Careless People

by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Audiobook

Published 2025 by Pan Macmillan.

ISBN:: 978-1-0350-6595-0

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.”

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in …

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.

4 editions

Amanda reviewed Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

You are not a good person, you know. Good persons don’t end up here.

4 stars

This book goes on the record with lots of things we’ve all guessed. I think it will be a crucial source text for history and it does give a glimpse into how the monsters behind Facebook became as they are and of the corrosive effects of hyper wealth on people. What strikes me about Mark and Sheryl as presented through Sarah’s eyes in the book is how human they seem. Reading it, I realise me I’d probably end up a lot like them under similar circumstances. In a way that’s nice because it means evil is a function of systems, not people, at least not primarily.

I also had to fast-forward some of the exhausting humble brags, not to mention some of the MaTeRnAl InStInCtS part, in which Sarah very clearly used the good/mother/nature vs bad/corporate/tech divide for narrative effect. Since I’m reading this as an audiobook while parenting …

Here are my unstructured notes: - This really tells how early the social media people knew fascists were great for helping them get out of being regulated - It strikes me how human Sheryl and Mark are in their monstrosity; I’d almost certainly have been the same - Very good description of how money rots your brain; it freezes you wherever you currently are and supercharges whatever’s wrong with you - Main character tries to write it out of the story but she certainly is a piece of shit too - Facebook really really does not have a mind control ray - Jfc I hate this flavour of mom shit - Good god this is such a humble brag - Surprise! It was private health insurance all along! - Mark Zuckerberg is playing the world like high chaos Dishonored - Epilogue: ok it’s completely obvious she’s a piece of shit

Lecturas de Bernie reviewed Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Holy guacamole

4 stars

A harrowing tale about a spoiled kid emperor and his cadre of monsters, told by a New Zealand diplomat. Do not ever touch Facebook even with a 10-foot pole

Adam reviewed Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Eye-opening and unsurprising at the same time

4 stars

I was a at best a reluctant user of FB, and my scepticism of tech had probably kicked in before the time frame of this book, but I definitely held that kind of naïve optimism about tech's power for good at some point in time - a thing that in 2025 is already proving really difficult to rationalise in hindsight.

It's not a huge surprise to learn that the big personalities in this book are all dicks, and that working culture in a Silicon Valley tech company is dysfunctional and toxic. It was also good to be reminded just how implicated FB is in genocides and shitty election outcomes. On top of the diss to tech company culture (which I am always here for), Wynn-Williams' personal story is actually pretty killer (almost literally a couple of times) on its own!

optimist_prime

rated it

June 16, 2025