bwanaaa: Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow
Doctorow reminds me of the activists from the 60s (yes I am that old and typing here on a game forum). But the themes in this book are thoroughly modern, from the protagonist (an American version of Lisbeth Salander but without the Aspberger's) to the the themes of privacy, free will, the compromises we make in order to survive, and to the intricacies of network warfare. Yeah he throws words around a little loosely and anyone who works in IT can see fractalization of the holodeck image he paints, but it is sooo good. Sometimes dense in a William Gibson kind of way, sometimes thrilling in a Lames Bond kind of chase,but never boring in James Fenimore Cooper way.
Interesting! I had heard about Cory Doctorow, but had read nothing from him. I used to think of this author as a woman, actually (after Cory Aquino, I supposse). Thanks for giving your take on the book. If I may, I would like you to elaborate a bit on this, if you feel like that:
"anyone who works in IT can see fractalization of the holodeck image he paints"
Since you seem to have a background on IT, I wonder also if you have noticed the difference between writers who write about IT without having any knowledge whatsoever of the matter (viz, Gibson himself) versus writers who actually know their chops, such as Vernor Vinge or Neal Stephenson.
A side not on visionary SF writers/technomancers; There was this best seller by Harari, Sapiens. He exposed ideas directly taken from a seminal essay by Vernor Vinge (about the concept of technological singularity and the three paths to reach one in the future). Harari never gave Vernor Vinge any credit. It leads to wonder how many of the ideas in that book that passes as original are stolen as well?
Have a great new year!!!
