The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow by Cory Doctorow - Book Review #251

This is an interesting series of small, digest books from the PM Press Outspoken Authors series.

In them, there is a short fiction and then an interview or two.

At 134 pages I loved the overall look, feel and format of the book.  I certainly enjoyed learning about what is important to the author.  It's always enjoyable to get a glimpse inside the mind of an author whose fiction I enjoy.

The fiction took up most of the book at 106 pages.  In it, we follow Jimmy an adolescent who has been genetically engineered to live centuries.  I guess you could call it a post-apocalypse story but the apocalypse is still in progress where giant machines pass over the land destroying anything man-made and returning it to a natural state, concrete is turned back into dirt.

The thing I like about Doctorow's work is that his stories are about people trying to understand, cope and fit into the world.  All the SF stuff is part of the scenery.  Jimmy struggles with his immortality because he is stuck in the body of an 11-year-old, even though he has been around for over 30 years.

Early in the story the great machines come and destroy his home and kill his father.  We follow him as he tries to find a place in the world for himself.  Years later he finds a "cure" to his longevity and he bumps into a part of his past.

Recommended.

Cory Doctorow - https://craphound.com/

Cory Doctorow

Anda’s Game by Cory Doctorow

A wonderful and inspiring story.

Since I agree with Doctorow’s stance with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, I enjoy reading these very same problems played out and solved in his fiction. 

Anda is a young English girl who loves gaming but struggles with the male-dominance of the culture. She is also struggling with her own real-world self-esteem. 

The story tackles balancing an in-game life with the real world.  And how the real world can intrude in the game world. 

There are some important subjects explored here, which makes reading it so very satisfying to me. 

Recommended. 

Cory Doctorow's website - https://craphound.com/

Information Doesn’t Want To Be Free by Cory Doctorow - Book Report #234

This was a fascinating subject but, after a while it just went over my head.

Learning about how to deal with intellectual properties on the Internet, which is nothing more than a copy machine.

The basic thrust of the book was to say that it is better to allow the downloading and sharing of content on the Internet.  Treat it as advertisement and people will likely pay for more.

He used a street busker as an example, most people just walk on by, some stay and listen leaving nothing in the hat but others will.  Those that do will leave enough to pay for and make the effort worthwhile.  When you combine those that listened without paying and those that did, they may tell others about your work who may or may not pay but the audience will grow.

He also makes a good argument on how digital locks, DRMs, simply do not work.

The truth of things is that these are the Wild West years of the Internet and it will take time for things to shake out, correct themselves and develop fair (for the most part) structures.

One thing I found interesting was Doctorow's insight in the streaming music services.  The current belief is that these services are paying ridiculously low royalties to the artists.  But the truth is that it is the record labels that are collecting the royalties, getting fat in the process, and it is THEY who are not distributing the money.

Anyhow, I found the book interesting even though much of it eluded me.

I love learning about the worlds within worlds we live in.

Recommended.

Cory Doctorow's website - https://craphound.com/

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - Book Review #174

I found this to be a terrific book.

It was fast paced and pertinent. 

It explores how our society is moving more and more into a surveillance state.   We are inexorably losing our freedoms. 

We follow the adventure of Marcus Yallow and his friends after his hometown of San Francisco suffers a terrorist attack. 

It is a subversive novel designed for young readers to take seriously their privacy and right to use encryption. 

Interestingly, even though the story itself was very entertaining I found the essays and bibliography at the end to be just as compelling.

Recommended.

Cory Doctorow's website is here:  http://craphound.com/

Cory Doctorow