Chaos Monkeys

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Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley
Chaos Monkeys Cover.jpg
Paperback edition
AuthorAntonio Garcia Martinez
Country United States
LanguageEnglish
GenreBiographies, Business, Engineering
PublisherHarperCollins
Publication date
June 28, 2016 (2016-06-28)
Media typePrint
Pages528 pp.
ISBN978-0-06-245819-3 (Hardcover)

Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley is an autobiography written by American tech entrepreneur Antonio García Martínez.[1] The book compares Silicon Valley to the "chaos monkeys" of society. In the book, the author details his career experiences with launching a tech startup, selling it to Twitter, and working at Facebook from its pre-IPO stage.[2]

Summary[]

Chaos Monkeys recounts Antonio Garcia Martinez's career path.[3] It starts as Martinez explains his quant work at Goldman, to an existing startup, to his own startup, and ultimately to larger Silicon Valley companies.[4] He writes about real situations and discloses the inside stories he believes fill every industry.[5] Garcia attempts to explain how advertising technology, startups, and venture capital work.[6][7]

Reception[]

The book received mixed reviews upon its release. Bloomberg Businessweek reported, "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.... [Garcia] can be rude, but he's shrewd, too."[8] In CNN's review, the headline says the book "compares Facebook's culture to fascism but fails to prove it".[9] TechCrunch wrote, "If you're in a startup or even plan to sue one, Chaos Monkeys is the book to read."[10]

Eventually, the book became notorious for what some claimed was misogynistic content, including the following and many similar passages:[11]

Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of shit. They have their self-regarding entitlement feminism, and ceaselessly vaunt their independence, but the reality is, come the epidemic plague or foreign invasion, they’d become precisely the sort of useless baggage you’d trade for a box of shotgun shells or a jerry can of diesel.

The Verge, however, quoted those passages in a fuller context. García Martínez was contrasting "women in the Bay Area" to the impressively capable woman he was involved with, who had the opposite characteristics.[11]

On May 10, 2021, Business Insider reported that the author had been hired by Apple. Opposition quickly mounted within the firm, with over 2,000 employees signing a letter demanding an investigation into the failures of the background check process that allowed him to be hired.[11] On May 12, Apple announced that Martínez had been fired.[12]

References[]

  1. ^ "Ex-Facebook employee Antonio Garcia Mendez gives account of Silicon Valley in new book "Chaos Monkey"". CBS News.
  2. ^ Kleeman, Sophie. "The Juiciest Parts of The New Facebook Tell-All Book". Gizmodo.
  3. ^ "Author of new Silicon Valley tell-all: Only the 'most deluded, douchiest people' think it's a meritocracy". Business Insider.
  4. ^ "These Seven Business and Tech Books Could Make You Richer". The Observer.
  5. ^ "The Wolves of Silicon Valley: how megalomaniacs in hoodies became tech's answer to Wall Street". Vanity Fair.
  6. ^ Martínez, Antonio García. "How Mark Zuckerberg Led Facebook's War to Crush Google Plus". The Telegraph UK.
  7. ^ Balakrishnan, Anita (2016-07-01). "Ex-Facebooker reveals how the 'cult' of Silicon Valley really works". CNBC.
  8. ^ Reprints, Ellen Huet ellenhuet. "Book Review: Chaos in the Valley". Bloomberg.com.
  9. ^ King, Hope (2016-06-28). "New book compares Facebook's culture to fascism but fails to prove it". CNNMoney.
  10. ^ Biggs, John. "Inside the ape cage with Antonio Garcia Martinez, author of Chaos Monkeys". TechCrunch.
  11. ^ a b c Schiffer, Zoe (2021-05-12). "Apple employees circulate petition demanding investigation into 'misogynistic' new hire". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  12. ^ Peterson, Mike (2021-05-13). "Apple fires Antonio Garcia Martinez after employee backlash". Apple Insider. Retrieved 2021-06-09.

External links[]

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