Insane Mode by Hamish Mckenzie - Book Review #322

 

How Elon Musk's Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil

In the fast-paced world of technology, a book like this one can age quickly in so much as knowing that more has progressed since the publication date.  This could easily be updated every couple of years.

Still, it was a terrific read and made me appreciate just how complicated the industry is.

Getting into the automobile industry is hard enough (understatement, it's next to impossible) but to try and change the foundation of that industry is madness. 

Steve Jobs may have wanted to "dent the universe," Elon Musk is taking a crowbar to it.  With his passion and determination, he has managed to create a paradigm shift not only in the automobile industry, but to change how the entire human race operates, which will in turn save us from global climate change.

He is the catalyst to help us enter the electric age.  What?  There is electricity everywhere!  Sure, but it is nearly all powered by the burning of fossil fuels.  We are still very much in the combustion age. 

Honestly, I felt reassured that the electrification of transportation, and how society operates, is now unstoppable.  We will have economic, technical, and social advancements in the next couple of decades much like the post World War Two years.

Reading this book won't bring you up to the current state of the industry, it cannot do that, but it gave me an appreciation of the complexity and the activity that is underway, out of public view and in countries that are not in Europe or North America.

Highly recommended. 

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/

Drone Warfare by Medea Benjamin - Book Report #172

This book tied in nicely with The Next 100 Years and Wikileaks.

It was also just as depressing.

Drones, also called UAVs are remotely controlled pilot-less aircraft.  For the most part they are used for surveillance and intelligence gathering.  But they are becoming more common as hunter-killer, weaponized platforms.

It was a well-researched book and touched many aspects of their development, their use and the effects on the people in the gun sights as well as those pulling the triggers thousands of miles away.

Some of it can be quite horrifying; not only for the targeted but for the innocents that happen to be nearby to a strike. Collateral damage is much more common than we are lead to believe.

But what really strikes the heart cold is how many international laws the use of this technology breaks.  The Obama government cared little of the many extra-judicial killings it sanctioned.  With seemingly indifferent disregard to sovereign air space and laws of the domestic country it goes about targeting and killing people with impunity.  When does protection of domestic security become state sponsored assassination and, in turn, become murder?

The United States used to stand for adherence to the rules of law.

There is no doubt that the people being chased and killed are bad people and need to be stopped.  But mistakes are happening and innocent people are being killed through bad or weak intelligence and by the excessive use of force. Missiles are not bullets, they are not as precise and therefore many non-combatants are left killed, injured or maimed by being in proximity of a target.

I found the book to be one-sided.  Even though you cannot argue with the research and the facts that were revealed, the author's ultimate goal is to get UAVs banned.  The argument being that they are just like land mines, cluster bombs and poison gas; far too many innocent non-combatants are killed by their use.  I agree completely.  That said, I would like to be allowed the chance to make up my own mind on the subject.

If you're going to report on something let it be balanced.  My complaint is more about the construction of the book rather than it's content.  But Benjamin is not a reporter.

Google the author and you cannot be surprised that she spends a lot of time promoting activist groups that are campaigning against the use of UAVs.  Had she been a reporter these groups would certainly have been written about in a dedicated chapter but it would have been presented as just another aspect of the subject.

Do I recommend the book?

Absolutely.

There are so many details revealed that were surprising and frightening that I am thankful for being made aware of it. The next time I cross a border I will be sure to look up to see what is looking down on me.

Medea Benjamin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea_Benjamin

Medea Benjamin co-founded the anti-war group Code Pink: Women for Peace - http://www.codepink.org/

Medea Benjamin