Product Description

From the acclaimed author of Hey Nostradamus! comes a wonderful comic novel with 'more one-liners than a decade of Woody Allen films' (Guardian), about the scramble for love and success in a brave new world! Bill is wise. Bill is kind. Bill is benevolent. Bill, Be My Friend! Please! At computer giant Microsoft, Dan, Susan, Abe, Todd and Bug are struggling to get a life. The job may be super cool, the pay may be astronomical, but they're heading nowhere, and however hard they work, however many shares they earn, they're never going to be as rich as Bill. And besides, with all the hours they're putting in, their best relationships are on e-mail. Something's got to give!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14133 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

Geek novel that is very readable
Although written in 1995, the book is very readable and not dated even after a decade. The book is a tale of a communal house of Microsoft coders who all want more that the work/sleep/work routine. They join a start up software company aimed at making a software Lego modelling program. Slowly their real lives develop. Plenty of non-tech humour as well as a few computer jokes. Written as though it is a diary some parts are moving which means the author managed to reel you into his imaginary world enough that you care about the characters. It is that good it makes me want to read his other books.

Techies of the world unite
Despite been a bit dated this book is still a classic, a very funny and almost poignant look at the tech industry. As a geek its very easy to relate to Dan and the others living the techy dream. Every geeky bloke (like myself) will fall in love with Karla the coolest geek girl ever!

Fun book
I really enjoyed this book and was surprised to find that it hadn't really dated (except of course, it was written back in the days when option grants really were worth money and didn't just leave you marooned for years with worthless underwater options). Anyway I loved the eccentricity of the characters: the fads for "flat" foods, the long hours work, the familiar, god-like worship of the CEO (I've worked in at least one company with a similar mentality), and the emerging angst from the emptiness of it all.