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I was recommended this one as an approach to dealing with difficult conversations in life where you have a vested interest in a particular outcome.

It was great to read about some of the crazy situations the author has been in and the information in the book is presented as a set of conversational tools used to get your way.

I think I see them as more of things to be aware of. I'm not sure most of them were things I'd actively try to use in conversation with anyone. It feels too manipulative to me -- obviously this might be fine in a life or death situation, less so getting a better deal in a shop.

I can definitely imagine these tactics working on me without any particular effort, so I'm interested to spot them next time.

I did like the alternatives to saying yes/no, though - as ways to drive progress towards a shared goal in a more productive way.

I'm not sure what to think of this overall. I definitely enjoyed it though I'm not sure how much of that was for dirty laundry/drama.

The author spends a decent amount of time justifying complicity but I'm not sure that's surprising or avoidable - I imagine the cognitive dissonance slowly builds over time.

You have to take this as a pinch of salt as something written by (as she says herself) a disgruntled ex-employee. Much of this book rings true. I don't think it's really stuff that's unique to Facebook or the people who work there, but almost guaranteed when growth or some greater good is incentivised over everything else.

Some of the personnel / HR incidents were very uncomfortable. I'm not sure how you could treat people so disposably. It was interesting to see the authors point of view as a woman trying to have a child while working a job like this.

It reminded me a bit of the book about Blizzard recently, where the people at the top are so smart yet so incredibly isolated and out of touch.

While it may seem obvious to anyone who thinks for a moment on targeted advertising, but the idea that not only are your interests and personality being targeted, but your mood that very minute. Targeting people who delete selfies with beauty ads? Wow.

Do we actually want the world to be more open and connected? It seems like the world isn't winning.