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The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz by Lawrence Lessig, Aaron Swartz
wryvanse's review against another edition
5.0
I noticed (and pre-ordered) this book after trying to find a specific entry I read a while ago on Swartz's blog, and I'm glad I did. Although I had read some of the book's included entries before, I was happy to see that it reproduced some previously unpublished, longer essays that Swartz gave as seminars or talks. The editors helpfully categorized his writings into headings (e.g. "Free Culture," "Politics," and "Media") and recruited various writers, thinkers, and friends of Swartz to frame the sections, which they introduced in order to give context to his writings.
As for the content itself, I loved Swartz's writing from start to finish. He had a prescient view on many aspects of internet culture. As a small example, he suggested in 2006 (age 19) in an essay about Wikipedia that for allegations of a non-neutral point of view, "a notice saying neutrality was disputed could appear on the top of the page until the complaint was properly closed" (Swartz 47) which has since been implemented. The date and year he wrote each essay is included under each title, and most of the essays are short (a page or so front and back), easily digestible but with plenty of jumping-off points for further consideration and research on the reader's part.
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in technology, politics, and how they intersect, as well as anyone who would like a closer look into the life of Aaron Swartz, a remarkable person who the planet lost much, much too soon.
As for the content itself, I loved Swartz's writing from start to finish. He had a prescient view on many aspects of internet culture. As a small example, he suggested in 2006 (age 19) in an essay about Wikipedia that for allegations of a non-neutral point of view, "a notice saying neutrality was disputed could appear on the top of the page until the complaint was properly closed" (Swartz 47) which has since been implemented. The date and year he wrote each essay is included under each title, and most of the essays are short (a page or so front and back), easily digestible but with plenty of jumping-off points for further consideration and research on the reader's part.
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in technology, politics, and how they intersect, as well as anyone who would like a closer look into the life of Aaron Swartz, a remarkable person who the planet lost much, much too soon.
spav's review against another edition
5.0
"What a great mind we have lost". That is the first thing it came to my mind when I finished the last paragraph of this compilation of Aaron's writings. Not only was an outstanding programmer (RSS, web.py, Reddit, etc), but a humble human being who dare to think different and go against the stream and construct an independent view on politics, media, culture, education, etc.
If you don't know who he was, this book is a pretty good way to get started on his views: what the independent internet counter culture is, and independent thinking is like.
If you don't know who he was, this book is a pretty good way to get started on his views: what the independent internet counter culture is, and independent thinking is like.
cameronkobesauthor's review against another edition
3.0
There was some good content in here, and some that I'm less sure about. Some of the areas the book covered, economics for example, are less familiar to me so I don't know enough to dispute the author on them. Where this book lost points for me was towards the end when Swartz got into writing about education. He had some valid criticism on the way modern schools operate with over-reliance on testing and potential stifling of creativity. But, he was completely wrong on the history of public schools in the US. He claimed that the first public schools were created to turn children into compliant factory workers in the 1830s, and that's just not true. His critiques of education throughout history stemmed from this false information, it seems to me like that makes his conclusions on education suspect. It also makes me wonder what else he got wrong.
So, there was some interesting material here, but readers should take it with a grain of salt.
So, there was some interesting material here, but readers should take it with a grain of salt.
violetdelightshave's review against another edition
5.0
I noticed (and pre-ordered) this book after trying to find a specific entry I read a while ago on Swartz's blog, and I'm glad I did. Although I had read some of the book's included entries before, I was happy to see that it reproduced some previously unpublished, longer essays that Swartz gave as seminars or talks. The editors helpfully categorized his writings into headings (e.g. "Free Culture," "Politics," and "Media") and recruited various writers, thinkers, and friends of Swartz to frame the sections, which they introduced in order to give context to his writings.
As for the content itself, I loved Swartz's writing from start to finish. He had a prescient view on many aspects of internet culture. As a small example, he suggested in 2006 (age 19) in an essay about Wikipedia that for allegations of a non-neutral point of view, "a notice saying neutrality was disputed could appear on the top of the page until the complaint was properly closed" (Swartz 47) which has since been implemented. The date and year he wrote each essay is included under each title, and most of the essays are short (a page or so front and back), easily digestible but with plenty of jumping-off points for further consideration and research on the reader's part.
