Burn Book

A Tech Love Story

By: Kara Swisher

Narrated by: Kara Swisher

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Instant New York Times Bestseller

From award-winning journalist Kara Swisher comes a witty, scathing, but fair accounting of the tech industry and its founders who wanted to change the world but broke it instead.

“Swisher, the bad-ass journalist and OG chronicler of Silicon Valley…takes no prisoners in this highly readable look at the evolution of the digital world…Bawdy, brash, and compulsively thought-provoking, just like its author, Burn Book sizzles” (Booklist, starred review).

Part memoir, part history, Burn Book is a necessary chronicle of tech’s most powerful players. From “the queen of all media” (Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal), this is the inside story we’ve all been waiting for about modern Silicon Valley and the biggest boom in wealth creation in the history of the world.

When tech titans crowed that they would “move fast and break things,” Kara Swisher was moving faster and breaking news. While covering the explosion of the digital sector in the early 1990s, she developed a long track record of digging up and reporting the facts about this new world order. Her consistent scoops drove one CEO to accuse her of “listening in the heating ducts” and prompted Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg to once observe: “It is a constant joke in the Valley when people write memos for them to say, ‘I hope Kara never sees this.’”

While still in college, Swisher got her start at The Washington Post, where she became one of the few people in journalism interested in covering the nascent Internet. She went on to work for The Wall Street Journal, joining with Walt Mossberg to start the groundbreaking D: All Things Digital conference, as well as pioneering tech news sites.

Swisher has interviewed everyone who matters in tech over three decades, right when they presided over an explosion of world-changing innovation that has both helped and hurt our world. Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, Bob Iger, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Meg Whitman, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, and Mark Zuckerberg are just a few whom Swisher made sweat—figuratively and, in Zuckerberg’s case, literally.

Despite the damage she chronicles, Swisher remains optimistic about tech’s potential to help solve problems and not just create them. She calls upon the industry to make better, more thoughtful choices, even as a new set of powerful AI tools are poised to change the world yet again. At its heart, this book is a love story to, for, and about tech from someone who knows it better than anyone.

©2024 Kara Swisher (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Honesty

I’ve been listening to and following Kara Swisher for about 5 years now. I’m very impressed by her blunt honesty and directness. Excellent story, loved her reading.

Great story, not well voiced

Do yourself a favor and read the book yourself. Terrific information and great stories. The best part of the book is the example Kara Swisher sets in betting on herself, and urging the reader to make the most of their time as well. I was very surprised, however, what a poor narrator she makes. I really enjoy her podcasts assumed this would be a fun listen. Instead, it sounds like she’s rushing to squeeze it in between meetings while nursing a sore throat. Maybe the engineers were too intimidated to tell her? Her fine writing, reporting, and storytelling deserves better narration.

As a programmer starting out in the late eighties I can tell She knows her stuff Swisher is a good tough writer.

Well, written by somebody who is clearly and it from the beginning. Entertaining and keeps on moving period I like her style. Good writing. I'm enjoying this actually listening to it for the second time. Highly recommended goes by fast never boring. I will be watching for her public appearances.

Absolutely loved it

Have listened more than once. Riveting story captivatingly told. Highly recommend - it’s a quick, fun, engaging read!

Kara’s Insight is Great!

Fantastic book. It was great to hear an insider’s journey through all of the tumultuous years in Silicon Valley and beyond.

I enjoyed the book very much. Definitely worth reading

I love Kara’s approach to critiquing and analyzing tech pioneers and creatives. She helps to dismantle tech fears while reminding us to still pay attention.

Insightful, But Scatterbrained

This is my first time with a Kara Swisher book, as somebody who recently started listening to her podcasts after a tech coworker recommended her. It was very informative to help better understand Kara and how she became a prominent and fair voice of reason for tech.

I would highly recommend reading it if you listen to Kara or if you want a 10,000 foot view of what is working and not working in tech. Worth listening to, with just one small reservation or quibble.

The narrative was very scattershot, though. A chapter would go from the 90's to 2000's with one sector like search engines, then start over again for social media. Because of this, there was redundant and repeated content chapter to chapter. Callbacks are fine, but this was more slightly altered sentences. However, it's easy to criticize and hard to write, so this is a minor nitpick. I still recommend the book!

Loved It

Swisher is edgy. I like that. The inside stories of Silicon Valley are fun. She skewers Zuckerberg and Musk. They deserve it.

Kara’s attitude and early predictions re digital.

All the jerks who made billions, especially Musk and Zuckerberg and their absolute unaccountability to the public good. Regulation of the tech industry is past due.

Loved it!

I hope Bezos reads these comments and suffers! I loved it, I’ll listen to it while your podcasts are on hiatus