The Nudist on the Late Shift is the true story of a new generation at the proving point of their lives, written by the most exciting and authentic literary voice to emerge from Silicon Valley, Po Bronson.

This is a defining portrait of young people in the whirl of an information revolution and an international gold rush. Masses of entrepreneurs and tech wizards, immigrants and investors, dreamers and visionaries, are heading west to seek their fortune and a new destiny. In Bronson, they have found their troubadour.

Already hailed by The Village Voice Literary Supplement as "the most complete and empathetic portrait of the Valley so far," The Nudist on the Late Shift establishes Bronson as the first author to capture the spirit of this new mecca. Recently chosen by the VLS as one of 1999's "Writers on the Verge," Bronson has spent the past decade searching Silicon Valley for the best stories, several of which have been published in Wired. Now he has woven those stories together, taking us inside the world of the newcomers, brainiacs, salespeople, headhunters, utopians, plutocrats, and innovators who are transforming our culture.

Writes the VLS: "Bronson evocatively portrays the overwhelming unpredictability of life in the Valley: getting fired can be part of daily life. But with a zero unemployment rate, the wounded don't stay that way for long. Bronson is at his best describing this radically shifting environment, where everyday folk with the right idea and the stamina stand to make millions in a couple of years, skipping rungs on the career ladder at a mind-boggling pace. Bronson recognizes that Silicon Valley's boom is made up of small explosions, and The Nudist puts us at ground zero."

"Most books, in baseball parlance, are singles or maybe doubles. Many books instruct but don't entertain; others entertain but teach nothing. Po Bronson has written a book about a dream valley that kept me glued to my seat — laughing, sighing, shaking my head — while also leaving me with a deeper sense of the human energy and hubris that fuels America's new entrepreneurial capital, Silicon Valley. A home run." Ken Auletta

"Nobody is better at writing about digital technology than Po Bronson. His stories get at the truth and reality of this new world." Clay Felker

"Po Bronson is a genuine voice of a new generation, the bard of Silicon Valley." Lewis Lapham

"Bronson is tuned in to the quirks of both personality and culture. His prose, often funny, maintains impressive velocity and is well suited to the manic life of the Valley and its colorful menagerie of characters." Publishers Weekly

"As Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker (1989) captured Wall Street and the spirit of the greedy 1980s, so Bronson's new book reflects the Valley and the digital revolution it spawned in the 1990s." Library Journal

"Bronson has a rare ability to spin the worlds of business and technologies into entertaining stories." The New York Times Book Review

"Bronson has captured this remarkable place and time." The Wall Street Journal

"Bronson relates the stories of a generation of new and wannabe multi-millionaires with conversational grace...an engaging, instructional and fascinating read." Denver Post

"This clever storyteller keeps you laughing as you breeze from one episode to the next...a juicy collection of true tales." Time

Po Bronson is a feature writer for Wired and has written about high-tech culture for The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes ASAP. His first novel, Bombardiers (1995), was translated into ten languages, became an inter-national bestseller, and was described by Business Week as "perhaps the most entertaining depiction of greed on Wall Street ever to see print." His second novel, The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest (1997), was called "a smart, sassy fantasy" by The New York Times. The Boston Herald added, "Ken Kesey would be proud."
        
When asked in December 1998 which young authors he was reading, Tom Wolfe responded, "Two of the writers I look to with tremendous interest are Richard Price and Po Bronson. Those are the two writers I am watching very closely, because they are so talented."
        
Bronson grew up in Seattle, graduated from Stanford University in 1986, and lives in San Francisco. For more information on the author and his Silicon Valley Bleeding Edge Book Tour, visit www.pobronson.com.

1. Newcomers
2. IPO
3. Entrepreneur
4. Programmers
5. Salespeople
6. Futurist
7. Dropout
8. Is the "revolution!" over?