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in technology, politics, and how they intersect, as well as anyone who would like a closer look into the life of Aaron Swartz, a remarkable person who the planet lost much, much too soon.
As for the content itself, I loved Swartz's writing from start to finish. He had a prescient view on many aspects of internet culture. As a small example, he suggested in 2006 (age 19) in an essay about Wikipedia that for allegations of a non-neutral point of view, "a notice saying neutrality was disputed could appear on the top of the page until the complaint was properly closed" (Swartz 47) which has since been implemented. The date and year he wrote each essay is included under each title, and most of the essays are short (a page or so front and back), easily digestible but with plenty of jumping-off points for further consideration and research on the reader's part.
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in technology, politics, and how they intersect, as well as anyone who would like a closer look into the life of Aaron Swartz, a remarkable person who the planet lost much, much too soon.
brizreading's review against another edition
5.0
An incredibly compelling, deeply moving and ultimately disturbing book. It's compelling on two distinct levels: first, the content of Aaron's thoughts - the clarity of his vision, his impressively singular focus on a moral north star, his intelligence and passion - and, second, the "meta" of Aaron himself. I read this and then immediately this piece by the New Yorker, and I want to watch the documentary now as well.
A bit of personal background: I worked at MIT from 2010-2013. MIT has a long, respected tradition of "hacks" - i.e. pushing (legal) boundaries to make political points or have fun (e.g. putting a police car on the dome). The wifi at MIT is free and open - if you're somewhere near Kendall Square in Cambridge, you will get access to MIT's network, and thus access to JSTOR and all the paywalled academic articles. So, as Aaron would say, if you're wealthy and live in the 02139 zip code, you have access to top scientific articles for free. If you live in Accra or Bogota or Dar es Salaam, you do not.
Anyway, at MIT there's a general vibe of "hacker counter-culture" (Richard Stallman hangs around at CSAIL, apparently refusing to use the key fobs to enter buildings since they can be tracked). So Aaron's action was, in my 2010 view, a completely normal and unremarkable "MIT hack" that was a bit more political, but making a generally benign/admirable point (paywalled academic articles are absurd, after all).
This is all to say that the Federal prosecution of Aaron has been rightly criticized for being so anti-human and dystopian.
Anyway, about this book: I felt like I knew the "story" already - but I found this book still so surprising because, (a) I didn't realize Aaron touched SO MANY things I consider important (and even use frequently!) like Markdown (!), RSS (!), Reddit (!) and (b) I felt like I got a much better (but still incomplete, no doubt) picture of who Aaron was as a person. I was amazed and inspired by his absolute clarity of thought: his posts on governance, corruption, copyright, education (!) are righteous and true. They just make sense. But I was also bummed by the "darker" patterns: his absolute conviction which felt like moral perfectionism, his humorlessness, the intensity of his righteousness. And I was irked by some of the "brilliant young dude" traits like his worshipping of David Foster Wallace and Noam Chomsky, and his - like Cory Doctorow - sometimes condescending explanation of econ principles.
But! Honestly, those flaws just enriched this whole reading, since they made Aaron seem more human and imperfect, and therefore made his achievements even more impressive.
A bit of personal background: I worked at MIT from 2010-2013. MIT has a long, respected tradition of "hacks" - i.e. pushing (legal) boundaries to make political points or have fun (e.g. putting a police car on the dome). The wifi at MIT is free and open - if you're somewhere near Kendall Square in Cambridge, you will get access to MIT's network, and thus access to JSTOR and all the paywalled academic articles. So, as Aaron would say, if you're wealthy and live in the 02139 zip code, you have access to top scientific articles for free. If you live in Accra or Bogota or Dar es Salaam, you do not.
Anyway, at MIT there's a general vibe of "hacker counter-culture" (Richard Stallman hangs around at CSAIL, apparently refusing to use the key fobs to enter buildings since they can be tracked). So Aaron's action was, in my 2010 view, a completely normal and unremarkable "MIT hack" that was a bit more political, but making a generally benign/admirable point (paywalled academic articles are absurd, after all).
This is all to say that the Federal prosecution of Aaron has been rightly criticized for being so anti-human and dystopian.
Anyway, about this book: I felt like I knew the "story" already - but I found this book still so surprising because, (a) I didn't realize Aaron touched SO MANY things I consider important (and even use frequently!) like Markdown (!), RSS (!), Reddit (!) and (b) I felt like I got a much better (but still incomplete, no doubt) picture of who Aaron was as a person. I was amazed and inspired by his absolute clarity of thought: his posts on governance, corruption, copyright, education (!) are righteous and true. They just make sense. But I was also bummed by the "darker" patterns: his absolute conviction which felt like moral perfectionism, his humorlessness, the intensity of his righteousness. And I was irked by some of the "brilliant young dude" traits like his worshipping of David Foster Wallace and Noam Chomsky, and his - like Cory Doctorow - sometimes condescending explanation of econ principles.
But! Honestly, those flaws just enriched this whole reading, since they made Aaron seem more human and imperfect, and therefore made his achievements even more impressive.
mutdmour's review against another edition
Semi read really... though still a good really. I want to come back to it. It has an amazing article on the history of school that's fascinating. He also has an interesting take on the idea of legacy. To Aaron, legacy is doing something that no one else is doing. It's about being irreplaceable. Aaron points out that there's ideas whose time has come, and if it was not you who discovered/implemented it, then someone else is right at your heels. Aaron was not interested in that.
psteve's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't follow this kid, alas, while he was alive, but this book collects his most substantial blog posts and writings about a range of topics, mostly involving an open internet and government. Really smart, some of these writings startle you when you realize he was only a teen when he wrote them. Some, such as his "offense of classical music" show his immaturity, but they are all readable and provocative. What a loss he is.
lucybutcher's review against another edition
5.0
It took me more than a year to finish reading this book, because every time I picked it up to read an essay I would be dazzled by Aaron Swartz's brilliace and clarity of thought, then immediately fall into a deep sadness about how much we lost with his death. I had no idea how much of an influence he had on how I interface with the world, from RSS, to Wikipedia, to Reddit, to name just a few projects he worked on. More than his achievements, though, I'm completely in awe of what a clear writer and thinker he was. I believe that the mark of true brilliance is not only being able to think through complex intellectual ideas, but also being able to communicate them in simple terms that people without your expertise can understand, and Swartz did this better than maybe anyone else I've read. Even his essays on topics I thought I knew inside and out made me think about things from a new perspective. It's hard to read his writing and not wonder what he would be doing and thinking about if he were alive today, to say the least, especially given that his death was so cruel and unnecessary.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys being challenged to think about the world from new perspectives, especially people involved in academia, information science, education, or technology in some capacity. Despite the incredibly tragic backdrop, it's a book full of interesting ideas about a huge spectrum of topics, and it will leave you more curious than you were before.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys being challenged to think about the world from new perspectives, especially people involved in academia, information science, education, or technology in some capacity. Despite the incredibly tragic backdrop, it's a book full of interesting ideas about a huge spectrum of topics, and it will leave you more curious than you were before.
haagen_daz's review against another edition
3.0
Some stuff feels dated, most of it was pretty interesting. It's definitely a shame that he didn't get to develop his thoughts more.
Here's some of what I got out of the book:
- a sense that other computer people care about good things without being total techno-utopians
- a lot of Swartz's influences seem like they'd be good reading - sometimes it feels like his thoughts are not quite as well-developed as whatever inspired them, if that makes sense
- the idea/distinction between measuring one's legacy by what the world would have been like without one's existence. This biases against competing to do the same Big Thing that lots of other people are trying to do, and instead trying to change the world in a way that only you would have. Not sure how much I agree with this but it's an interesting way to think about things. (Not sure, even, if I want to have a Legacy.)
Here's some of what I got out of the book:
- a sense that other computer people care about good things without being total techno-utopians
- a lot of Swartz's influences seem like they'd be good reading - sometimes it feels like his thoughts are not quite as well-developed as whatever inspired them, if that makes sense
- the idea/distinction between measuring one's legacy by what the world would have been like without one's existence. This biases against competing to do the same Big Thing that lots of other people are trying to do, and instead trying to change the world in a way that only you would have. Not sure how much I agree with this but it's an interesting way to think about things. (Not sure, even, if I want to have a Legacy.)