The New York Times′ Lauren Oyler described Wiener as 'far from seeking to disabuse civic-minded techno-skeptics of our views she is here to fill out our worst-case scenarios with shrewd insight and literary detail.' Reception Īccording to literary review aggregator Book Marks, the book received mostly 'Positive' reviews. Examples include referring to Facebook as 'the social network everyone hated' rather than referring directly to the corporation. She employed the same descriptive strategy when referencing other technology companies, and other organizations with connections to Silicon Valley and tech generally, such as Stanford University. Wiener did not include the names of the companies at which she worked, in the original piece or the book, opting instead to describe the companies' business models and reputations.

The earliest version of what would later become Uncanny Valley appeared in literary magazine n+1 in 2016. These emails and text messages later proved useful when writing Uncanny Valley. Wiener also emailed herself notes about amusing conversations or interactions she overheard or witnessed and saved them in a folder she dubbed 'Notes to Self'. Upon arriving, she had few friends, and corresponded over email with friends still in New York. Wiener moved to San Francisco from New York City at the age of 25 to pursue a job in the tech industry. Throughout the book, Wiener ruminates about the moral implications of data collection and manipulation amongst technology firms. Despite the demeaning nature of her work and the stressful nature of investigating potentially inflammatory or illegal posts on the site, she decides to remain due to the company's various perks, such as being able to work from home. After switching between several companies, she finally settles on the open-source coding company GitHub as a customer service representative.

Wiener, who felt restricted by the publishing industry's restrictive norms and shrinking revenue, feels out of place amongst the tech executives and engineers in her new surroundings yet content with her rising wage and generous work benefits. The book details Wiener's decision to quit her job as a freelance copy editor and literary agency assistant in New York in order to move to Silicon Valley in San Francisco. The book focuses on Wiener's transition from the publishing industry to a series of jobs at technology companies, and her gradual disillusionment with the technology industry.

Uncanny Valley is a 2020 memoir by writer Anna Wiener.

Anna wiener uncanny valley