A review by prabhat42
Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

3.0

Posting a review about this book online is ironic, given that a main theme in it is data privacy. I'm going to go out on a limb and do it anyway. The writing is powerful, but the narrative lacks warmth except maybe for the end. Snowden's intelligence comes across as raw and his life unstructured. The book, on the other hand, has a flow to it, despite seeming heavy around the middle. Snowden is like the Jason Bourne of the cyberworld. Given the extent to which he constructed ruses to hoodwink people, I did find myself doubting the tenacity of the reality presented. He raises important questions about the meaning of freedom and human life. He presents interesting answers. His descriptions of being a hacker and systems administrator came from a place of passion and were fascinating. Snowden paints very broad fears about people’s data and lives being insecure. These fears almost come across as chimerical before he abruptly states that they have already come true. Some more examples on the consequences of the lack of control people have on their data would have lent the fears and issue at large more credence. An explanation about why he ended up in Moscow rather than Ecuador, as originally planned, would have given his narrative more authenticity. His career trajectory seemed hazy at its end. Rounding off a 3.5 to a 3.