I had taken to dubbing them “man-boys,” which was not nice, I know, but it was true for these people who felt half-formed and opaque to me with no discernible edge or interesting bits. Worst of all, they were different in ways that made no difference. They’d insist that they wanted to “change the world” and “it was all about the journey” and “money was not the goal.” Those were all lies, of course, made more problematic by the fact that these men were lying to themselves most of all.

As a fan of Kara Swisher’s journalism in the tech industry for the past couple of years and a regular Pivot podcast listener, I was excited to read her latest book Burn Book. Swisher has been one of the leading journalists of the internet for several decades, regarded by New York Magazine as “Silicon Valley’s most feared and well-liked journalist.” Although she doesn’t shy away from anything in this autobiography, her nanny-like approach to these global tech leaders eventually grows old and one-dimensional.

When I saw this book at the Mill Valley Public Library, the title had me anticipating uncharted stories and territories. To my disappointment, Kara doesn’t provide any insights or new opinions beyond what she has already discussed on the Pivot podcast. The book is essentially divided into two sections: her rise in the tech industry and her interactions with the tech giants. While the first part about her life is interesting and fun, set against the backdrop of San Francisco, it has a very self-congratulatory tone. There is a lot of humor and absurdity that she experiences, but nothing really stands out.

The second section is a constant bashing of tech leaders for their inability to take responsibility for the grand visions they espouse. I found myself nodding in agreement at first, but it soon became repetitive. There is an air of arrogance and moral high ground as Kara claims she could have cashed out at a corporation but chose to make less to do her own thing (kudos to her). This part primarily roasts Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk (rightfully so) for being man-babies. It leans into the trope that tech leaders all do goat yoga, wear company hoodies, and exhibit varying degrees of awkwardness in Kara’s interactions with them.

summed up Zuckerberg’s attitude perfectly, noting, “Between speech and truth, he chose speech. Between speed and perfection, he chose speed. Between scale and safety, he chose scale.” That idea of “mistakes were made” in service to the bigger idea would carry throughout Zuckerberg’s career and bleed into Facebook’s culture. This approach was distilled in the “Move fast and break things” posters that adorned the company headquarters early on. While this motto was a geek coding reference to software, it was a telling choice. The aim was to “break things” instead of “change things” or “fix things” or “improve things.

Overall, this book feels like a Sparknotes version of the internet boom and bust cycle, focused on the insane growth of Silicon Valley after the financial crisis. Perhaps this is harsh, as I have followed her journalism for years, but there wasn’t much ‘burning’ in this book as advertised.

Overall Rating: 5/10