“Little Brother” is the first complete novel by Cory Doctorow that I have read. Before this I have read the short story “When Sysadmins Ruled The World” and I follow him on Twitter and RSS as he has some very interesting things to say on his blogs and in his column in the Guardian.
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
From the author’s site:
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.
Review
Little Brother
This book doesn’t have the scope and depth of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” in which the idea of Big Brother, a totalitarian surveillance state, is introduced. Little Brother is set in contemporary society, it is fast-paced and a more enjoyable read; it’s much more of a page-turner than “1984“.
How to describe this book? I will list just list some keywords and phrases: surveillance state, war on terror, Department of Homeland Security, hacking, freedom of speech, David against Goliath (in this case M1k3y against the DHS), coming of age, love story, totalitarianism, social media, teen techno-geek rebellion, and if you are a teen you might find some valuable career advice in there too. No kidding, read the afterwords by Bruce Schneier and Andrew Huang.
Cory Doctorow’s novels have been on my to read list for some time now, but after reading “Little Brother” they have been moved to the top of the list. I also put “Little Brother” on my to buy list because it is a book that I will certainly read again.
“Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow was published in 2008 and is freely available for download with the author’s and publisher’s permission. I mentioned at the start of this article that Cory Doctorow has interesting things to say, he does, especially about Digital Rights Management.
Rating: 
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| Tim O’Reilly |
