Reviews

Happy at Any Cost: The Revolutionary Vision and Fatal Quest of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh by Kirsten Grind, Katherine Sayre

gabichan's review

dark informative sad slow-paced

3.5

niniane's review

4.0

I met Tony once, years ago. The news of his death in 2020 was surprising and sad. This book describes how his mental state declined after he started taking ketamine.

Before the pandemic, he was already feeling immense pressure. Amazon gave Zappos deadlines to achieve growth metrics and Tony reduced his sleeping to 4 hours per night in order to brainstorm new business ideas.

When the pandemic started, Tony's longtime friends were quarantining. He became surrounded by new friends who were willing to exploit him and keep him on more drugs even as the drugs led to psychotic episodes.

It seems like Tony, his family, and his longtime friends were all loving and well-intentioned. But the last year was tragic, even before the pandemic started.

mhjenny's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

I didn't expect the book to be so touching. Tony's descent into madness and the aspects of silicon valley culture that enabled is on display very detailed and gives the book so much more punch.

bmore_brooke's review

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

3.0

conorsweetman's review

4.0

A unique look at the descent from strange optimism to the hellishly untethered.

jeremyanderberg's review

3.0

The story kept me going, but I didn't love the structure or somewhat repetitive writing. The lens into mental health, especially how it relates to CEOs and those in tech, was really insightful and enjoyable though. The endless pursuit of happiness isn't all it's cracked up to be.

kathfennell's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

cooker3's review against another edition

informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

megabooks's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

3.75