
Voice in the Wilderness: On Douglas Copeland - lermontov
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2017/05/douglas_coupland_s_bit_rot_shows_what_happens_to_a_voice_of_a_generation.html
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blakesterz
_" Not surprisingly, everything in Bit Rot has the half-baked texture of a
Facebook post (“I sometimes wonder what selfies would look like in North
Korea”), because nearly everything that Coupland has ever written settles at
about that level. Fortunately for him, Thought Catalog wasn’t around to
compete with him in 1991."_

OUCH! I have to admit I LOVED Generation X when it came out. I just recently
read it again for the first time since the 90s and I must admit, it has _not_
aged well for me.

I reread Microserfs too, and that wasn't so bad. Seems like a great read for
the HN crowd.

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pgtan
"shampoo planet" these days and he foresaw it. Amazing author. BTW he has a
very inspiring column at FT

[https://www.ft.com/stream/authorsId/Q0ItMjI1YTIzZQ==-QXV0aG9...](https://www.ft.com/stream/authorsId/Q0ItMjI1YTIzZQ==-QXV0aG9ycw==)

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mturmon
I read _Generation X_ when it came out, and certainly enjoyed it. As a couple
more years went past, it's age-based politics began to wear thin.

There were people my own age whom I disagreed with, politically and
culturally. And there were boomers whose accomplishments and risk-taking I had
to admire, even though culturally we came from different places.

Ultimately, that was the lesson I took away: that age-based cultural/political
affinity is really quite empty. A dead end and a distraction.

~~~
scottLobster
Well there is some truth in that generations face different common challenges
(different wars, levels of tech, economies, etc), and examining how a given
"culture" reacts as a whole to these changes is potentially useful.

The issue is when people focus on one specific, relatively visible response
and extrapolate it to the entire culture. I know boomers who are cartoonishly
entitled and millennials who work 60 hour weeks without complaint.

That said there are some consistent general trends. Computer use drops
drastically in the older demographics, for example.

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kimi
I loved DC in "Gen X" and "Microserfs", and I have been purchasing his books
then on, but they have been going downhill. "Girlfriend in a Coma" was pretty
good. "JPod" and "Gum Thief" were from unremarkable to pretty bad, and
"Generation A" the first one I abandoned. So I'm not buying any more.

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theoh
The Guardian ran an entertaining no-holds-barred review of his book "Worst.
Person. Ever." when it came out 4 years ago:
[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/25/worst-
person-e...](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/25/worst-person-ever-
douglas-coupland-review)

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kough
Haven't read anything else by him, but JPod wasn't bad. It wasn't great but it
was at least pretty funny and not that political. Maybe stay away from Gen X
and give JPod a try.

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pnathan
microserfs was amazing. It's a slice of time. Worth reading for a perspective.

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robterrell
Microserfs was basically the "Silicon Valley" of its day. I haven't read it
since it came out, I wonder if it holds up.

Mods: headline has the author's name misspelled. It's "Coupland".

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b1gnasty
copeland??

~~~
rdiddly
Not to be confused with Stuart Coupland (drummer for the Puh-leeeze)

