One silver lining to 2020: There’s been ample time to read the many excellent books that have come out this year. In a year that continues to find new ways to challenge us, these books have pushed, entertained and educated us as we’ve navigated the socially distant world from inside our homes.
UNCANNY VALLEY
BY ANNA WIENER
Anna Wiener’s Uncanny Valley is ostensibly about the four years she spent working at several unnamed start-ups. But unlike the breathless memoirs written by billionaire CEOs, packed with stale advice about how best to squeeze value out of your employees, Weiner’s book is a stylistic marvel. Wiener weaves her specific experiences into the larger story of the way the tech industry is reshaping society, moving from a social network’s personally alienating features to its democracy-wrecking qualities in the span of a single sentence. It is not a particularly hopeful work, but, like your Twitter feed, you will inhale it nonetheless – and feel a lot less miserable when you’re finished. —GQ EDITORS
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