Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
An NPR Best Book of the Year
“Incisive.... The most fun business book I have read this year.... Clearly there will be people who hate this book — which is probably one of the things that makes it such a great read.”
— Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times
“Eye-popping.”
— Vanity Fair
Liar’s Poker meets The Social Network in an irreverent exposé of life inside the tech bubble, from industry provocateur Antonio García Martínez, a former Twitter advisor, Facebook product manager and startup founder/CEO.
The reality is, Silicon Valley capitalism is very simple:
Investors are people with more money than time.
Employees are people with more time than money.
Entrepreneurs are the seductive go-between.
Marketing is like sex: only losers pay for it.
Imagine a chimpanzee rampaging through a datacenter powering everything from Google to Facebook. Infrastructure engineers use a software version of this “chaos monkey” to test online services’ robustness—their ability to survive random failure and correct mistakes before they actually occur. Tech entrepreneurs are society’s chaos monkeys, disruptors testing and transforming every aspect of our lives, from transportation (Uber) and lodging (AirBnB) to television (Netflix) and dating (Tinder). One of Silicon Valley’s most audacious chaos monkeys is Antonio García Martínez.
After stints on Wall Street and as CEO of his own startup, García Martínez joined Facebook’s nascent advertising team, turning its users’ data into profit for COO Sheryl Sandberg and chairman and CEO Mark “Zuck” Zuckerberg. Forced out in the wake of an internal product war over the future of the company’s monetization strategy, García Martínez eventually landed at rival Twitter. He also fathered two children with a woman he barely knew, committed lewd acts and brewed illegal beer on the Facebook campus (accidentally flooding Zuckerberg's desk), lived on a sailboat, raced sport cars on the 101, and enthusiastically pursued the life of an overpaid Silicon Valley wastrel.
Now, this gleeful contrarian unravels the chaotic evolution of social media and online marketing and reveals how it is invading our lives and shaping our future. Weighing in on everything from startups and credit derivatives to Big Brother and data tracking, social media monetization and digital “privacy,” García Martínez shares his scathing observations and outrageous antics, taking us on a humorous, subversive tour of the fascinatingly insular tech industry. Chaos Monkeys lays bare the hijinks, trade secrets, and power plays of the visionaries, grunts, sociopaths, opportunists, accidental tourists, and money cowboys who are revolutionizing our world. The question is, will we survive?
Editor's Note
An insider’s hilarious account…
Take a look at how Silicon Valley culture has run amok. What are all the wealthy people doing inside the tech bubble, and if they’re getting away with all that, what could possibly make it burst? Martinez relates his personal antics as a former Facebook and Twitter employee with cutting humor to paint a damning picture of unchecked privilege.
Antonio Garcia Martinez
Antonio García Martínez has been an advisor to Twitter, a product manager for Facebook, the CEO/founder of AdGrok (a venture-backed startup acquired by Twitter), and a strategist for Goldman Sachs. He is an Ideas Contributor for WIRED and lives on a forty-foot sailboat on the San Francisco Bay.
Related to Chaos Monkeys
Related ebooks
Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Facebook: The 10 Challenges That Defined the Company that's Disrupting the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mark Zuckerberg Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFear of Missing Out: Practical Decision-Making in a World of Overwhelming Choice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Powerhouse Voices: Amazing Experiences on Clubhouse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cybersecurity Playbook: How Every Leader and Employee Can Contribute to a Culture of Security Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Soul of Startups: The Untold Stories of How Founders Affect Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlind Ambition: How to Go from Victim to Visionary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Safe Place Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Emergence of Charismatic Business Leadership Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCreate Brand Attraction: A New Strategy That Uses the Laws of Human Attraction to Decode Marketing in a Digital and Social Media Age Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDissecting the Hack: The F0rb1dd3n Network, Revised Edition: The F0rb1dd3n Network Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5F.O.R.G.E.D.: Six Practices of Great Leaders in Volatile Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGet Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Look Before You Lean: How a Lean Transformation Goes Bad--A Cautionary Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Selfie Generation: How Our Self-Images Are Changing Our Notions of Privacy, Sex, Consent, and Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Paradox Planet: Creating Brand Experiences for the Age of I Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fall of the Alphas: The New Beta Way to Connect, Collaborate, Influence---and Lead Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCorporate Disasters: Management and Leadership Failures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Death of The Copier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCreative Courage: Leveraging Imagination, Collaboration, and Innovation to Create Success Beyond Your Wildest Dreams Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCybersecurity Program Development for Business: The Essential Planning Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMob Rule Learning: Camps, Unconferences, and Trashing the Talking Head Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Behind the Mask of Facebook: A Whistleblower's Shocking Story of Big Tech Bias and Censorship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Modern Guide to Public Relations: Including: Content Marketing, SEO, Social Media & PR Best Practices Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before I Was CEO: Life Stories and Lessons from Leaders Before They Reached the Top Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Technology & Engineering For You
The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Night to Remember: The Sinking of the Titanic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Systems Thinker: Essential Thinking Skills For Solving Problems, Managing Chaos, Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power in Practice: The 3 Most Powerful Laws & The 4 Indispensable Power Principles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of Maker Skills: Tools & Techniques for Building Great Tech Projects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Right Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/580/20 Principle: The Secret to Working Less and Making More Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Broken Money: Why Our Financial System is Failing Us and How We Can Make it Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Disappear and Live Off the Grid: A CIA Insider's Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fast Track to Your Technician Class Ham Radio License: For Exams July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2026 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5U.S. Marine Close Combat Fighting Handbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Total Inventor's Manual: Transform Your Idea into a Top-Selling Product Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The CIA Lockpicking Manual Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The ChatGPT Millionaire Handbook: Make Money Online With the Power of AI Technology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Night Lives On: The Untold Stories and Secrets Behind the Sinking of the "Unsinkable" Ship—Titanic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No Nonsense Technician Class License Study Guide: for Tests Given Between July 2018 and June 2022 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Logic Pro X For Dummies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Chaos Monkeys
128 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A book about some interesting career choices. Martinez started off at Goldman Sachs on the East Coast. He moved West and worked in Silicon Valley. Most of the drama in his book centered around his efforts with two other men to start up a software business. He offered some interesting anecdotes about various venture capitalists and investors including Chris Sacca. it was a long book – – I skipped around sections that did not interest me. Martinez's personal life was a bit interesting – – he had two children with a woman nicknamed BritishTrader. He also offered some interesting insights into his stint at Facebook – – especially as it relates to its culture.
I've read a couple books on working in Silicon Valley. My personality and energies would never fit in with a Silicon Valley business--- sounds like working within a slave camp. I also would never have had the balls to try to start a business and beg for money. I give Martinez a lot of credit for how he pulled off starting his company.
I agree with some reviewers who thought the book could have been shorter and more condensed. Like I said, I skipped a lot of the book. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Edge of my seat the whole time! life changing experience. To get a handle of how the front running tech has/is shaping our modern world feels like a rollercoaster. I had no idea. just when you think its over and done with, the ride takes another turn. Im inspired and equally awed, and feel for Antonio.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Iwant to be one of the most members of the pnp
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good tech insight from a cultivated writer; enjoyed his writing style that incorporated a lot of non-tech references
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good book too facebook focussed and less on the valley ecosystem.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5R rated, but very readable.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A well-written book by a player, not just an observer. It is a real-world equivalent of the TV comedic mockumentary, "Silicon Valley" . There are a few tinges of self-aggrandisement, but this does not detract from a compelling and timely story well told.