Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley

by Antonio García Martínez

Overview

The instant New York Times bestseller, now available in paperback and featuring a new afterword from the author—the insider's guide to the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, the inner workings of the tech world, and who really runs Silicon Valley

“Incisive. . . . The most fun business book I have read this year. . . . Clearly there will be people who hate this book — which is probably one of the things that makes it such a great read.”

— Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times

Imagine a chimpanzee rampaging through a datacenter powering everything from Google to Facebook. Infrastructure engineers use a software version of this “chaos monkey” to test online services’ robustness—their ability to survive random failure and correct mistakes before they actually occur. Tech entrepreneurs are society’s chaos monkeys. One of Silicon Valley’s most audacious chaos monkeys is Antonio García Martínez.

After stints on Wall Street and as CEO of his own startup, García Martínez joined Facebook’s nascent advertising team. Forced out in the wake of an internal product war over the future of the company’s monetization strategy, García Martínez eventually landed at rival Twitter. In Chaos Monkeys, this gleeful contrarian unravels the chaotic evolution of social media and online marketing and reveals how it is invading our lives and shaping our future. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062458209
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	07/24/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Antonio García Martínez has been an advisor to Twitter, a product manager for Facebook, the CEO/founder of AdGrok (a venture-backed startup acquired by Twitter), and a strategist for Goldman Sachs. He is an Ideas Contributor for WIRED and lives on a forty-foot sailboat on the San Francisco Bay.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Garden of Forking Paths 1

Part 1 Disturbing the Peace

The Undertakers of Capitalism 13

The Human Attention Exchange 32

Knowing How to Swim 42

Abandoning the Shipwreck 65

Part 2 Pseudorandomness

Let Me See Your War Face 77

Like Marriage, but without the Fucking 87

Speed Is a Feature 94

D-Day 104

A Conclave of Angels 109

The Hill of Sand 120

Turning and Turning in the Widening Gyre 132

¡No Pasarán! 140

The Dog Shit Sandwich 152

Victory 167

Launching! 172

Dates @Twitter 177

Acquisition Chicken 200

Getting Liked 208

Getting Poked 215

The Various Futures of the Forking Paths 224

Retweets Are Not Endorsements 236

The Dotted Line 241

Endgame 251

Part 3 Move Fast and Break Things

Boat Camp 259

Product Masseur 271

Google Delenda Est 282

Leaping Headlong 291

One Shot, One Kill 298

Twice Bitten, Thrice Shy 303

Ads Five-Oh 308

The Narcissism of Privacy 316

Are We Savages or What? 330

O Death 336

The Barbaric Yawn 344

Going Public 353

When the Flying Saucers Fail to Appear 360

Monetizing the Tumor 373

The Great Awakening 380

Barbarians at the Gates 393

IPA > IPO 404

Initial Public Offering: A Reevaluation 417

Flash Boys 421

Full Frontal Facebook 427

Microsoft Shrugged 447

Ad Majorem Facebook Gloriam 456

Adiós, Facebook 467

Pandemonium Lost 475

Epilogue: Man Plans and God Laughs 482

Afterword 497

Acknowledgments 516

Index 519

Editorial Reviews

An irresistible and indispensable 360-degree guide to the new technology establishment.... A must-read.” — Jonathan A. Knee, New York Times

“Reckless and rollicking... perceptive and funny and brave.... The resulting view of the Valley’s craziness, self-importance and greed isn’t pretty. But it’s one that most of us have never seen before and aren’t likely to forget.” — Washington Post

“Michael Lewis was never a top Wall Street bond salesman, but in Liar’s Poker he captured an era. Chaos Monkeys aims to do the same for Silicon Valley, and bracingly succeeds.” — New York Times Book Review

“Brilliant.” — Financial Times

“This year’s best non-business book about business.... Garcia Martinez is a real writer.... A classic tale, well told.” — Techcrunch

“There are some books that are just too good to miss.... In his insider-tells-all book, García Martínez discusses everything from goofy stories to cultural secrets about some of the country’s most powerful and influential businesses.” — Atlantic

“Incisive.... The most fun business book I have read this year.... Clearly there will be people who hate this book — which is probably one of the things that makes it such a great read.” — Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times

“Eye-popping.” — Vanity Fair

“[García Martínez] is, by his own account, a dissolute character.... He is nonetheless, by the end of his account, a winning antihero, a rebel against Silicon Valley’s culture of nonconformist conformity.... The reader can’t help rooting for him.” — Jacob Weisberg, New York Review of Books

“Unlike most founding narratives that flow out of the Valley, Chaos Monkeys dives into the unburnished, day-to-day realities: the frantic pivots, the enthusiastic ass-kissing, the excruciating internal politics.... [García] can be rude, but he’s shrewd, too.” — Bloomberg BusinessWeek

“An unvarnished account… of Silicon Valley.” — CBS This Morning

“Romps through Martínez’s wild trajectory from Wall Streeter to pre-IPO Facebook employee, with the dramatic sale of his Y Combinator-backed ad-tech startup (to Twitter) in between.” — Jillian D'Onfirio Business Insider

“Traces the evolution of social media and online marketing and reveals how it’s become a part of our daily lives and how it will affect our future.” — Leonard Lopate, WNYC

“If you’re in a startup or even plan to sue one, Chaos Monkeys is the book to read.” — John Biggs, TechCrunch

“This gossipy insider account from the former Twitter adviser, Facebook product manager, and start-up CEO dishes dirt while also explaining the ins and outs of Silicon Valley.” — Neal Wyatt, Library Journal

“[Garcia Martinez] reads like a philosopher and historian, the exact travel guide you’d want to walk you through the inner workings of Facebook. His tell-all memoir is the best writing out there on one of the world’s most powerful companies. And he even manages to make the ins and outs of online advertising fascinating.” — Aarti Shahanti, npr.org

An NPR Best Book of the Year • A Business Insider Top 20 Business Book of the Year • An Inc. Best Book of the Year for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners —  

From the Publisher

Eye-popping.

