JPod
a novel
by Douglas Coupland · first published 2006
50% recommend38% neutral13% critical
Why HN recommends it
Satirical novel about young programmers in a corporate tech office, capturing the culture of software work and its absurdities. Recommended to developers and anyone in tech who wants a wry, recognizable picture.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Very evil ... Very funny. A lethal joyride into today's new breed of techno geeks, Coupland's forthcoming novel updates Microserfsfor the age of Google.
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Closest thing I can think of is probably J-Pod, by Douglas Coupland. https://www.amazon.com/JPod-Douglas-Coupland/dp/1596911050
on “This Company Wants to Help Your Boss Monitor Your Brainwaves at Work” ↗1. People's History of the United States: Highlights from the 20th century - Howard Zinn 2. Snow Crash - Neil Stephenson 3. jPod - Douglas Coupland 4. the world is flat 2.0
on “Ask YC: Road trip. Which audio books would you recommend?” ↗A lot of good suggestions. To try to avoid repeating what others have said too much, here are some from a different perspective. # "JPod" by Douglas Coupland helped me realize that it was corporatism, not me, that was broken. # Benjamin Franklin's autobiography showed me a history that was made of people, a people no different than me…
on “Ask HN: What are the books that changed the perspective of your life?” ↗I moved to California to work at a dot com on March 3, 2000. The NASDAQ peaked one week later on March 10. To me that era is captured in Douglas Coupland's novels Microserfs (pre-crash) and JPod (post-crash). JPod was also made into a show for Canadian TV that's a lot of fun!
on “The History of the Dot Com Era” ↗Douglas Coupland touched on the subject a few years ago in his book "jPod". After reading that, it really changed the way that I looked at all of the coders / sys-admins that I know.
on “Asperger's and IT: Dark secret or open secret?” ↗Daemon by Daniel Suarez, it really reminded me of Stevenson's work, highly recommend it! http://thedaemon.com/ Also loved Microserfs and JPod by Douglas Coupland.
on “Ask HN: Recommend any good business/hacker fiction?” ↗So it's not exactly what you asked for (Fiction) but you might want to check out Microserfs, by Douglas Coupland. Also, Jpod from Coupland, it's along the same lines. Quoting wikipedia: "Set in the early 1990s, it captures the state of the technology industry before Windows 95, and anticipates the dot-com bubble of the late…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗Did you read Microserfs and JPod, by Douglas Coupland? The reality of '80s/'90s Microsoft was a bit different from modern FAANG.
on “Almost 37 years after its launch, someone found an Easter egg in Windows 1.0” ↗JPOD from Douglas Coupland. I like it much more than Microserfs :-)
on “Ask HN: What books are you currently reading?” ↗I immediately thought of "Microserfs", but you might be right about it being dated. Coupland also wrote "JPod", which was also about programmers. I would not recommend it (or any of his books since "Microserfs") at all.
on “Ask HN: Are there any good fictional books about Coders/Companies?” ↗There are different textures to pages from different books, and the design of some books to play with the shape of the media. (Douglas Coupland did it in either Microserfs or Jpod, forget which.) Also there is some difference in how you format the pages - Kindle books you can choose your own font and its size/spacing, while in a print book it has been chosen for you. It's small,…
on “Apple Isn’t The Only Disruptor: How Amazon Is Killing Publishers” ↗There was a tv version of JPod? Astonishingly it looks like there was also a movie version of Microserfs that came out in 2011, but I've never heard of it. So much of what made those two books funny were the email exchanges intermixed…
on “How Mike Judge and Co. Are Turning "Silicon Valley" Into the Next "Spinal Tap"” ↗I loved DC in "Gen X" and "Microserfs", and I have been purchasing his books then on, but they have been going downhill. "Girlfriend in a Coma" was pretty good. "JPod" and "Gum Thief" were from unremarkable to pretty bad, and "Generation A" the first one I abandoned. So I'm not buying any more.
on “Voice in the Wilderness: On Douglas Copeland” ↗well, Coupland preserved even that aspect of our gen in "Microservs" and "JPod".
on “Why Generation X will save the web” ↗I’ve been trying to read Bleeding Edge mostly for the tech startup scene and Y2K setting. It reads a lot like a Douglas Coupland novel, especially JPod.
on “Thomas Pynchon, famously private, sells his archive” ↗