Everyone in Silico - Jim Munroe
I first read this back in 2002 and enjoyed it. I was searching for it a while back and discovered that Munroe had made it available as a free e-book in several formats. I put it on my Palm, and then promptly forgot about it until I was in Taiwan and wanted something to read but didn't want to carry a heavy book around with me.
The verdict? It's still a very good take on corporate culture and cool-hunting, peer-to-peer advertising and the end of oil. Looking at it now, I was amazed at the number of different hot-button topics that Munroe managed to squeeze into his story. There are also some clever riffs on the digital self and its benefits and limitations. For example: what do you do with the physical bodies once somebody "upgrades"?
Not appropriate for younger readers, but fans of Max Barry would probably enjoy this one. And, hey, you can't beat free, right?
As a side note, I should mention that when it comes to books, I'm something of a Luddite. I like paper books. I like to see them all lined up on my shelf, where I can arrange them and re-arrange them. I like to look at the covers, read the dust jacket flaps. I don't really want to trade this all in for a Kindle.
And yet ...
I know that a Kindle (or some other e-book reader) would be a better choice for the environment than my dead-tree books. And, having read a few things on my tiny-screened Palm, I'm sure that I would pretty quickly get used to reading books digitally and the convenience of carrying a bunch of books in one slim device.
Still, I'm not quite ready. Give me some time to mourn the passing of the hard copy.
Fed to jonathan's brain | June 23, 2009
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