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reviewed The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow by Cory Doctorow (PM Press outspoken authors -- no. 8)

Cory Doctorow: The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (Paperback, 2011, PM Press)

In a Disney-dominated future, a transhuman teenager engages in high velocity adventures until he meets …

Thought provoking little book

This is my first “PM Press Outspoken Authors” book, and the first thing I will say is that it is a delightful object, physically. A high-quality, compact paperback.

The title story is sort of a cross between cyberpunk and solarpunk, but more in the spirit of cyberpunk, I’d say. It’s well-written and fast paced, with a lot of intriguing concepts. I didn’t love the protagonist, but he was interesting.

The speech/essay, “Creativity vs. Copyright”, is my favorite part of this book. Doctorow is spot on in his analysis of copyright, DRM and vendor lock-in.

I also quite enjoyed the interview by Terry Bisson that rounds out this volume.