Solzhenitsyn’s In The First Circle is also important for people in the tech industry to read. The book takes place in a Sharashka, a prison-within-the-prison-system for talented engineers who get (marginally) better food and conditions in exchange for doing the State's bidding.
The sad part is that they end up rather excitedly reinforcing the very regime that put them there and, towards the end, are instrumental in thwarting one of their country's best hopes at throwing off the yoke of Stalinism.
If you do read it, make sure you get the uncensored version. The chapter making fun of Stalin's working habits is hilarious.
And if anyone decides to read this, please make sure you read In The First Circle, not The First Circle. The latter is the "first" publication, which Solzhenitsyn abridged and modified, because he did not think that the true work would make it past the Soviet minders. In The First Circle is the true work, as Solzhenitsyn intended.
The sad part is that they end up rather excitedly reinforcing the very regime that put them there and, towards the end, are instrumental in thwarting one of their country's best hopes at throwing off the yoke of Stalinism.
If you do read it, make sure you get the uncensored version. The chapter making fun of Stalin's working habits is hilarious.