We are only now coming to understand the incredible impact Silicon Valley has had on the past twenty years - even as the products made by companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon continue to seep into even more corners of our everyday lives. This first person perspective from a woman, an industry veteran with boots on the ground, as this insular tech bro culture was fomenting - is a revelation. The headstrong political identities (“I’m an anarcho-capitalist”), the stand-offish personalities, the outsiders crafting their own inside; the characters Ms Ullman chronicles in Close to the Machine now rule the world. One self entitled “cypher punk” named wanted to create what we know now to be crypto currency and block chain technology. A group of others build the rickety foundations of an international financial institution, on the web for the first time. Although much in this industry has changed in the twenty four years since this book has been written, one overwhelming theme remains: the need for the new and the rejection of the old still drives tech into new and unexpected places, often with unforeseen consequences.