21 Dog Years

Doing Time @ Amazon.com

By: Mike Daisey

Narrated by: Mike Daisey

Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Mike Daisey worked at Amazon.com for nearly two years during the dot-com frenzy of the late nineties. Now that his nondisclosure agreement has expired, he can tell the real story - one that blends tech culture, hero worship, cat litter, Albanian economics, and venture capitalism into a surreal cocktail of delusion.

In 1998, when Amazon.com went to temp agencies to recruit people, they gave them a simple directive: send us your freaks. Thus began Mike Daisey's love affair with this quintessential dot-com. His ascent from lowly temp to customer service representative to business development hustler is the stuff of dreams - and nightmares. Daisey takes us from Amazon's high point, when the stock traded at $361, to well into its rollercoaster plunge to today's humble two-digit price, all the while reflecting on the very nature of the new economy and the darkly humorous compromises made every day to survive in corporate America. At strategic intervals, the narrative is punctuated by hysterical (in every sense of the word) letters to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos - missives that seem ripped from the collective unconscious of dot-com disciples the world over. No wonder Newsweek has dubbed Daisey the "oracle of the bust."

With a hugely popular Web site and a hit one-man show that has received phenomenal coverage (with stories in Wired, Newsweek, Salon, and elsewhere), Daisey has become the bard of the dot-com boom-and-bust - a smart, imaginative, and acutely perceptive chronicler of our times.

The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, is the original publisher of 21 Dog Years in hardcover.

©2002 Mike Daisey
(P)2002 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A modern Dickensian fable of pointless toil inside an industrial madhouse. Too funny not to be accurate, too heartbreaking not to be true. If you are wondering where all the time and money went, this book has the answers." (Walter Kirn, author of Up in the Air)

Very Funny

If you had anything to do with the .NET boom (and bust) then this book is a must read. Daisey is a very good story teller and reads his work like no one else could. His experiences at Amazon.com make for a very entertaining story, that really draws the listner into his wierd world.
If you have ever bought anything from Amazon then I am sure you will find this book funny and well worth the time it takes to hear.

Incredibly Funny!

This audio book was not only one of the most funny things I have ever listed to but it was also one of the most interesting. I learned a ton about amazon the flaws of lots of large companies from a mistreated employees point of view. This audio book is why I love this format. I could never imagine reading this book. It would just not be the same at all. It would be like reading the lyrics to your favorite song as oppose to listening to it. You have to hear the music.

Worst Employee Ever??? That's the Point!

I tried to read the previous review as if the reviewer was employing a little irony, but somehow I think s/he didn't get the joke. Of course Mike Daisey would be an employer's worst nightmare -- but even bad employees should be allowed to tell their stories, especially when they are so hilarious. I thought this book was wonderful on two fronts: a) it's a cautionary tale for today's corporate employers who create soul-less, morale-defeating, cubicle-ridden workplaces (and I was one so I know from whence I speak); b) it's an insightful, way funny story.

Hilarious

Daisy reads his own work and does a great job of it. He sounds like a "real person" and his revelations of Amazon corporate culture are bizarre, funny, and sometimes scary. I had trouble putting this one down.

Dot Com Story

This story of an individual's experience at the beginning of the internet explosion. Great story, a single story and would work whether it was about Amazon or Sears.

Great Satire on the .com work world.

Mike Daisey offers a glimpse into the work environment of this much discussed internet company. His observations are often hysterically funny about how ludicrous and unbusinesslike Amazon could be, and at the same time, how swept up and driven the employees were when they calculated the value of their own stock options.

He tells his story wonderfully, and perhaps you will hear a dead on description of yourself in the many customer service horrors on which he elaborates. You may never ask to speak to a customer service supervisor again!

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Mike Daisey adapted 21 Dog Years from his play, and it shows in his easy reading style and flair for comic timing. There's a segment I particularly like after a long day--other listeners will certainly remember the "I understand, I empathize" spiel from a customer service rep.

While the focus is indeed his job(s) at amazon.com, much of the story is purely about the life and times of Mike Daisey; fortunately, it's almost all funny.

Delicate ears should be warned that there is occasional profanity.

Funny

This guy has a very dry sardonic sense of humor. But as you get into the book you begin to get more and more of his humor. I had several bust-a-gut reactions to this book.

It's OK

This book is nothing to write home to mom about. A story about a self-described slacker working for a slacker company. There were good parts - Once I even found myself laughing out loud. More often though I was just wishing the book would end. If Amazon and Jeff Bezos are so inept, how come they're still both around 7 years after the book story ends? Every company has it's Dilbert moments - I see nothing unusual about Amazon. Several sub-plots describe some really useless dot coms. Too bad Daisey didn't work for Digital Convergence Corp.

This book is about him, and best read only by him

Oh my gosh this book was awful! Normally I love books like this that tell the inside story of a well-known company. But 21 dog years is all about the author, and no offense, but his life is not really all that interesting.

The author focuses almost entirely on himself and how he felt during his three year tenure at Amazon.com. I am not really all that interested on how he feels; rather I would like to know more about the company and how it treated employees.

If you are look or an alternative sleep aid, then this book is for you. If you are looking for the inside story on Amazon.com, then keep looking. I sure wish I had.