Little Brother

Humble eBook Bundle 2

A quick & easy read. A bit heavy-handed with the anti-government rhetoric - but that's easily forgiven as it is the point of the story. The characters, while not strongly rendered, are fun to follow on their (mis)adventures and the technical jargon is not too overwhelming. Truthfully, I'm a computer person so the explanations of things like cryptography and coding were familiar ground. Anyone not versed in these things might find those sections boring or confusing, although I think the breakdowns were straight-forward enough for anyone to understand - if perhaps somewhat unnecessary to the storyline.

Though rather clumsily handled at times, I did enjoy Doctorow's use of Socratic style conversations between characters to argue both sides of the issues presented in the book. Marcus' father was a fun foil that helped bring out both sides of the public safety vs. privacy intrusions issue. On the other hand, Marcus's classmate Charles, was just too hiss-able of an adversary to be believable. Still, the sheer geekiness of the tale was fun to experience. ( )

Very good. Very important book ( )

I've been following Cory Doctorow for a while, and this has been sitting on my shelves waiting to make it to the top of the list. I'm very happy that it finally made it to the top of the reading pile as it was a quick and easy read that I enjoyed.

The premise is that the terrorists have won, because the securuty state that they have spawned has stolen away all our freedoms. This tale is told through the eyes of a tech savvy 17 year old who works the system to get out of school and play a game with his friends. However they end up in the wrong place when there is a real terrorist attack, and in trying to help their injured friend against the flow of the emergency responders they end up in the Department of Homeland Security's dragnet.

The story plays out how the powers can ruin people's lives, simply because they are in the wrong place, and they refuse to conform because they are strong in their belief in their own innocence and the ideals of freedom. It is written for a young adult audience, and some of this plays out in the plotting. The teenagers eventually prevail over The Man, although there is some very subtle assistance from a veteran investigative journalist (which are themselves very rare these days).

It was interesting mostly because as well as being a story it is also the kernel of a howto protect yourself from internet surveillance. It is only a little out of date, but all the techniques mentioned would still work today.

Well worth reading. ( )

I've heard of this more than once - told myself I'd try to read it if it fell into my hands.... Well, it did, at a bookcrossing meeting, and though I'm thankful that I had the chance, I just could not get into it at all. The attitude of the MC was such a huge turn-off for me I couldn't get past that into the story at all. Also, I don't like dystopias. Seems like a winner for a lot of folks, though - probably a big hit in school libraries. I will ship this bookcrossed hardcover gratis (within the US).