The author of Silicon Valley satire I Hate the Internet on the evils of social media, and how novelists have failed to tackle itWhen the novel I Hate the Internet came out in the US earlier this year, it had every likelihood of sinking without trace. It was self-published, it was by a young unknown – Jarett Kobek – and its main selling point was naked, gleeful contempt for the devices and technology platforms that are an essential part of all our daily lives. “Nothing says individuality like 500 million consumer electronics built by slaves,” he says at one point. “Welcome to hell.” Hell, for Kobek, a 38-year-old American of Turkish heritage, became daily life in San Francisco, where the novel is set. Along with many of the city’s artists and writers, he found himself driven out by the forces of gentrification, moved to Los Angeles, where he’s now based, set up his own small press, and wrote this book – a scorching satire of how a few hypercapitalist companies in Silicon Valley have come to dominate everything. I Hate the Internet didn’t sink without trace. It found a readership thirsty for its funny, acerbic edge, got a rave review in the New York Times, went to the top of the bestseller charts in Germany and has now been published here by Serpent’s Tail.So, do you actually hate the internet, Jarett?Not particularly. There’s part of it that I find really contemptible. The title is offered like the sneer of a 15-year-old into Twitter, after they’ve just seen a meme of... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
Books in Browsers V demonstrated various efforts by Silicon Valley to help the publishing industry explore new digital opportunities. The post Silicon Valley Through the Prism of Publishing appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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American titles hit the top of the bestseller charts across European markets in July. Diana Gabaldon’s "Written in My Own Heart’s Blood" came in at #1 on Germany’s fiction list. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A desire to make spirituality a more integral part of everyday life combined with the technology that makes that easier would seem a match made in, well, at least Silicon Valley, if not somewhere higher. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Major writers including Arundhati Roy and Neil Gaiman condemn 'egregious' suppression of Wendy Doniger's book under pressure from Hindu nationalistsMajor authors from Arundhati Roy to William Dalrymple and Neil Gaiman have condemned Penguin's controversial removal of Wendy Doniger's book The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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South of Market is a provocative new photo book that's 30 years of controversy in the making.Facebook, Apple, and Google are making headlines for flooding San Francisco with highly paid laborers, driving up real estate prices while taking over public bus stops to privately shuttle employees out... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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I say we scramble all the private jets in Silicon Valley and get the "Lean In" book star to D.C. to lean on some pols to open the government again, tout de suite! Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2013-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J K Rowling's The Casual Vacancy (Sphere) and her pseudonymous The Cuckoo's Calling (... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thanks to a certain middle-aged former TV producer called Erika James and a little publishing phenomenon called Fifty Shades of Grey, erotica seems to have not so much crept its way into the mainstream, as landed with noisy squawks and a puff of feathers on the bestseller charts. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Every book published each season is its own startup. By adopting some of the principles that drive Silicon Valley, publishers really don't have anything to lose. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books published by Amazon like the Penny Marshall memoir 'My Mother Was Nuts' have not seen strong sales. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The world's most famous playwright was a media theorist, says the co-creator of a new "Tempest" app for iPad, Notre Dame professor Elliott Visconsi. Here he explains how you re-create the bard for the iOS age.Today the lofty Times Literary Supplement--“the leading international forum for... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A few days after Amazon announced that the Steve Jobs biography was its top-selling book of 2011 (combined print and ebook sales), the book debuted on bestseller charts around the world, including the three countries highlighted this month. Steve Jobs was #3 in France and the Netherlands, and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 07/09/2011 - 08:15 Pan Macmillan has acquired a title which has sold, according to the publisher, more than a quarter of a million copies in eight weeks in France and went to number one in the bestseller charts. Editorial director Liz Gough... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Wed, 01/06/2011 - 14:53 James Bond has failed in his latest mission: to top the bestseller charts. Despite a bargain £5 deal at Tesco (75% off the £19.99 r.r.p.), sales of Jeffery Deaver's 007 novel, Carte Blanche (Hodder & Stoughton), were... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Perhaps youve probably heard: Facebook and Google are at war, and Facebooks not afraid to play dirty. Thursdays revelation that the social networking site hired PR firm Burston-Marsteller to plant a negative story about Googles privacy settings raises a number of questions. Like, Who at... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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