(1/08) Review to follow

(25/08) Errrrrrm…a bit strange this. I persevered, but wanted to give up every few pages or so. It reminded me a bit of Michael Moore, the same slightly rabid, ‘mono-manic’ approach to criticism/journalism? If you agree with his views, that’s fine, but its no use looking here for a balanced perspective or realistic alternatives.

Stoll has a problem with computers and ‘networks’ (his term for the internet & WWW in the mid-90s), he begrudges them – the boxes, the wires, the uses they are put to & the culture they engender. He is fearful of the long-terms effects on individuals & society, and also has a vague paranoia about corporate ownership & manipulation, which I didn’t quite understand. He spends more than 200 pages endlessly repeating variations on this theme. This is a ‘vanity’ book, which I guess was successful at the time because it preyed on peoples fears about the new technology, and piggy-backed on his other book ‘The Cuckoo’s Egg’ where Stoll tracks down a hacker working through computers in the California college where he works; a post-graduate astrophysicist or cosmologist, something like that?

It’s a lost opportunity I feel, because he is right in some respects, that computers and the internet *can* detach one from living a so-called real life, engaging the other senses, exercising, social intercourse, practical endeavours, learning other skills etc. Most of his experiences seem to be through Usenet forums; he doesn’t really predict (who could?) the massive & varied uses of the world wide web, the richer multi-media, the opportunities for e-commerce, the huge global democracy of the thing. Unfortunately he is spot-on predicting the continued universal frustration of the technology. A word of warning for anyone trying to guess the future, as if we need any more examples; Stoll doesn’t think he needs network speeds (bandwidth) beyond a human’s ability to read text, ho hum.

The internet (or computers) has not and will not mean the death of writing, libraries, trade, the movement of people, sport, arts & crafts, tangible stuff. Some of these things will change during the information age, possibly beyond all recognition, but you can’t ‘blame’ progress. It’s up to individuals, including Stoll (and Moore), to make choices, to live a balanced life, to learn (evolve), to teach (not preach). Ebay doesn’t stop me enjoying going to shops, BookCrossing is a glorious extension to reading and to books in general, on-line libraries haven’t replaced the real thing. My local libraries now offer a huge range of information resources, coffee, comfy chairs, late & Sunday hours, internet access, music, DVDs – this is all good stuff! I would trade the card indexes that Stoll misses so much for this newer, more vibrant library that embraces new technology rather than fights it.

Released on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 at Unofficial Cambridge book-crossing zone in Cambridge, England United Kingdom.

I plan to release this at this evening’s 4th unofficial Cambridge bookcrosser’s meet-up; from 6:00 o’clock in The Regal, St. Andrews St. If you want to come along and chew the fat about books, maybe swop a few, eat, drink…be merry, it would be nice to see you :-)

(26/08) Offered on BookCrossingUK - msg 28086

Kert01
Loopy1

Open to any and all-comers

RELEASE NOTES:

Off on the first leg of this short bookray

I'm part way through this still, sorry Loopy! I received it in October, and BookGroupMan is right, it's hefty going. It's also funny, as it was written in 1995, and some of the ideas are so outdated they are laughable... internet at a maximum of 28,800kbps, slow image downloads.

I wonder if Stoll blogs, he's probably the type for it... and I wonder if he cringes every time he thinks about some of the content in this book...