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soniagracelm's review
5.0
I'm consistently impressed by Cory Doctorow. I also think it is important to know a little bit about him and his background in order to fully appreciate his books. Doctorow is a blogger, a geek, a computer and gadget guy, a character in XKCD, and one of the champions of the Creative Commons movement. If you don't know what that is you should go check out the website HERE http://creativecommons.org/. He is outspoken and knowledgeable about copyright and open source issues. His nonfiction is, in my opinion, at least as good a read as his fiction.
That said, his fiction is excellent. Little Brother is an updated 1984. Most of George Orwell's inventions actually exist in the world now, but when they were conceived they were just that: conceptions of what the world might look like someday. Doctorow does the same thing, and his imagined near-future world is terrifyingly plausible.
His characters live in what is essentially a police state, where Americans are kept docile by the nebulous threat of terrorism. When a teenage hacker, Marcus, experiences the illegal and unjust practices of Doctorow's Department of Homeland Security firsthand, he decides to take down the government using his cracked Xbox. Doctorow does a good job of exploring all of the ways a decision like that is terrifically stupid, and also the ways in which it is incredibly smart. Marcus doesn't get away with anything just by virtue of being the protagonist, he has to work to achieve each tiny victory, running the risk of imprisonment without trial if his identity is discovered.
Little Brother is about revolution, surveillance, hacking, and the power of the people. It's not hard to see where Doctorow got his ideas. All you need to do is look around. Much of the technology he writes about exists already. Doctorow is good at explaining complex technical subjects in ways that make sense to the uninitiated. I know nothing about cryptography, but his descriptions of how it works made sense to me, and he interspersed the technical stuff with a lot of interesting true history. It was a great book with a chilling message: you are being watched. Read it with attention to detail.
That said, his fiction is excellent. Little Brother is an updated 1984. Most of George Orwell's inventions actually exist in the world now, but when they were conceived they were just that: conceptions of what the world might look like someday. Doctorow does the same thing, and his imagined near-future world is terrifyingly plausible.
His characters live in what is essentially a police state, where Americans are kept docile by the nebulous threat of terrorism. When a teenage hacker, Marcus, experiences the illegal and unjust practices of Doctorow's Department of Homeland Security firsthand, he decides to take down the government using his cracked Xbox. Doctorow does a good job of exploring all of the ways a decision like that is terrifically stupid, and also the ways in which it is incredibly smart. Marcus doesn't get away with anything just by virtue of being the protagonist, he has to work to achieve each tiny victory, running the risk of imprisonment without trial if his identity is discovered.
Little Brother is about revolution, surveillance, hacking, and the power of the people. It's not hard to see where Doctorow got his ideas. All you need to do is look around. Much of the technology he writes about exists already. Doctorow is good at explaining complex technical subjects in ways that make sense to the uninitiated. I know nothing about cryptography, but his descriptions of how it works made sense to me, and he interspersed the technical stuff with a lot of interesting true history. It was a great book with a chilling message: you are being watched. Read it with attention to detail.
hannahhbic's review
3.0
I don't really understand the hype about this book, but it was still a good read.
protoman21's review
4.0
I definitely enjoyed this book even though I didn't always agree with what the characters were doing. I know that Marcus was mostly in the right and Homeland Security definitely went overboard, but some of the techniques they used to protest did seem to cross the line in my opinion and it troubles me a little that the author left it at that and didn't make the point that our freedoms only last to the point where they start infringing on the rights of others.
michael_kw's review
adventurous
dark
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
brendalovesbooks's review
4.0
I really loved this book. Yes, it's science fiction, but it's also scary how easily a lot of the things that happened in this book could happen today, or have happened to some extent. As a person whose political leanings tend towards anarchy (or at least lots smaller government), this book really hit home with me.
There were parts where the author start explaining the technical aspects, how things work, etc., that I didn't care for and I felt like it jerked me right out of the story. For that reason I give the book an A instead of an A+. There were also minor editing issues, that even though they were few and far between, were glaringly obvious. Like writing the wrong persons name. Or changing a persons name a paragraph after introducing them.
Still, I would highly recommend this book to almost anyone, but especially liberty loving libertarians (try saying that three times fast) like myself.
There were parts where the author start explaining the technical aspects, how things work, etc., that I didn't care for and I felt like it jerked me right out of the story. For that reason I give the book an A instead of an A+. There were also minor editing issues, that even though they were few and far between, were glaringly obvious. Like writing the wrong persons name. Or changing a persons name a paragraph after introducing them.
Still, I would highly recommend this book to almost anyone, but especially liberty loving libertarians (try saying that three times fast) like myself.
imminentmurphy's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
cami19's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
abaugher's review
5.0
almost done: so far so cool. makes me want to try an ARG.
very nicely done! makes me kinda wish i were a computer geek so i could understand more. but whateva, it was a paranoidly fascinating story, told in a convincingly real way.
very nicely done! makes me kinda wish i were a computer geek so i could understand more. but whateva, it was a paranoidly fascinating story, told in a convincingly real way.
dxxvi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0