Pratap Chatterjee

At some point during the past year, I found out that my great-uncle helped design the first drones during his time in the Air Force. That information was sobering then; after reading this, I am thoroughly shaken.

Chatterjee has constructed a compelling story of how technology has transformed surveillance techniques during that past 15 years or so. While I found it difficult to follow at times--possibly due to occasionally dry storytelling, my relatively Luddite frame of reference, or most likely a combination of the two--it felt like the story hit its stride about halfway through, and I was totally hooked. And by hooked, I mean terrified, repulsed, and more than a little ashamed of the Obama administration for promoting these practices--not just for their use, but for passing it along for our current demagogue-in-chief to use. All of the factors informing the willful use of a weapon and system that has proven imprecise and incompetent presented here paint a truly horrific picture, one that I'm not sure we can dismantle unless more military and software personnel come forward. I am grateful for whistle-blowers in any sector...if we don't call out corruption, we can't fight for change.

It was terrific to see Khalil's crisp, clean b&w art again. I did so enjoy [b: Zahra's Paradise|10261761|Zahra's Paradise|Amir|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1316730659s/10261761.jpg|15162118], and I hope he continues to work in this vein of graphic journalism.… (more)

There is good information here communicated adequately, but rather than energizing me about the issues being presented, it just left me feeling helpless and apathetic.

I didn't expect a third of the book to be about Edward Snowden. I already saw most of that stuff in the Oliver Stone movie and there didn't seem to be anything new here. However, the only moment I truly enjoyed in Verax was the (unintentional?) humor of Chatterjee, who is the narrator and central character of the book, pathetically trying to contact everyone involved in the Snowden revelation and not getting any response. He's as much an outsider to those events as anyone.

And Chatterjee tries to redeem the fact that the basis of the big story he is chasing for the whole book is a handful of industry brochures, but he never quite makes it over the hump. This attempt makes the whole book seem more a self-aggrandizing effort; Chatterjee's relentless pursuit of the story almost comes off as more important than the story itself.… (more)