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A review by laurieb755
Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher
3.0
Kara Swisher is quite enjoyable to read and even more enjoyable to watch and listen to in this interview with Laurene Powell Jobs that took place in March 2024 at Politics & Prose. Swisher is wry, witty, insightful, experienced, determined, spunky and, as her book makes clear, a journalist who held (and still holds) herself to factual reporting except for when she was writing opinion pieces, in which case facts support her opinions.
Her goal has been to inform all of us, including the people in the tech world, and cajole us into thinking about the ramifications of the tech that is pervasive in our lives. This tech hasn't sprung out of nowhere; it was created by people, and Burn Book focuses on the people who got the proverbial ball rolling.
My career teaching children and adults how to usefully and creatively use computers and technology began in September 1982; Kara Swisher's career began in 1994 and focused on the burgeoning Internet, some of the tools created to populate that virtual space, and the people responsible for creating those tools. She has spent over 30 years in this field and has, with astonishing regularity, gotten it 'right' with both her accuracy and prescience, though she does own up when she has gotten it 'wrong.'
Not one to rest on her laurels, Swisher is also a perennial entrepreneur. Some of her endeavors have included, in no particular order: writing for four prominent newspapers or magazines; running several companies and conferences with Walt Mossberg; podcasting. It is also important to note that part of Kara's studies involved information, misinformation and disinformation, in particular propaganda and the Holocaust.
I enjoyed this book for the insider's walk down my memory lane, for Swisher's forthrightness and fearlessness, and for the little bit of solace I took that maybe someone was looking out for us. Well, that last bit is just hopeful wishing but it does provide a modicum of comfort.
Her goal has been to inform all of us, including the people in the tech world, and cajole us into thinking about the ramifications of the tech that is pervasive in our lives. This tech hasn't sprung out of nowhere; it was created by people, and Burn Book focuses on the people who got the proverbial ball rolling.
My career teaching children and adults how to usefully and creatively use computers and technology began in September 1982; Kara Swisher's career began in 1994 and focused on the burgeoning Internet, some of the tools created to populate that virtual space, and the people responsible for creating those tools. She has spent over 30 years in this field and has, with astonishing regularity, gotten it 'right' with both her accuracy and prescience, though she does own up when she has gotten it 'wrong.'
Not one to rest on her laurels, Swisher is also a perennial entrepreneur. Some of her endeavors have included, in no particular order: writing for four prominent newspapers or magazines; running several companies and conferences with Walt Mossberg; podcasting. It is also important to note that part of Kara's studies involved information, misinformation and disinformation, in particular propaganda and the Holocaust.
I enjoyed this book for the insider's walk down my memory lane, for Swisher's forthrightness and fearlessness, and for the little bit of solace I took that maybe someone was looking out for us. Well, that last bit is just hopeful wishing but it does provide a modicum of comfort.