Permanent Record
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DOWNLOADED 1316 TIMES!
Permanent Record
Warm, enthralling and ultimately questioning of us all,
Rosey Lea (london, UK)
Obviously the initial pull to read the book is the NSA stuff, and the great chase which culminates in Snowden’s refuge in Russia. But the book is so much more than that. His recounting of his childhood, and the joys of dial-up modems and irritating siblings, is wonderful nostalgia but always laced with his discomfort and struggle with the social structures around him.
The book’s natural progression of explaining how the internet has changed in function, as he lived through those changes, unrolls as a beautifully written discussion of how we’ve reached the state of the Net we have today. It’s easily light enough for non-techies to understand, but the insight and narration really opens up the questions of what we (society) demanded of the internet, and what it’s done to us.
The book doesn’t meander. There’s no padding. But by the time you reach the releasing of the files and the round the world escape, it’s very natural. Reading it, the chase is as engrossing to read as his thoughts on the Commodore 64. It’s a great book, perhaps made all the greater if you can nod along with remembrances of life before 24/7 smartphones. Above all, it’s hopeful of a better future.
(Couple of notes as a UK reader: The book is written in universal English, there’s no bewildering US slang used. The book doesn’t go into American politics or deep into American terms. There are a couple of pages of US history, mainly early on about Snowden’s family tree, but it’s not a diversion. It doesn’t read like an American book, aimed at American readers, and leaving everyone else bewildered.)
Transparency seekers,