A tech love-hate story

During an interview early on in his career with journalists Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, started to sweat profusely when questioned on the issue of privacy and "instant personalisation".

- SONA MANIAR

Noticing his obvious discomfort, Ms Swisher suggested he take off his warm hoodie to cool down. An observer may think this was considerate advice but here comes the actual admission: Offering this tip was not "entirely altruistic". Ms Swisher did not want to smack Mr Zuckerberg's baby face back to life in the event that he fainted on stage.

This incident and frank admission come from the Burn Book written by Ms Swisher. It is a memoir in which she chronicles her time covering the tech industry in Silicon Valley since its early days in the 1990s. The author has firsthand experience in dealing with tech titans, and in many instances, right from the time when they were young, eager entrepreneurs and their startups were fledglings. At the outset, she acknowledges that "I know you came for stories about the tech billionaires like Elon and Mark and Sheryl and Peter and Jeff and Steve and Tim." She does not disappoint. Through revealing observations, anecdotes, and email exchanges, Ms Swisher offers the reader vivid character sketches of some of the biggest tech moguls who now dominate the digital revolution.