The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality

A remarkable nonfiction, this book follows Palmer Luckey as the primary founder of Oculus, as well as the other founders, influencers and many others whose ideas and efforts led to a renewed push for Virtual Reality as well as the formation of Oculus. Most of the story takes place between 2012 (when Luckey was 19 years old) to 2017 when he exited Oculus at the age of 24. This made it all the more engaging as it was exceptional for Palmer to take on great responsibility at such an early age, while also making it understandable that he wouldn't have necessarily yet had the savvy to avoid the traps he fell into along the way.The story for me breaks down into three parts. It starts out as an engaging and heartfelt tale of passion, risk-taking, idealism, and optimism. Next, the narrative slows down as it takes the reader through a lot of the dealings of a tech start-up, and the subsequent acquisition. Then, as others have noted, three-quarters of the way in, the story takes a sudden and dramatic turn. This isn't a writer's plot twist, this is just what happened with the real-life characters during the time the book was being researched and written. It was apparently such an unexpected twist for the author, Harris, that he delayed delivery of the final manuscript by a couple years to make that part of the story complete.I expected a story about risk-takers that pursue a wild passion, and how a tech startup forms and evolves. I didn't have any particular interest in Virtual Reality. But I found that the real and ongoing challenges of the VR (and AR) industry in terms of consumer engagement and industry execution made this read all the more interesting.It's a true story of our times, shedding light on a still nascent industry with a tale about exceptional people and their flaws. It also cracks open a window into the tech industry in the United States that many would prefer stayed shut, exposing some bad actors as well as a culture of intolerance and intimidation.This book has clearly been deeply researched. It's the kind of information that can only come from many hours of interviews and records review. We owe the author a debt of gratitude for making such a major effort to bring this story to light.The only real complaint I have with this book is that it has many minor editing issues, mostly typos. I started reporting them on my Kindle after about the 7th, and there were at least that many more. HarperCollins needs to invest a little more in their editing department. But don't let that stop you from reading this excellent book!

As virtual reality (VR) is meant to "Step You into The Game", this book steps you into the true story of a young teenager who wanted to bring VR to life for himself and a few other gamers and VR enthusiasts.You're the fly on the wall, right there seeing and experiencing all that goes on, as he is caught up in the high stakes of a Tech startup, investors intrigue, the highs and lows of deadlines, technical challenges, competitors and more.The book covers it all, superbly, from beginning to end with the rise of success to the crushing blow of... (no spoilers here!)I purchased the book after hearing the author (Blake J. Harris) on the radio. Sounded good, so got it and started reading and couldn't put it down except for work, sleep, and time with family. Otherwise I was reading, reading, reading.Finished in two days and was blown away by the story and the strength and resilience of Palmer Luckey, the young inventor and entrepreneur, as well as the cast of characters in the true story of resurrecting the Holy Grail of bringing Virtual Reality to the masses.

This was an interesting and well written foray into the starting of Oculus. It's got some great insight, amazing detail and is pretty amazingly paced.Then it gets to the political demise of Luckey that we all knew what was coming and just goes off the rails.It's not that Palmer wasn't mistreated by Facebook, I think he did not get a fair shake. But in a seeming effort to strike back at Facebook (I'm guessing brought on by their ceased cooperation with Harris), he completely carries water for Milo, Trump, etc.He absolutely downplays the horror of everything Trump did leading up to his campaign and just brushes it off with an aw-shucks "I mean Trump can be an ass... but..." hand waving. It's pretty disgusting gaslighting. It also completely downplays the hate that came out of The_Donald and tries to play them as just some down on their luck guys with some pretty heavy dog-whistling about "just little ole me lookin' around and not liking what I'm seeing in my country."No mention of the terror that Milo has wrought on people or Thiel's scorched earth behavior towards anyone he doesn't like.Anyway. It's good for the first 75% and is worth reading for that, but Harris clearly has an agenda for the last 25% and it all of a sudden feels like we're dealing with an unreliable narrator.

I couldn't put this book down. It's a very well-told narrative of the founding story, unique backgrounds of the team, challenges, pivotal decision points, and moments of almost-death (for Oculus). There's a ton of great inside information on what made this different and better than before, in a way I hadn't seen anywhere else. It's worth noting that Carmack himself tweeted that it's an accurate portrayal. It's a fun, exciting and detailed telling of the Kickstarter (and before) days all the way to FB acquisition.My only gripe was that the final 20% of the book - which I won't spoil - homes in on a completely different topic than the first 80%, which was the most exciting for me.Either way - if you're interested in technology, VR, and startups, this is a must-read. Even if you're not, you'll probably enjoy it!

Gets a little long in the tooth near the end, bit he did admit to getting barred from facebook right when it hit the fan. What's an author to do? Great read. Even my non VR friends enjoyed the book.

Harris versucht sich in diesem Buch an einer Chronologie eines Themas, welches mir persönlich auch sehr am Herzen liegt: dem Aufstieg und (noch aktuellen) Zerfall der Firma Oculus, mit einem autobiografischen Blick auf deren Gründer. Dieses Ziel gelingt Harris in großen Teilen auch und vor allem sein Zugang zu internen Mails, Memos und Erinnerungen bietet auch Personen, welche die entsprechende Zeitperiode aktiv miterlebt haben, viel Neues. Harris hat auch einen guten Blick auf allgemein eher nebensächliche Anekdoten, diese Runden das Gesamtbild schön ab.Das erste, große Problem liegt leider in der Lückenhaftigkeit der Chronologie. Verbringen wir zu Anfang z.B. noch sehr viel Zeit mit Words with Friends und dem Lucky's Tale-Entwicklerstudio, wird deren enge Verbindung zu Oculus und Bedeutung später nicht mal mehr in Nebensätzen erwähnt und ist für den Leser nur noch nachvollziehbar falls er bereits Sekundärwissen besitzt. Verschiedene Geschichten um Gerichtsprozesse und Palmers Ausflüge werden einfach nicht zu Ende erzählt.Schlimmer wiegt tatsächlich die politische Ausrichtung des Autors. Dieser hat viel Sympathien für Palmer Luckey und erzählt die Geschichte eines politisch verfolgten, von den Medien verleugneten und betrogenen Mannes, dessen einziges Vergehen die Unterstützung eines kleinen Fanforums von Donald Trump gewesen sei (Gemeint ist r/the_donald, eine Seite mit eigenem Wikipedia-Artikel). Als Zeitzeuge eben dieser Internetorte ist es für mich als Leser paradox zu sehen wie Harris die Ausmaße und Handlungen der Internetorte, an denen sich Luckey wohl sehr häufig aufhielt, herunterspielt. In der Realität wurden dort u.a. Naziaufmärsche beworben. Völlig ohne Zusammenhang wird auch noch ein anonymisierter Forenmoderator vorgestellt und erklärt wie enttäuscht dieser doch mit der Politik sei. Wer ein Buch mit einer historischen Betrachtung schreibt kann es sich nicht so einfach machen und z.B. Facebook-Mitarbeiter, welche angesichts der historischen Manipulationen zur US-Wahl schockiert waren, pauschal als undemokratisch und faschistisch darstellen. Ein 4-Sterne-Buch bis zu den letzten 20%, danach nicht mal ein Stern.

Se amate la VR dovete leggerlo, anche per capire la pessima e discutibile visione di Zuck sul futuro della VR...

Nicely written story about Oculus and well written. But this followed Bad Blood which has an unbelievable story so this is weak in comparison. Still a good read if you love VR.

This reads like a movie script. Very engaging and nice gentle intro to all the characters without getting bamboozled with too much detail.