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Follow the Geeks: 10 Digital Innovators and the Future of Work by Lyndsey Gilpin
Follow the Geeks tells the stories of 10 digital entrepreneurs who transformed their careers for the 21st century. See the risks, setbacks, and innovations that defined them. You'll find programmers and photographers, podcasters and philanthropists. No matter what industry you work in, what size your company is, or if you're launching your own startup, these stories provide a trail of wisdom for the future. Follow the Geeks reimagined the idea of a book for the digital age by turning it into a conversation with readers. As the authors were writing the book, they shared each chapter online for a limited time and got amazing feedback. This final version of the book includes the best comments from the community, featured at the end of each chapter and published here for the first time.
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About the author
Lyndsey Gilpin
1 book3 followersLyndsey currently writes for High Country News, a magazine about the West based in Paonia, Colorado. She's had bylines at The Atlantic, TechRepublic, Grist, and Forbes. Lyndsey has a master’s degree from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 26, 2016
This is a fantastic Who is Who of the Tech world. Wonderful read, the attention to detail and writing is top notch.
July 21, 2017
This book won't be a 5 star book for everyone: the stories are fun and interesting, but not nearly as in-depth as I'd have expected, and the whole thing seems put together in a hurry.
For someone like me, however, who has followed, listened to, watched and read a bunch of the people in this book for years, it was a delight. Knowing more about their stories, the vision they have for their lives and projects, as well as the relationships they share with other people in their fields was fascinating and inspiring.
Another great aspect of this book was learning about the people I DIDN'T know about before: people like Chase Jarvis and Maya Penn, whose stories were as interesting as they were inspiring, definitely makes this book worth reading. No matter who you are, most likely you'll discover a new person to follow in Twitter, or a new project to check out.
For someone like me, however, who has followed, listened to, watched and read a bunch of the people in this book for years, it was a delight. Knowing more about their stories, the vision they have for their lives and projects, as well as the relationships they share with other people in their fields was fascinating and inspiring.
Another great aspect of this book was learning about the people I DIDN'T know about before: people like Chase Jarvis and Maya Penn, whose stories were as interesting as they were inspiring, definitely makes this book worth reading. No matter who you are, most likely you'll discover a new person to follow in Twitter, or a new project to check out.
May 20, 2020
I originally picked this book up because Leo Laporte was featured in it. I have been a fan of his for years and watched him on TechTV, the listened and watched his podcasts. I still try to tune in from time to time and listen or watch a podcast. But a treat I didn't expect was to learn about many others who crossed Laporte's path and some that didn't. Lisa Bettany, Tom Merritt, and Veronica Belmont are some of my favorites in this book. If you enjoy these geeks and want to get a short biography on them then this is a great book for you.
November 24, 2017
If you are a big fan of TWIT then the book will give you the life stories of many regular hosts on different shows. Not much more than pleasing your curiosity...
July 24, 2016
First, I need to say this review is based on the [edit: first edition of the] Audible audiobook (which is not listed here as an available edition of this book) [the one narrated by Dan Patterson].
If I had read the print version instead of listened to the audio, my review would be 4 stars. But the narrator of the audio version is so bad, it ruins the audiobook. The narrator sounds like he is doing a cross between a radio DJ and the movie trailer guy voice. He also has a very... mechanical and halting delivery... like it sounds... as if he is reading... from very short phrases... on a page. It is very distracting. Finally, it is clear that the narrator wasn't familiar with the subject matter (in one section he referred to an "ask 2" editor instead of an "ASCII" editor), some names were mispronounced, and worse, in some sections, sentences are repeated (as if multiple audio takes were just included). Didn't anyone listen to this before it was published?
Sorry, I really liked the subject matter, and it was clearly well researched. I would recommend the non-audio version to anyone who has interest in any of the people profiled in this book. But please, do yourself a favor and avoid the audio version.
[Edit: They have released a new version of the audiobook narrated by one of the authors, Jason Hiner. This version is SOOOO much better. Jason's delivery is very natural and professional. Names are pronounced correctly, cadence is comfortable and conversational. If you're going to get the audiobook, make sure you get this version. And if you gave up on the original version of the audiobook, give this one a second chance.]
If I had read the print version instead of listened to the audio, my review would be 4 stars. But the narrator of the audio version is so bad, it ruins the audiobook. The narrator sounds like he is doing a cross between a radio DJ and the movie trailer guy voice. He also has a very... mechanical and halting delivery... like it sounds... as if he is reading... from very short phrases... on a page. It is very distracting. Finally, it is clear that the narrator wasn't familiar with the subject matter (in one section he referred to an "ask 2" editor instead of an "ASCII" editor), some names were mispronounced, and worse, in some sections, sentences are repeated (as if multiple audio takes were just included). Didn't anyone listen to this before it was published?
Sorry, I really liked the subject matter, and it was clearly well researched. I would recommend the non-audio version to anyone who has interest in any of the people profiled in this book. But please, do yourself a favor and avoid the audio version.
[Edit: They have released a new version of the audiobook narrated by one of the authors, Jason Hiner. This version is SOOOO much better. Jason's delivery is very natural and professional. Names are pronounced correctly, cadence is comfortable and conversational. If you're going to get the audiobook, make sure you get this version. And if you gave up on the original version of the audiobook, give this one a second chance.]
June 5, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. It had some great information and back stories of a lot of the big names currently in the tech game. The format was great in that each bio was long enough to provide you a deeper insight into their life, but short enough to keep things interesting and not drag out to an unnecessary length.
The only thing that knocked a star off of my review is that it seems pretty media/journalist-centric. It seemed like most of the people the wrote about were in some form or another of journalism.
The only thing that knocked a star off of my review is that it seems pretty media/journalist-centric. It seemed like most of the people the wrote about were in some form or another of journalism.
March 19, 2016
My only criticism of this book is I wish it had been longer. The people chose had such interesting stories, each of them could have filled an entire book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews