Nicole Tantoco
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- 25
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Careless People
- A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
- De: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Narrado por: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Duración: 13 h y 16 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 1,731
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 1,661
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 1,661
From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Only a few hours in
- De Cody Konior en 03-24-25
- Careless People
- A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
- De: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Narrado por: Sarah Wynn-Williams
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
Revisado: 04-08-25
This was quite the exposé. I had a vague idea of how harmful Meta had become, especially regarding its impact on the mental health of preteen and teenage users. This book was enlightening in terms of Meta’s political influence.
It tracks the career of Sarah Wynn-Williams from when she started working for Mark Zuckerberg in 2012. She had previously worked at the UN and joined Facebook because she saw the potential the platform had to influence and change geopolitical events for the better.
The first third of the book outlines Mark Zuckerberg’s disinterest in politics. Like most company heads, he was more concerned with building a business for profit rather than one geared toward social good. During her interview, Wynn-Williams pitches a job that doesn’t exist—a role where she imagines using Facebook’s powerful tools to help world leaders address the issues in their respective countries.
It was baffling at the time. Not only was Facebook uninterested in global political involvement, but some countries—such as Germany, Brazil, and China—also wanted nothing to do with the platform. Wynn-Williams spends the early part of her career struggling to arrange meetings between Zuckerberg and presidents or prime ministers. Zuckerberg is portrayed as clueless and uninterested in diplomacy, often turning up late and unprepared.
A turning point in the book comes around the time Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in 2016. (Ironically, no other politician had tapped into the potential of Facebook quite like this before.) Wynn-Williams claims that Trump’s campaign was the highest-spending political campaign ever to use Facebook—an effort from which Facebook profited considerably.
Not only did the campaign target potential voters using a savvy understanding of Facebook’s tools—down to changing the color and design of call-to-action buttons based on demographics such as gender—but it also targeted Clinton supporters. For example, black voters were fed “dark posts” that only appeared on their private feeds, including content like an old interview where Clinton referred to black men as predators.
Suddenly, everyone began to realize just how much power Zuckerberg held over global politics—including Zuckerberg himself, who expressed admiration for Trump’s campaign and began to see its strategies as tools he could use.
At this point, Wynn-Williams becomes disillusioned with Facebook. The rest of the book recounts numerous troubling incidents: Facebook’s failure to regulate fake news and inflammatory content; its direct involvement in promising the data of Chinese users to the Chinese government; the running of ads that target emotionally vulnerable young users; its disregard for employee welfare—including the case of a Brazilian employee who was jailed due to Facebook’s policies; and more.
At one point, when the Meta team is crafting PR messaging to shield the company from criticism, an employee in charge of ads asks, “Why would we say we aren’t doing what we’re doing, when these are the features that are making us the most money?”
Overall, I liked this memoir. I think it was very brave, and I’m glad there are people like Sarah Wynn-Williams who care—not just about Meta, but about all businesses doing better.
One weakness of the book, however, is that it is a memoir. On the one hand, it offers a firsthand, behind-the-scenes look at Facebook’s internal workings. On the other hand, some overly personal stories and details felt distracting rather than contributing to the overall message. There were moments when the content might have been strengthened by a journalist’s lens or the inclusion of other sources. This was unfortunate, because what Wynn-Williams is saying is so important.
Wynn-Williams doesn’t just critique Mark Zuckerberg—she also takes aim at other executives, notably Sheryl Sandberg. My main takeaway is that no single human being should wield this much power. Humans are inevitably flawed, and unchecked power is never a good thing.
I hope this isn’t the last time someone comes forward to talk about these issues. Much more needs to be said about how big tech is exploiting all of us.
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The English Patient
- De: Michael Ondaatje
- Narrado por: Jennifer Ehle
- Duración: 8 h y 56 m
- Versión completa
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General4 out of 5 stars 90
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 73
With ravishing beauty and unsettling intelligence, Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel traces the intersection of four damaged lives in an Italian villa at the end of World War II. Hana, the exhausted nurse; the maimed thief, Caravaggio; the wary sapper, Kip: Each is haunted by the riddle of the English patient, the nameless, burned man who lies in an upstairs room and whose memories of passion, betrayal, and rescue illuminate this book like flashes of heat lightening.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Narrator ruins it
- De Jodi en 03-09-22
- The English Patient
- De: Michael Ondaatje
- Narrado por: Jennifer Ehle
Great performance, timeless story
Revisado: 10-10-24
I’ve been exploring Man Booker finalists from past decades, and I’ve found that my favorite way to dive into these is through audiobook.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje was one of the top books that I felt intrigued by (I love a good spy novel) and wanted to read straightaway. I remember hearing a lot about it as a child, because of the movie (which I haven’t watched yet, since I wanted to read the book first).
I loved the story. It focuses on four characters: Hana, Kip, a burned man who is the titular English Patient, and a former spy named Caravaggio, and how each of their lives was transformed and affected by the war. There is a post colonial narrative that was woven in subtly and in a meandering and indirect way, that culminates brilliantly in the book’s conclusion (very different from post colonial novels I’ve read which were written more recently, like RF Kuang’s Babel). This theme resonated deeply with me. The English Patient is one of my favorite books. The writing is evocative and poetic. There are so many great lines that I fell in love with, hearing them spoken out aloud. Not every fiction novel works well in the audio format, but since The English Patient is more about characters, and it has a sparse plot, it was easy to keep up. This was also excellently read and performed.
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