Reviews and Comments

A fun, Fascinating, Idealistic, Horny, “saved by technology”, “saved by community” story about the future.

A wonderful inditement of “down and out in the magic kingdom“ which was a post scarcity future where karma was the currency. The only character that wants that in this story is a complete idiot. However, it shares a lot of the same ideas and explores them in significantly greater depth. It’s also better written, with the advantage of about 20 years of practice between the two releases.

My only complaint while reading was that it was about a third too horny for my tastes. It was tasteful more or less and respectful. But Doctorow obviously enjoys writing sex scenes.

However Doctorow always shines when showing us how technology impacts society, and how when people take control of their technology communities can take advantage and flourish. I honestly think his vision what might be possible is more interesting than replicators and transporters. Significantly more possible in the very least.

You learn what the term walkaway means early on, and I honestly think that’s the biggest stretch in the book (besides the far future technology in the end of the book). There is barely a corner of the earth that isn’t own or patrolled. I’m a city kid so maybe that’s not true and the expanse of the undiscovered country is still vast. But 50 years into the future when this takes place, it will be less likely than today.

And the action scenes were plentiful and exciting while not being unplausable. Drone warfare is already here and this doesn’t ignore that in the least.

Overall, a lot of fun, a great book and Cory Doctorow particular genre.

Still a wild tale, I’m no longer in awe of it and it’s obvious everyone involved got screwed and feels good about it (though that might be the authors bias). The love of the work “I’d take a pay cut to be involved in a project like this again” when already underpaid. It’s wild.

"West" one of the project leaders goes into “business development” answering the question “what happens to engineers over 40” writes Kidder. Fuck that. He doesn’t want to be exploited any longer, that’s what happens when you get over 40. Seems he’s still in engineering anyway consulting with other teams.

Overall this is a Wild take on a time in engineering that is not dissimilar to some companies today. I’ve worked at Data General clones, it sucks and isn’t worth it. Don’t get romanced. This is a cautionary tale told as an adventure story. I’m glad to revisit it after 20 odd years and I'm glad to see how my perspective has shifted.