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 ...
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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...
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Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by BookHolders rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gambrills, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $1.39, good condition, Sold by Poquette's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dewitt, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by HarperPerennial.
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $1.45, fair condition, Sold by BookHolders rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gambrills, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by ReganBooks.
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $2.16, good condition, Sold by Seattle Goodwill rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Seattle, WA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Harper Perennial.
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Add this copy of Microserfs. Douglas Coupland to cart. $2.29, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by Harper Perennial.
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $2.45, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Harper Perennial.
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Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $2.45, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Harper Perennial.
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This item shows signs of wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact, but may have aesthetic issues such as small tears, bends, scratches, and scuffs. Spine may also show signs of wear. Pages may include some notes and highlighting. May include "From the library of" labels. Satisfaction Guaranteed.
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $2.80, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
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I am the first to admit that Douglas Coupland's books are not for everyone. His penchant for using in-jokes and self-referential humor can slow down even the most pop-culture savvy reader. But Microserfs is that rare novel that achieves a perfect balance between the timeliness of its setting (the beginning of the Internet era, early to mid-1990s) and the timelessness of its characters' struggles to create true connections with each other.
In this book, Coupland manages to capture the particular and relentless corporate hive mentality of Microsoft in the early '90s, while never losing sight of the characters' individual longings. In fact, by juxtaposing the inherent isolationism of the industry with the narrator's insatiable desire for intimacy (with family, friends, lovers), Coupland demonstrates that the human soul can never be satisfied by technology alone. Indeed, the search for newer, better technologies IS the search for human intimacy; the sophisticated structures we imagine and invent are bridges that (we hope) will open our lives to the the world around us in ways we may not know how to express.
Finally, Microserfs captures the texture of its times so precisely that I felt literally "present" in the story. Anyone who can recall the heady early days of the dot-com boom, when even e-mail seemed like a little piece of magic, will feel at home here. Coupland's prose renders both Seattle and Silicon Valley in three-dimensional clarity. And his depiction of this motley band of programmers and software engineers is spot-on, in my experience.
There is so much to appreciate in this novel, I feel remiss that I can't mention it all. The book is "light" enough to read on holiday and be endlessly entertained, but I also feel sure that its place in the new canon is assured thanks to its unflinching look at who we were, and who we are.
