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21 Dog Years : Doing Time @ Amazon.com
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Author: Mike Daisey
List Price: $23.00
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0743225805
Publisher: Free Press (17 June, 2002)
Edition: Hardcover
Sales Rank: 59,210
Average Customer Rating: 3.71 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 3 out of 5
Amusing read when it's not overreaching for meaning
There was a lot I could relate to in this book. As a twenty-something college grad with a useless liberal arts degree living in Seattle during the dot.com boom, I was in the same boat as Mike Daisey. I even applied for a customer service job at Amazon.com back when Mike did, but never heard back (after reading this book I realize I probably didn't quite meet the quirky/over-educated profile they were looking for). However, anyone who's ever done customer service will immediately relate to Daisey's tales of dogmatic training classes, unpleasant customers, metrics-obsessed micro-managers, and the wide array of characters you find inhabiting the CSR position.Once Daisey is promoted out of customer service into the nebulous "Business Development" department, the book loses some of its steam. Not because there aren't more amusing tales of co-workers and pointless busy work, but because Daisey tries to turn his personal story into a commentary on the rise and fall of Amazon.com (if not the entire dot.com industry). When he discusses the folly of Pets.com, it's nothing we haven't already heard, nor does it bring any additional insight to the countless news stories and books on the dot.com boom and bust. I also found his self-analysis to be a bit overdone. For the most part it didn't bother me, but by the end of the book he seems too determined to find meaning in his time at Amazon.com, when it is clear there is none. It also struck me as ironic that he could find so much fault in Jeff Bezos and the Amazon.com organization. If anything, he got exactly what he wanted -- material to write and perform with.
Rating: 1 out of 5
worst book I've "read" all year.
I purchased this book as a remainder for a couple of bucks, and still I feel ripped off. Daisey is a horrible writer, and the anecdotes are a bore. and believe me, this isn't even remotely close to being funny. (I am pretty sure I would find reading that old knock-knock joke with the punch line "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" ten times more amusing than 21 Dog Years.) Why oh why can't I give 0 stars?In a word, "Blecch!"
Rating: 2 out of 5
Why should we care?
This was an amusing little slip of a book, but in the end, I really couldn't help but be really put off by Daisey's attitude and funny descending into smarmy writing style. He has some good fun at Amazon's expense and okay, who doesn't often have revenge fantasies about their place of employment, but after page after mind-numbing page of Daisey's attempts at self-deprecation (through which he only comes across as lazy and stupid) you'll be glad when you reach the end. And it just ends. For someone who can be, at times, expansive and philosophical there is nothing in the way of an ending to wrap things up effectively.If what he says is true, my appreciation goes out to those who went through the experiences Daisey describes. However, I don't see how it can't be taken with a grain of salt. More power to him, though. Amazon is selling his book.
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