anaulin@bookwyrm.social reviewed Palo Alto by Malcolm Harris
Some interesting tidbits, but mostly a try-hard slog through bloated prose
2 stars
I learned some new things about the history of Silicon Valley from this book. The most valuable sections were at the beginning of the book, which talk about the earlier history of the founding of Palo Alto and Stanford, and its connection to the "robber barons" of that time.
Once we got into the 60s and later, much of the content I was aware of, and for some of the bits I already knew about, I felt like Harris is trying a bit too hard to stretch things to fit his narrative. That in itself is annoying enough, but it also made me more skeptical about the parts of the history I'm not as familiar with.
The writing is below-average. Harris tries hard for evocative "creative non-fiction" style prose and pretty much never hits his mark. This book very badly needed an editor.
I only made it to the end …
I learned some new things about the history of Silicon Valley from this book. The most valuable sections were at the beginning of the book, which talk about the earlier history of the founding of Palo Alto and Stanford, and its connection to the "robber barons" of that time.
Once we got into the 60s and later, much of the content I was aware of, and for some of the bits I already knew about, I felt like Harris is trying a bit too hard to stretch things to fit his narrative. That in itself is annoying enough, but it also made me more skeptical about the parts of the history I'm not as familiar with.
The writing is below-average. Harris tries hard for evocative "creative non-fiction" style prose and pretty much never hits his mark. This book very badly needed an editor.
I only made it to the end because I switched half-way to an audiobook version, so I was able to listen while doing chores or crafting, saving the book from feeling like a waste of time.