Discussing BIT FLIP with WABC-TV’s Lauren Glassberg and TechRadar’s editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff at The Mysterious Bookshop in Tribeca.

One of the aspects of my book launch that I was most looking forward to has been the return of live events. I feel incredibly fortunate that I didn’t have my book tour canceled by COVID or relegated to Zoom, as so many authors did during the last two years.

There is something undeniably energizing about an in-person event that, in my opinion, is impossible to capture online. As my book tour kicked off, I was quick to fully recognize that the opportunity to discuss my book and the topics it raises with a real, live, in-person audience would be the most gratifying part of this entire experience.

That is why I wrote this book. It wasn’t to make money (or even a living!). It wasn’t to be a bestseller (even though that would be kinda nice!). It wasn’t to have Bit Flip made into a film or TV show (though that would be cool!). The reason I wrote Bit Flip was to stimulate conversation. I describe the book as a cultural critique disguised as a corporate thriller. It’s the critique that’s the fun part to discuss with readers. That’s what matters to me: impacting the national dialog about tech and the tech industry’s influence on our lives.

Speaking with Mehran Sahami at Book Passage in San Francisco.

So far, I’ve already hosted nine live events, including Palo Alto, San Francisco (twice!), Marin, Sonoma, Walnut Creek, Columbus, New York, and Seattle. Thanks to my trusty iPhone and an inconspicuous 6-inch tripod, I’ve been able to capture most of these events in their entirety, which you can find links to view on my site or on my YouTube channel. And I still have seven events coming up in Chicago, Wisconsin, Colorado, and four in Palo Alto!

In addition to the joy of hosting these live events in the first place, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to collaborate with some of the best thinkers in the world about this topic. I can’t do justice to the amazing bios of my conversational partners here, but I’ll do my best:

Mehran Sahami and I worked together twenty years ago at E.piphany. He is the James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor in the School of Engineering, and Professor (Teaching) and Associate Chair for Education in the Computer Science department at Stanford University. He is also a Bass Fellow in Undergraduate Education. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Google. Mehran co-authored an outstanding book on how we can mitigate the negative aspects of the tech industry called System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot.
Margaret O’Mara and I first met at Northwestern University where we were both history majors. She is the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Chair of American History and Professor at the University of Washington. Margaret writes and teaches about the growth of the high-tech economy and its intersection with American politics. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, and other publications, and she has authored two acclaimed books on the history the tech industry: The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America and Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search For The Next Silicon Valley.
Parker MacDonell happens to have grown up in Lima, Ohio, the same home town as my protagonist, Sam Hughes. A seasoned financial services and business executive who serves as an Advisory Partner at Rev1 Ventures in Columbus, Parker is a long-time tech investor and leads the Ohio TechAngel Funds, a group of for-profit investor funds that invest in high-growth, high-tech companies in Ohio, focused on the IT, advanced materials, and life sciences sectors.
Laila Tarraf and I got our MBAs together at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Laila has been a senior People executive at several Bay Area companies, including AllBirds, Peet’s Coffee and Tea, and Walmart.com. She also wrote a heart-wrenching memoir called Strong Like Water: How I Found the Courage to Lead with Love in Business and in Life in which she shares her professional journey after losing her husband, father, and mother in quick succession.
Lance Ulanoff, who joined me for an interview with my long-time friend and WABC-TV Emmy-award winning journalist Lauren Glassberg, is Editor-in-Chief of TechRadar. Lance has covered the tech industry for over thirty years, previously as Editor-in-Chief of Lifewire, Chief Correspondent for Mashable, Editor-in-Chief of PCMag.com, and SVP of Content at Ziff Davis. He also makes frequent appearances as the tech expert on TV news programs, including Live with Kelly and Ryan, Fox News, Fox Business, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.

These incredible collaborators have been so generous with their time and brought so much to the conversation. I just can’t thank them enough.

Thanks also go out to the awesome book stores who have hosted me for these events. The commitment and passion that these stores show to their communities by taking the time to organize and promote events such as these leave me in awe. Huge thanks to the owners, managers, and staff for all their hard work.

Finally, and most of all, thank you to everyone who has made it out to a live event. Without an audience, it isn’t an event. The engagement, intellectual curiosity, and enthusiasm of everyone who has joined us has been overwhelming. I can’t thank you enough for your support.

So, if you’re able to join one of my upcoming events, I look forward to seeing you there. If you can’t, I encourage you to watch one of the replays which I’ll continue to post on my site. Thank you all.

The Power of Live Events