I was expecting this to be pure satire, but it is actually quite a serious novel, trying to go beyond the stereotype of the "geek" and look at the emotional lives of the people who worked in American software companies in the 1990s. Obviously, any novel that takes up with concepts like "information superhighway" is going to look quaintly old-fashioned 15 years later. That distancing effect is enhanced for non-American readers by the flood of cultural references to American food products and TV shows we've only vaguely heard of.
Coupland's computer-geeks turn out, slightly disappointingly, to be rather normal young people who find themselves confronted with the usual hazards of growing up: deciding what to wear, finding a partner, dealing with parents, finding somewhere to live, coping with illness, etc. If they are changing the world, then they are doing it in a somewhat absurd and peripheral way (developing a computer game involving Lego blocks). So, in the end, it turns out to be just a perfectly normal Bildungsroman with a bit of fancy computer language thrown in to make it look experimental. ( )

Comic genius ( )

Quirky, funny, and touching. Not my usual genre, and I'm not a geek, so I can't imagine what possessed me to pick this book up in the first place, but I'm so glad I did. It's so well written, and about far more than the world of programming and computers. I just loved it. ( )

Parable of working in the big hi-tech world. A description of serfdom at Microsoft, eerily reminiscent of young enthusiasms and work hard, play hard life at HP in the days of hiring young, singles in cohorts out of college.

Near perfect in form, presentation and emotional drain. A handful of similarly quirky but unqiue characters handle similarly quirky but unique situations through a variety of historical, current and futuristic technologies, all while building a LEGO simulator that will put their new gaming company on the map. Great portrayl of Bill Gates and the Microsoft culture, as well as the campuses and lifestyles of a variety of other tech companies of the time. Fairly unique in presentation, often incorporating a literal reprinting of computer-related topics presented in each chapter, including the main character's computer's "sub-conscious" files acting as barriers between chapters. Taught me many a random factoid - the amounts of chemicals in the human body and the various uses for them, the body as a form of memory, flatland foods - and many a life lesson - why talking to someone through "license plate" speak can be the most heartbreaking and hopeful communication in the world. Touching, honest, hilarious and surprisingly warm look at the computer industry, nerds, and the Silicon Valley. ( )

http://alookatabook.blogspot.com/2009... ( )

http://pixxiefishbooks.blogspot.com/2...

I first tried to read Microserfs sometime during my undergrad in 1996 or 1997, and just couldn't do it. I am an on-again, off-again Douglas Coupland fan (Generation X and Life After God were great, Girlfriend in a Coma bit the big one), and just couldn't get into Microserfs way back when. And now, I have no idea why. It's a fabulous book. I couldn't read it fast enough. And when I was done, I felt emotionally drained but oh-so-happy to have made it through. So worth it.

Microserfs is the story of Dan, a programmer at, yup you guessed it, Microsoft. It takes place in the mid-1990s (1996 or so?) during the heyday of Internet and computer applications development (the first boom). And his computer nerd friends, of course. They don't do a whole lot...well, if you consider developing new products and trying to find their identities and whole raison d'être, is not 'a whole lot'. It's a remarkable well-written story that is an early foray into exploring the blurred line between narrative and technology (at the risk of sounding somewhat academic). And the ending had me in tears (but happy ones).

I gave this to my brother, who is also somewhat of a computer geek, two years ago for Christmas and he thought it was fantastic. So there. ( )

Required reading for geeks, especially those from a pre Windows 98 era. Also good for lovers of binary, dos, linux ascii, computer programming and geeky snack foods. ( )

(Alistair) "An accurate look at a thriving subculture," says the blurb quotation from the Boston Globe.

Well, this particular subculture isn't quite as thriving as it used to be, thirteen years later, but it's still an interesting book. It does a nice job, this tale - presented in diary, or proto-blog, form - of ex-Microsoft employees moving to a startup to work on virtual Lego, of capturing the zeitgeist of the time, or at least what I remember at some considerable distance the zeitgeist of the time to be, in all its mixed insight and shallowness.

(A note here as well for nice use of metatext throughout the book, both in the usage of unconventional formatting here and there, a double-page spread presented in binary, and a rather nifty plot device in the form of extracts from the lead character's SUBCONSCIOUS file, in which he puts the words that just pop into his head.)

I'm not entirely sure what I think of it. An entertaining read, that it was. It had plenty of little, interesting thoughts and notions in it to play with (by no means all or most of them tremendously deep, but what the hell, notions are notions). The characters and the story told are certainly likable enough to carry it.

In short, I enjoyed the book, but it still left me with a feeling of something missing when I'd finished it, even if I can't quite put my finger on it. Still, recommended for enjoyers of 90s-era geek culture, and if you get a better handle on what that thing is than me, please comment.

( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/ce... ) ( )

Novela sobre las vicisitudes de un conjunto de programadores de software que deciden desafiar al monstruo microsoftiano. Del autor de "Generación X". ( )

Group of MSFT employees get bored & move to Silicon Valley to join a startup. First 50 pages of the book are great, then it just gets duller, and duller. Good start, average finish. ( )

Ridiculously laugh out loud ( )

Even though it's over 10 years old, this book captures like no other the spirit and the lives of technology people, or geeks, to make it simpler. This is really a book about relationships and feelings, and it is very easy to get caught up in the story, especially for those of us living in Silicon Valley. ( )

Microserfs was my introduction to Coupland, and what a favorable meeting. His sarcastic, often time caustic, way of writing is perfect for a "Gen-Xer" like me. ( )

OUT ( )

Pijnlijk herkenbaar, behalve dat het bij mij toen geen happy end had. :) ( )

http://12frogs.com/reading/reviews/20... ( )

I'm not sure it's fair for Coupland to pick so many squirming thoughts, impressions and experiences directly from my brain and pin them to his pages, especially as he is writing about a different generation of geeks from mine. This book is a rambling, musing journal written by a codemonkey tired of the grind at Microsoft in the early 90's. I guess if I had to say what it is about, I'd say it's about technology, isolation, the creation of self and family, intellectual and cultural evolution, and change. So, basically, everything.

Quote: "I stared at an entire screen full of these words and they dissolved and lost meaning, the way words do when you repeat them over and over — the way anything loses meaning when context is removed — the way we can quickly enter the world of the immaterial using the simplest of devices, like multiplication." ( )

One of my fave Coupland books. Entertaining from beginning to end. ( )

This was my first Coupland book and, honestly, it just blew me away. Microserfs is one of the rare stories that really speaks to me. I can see a lot of myself in most of the characters, for better or for worse. As a software engineer, fresh out of college, working in Silicon Valley, thinking about life: I could just relate on every level.

The details in this book are wonderful. It's amazing to see how much of today's everyday world was solely in the realm of the geeks only just a decade ago. The accurate details about the Bay Area are also a fun bonus, for anyone from around here.

Lastly, I loved the structure of the book. The short paragraphs and chapters reminded me a lot of blogs, which made for easy reading. The playful text experiments through the book also worked quite well.

Just an awesome book overall. I look forward to reading more Coupland in the future. ( )

I have to be fair: maybe I would have liked this book more if I'd read it when it first came out. It seems so concerned with capturing the mid-90s Silicon Valley "Zeitgeist" that I'm sure I'm missing out by reading it a decade after the Zeit. But still, it seems like a book I would not have enjoyed even at the time, because the principal pleasure comes from recognition (hey, I watch the Simpsons and eat Kraft singles too! I'm such a nerd!). I don't read books for the pleasure of recognising pop culture references and feeling as if I therefore fit into a group; I read books to learn more about the world and the other people in it. This book tried to provide some of that with its frequent pop-psychology moments, but it wasn't enough. And for me the ending was very contrived. I know it's just a light comedy, and if it was really funny I wouldn't care about any number of plot deficiencies or annoying pop-culture references. But I didn't laugh out loud all the way through; the best it raised for me was a wry smile. I suppose I'm just a miserable sod. ( )

genX programmer's Silicon Valley journal

3.00 ( )

For a while this was my favorite book. My mother picked it up for me from a library book sale because "I like computers." So it took me a while to read it, but I'm glad I did, for many reasons.

For one thing, it seems to have captured the early- to mid-nineties nerd zeitgeist well. As someone who missed out on it (a bit before my time), I'm jealous of those who got to experience computing just as it became popular and before it became old hat.

As the title indicates, this book follows a group of characters who work at Microsoft. They're all very quirky, but they all speak exactly the same way (Ok, all of Coupland's characters talk in the same way).

It's a very light and funny book and I've read it a few times. It was also my gateway to Coupland's other work, most of which I think is superior to this. It's also a very touching book (I thought) that manages to stay entertaining throughout. If you haven't read Coupland before, he manages to pack in a lot of very interesting little anecdotes and musings that you'll think about for a while after you read the book. So although its light reading on par with most pop books, it also has some enduring value.

Two complaints:

1. Dialogue is homogenous. (See above)
2. Every chapter has a page of "stream of consciousness" text. It's fun the first one or two chapters you see it, but it gets old and kind of pretentious quickly.

Nonetheless, neither complaint is sufficient to bring down the rating.

Highly recommended for those looking for an easy read or computer geeks, but I think everyone would enjoy this. ( )

I read a great deal of negative reviews of this book but I thought it was hillarious! It was like a diary or stream of consousness but there were so many "weird" facts and theories intertwined that it really made me think. I thought the end was very different from the tone of the rest of the book but it really made me think. I wouldnt exactly give it 5 stars because Im trying to be more conservative with stars, but I really enjoyed it! ( )

Well... not so great. If you REALLY like reading blogs you'll like the style of this book. It is written in a diary format. It was written in '95 time frame so blogs weren't what they are today. Nothing too deep and only mildy amusing in parts. I picked it up for $2 at the library so if any wants it let me know. =)