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Chaos Monkeys
- Inside the Silicon Valley Money Machine
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
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Chaos Monkeys
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Summary
An adrenaline-fuelled exposé of life inside the tech bubble, Chaos Monkeys lays bare the secrets, power plays and lifestyle excesses of the visionaries, grunts, sociopaths, opportunists and money cowboys who are revolutionising our world. Written by startup CEO and industry provocateur Antonio García Martínez, this is Liar's Poker meets The Social Network.
Computer engineers use 'chaos monkey' software to wreak havoc and test system robustness. Similarly, tech entrepreneurs like Antonio García Martínez are society's chaos monkeys - their innovations disrupt every aspect of our lives, from transportation (Uber) and holidays (Airbnb) to television (Netflix) and dating (Tinder) - all in search of the perfect business miracle.
Describing himself as 'high strung, fast talking, and wired on a combination of caffeine, fear, and greed at all times', García Martínez left Wall Street to make his fortune in Silicon Valley, becoming CEO of his own start-up before bailing and being poached by Facebook's nascent advertising team. Here he turned users' data into profit for COO Sheryl Sandberg and chairman and CEO Mark 'Zuck' Zuckerberg.
Forced out of Facebook in the wake of a bitter internal product war, García Martínez took his unique brand of entrepreneurial hyperactivity to rivals Twitter. Along the way he got into a lot of trouble with a lot of people, brewed illegal beer on the Facebook campus (accidentally flooding Zuckerberg's desk), lived on a yacht, raced sport cars on the highway, and enthusiastically pursued the lifestyle of an overpaid Silicon Valley mercenary.
In Chaos Monkeys he tells you how - and how not - to make a fortune through start-ups and digital marketing. Highly entertaining and always offering genuine insight, García Martínez unravels the chaotic evolution of social media and online marketing. From start-ups and credit derivatives to Big Brother and data tracking, social media monetisation and digital 'privacy', he shares both his scathing observations and outrageous antics, taking us on a subversive and very funny tour of the fascinatingly insular and unbelievably wealthy tech industry.
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What listeners say about Chaos Monkeys
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- phil chadwick
- 11-08-16
Honest and self-critical view of silicon valley
Loved this frank, sceptical review. Real change from the usual evangelical writing about Silicon Valley
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Oblomov
- 01-02-18
brilliant book and a fantastic narrator
really enjoyed this book - very insightful book into the ins and outs of silicon valley
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sunil Kolla
- 06-06-19
Narration is quite fast for me and flat
Narration was quite fast and without expressions. The book is really good. Got the inside view and how Silicon Valley works
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Nancy
- 24-05-17
Superb book
A real treat to listen to and very honest. Well worth your time if you want to know about the reality of the bay area.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Leon Kowalski
- 03-02-19
deeply Insightful and entertaining
I could not stop listening to this thoughtful, intelligent, greatly insightful and entertaining saga. The depth of honesty and candour with which the author reveals his life journey elevates this book from simply a high level industry description to an exciting and dramatic, caper filled, story which I found almost painful to put down and am now going to re-play again.
It should be noted that this story is the telling of how ads have come to fund social media. As such, there is no opinion or referencing on the misuse of personal information, the 'hacking' of social media accounts, abuse or trolling taking place on social media platforms. Instead, a simple missive is given early on, outlining how we do not blame the mail service for delivering junk mail.
As a side note
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At the end of the book is an interview with the author. This chapter serves as a perfect end to the journey on which the reader has just completed. However, in the interview, he claims that Facebook is not interested in a user's personal life and history, incriminating photos, misdemeanours or sexual proclivities. Indeed, he implied the need of a govt sized team to even find such things. I wonder what he'd say to Ralph Northam, Virginia Governor at time of this review, on this matter if he were asked.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Gez O'Brien
- 08-05-17
Great insight and stories. A good listen
A 15 hour book to listening is as long as I've tried, but I'm glad I did. Wonderfully entreating funny and tragic this is s must read for the tech addicted and developers alike.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ross
- 27-06-21
Read the whole book
The modern puritans at Apple that got the author fired from his new job at Apple must not have read beyond the first few chapters. They could have found many more excuses if they'd read further. The book is an entertaining no BS insight into the startup process in silicon valley.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 27-08-17
The insider version of a section of silicon vally, detailed, and projectively written
A good read for the person working in a start up. Quite lengthy. Recommended for anyone in advertising.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Karl
- 13-07-17
Excellent narration and very entertaining listen.
Very easy to listen to. Never a dull moment. Funny and entertaining and felt like I actually learned a few things too!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- padric
- 01-11-20
Loved it.
great story, great writing, great insight. I've read it twice. it has launched me reading more about start ups
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