Vanity Fair

Traces the evolution of social media and online marketing and reveals how it’s become a part of our daily lives and how it will affect our future.

Leonard Lopate

If you’re in a startup or even plan to sue one, Chaos Monkeys is the book to read.

John Biggs

…a valley account like no other…This is autobiography as revenge, naming names and sparing few, certainly not the author…Michael Lewis was never a top Wall Street bond salesman, but in Liar's Poker he captured an era. Chaos Monkeys aims to do the same for Silicon Valley, and bracingly succeeds. Nothing I've ever read conveys better what it actually is like to be in the engine room of the start-up economy. There were moments I laughed out loud, something I never recall doing while reading about Steve Jobs.

The New York Times Book Review - David Streitfeld

Brilliant.

Financial Times

There are some books that are just too good to miss.... In his insider-tells-all book, García Martínez discusses everything from goofy stories to cultural secrets about some of the country’s most powerful and influential businesses.

Atlantic

Reckless and rollicking... perceptive and funny and brave.... The resulting view of the Valley’s craziness, self-importance and greed isn’t pretty. But it’s one that most of us have never seen before and aren’t likely to forget.

Washington Post

This year’s best non-business book about business.... Garcia Martinez is a real writer.... A classic tale, well told.

Techcrunch

Incisive.... The most fun business book I have read this year.... Clearly there will be people who hate this book — which is probably one of the things that makes it such a great read.

Andrew Ross Sorkin

An irresistible and indispensable 360-degree guide to the new technology establishment.... A must-read.

Jonathan A. Knee

Unlike most founding narratives that flow out of the Valley, Chaos Monkeys dives into the unburnished, day-to-day realities: the frantic pivots, the enthusiastic ass-kissing, the excruciating internal politics.... [García] can be rude, but he’s shrewd, too.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek

[García Martínez] is, by his own account, a dissolute character.... He is nonetheless, by the end of his account, a winning antihero, a rebel against Silicon Valley’s culture of nonconformist conformity.... The reader can’t help rooting for him.

Jacob Weisberg

Michael Lewis was never a top Wall Street bond salesman, but in Liar’s Poker he captured an era. Chaos Monkeys aims to do the same for Silicon Valley, and bracingly succeeds.

New York Times Book Review

Reckless and rollicking... perceptive and funny and brave.... The resulting view of the Valley’s craziness, self-importance and greed isn’t pretty. But it’s one that most of us have never seen before and aren’t likely to forget.

Washington Post

Brilliant.

Financial Times

Romps through Martínez’s wild trajectory from Wall Streeter to pre-IPO Facebook employee, with the dramatic sale of his Y Combinator-backed ad-tech startup (to Twitter) in between.

Jillian D'Onfirio Business Insider

This gossipy insider account from the former Twitter adviser, Facebook product manager, and start-up CEO dishes dirt while also explaining the ins and outs of Silicon Valley.

Neal Wyatt

An unvarnished account… of Silicon Valley.

CBS This Morning

[Garcia Martinez] reads like a philosopher and historian, the exact travel guide you’d want to walk you through the inner workings of Facebook. His tell-all memoir is the best writing out there on one of the world’s most powerful companies. And he even manages to make the ins and outs of online advertising fascinating.

Aarti Shahanti

An NPR Best Book of the Year • A Business Insider Top 20 Business Book of the Year • An Inc. Best Book of the Year for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners

 

Unlike most founding narratives that flow out of the Valley, Chaos Monkeys dives into the unburnished, day-to-day realities: the frantic pivots, the enthusiastic ass-kissing, the excruciating internal politics.... [García] can be rude, but he’s shrewd, too.

Bloomberg Businessweek

There are some books that are just too good to miss.... In his insider-tells-all book, García Martínez discusses everything from goofy stories to cultural secrets about some of the country’s most powerful and influential businesses.

The Atlantic

Michael Lewis was never a top Wall Street bond salesman, but in Liar’s Poker he captured an era. Chaos Monkeys aims to do the same for Silicon Valley, and bracingly succeeds.

David Streitfeld

Reckless and rollicking... perceptive and funny and brave.... The resulting view of the Valley’s craziness, self-importance and greed isn’t pretty. But it’s one that most of us have never seen before and aren’t likely to forget.

Margaret Sullivan

Tech start-up insider Martinez shares details of his adrenaline- and testosterone-filled years before his abrupt departure from social media giant Facebook. Narrator Dan John Miller plays him as brash and cocky, which suits Martinez to a tee. On the basis of this performance, Miller can most assuredly add “humble brag” to his resume of mastered deliveries. CHAOS MONKEYS derives its name from software that companies deploy to stress their networks in order to look for weaknesses. With that metaphor, Martinez describes the whole obstreperous tech world, as seen from his vantage point of its innermost sanctums. Like exploits shared over brewskies or one of Martinez’s own start-up pitches, these experiences may feel only subjectively truthful—but listeners will still hang on every word. K.W. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2016 - AudioFile