Careless People - Sarah Wynn-Williams

Careless People

By Sarah Wynn-Williams

  • Release Date: 2025-03-11
  • Genre: Social Science
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 54 Ratings

Description

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Careless People is darkly funny and genuinely shocking...Not only does [Sarah Wynn-Williams] have the storytelling chops to unspool a gripping narrative; she also delivers the goods." -Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times

“When one of the world’s most powerful media companies tries to snuff out a book — amid other alarming attacks on free speech in America like this — it’s time to pull out all the stops.” –Ron Charles, The Washington Post

An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

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 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.

Reviews

  • This is the evil of our time

    5
    By kalil chris 13
    These tech corporations are the darkness of our time. TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, etc…they are evil, vile, and vapid. This book might be about Zuckerberg’s specific flavor of narcissism and incompetence but rest assured that if you peeled up the rocks at any of these places you would see the exact same rot.
  • Fascinating, believable, well done

    5
    By Dw11811
    This is a very good read. The author is skilled and takes us through spaces ranging from very personal (baby delivering) through global (Davos, UN conclaves). She brings a sense of decency and cultural awareness to her observations of the internal workings of the top management at FB. Qualities the ‘careless people’ clearly do not share. I wish this book and its author the best of luck. For the rest of us - let’s not necessarily believe what we see online. DW
  • An important read. Page turning.

    5
    By PB Cooks
    Careless people is about what happens when individuals take all of the power and wealth from their influence, but none of the responsibility. It’s also a reflection on feminism in the modern workplace - an example of leaders championing women’s rights publicly, while brushing them under the rug in practice. For the author, it’s a story of her slowly realizing how the world works, and how her dreams of making it better through Facebook slowly fall apart as she realizes the company doesn’t care about anything but itself.
  • Met tried to shut this book down before it was even released.

    5
    By Bobboganush
    Meta tried to shut this book down before it was even released. When a company tries to dismiss charges as “old news,” that translates to a confirmation. Statements like, "the book is full of lies," "the author has an agenda," or "the author is a known liar," are also confirmations of truth. When reading books like this ask yourself, "does this make sense, coupled with everything else you know?" If the answer is "yes," that's usually a pretty good indicator of a confirmation.