus those mid-level and those ‘down deep’; and the power of various professions – IT versus Mechanical. While some of the clues seem far too obvious (i.e. how come they couldn’t build a decent suit that allows people to clean the lenses and return to the silo?), there are plenty of surprises to enjoy. It did not surprise me to find out that Ridley Scott has already optioned this book for a film.