Inside the Giant Machine: Confessions of a Former Amazon.com Technologist
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Behind Amazon's quirky smile logo lurks a cold and calculating giant machine. Author Kalpanik S. reveals his own smile as he tells the somewhat quirky story of his complex and hilarious relationship with Amazon. From the sophisticated wit in his portrayal of the courtship period in "How To Get Hired By Amazon In Ten Days", to the dark humor of the disillusionment period in "The Cold, Calculating Machine", Kalpanik's story is more than just an insider's view of the giant machine known as Amazon.com. It's a modern, universal story of the uneasy relationship between an individual and today's gargantuan corporations. In the end, it is also a story of redemption for creative and free thinking individuals that define America.
This edition of the book was revised in Jan. 2011, & a new chapter was added on the Amazon Warehouse scandal. In 2011, Morning call, a newspaper in Pennsylvania published a lengthy expose on the horrendous work conditions at Amazon's warehouse in the region. That report is covered with author's unique perspective based on his prior work experience at Amazon.
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. . . . not only does the author makes us feel the vitality of the Hi-Tech worlds of California & Seattle but his very emotional experiences as an immigrant, as father and a former executive relocating to another city & take a first level management position.
I love his leaps of imagination, and the words which hook us in, make us think this is our story.
For example, here is what it means to yearn for acceptance:
"I looked at Seattle's glistening skyline on one side and its beautiful waterfront on the other and asked it the same questions I had asked San Francisco sixteen years ago: will it accept me? Or will its people treat me as someone different, not one of them? And will I accept it, call it my home? "
Overall, a hip, funny and yet very poignant story!
.... .....John Lehman, author
CONFESSIONS OF THE AUTHOR
I must confess that English is my 3rd language. Even though this book was edited by 3 professional English editors, it is obvious, even to me, that this book is written by a Foreign-born author.
Foreign-born or not, I believe I have converted a dull topic-the transformation of Amazon from a retail website to a marketplace-into an interesting and lively story.
This is more of a little book than a big one. Being a technologist, I am trained to be concise. The printed version of this edition is 221 pages. This may be too little for a few readers, too much for others, and just right for the rest. So, If you are looking for a 1,000-page treatise on Amazon that can be used as an example of perfect grammar in the High school English grammar class, then this book may not be the right book for you. There are several other books on Amazon with perfect grammar, which are also perfectly boring!
Oh, and this is not THE Amazon Story, just AN Amazon Story. Only 1 Amazon Employee can write THE Amazon Story - Jeff Bezos, and he is busy doing other things.
This book evolved from a blog which I shared with friends as I interviewed & joined Amazon, moved to Seattle, and then "exited". While 60% of the material was added afterwards, the core of this book remains the original blog entries and still has that feel.
A book about Amazon can be pretty dry, so I have tried to add some humor. In my attempt to make this book funny, a few facts may have been stretched. In that regard, I quote this passage from 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com, written by Mike Daisey, a fellow Amazon alumnus-turned author:
"Some facts were injured in the telling of this story.
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