Play Book Tag discussion

The Every by Dave Eggers - 4.5* - My Review

This book is a follow-up to The Circle, where two huge companies have merged and become The Every, which monopolizes social media, search engines, and e-commerce. Its campus is on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. Delaney Wells has plans to take the company down after it put her parents out of business. She applies for a job at The Every with a goal of introducing concepts and products that would create a public outcry. Delaney’s friend, Wes, is a programmer who feels the same way and helps Delaney design a product that will appeal to the company and get her hired.

This book is a both speculative fiction and satire. It takes current tech trends to extremes. It is not a comedy by any means, but contains many humorous scenes, as the outlandish ideas gain support. Rather than taking the company down, the public loves these products. The obvious themes are privacy (and how willing we are to give it up), big data, and use of algorithms to drive behavior.

I found this book creative, entertaining, and thought-provoking. It is a warning not to let our much- loved tech monster get out of hand. The downsides are few. It is rather lengthy, and the ending did quite live up to the rest of the book. It is a great example of exaggeration for effect. The author has created a dystopian world that seems all too real. I hope the real tech companies are not taking notes.

4.5

Great review, Joy. It sounds very interesting. Unfortunately, I think Dystopia is now. I'm following what is going on with Twitter since Elon Musk has taken it over. In just a short time, hate speech and all of its nastiness has exploded. :(

Thanks, Holly. I am staying far away from social media these days. There's just too much nastiness out there for me.

I completely understand. I am seldom on Facebook these days and have never used Twitter. I brought up Twitter, as it's been in the news.

I deleted my Facebook account and have never been on Twitter. I am not one that can handle all the horrible things people say to one another. Call me an idealist, but I just don't understand why we can't all at least try to get along.

My son filled me in on the whole Elon Musk/Twitter debacle, so I am not surprised it's getting out of hand again.