Cyberselfish returns!
Last year, I highlighted the work of Paulina Borsook, whose writing in the 1990s and 2000s presciently exposed the anti-government extremist tendencies of Silicon Valley elites. My BlueSky thread went viral and helped lead to a re-publishing deal for Borsook’s masterpiece, Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech.
On Monday, Mother Jones published a profile of Borsook by writer Anna Merlan. From “A Tech Prophet Finally Gets Her Second Coming”:
The first thing to know about Cyberselfish, the chillingly prescient 2000 book about Silicon Valley that its author, Paulina Borsook, says “ruined my life” and caused a 25-year-long “curse” to befall her, is that it’s very, very funny. Cyberselfish, which Borsook cannot stand to name and instead calls “TDB” (short for “that damn book”), is a classic, fish-out-of-water tale of a journalist investigating a strange land. Except, in her case, as a California native, it’s the work of a fish regarding an invasive species that suddenly befouled the tank she’d been swimming in her whole life.
Anna Merlan
I wrote a foreword for the new version of Cyberselfish and will publish it here in the newsletter next month.
We’ll also be doing an online book club to help launch the new paperback, which publishes on September 15. You can buy the ebook or pre-order the paperback here.
Use this Bookshop link to support independent bookstores and this newsletter. Please read the book so we can have a great discussion with Paulina Borsook.
My interview with Inc.
Speaking of books, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy continues to attract strong press attention. We’re six days away from the book’s release!
Sam Blum of Inc. Magazine interviewed me for a piece headlined “This Journalist Says Tech Billionaires Are Trying to Take Over U.S. Democracy. Here’s What He Wants You to Know”:
A few years ago, Gil Durán felt he was working alone. Few people, he explains, would listen to his concerns about a rising tide of authoritarian sympathies shared by some of the tech industry’s most powerful figures.
Now, in his new book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley and the War on Democracy, Durán makes an argument that is hard for many to ignore. As he frames it, the book is both an exposé and a warning about Silicon Valley’s rightwing political drift and the consequences of corporate money in politics. Durán also argues what he believes the U.S. stands to lose if the movement isn’t stopped.
Click here to read the full interview.
We’re almost to publication day! Please pre-order The Nerd Reich book today wherever you buy your books.
You can use this Bookshop link to support independent bookstores (and this newsletter). Or click here for the official Nerd Reich book page for other pre-order options.
