Zucked by Roger McNamee

ZUCKED by Roger McNamee is subtitled “Waking up to the Facebook Catastrophe” and is certainly a timely text. McNamee was an early investor and consultant to Facebook and although he has not been very involved with the company in the last decade, he is not shy about calling its actions “an unmitigated disaster.” He offers background on the early days of the company and eventually devotes an entire chapter to “Cambridge Analytica Changes Everything.”  McNamee writes about Facebook’s original mission: “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” He notes that there were “negative side effects on far too many users,” particularly the easy manipulation of massive automation and artificial intelligence, “leaving citizens ever less capable of thinking for themselves, knowing who to trust, or acting in their own interest.” McNamee labels Facebook a “threat to democracy” and outlines both direct and indirect effects on the four pillars of democracy (free and fair elections, active citizenship, equal rights for all, and rule of law). He continues with comments about Facebook’s threat to the powerless, to privacy, and to innovation, arguing that it (and other tech companies like Google) have not done enough to protect us and our children.  Unfortunately, McNamee “see[s] no easy solution to the problems posed.” ZUCKED is a thought-provoking tirade which will hopefully prompt more discussion and coverage like the recent Wall Street Journal article “Why Facebook Still Seems to Spy on You” by Katherine Bindley.  Those interested in more info will also want to watch the PBS Frontline documentary on Facebook which originally aired last November; here are links for part 1 and part 2.

We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan

I have some mixed opinions about the YA novel WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU by Ariel Kaplan. This is a story of Mischa Abramavicius, a scholarship student at a prep school, who has joined tons of clubs and worked hard for excellent grades and test scores, all to get into a selective college. Her friends accomplish that goal with surprising ease, but she receives rejection letters not only from her reach schools, but also from her local safety school. WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU certainly evokes a variety emotions and overachievers will find themselves in this novel, but may also have a hard time reading parts of it. I think the best fit is likely to be with Freshmen and Sophomores despite their distance from the college application process. My biggest disappointment was the absence of any really empathy from adults. Was Mischa so narrowly focused that she had failed to develop a supportive relationship with a teacher or club sponsor?  Just recently, The New York Times published an opinion piece about how important that is at the college level and we stress that for our students, too.

WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU has some funny moments, a light romance, and a fairly fast pace. The mystery aspect builds as some female STEM club members attempt to find out who has been altering transcripts. Readers will benefit from the reminders about how easily online accounts, include email, may be hacked and how little online privacy exists. In addition, Mischa and her friends, especially Nate, offer several wise observations as she tries to figure out who she really is:

“At any point in your life, you are two people.  There’s the Mischa you think you are, and then there’s the Mischa everyone else sees…. who gets you into college, or not. That’s the one who applies for jobs, and mortgages, and gets written about in the paper.”  or

“What would you have done differently? …. I would have had fun …. More fun, I guess. I wouldn’t have joined twenty clubs I don’t care about and studied very minute.” or

“You can see what all our struggles are worth.  They have exactly as much meaning as we give them, and not one bit more.”

WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU was given a starred review by Kirkus and by VOYA. I am also looking forward to reading Kaplan’s debut, Grendel’s Guide to Love and War, which received multiple starred reviews.