Super Pumped by Mike Isaac

I recently reviewed John Carreyrou's Bad Blood, in which the founder and ex-CEO of Theranos was ousted as a compulsively lying sociopath. Theranos, a Silicon valley startup once worth billions, promptly collapsed as the public became aware of its true nature. Uber, the subject of Super Pumped, isn't as bad a company as Theranos, but it comes much closer than I anticipated.

Super Pumped and Bad Blood have, surprisingly, a lot in common. Both were written by prominent business journalists (from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal respectively) who uncovered scandals within the companies with the help of whistleblowers. Of the two, Carreyrou is perhaps the more successful exposé as his reporting directly led to the end of Theranos. Isaac's allegations against Uber are not as damning, but they touch on the same themes; venture capital's excesses, egotism, founder worship and the normalization of toxic working culture.

Uber is a staple of global business news, so I thought I knew what to expect. Super Pumped is the story of Uber and Travis Kalanick, its founder. Uber started out as a way for limousine drivers to earn extra income while waiting for scheduled gigs. High-flying "ballers" could hail a limousine with their smartphone at their convenience. Most of us know Uber as the low-cost taxi service, where anyone can be a driver, but that came only later. Ridesharing was pioneered by Uber's nemesis Lyft, but Uber quickly stole the concept and beat Lyft to the market. It was the first in a series of dirty moves that many people associate with the company.

Uber has been so controversial that Wikipedia helpfully provides readers with a 21 point list of criticisms against the company. Combine those with the immorality of its founders and management and it's hard to continue using the company's services. I remember using Uber for the first time and being amazed by both the app and the service. Catching a cab with an app was already enticing, but paying less for it than a standard taxi was the real hook. In hindsight, some of the warning signs were there from the beginning. Prices were low because venture capitalists picked up a significant portion of the tab. Since then, driver satisfaction has nosedived as Uber has reduced their fees.

Most surprisingly, despite being one of the fastest growing companies ever, Uber's management made a string of inexplicably bad business decisions. Kalanick saw himself as the first American that could crack the Chinese consumer market. China, however, already had its share of ridesharing apps that understood the market better than an arrogant American rival. Uber ended up burning billions of dollars in China, Russia and other markets it barely understood. Kalanick believed that Uber needed to be the first to enter a market to "win" it. But from the start it was obvious that ridesharing isn't a natural monopoly. Rivals like Bolt, Didi Chuxing and Lyft have shown that stamina matters more than blitz.

Super Pumped reads like a series of extended newspaper stories. It's standard practice and quite accessible, but it also guarantees that there is little to say beyond the crisp content. I barely got to the juicy details here, and I'm happy to recommend Super Pumped to others, perhaps just to spread the word on Uber. Bad Blood succeeded in taking down Theranos. Unfortunately, there has been no such luck with Super Pumped yet.

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

There are a lot of great jokes in Slow Horses, its title included. Slough House is a halfway home of sorts for disgraced MI5 agents; the Slow Horses. Any number of reasons can earn you a transfer to Slough House. Botching an operation, alcoholism, political machination; all might put your career on hold and send you to the drab establishment on the edge of London. Working at Slough House is designed to be mind numbingly boring. The goal is that you slowly realize that quitting is the only way out.

Slow Horses may be written as a spy thriller, but comedy is where it truly shines. I rarely enjoy written humor, but Mick Herron combines excellent prose with classic British comedy in a unique way. Parts of it remind me of the excellent The Sellout from a few years ago, although the subject matter couldn't be more different. Herron succeeds in selling the funny with the serious and in creating characters who are both fantastical and relatable. Established voices like John le Carré rarely go beyond sly and clever in their work. This doesn't mean that le Carré leaves me cold, very much the opposite, it just underlines how well Herron pulls it off.

Jokes are, of course, not to be explained. River Cartwright is one of the ex-spies assigned to Slough House after a disastrous training exercise. His promising career is sidetracked and he finds himself running trivial errands for Jackson Lamb, the rotund traditionalist heading the department. The whole affair seems like a dead end. Nothing of interest has happened at Slough House in years and the other inhabitants (inmates?) seem disinterested or fully checked out. However, as a teenager is kidnapped in front of his home, the Slow Horses are pulled into the intrigue. Saying more would considerably spoil some of the fun.

Slow Horses is the first in a series (six volumes so far), but it barely shows. An extended sequence introduces the cast without feeling like a setup for a second book. Understanding the characters is a payoff in its own right. It's all very self contained, even as the characters are clearly moved into position for the next story. I've often recommended J.K. Rowling's Cormoran Strike Series of private eye novels for people looking for an entertaining but well written thriller. If Herron's follow up, Dead Lions, is as impressive, I might consider changing my recommendation.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

1984 is one of the most widely read books of all time and a staple of the high school English class. Surprisingly, I had never read it. I've always been a fan of Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" though. It's the foundational essay of how to write in the 20th century and a handy guide for editing your own writing. I try to adhere to it as much as possible. "Never use a long word where a short one will do" and "If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out" are a few of the key ideas. Orwell's advice for writers is as strong today as it ever was.

Politics and the English Language and 1984 have surprisingly much in common. "Politics" is, above all, about how vague language encourages vague thinking. Writing and thought are more closely connected than most people think and embracing jargon, cliches, abstractions and political dada slowly erode a population's ability to think clearly. Often, resorting to a common figure of speech is just a way to avoid understanding what is being said. Politicians are typically the worst offenders - then and now - but academics, CEOs and news media are just as susceptible to lazy wording. The essay is one for the ages, so I'll do something that I've never done before and link it here.

In a way, 1984 is the fictionalized version of that essay. One of its main messages is that language is more than the medium of communication. The way we use language has a fundamental impact on how we think. In 1984, "Ingsoc" - the English Socialist party - has created "Newspeak", an artificial language based on English that is to be used in all official communication. Newspeak is designed to obfuscate ideas. Once Newspeak becomes the de facto language, the theory goes, it will become impossible to think unorthodox thoughts of the party. Newspeak is Orwell's finest argument against totalitarianism. The language is brutalist and reductivist and perfectly reflects the goals of its (fictional) creators.

Hundreds of studies and dissertations have been written about 1984. That doesn't mean that it's an academic endeavour or devoid of casual interest. The narrative is surprisingly compelling and relatable. Winston Smith is a mid-level party member, who finds himself on a slippery slope leading to betraying his party. It's part Philip K Dick sci-fi dystopia and part cold war spy fiction. Trust me, it's fantastic. Don't spend the first quarter of your life having not read 1984.