Big Tech's Origin Story

In 'Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products,' Nir Eyal explains how the most successful products create habits in their users. The book introduces the 4-step Hook Model: Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, and Investment. Eyal discusses how these steps work together to form habits, making products an integral part of users' daily routines. He also addresses the ethical considerations of creating habit-forming products and provides frameworks like the Manipulation Matrix to ensure that these products improve users' lives. The book is invaluable for entrepreneurs, product designers, and anyone interested in understanding how to build products that users return to repeatedly.

In 'Zucked,' Roger McNamee provides an intimate reckoning with the catastrophic failure of Facebook's leadership to address the damage caused by the platform. The book begins with McNamee's realization that Facebook is being manipulated by bad actors and his subsequent frustration with Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg's unwillingness to address these concerns. It chronicles the events leading up to and following the 2016 presidential election and the Brexit referendum, highlighting Facebook's role in these events. McNamee, an early Facebook investor and mentor to Zuckerberg, argues that Facebook's practices of invasive surveillance, data sharing, and behavior modification are foundational to its success but highly detrimental to public health and democracy. The book is both a personal narrative and a broader critique of the tech industry's lack of civic and moral responsibility.

In 'Indistractable', Nir Eyal delves into the root causes of distraction, arguing that it starts from within and is driven by the desire to escape discomfort. The book offers a four-step, research-backed model to help readers master internal triggers, manage time effectively, hack back external triggers, and prevent distractions with pacts. Eyal also discusses how distraction affects various aspects of life, including work, relationships, and parenting, and provides novel techniques to overcome these challenges and live a more focused life.