MixedThe NationExceptionalism is one of Silicon Valley’s founding principles, and a little bit of that has crept into Fowler’s book. There is no denying that she has been incredibly brave, and her life story is one of David against many, many Goliaths. But there is a danger in overstating the power that one individual has. Silicon Valley is defined by systemic ills ... Susan Fowler is as interesting a person as you could imagine ... her account is a memoir, meaning that she is writing about her experiences and convictions; her book isn’t meant to wrestle with the bigger, systemic questions about technology and capitalism. But as readers, we are left with only a partial view of the issues afflicting Silicon Valley and, in fact, most workplaces ... If only all people could be as exceptional as [Fowler]—but in a more just world, they wouldn’t have to be.
Yoko Tawada, Trans. by Susan Bernofsky
PositiveThe New Republic\"Memoirs gives us an often funny and intimate perspective on what it must be like to be a sentient bear in an overwhelmingly human world ... Tawada’s Knut, who is as inquisitive as he is empathic, aptly grasps the semi-ridiculous symbolism of his own life.\
