Thursday, December 04, 2008

Geek Alert - Great Book

I just plowed through Cory Doctorow's book, "Little Brother." I had to finish it before I went to bed because otherwise I would have been terrified out of my mind. As it is, I'm pretty freaked out.

Here's the synopsis from his website:

What’s Little Brother about?
Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

This book scared my poor conspiracy-theory mind in more ways than I care to admit. His tech is right on, his awareness of how fear has penetrated our society is excellent. He has geared this book to young adults, so it is quite easy to read.

One cool thing about this book is that you can pay for it, or it is absolutely free. You can download it from his website. He has published it under the Creative Commons license.

While the premise of the book grabbed me from the start, the book is a wonderful read. I lost myself in the characters and the locale. Though I'm glad to be finished with the story, I'm sorry to be finished reading the book. My heart needed the resolution, my head wants to keep going.

Download the book, read the book, share the book.

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