26. "Perfect, this will kill my last few minutes of work" In response to In response to 25
For me, it's a near-perfect description of office life (obviously much more eventful and interesting--if it was an exact replication of my work experiences, the only way it could sell any copies would be if it was appropriately titled, "Fuck this Shit").
I typically don't enjoy things based solely upon the "I can identify with this" criterion, but the story was just that well done...the manner in which rumors begin and grow, the small frustrations, the uselessness of HR policy, the generally indifferent relationships among co-workers. It really is good because it's true.
From a stylistic perspective, I feel his use of the first-person plural is clever. It's inviting to the reader, and induces him or her to make a connection with the characters. An argument against this might be, "If it's such a good book, why does he have to essentially trick the reader into liking or identifying with the characters?" It's because we generally don't have any real connection to our co-workers. We're lumped together by circumstance, and the use of 'we' in the book reinforces that.
And no, I have not read The Kings of Infinite Space. I just might place that in the queue, which has grown considerably longer since my roommate bought an Xbox 360.