A remarkable nonfiction, this book follows Palmer Luckey as the primary founder of Oculus, as well as the other founders, influencers and many others whose ideas and efforts led to a renewed push for Virtual Reality as well as the formation of Oculus. Most of the story takes place between 2012 (when Luckey was 19 years old) to 2017 when he exited Oculus at the age of 24. This made it all the more engaging as it was exceptional for Palmer to take on great responsibility at such an early age, while also making it understandable that he wouldn't have necessarily yet had the savvy to avoid the traps he fell into along the way.
The story for me breaks down into three parts. It starts out as an engaging and heartfelt tale of passion, risk-taking, idealism, and optimism. Next, the narrative slows down as it takes the reader through a lot of the dealings of a tech start-up, and the subsequent acquisition. Then, as others have noted, three-quarters of the way in, the story takes a sudden and dramatic turn. This isn't a writer's plot twist, this is just what happened with the real-life characters during the time the book was being researched and written. It was apparently such an unexpected twist for the author, Harris, that he delayed delivery of the final manuscript by a couple years to make that part of the story complete.
I expected a story about risk-takers that pursue a wild passion, and how a tech startup forms and evolves. I didn't have any particular interest in Virtual Reality. But I found that the real and ongoing challenges of the VR (and AR) industry in terms of consumer engagement and industry execution made this read all the more interesting.
It's a true story of our times, shedding light on a still nascent industry with a tale about exceptional people and their flaws. It also cracks open a window into the tech industry in the United States that many would prefer stayed shut, exposing some bad actors as well as a culture of intolerance and intimidation.
This book has clearly been deeply researched. It's the kind of information that can only come from many hours of interviews and records review. We owe the author a debt of gratitude for making such a major effort to bring this story to light.
The only real complaint I have with this book is that it has many minor editing issues, mostly typos. I started reporting them on my Kindle after about the 7th, and there were at least that many more. HarperCollins needs to invest a little more in their editing department. But don't let that stop you from reading this excellent book!
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Top reviews from other countries
Johnsonfire
Interessanter aber lückenhafter Geschichtsausflug mit politisch konservativen Ansichten
Reviewed in Germany on December 29, 2022Luca
Tutti gli appassionati di VR dovrebbero leggerlo!
Reviewed in Italy on August 4, 2022
