This state-of-the-art novel about life in the '90s follows the adventures of 6 code-crunching computer whizzes. Known as "microserfs", they spend upwards of 16 hours a day writing software and scanning company e-mail. Funny, illuminating, and ultimately touching, Microserfs is the story of one generation's very strange and claustrophobic coming of age.
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This state-of-the-art novel about life in the '90s follows the adventures of 6 code-crunching computer whizzes. Known as "microserfs", they spend upwards of 16 hours a day writing software and scanning company e-mail. Funny, illuminating, and ultimately touching, Microserfs is the story of one generation's very strange and claustrophobic coming of age.
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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. $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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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $3.24, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $3.50, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $3.50, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $3.50, very good condition, Sold by HPB Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $3.94, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
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Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. Bundled media such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks or access codes may not be included.
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $3.99, good condition, Sold by HPB-Red rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
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Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used textbooks may not include companion materials such as access codes, etc. May have some wear or limited writing/highlighting. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $3.99, very good condition, Sold by Sixth Chamber Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from River Falls, WI, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
Add this copy of Microserfs to cart. $4.00, like new condition, Sold by Tehanu's Books rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gilroy, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harper Perennial.
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.
