Synopses & Reviews
Hailed by Bruce Sterling as a political activist, gizmo freak, junk collector, programmer, entrepreneur, and all-around Renaissance geek,” the Internets favorite high-tech culture maven is celebrated with the first collection of his infamous articles, essays, and polemics. Irreverently championing free speech and universal access to informationeven if it's just a free download of the newest Britney Spears MP3he leads off with a mutinous talk given at Microsoft on digital rights management, insisting that they stop treating their customers as criminals. Readers will discover how America chose Happy Meal toys over copyright, why Facebook is taking a faceplant, how the Internet is basically just a giant Xerox machine, why Wikipedia is a poor cousin of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and how to enjoy free e-books. Practicing what he preaches, all of the author's books, including this one, are simultaneously released in print and on the Internet under Creative Commons licenses that encourage their reuse and sharing. He argues persuasively that this practice has considerably increased his sales by enlisting readers to promote his work. Accessible to geeks and nontechies alike, this is a timely collection from an author who effortlessly surfs the zeitgeist while always generating his own wave.
Review
Doctorow here proves hes smart, funny, and good at accessibly boiling down issues hes passionate about.... [A] pleasure to read, not to mention thought-provoking.”
Booklist
...more than just insightful, brilliant, and to the pointits also funny and fun to read.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation
If you want to know whats happening at the sharp end of digital publication and new ideas about the relationships between authors and their readersdo yourself a favour and listen to what he has to say.”
Mantex
Synopsis
Hailed by Bruce Sterling as a political activist, gizmo freak, junk collector, programmer, entrepreneur, and all-around Renaissance geek,” Cory Doctorow is the Webs most celebrated high-tech pop-culture maven.
Content is the first collection of Doctorows infamous articles, essays, and polemics.
Heres why Microsoft should stop treating its customers as criminals (through relentless digital-rights management); how America chose copyright and Happy Meal toys over jobs; why Facebook is taking a faceplant; how Wikipedia is a poor cousin of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy; and, of course, why free e-books kick ass.
Accessible to geeks and noobs (if youre not sure what that means, its you) alike, Content is a must-have compilation from Cory Doctorow, who will be glad to take you along for the ride as he effortlessly surfs the zeitgeist.
About the Author
"Doctorow here proves he's smart, funny, and good at accessibly boiling down issues he's passionate about . . . a pleasure to read, not to mention thought-provoking." Booklist"Cory Doctorow straps on his miner's helmet and takes you deep into the caverns and underground rivers of pop culture." Neil Gaiman, author, American Gods"We should all hope and trust that our culture has the guts and moxie to follow this guy. He's got a lot to tell us." Bruce Sterling, author, Zeitgeist"Cory Doctorow is the apotheosis of what we talk about when we talk about the Web." SF Site
"If all those Generation Z and proto-Singularity kids reading Doctorow's Little Brother also find their way to Content, this book may well become a classic." mattselznick.com
"The most articulate and accessible writer engaged in these topics." Time Out Chicago
"A nice collection of essays." TeleReads
"More than just insightful, brilliant, and to the pointit's also funny and fun to read." Electronic Frontier Foundation