1990s a-wild-sheep-chase absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity adult-education adulthood adventure alternate-reality ambition american-expat artificial-intelligence atmospheric autobiographical autobiography canada canadian-literature career coding comedy comedy-writing coming-of-age communication computer computer-industry computer-programming computer-science computers contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-life corporate-world counterculture coupland cultural-differences cultural-misunderstandings culture culture-shock dark-comedy dark-humor detective detective-fiction detective-story digital-age digital-revolution douglas douglas-coupland dream-like dreamlike dreams dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family education enigmatic entertaining entertainment entrepreneurship essay-collection essays existential existentialism expat-life family family-dynamics family-relationships fantasy fate fiction folklore foreign-language france french-language friendship friendships funny gaming geek geek-culture geeks generation-x haruki-murakami humor humor-writing humorist humorous identity identity-crisis innovation internet internet-boom internet-culture introspection introspective isolation japan japanese-literature journey jpod language language-acquisition language-barrier language-barriers language-humor language-learning learning life-experiences linguistics literary-fiction literature loneliness love love-story magical-realism memoir metafiction metaphysical microserfs microsoft millennial millennial-generation mind-bending misadventures miscommunication misfit murakami mystery mythology nerd-culture nerds non-fiction nonfiction novel observational-humor obsession office-culture office-life office-politics paris personal-essays personal-growth personal-stories philosophical philosophy pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodernism programming psychological quest quirky-characters relationships romance sarcasm satire satirical seattle self-deprecating self-deprecating-humor self-discovery sheep silicon-valley social-commentary social-isolation social-media software software-development start-up start-up-culture start-ups startup-culture startups storytelling subversion subversive supernatural surreal surrealism symbolic symbolism teaching tech-industry technology tokyo transformation travel unconventional vancouver video-games virtual-reality wit witty work-life-balance workplace workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor