Freedom - Book Review

Freedom
By Daniel Suarez
Signet Books 2010
Authors website


This book is a continuation of the first book - Daemon.

I was introduced to MMORPG games by my son who loves playing them. MMORPG = Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. Every person creates a character (the most common types are soldier, ranger, thief, mage, wizard and cleric) and every character is represented in the game by an avatar. The avatar has information about the character attached to it. The most obvious information being name, character type, health and game level.

The darknet is the virtual space by which users (humans) can access the Daemon and other users. Not all users choose to join the darknet. Because the Daemon knows everything about you, when you join the darknet, your avatar will show everything about you, including your personal worth, your credit level and most important, your reputation.

Everyone is measured out of 5 stars and the higher number of stars you have, and the more responses you have - the better your reputation is. For example Loki has half a star over 5000 - which means 5000 people have given him either 1 star or no stars - his actions means that he is not a nice person. Peter Sebeck on the other hand has a reputation of 4 stars over 5000. That means that 5000 people have given him an average 4 out of 5 stars.

The world is rapidly going downhill after the emergence of the Daemon. There are food shortages. Unemployment is over 16%. Gas is at $3.58 a gallon. The big agricultural companies want to take over the smaller farms and plant their GMOs. The larger companies are desperate to control the Daemon - because it knows everything about everyone and knowledge is power.

The Daemon has "infected" computers everywhere. Nothing is private. The Daemon has even hired lawyers to sue the US government to accept and acknowledge that the Daemon is a sentient being and has a right to exist. The US government and big business are desperate to hide their activities and not have the Daemon spread knowledge of their activites to all the people of the world - which is what the Daemon actually does. It blackmails the government and the big corporations.

The Daemon has access to all security cameras and CCTV videos all over the world. The Daemon sees all, hears all and knows all.

In this sequel, Peter Sebeck is on a virtual and vital quest - given to him by the Daemon. He has to justify the freedom of humanity. The Daemon needs to know if humanity can create a true democracy - where individual rights are not ignored by big business and government.

Prove that humanity will prevent its own destruction and you will have justified humanity's freedom. If you fail - then humanity will serve the Daemon.

Loki is out to destroy the Daemon by any means necessary, He uses razorbacks - motorcycles that have been rebuilt as killer machines and are under remote control. These machines actually kill people - chopping them to bloody bits. The descriptions are very brutal.

The Major (name unknown) also wants to keep control of the people in the hands of the government and of the corporations, so he too is out to destroy the Daemon.

Jon Ross is desperate to help the Daemon survive. He wants humanity to be able to control themselves and determine their own fate - and not have a few greedy powermongers determine it for them.

This was an excellent novel - quite scary in some places with the razorbacks being very brutal and the economy being in chaos, just like it is today in our real world.

This is due to the activities and control of greedy powermongers - both in government and in the higher echelons of certain corporations.

Wonder - Book Review

Wonder
By Robert J. Sawyer
Penguin Books, 2011
Trilogy website
Author website


This is the 3rd and final book in the WWW trilogy. All 3 books have been read and reviewed on this blog.

In the first Book - Wake - was about the emergence of Webmind - the conciousness that emerged from the Internet. In the second book - Watch - is about Webmind going public and announcing its presence online. This is also about the US and Canadian governments being scared of Webmind, and under the guise of National Security, they try to eliminate the threat.

This is the last book - Wonder. Keep on mind that the entire trilogy takes places over just a few weeks, The first book is just a few days, the second book is one week, and the third book is over several weeks.

In this book Webmind has gone public, and this is the story about the responses around the world. Especially those responses of the US, Canadian and Chinese governments.

The US government still wants to eliminate webmind. The Canadisn government does not seem to be worried. They leave it up to the US government to get rid of the threat. The Chinese government decides to put up the Great Firewall and prevent Webmind from engaging with the Chinese people,

But that is precisely how Webmind came to exists in the first place. The previous month, Webmind emerged into existance because a part of his conciousness was cut off from the rest of the internet when China tried to cut itself off from the world during a bird flu epidemic. Webmind emerged to determine why it was cut off and worked to get it back. Now it has to do the same again.

But this time, it chooses to use a different process. This time Webmind, actually forces the Chinese government to resign and gives over control of China to the people, The fastest and quietest coup d'etat in history.

I enjoy reading any and all about books about computers - hacking, cracking, computer crimes, computer security etc etc.

Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop - Book Review

Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop
Edited by Otto Penzler
Vanguard Press 2010
Book Website
Bookshop Website


The first thing you need to know is that I NEVER but NEVER read short stories. I usually can't stand them. But when I spotted this book at my local library, it's about books, its set in a bookshop, I have to at least try and read them. And when I discovered that the editor and the book shop are both real - well thats just icing on the cake.

So I read the 17 short stories written for this anthology. All mysteries written by mystery authors and all had a setting either at or partially at The Mysterious Bookshop.

 I read all the stories within 24 hours. Most of them I liked. Some of these authors I have read. Most of them I have not actually heard of because mysteries are not my usual reading genre.

So if you want to read an anthology of short stories - all mysteries - and all connected in some way with the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan, NYC, then this is the book for you.

And while right now is not yet Xmas - after next week - when Halloween is over and done with - then the retail shops WILL be gearing up for Xmas and we will be flooded with Xmas music and decorations -  starting on November 1st - I guarantee it.

Other reviews
Paul Davis
Broken Bullhorn

Back to school

I didnt post anything over the summer because I haven't read any books at all over summer. I spent a lot of my time in Squidoo.

However summer is now over and my son is back in school. He is now in grade 4. His teacher gave out a student questionaire for the kids to fill out - so that she can get to know them better. For now, she is a temporary teacher until Thanksgiving (mid-October) when the permanent teacher comes back from maternity leave.

Anyway, one of the questions on these student "getting to know you" forms was -
What is the most important thing about you that I need to know.
My son's answer was cute. He wrote - I have bad writing so be aware.

Toronto City Mayor wants to close the Toronto Public Library

Toronto elected a right-wing mayor last year. We should have known that he lied.
He swore that there would be NO SERVICE cuts. That is a major reason why he was elected.
Toronto has a rather large deficit right now, and instead of raising taxes, the mayor wants to cut services.

He wants to cut daycare subsidies (city hall pays for daycare spaces for those parents whose jobs are minimum wage and cant afford to pay $50 per day). He wants to cut down on the number of times the grass gets cut in city parks during summer. He wants to cut down on the number of times the roads get plowed (snow removal) during the winter. He wants to cut down on Police numbers.

But the biggest shock of all is that he wants to Privatise the public libraries!!

Interior of the Toronto Reference Library - the main central branch at Yonge and Bloor

So Canada's champion for books - internationally known author Margaret Atwood - has joined the battle to keep our libraries open.

Margaret Atwood takes to Twitter to battle Toronto Mayor over Library Closures

She is asking people to sign the petition to KEEP OUR LIBRARIES OPEN

Many City Councillors see Toronto's public libraries as a financial burden rather than an important community service. As some American cities already have done, Toronto City Hall is actively considering turning over some or all of the operation of our free public library system to the private sector.

BUT WHO WILL PAY IN A FOR-PROFIT LIBRARY?

Library users, that's who, through higher user fees, fewer books, less access and fewer branches.

Would YOU as a library user want to pay to borrow books?
I would not and cant afford to do that. If this happens, I would just stop using the library.

I have heard that Toronto Public Library is one of the best library systems on the entire North American continent. Possibly also one of the biggest - there are 99 branches. Even Montreal's public library only has 50 branches. We have to all work together to KEEP it that way.

SAVE OUR LIBRARY

SIGN THE PETITION

Thank you.

Borders Books going out of Business

If you haven't already heard, the American book store chain Borders is shutting down, going out of business and forcing over 10,000 employees out of their jobs. This is not good news for helping the economy to recover. This news was reported on July 19, 2011 - 3 days ago.

I mention this because I am sure I would have heard or read anything about this in Canada if it had been mentioned. And to me, this is BIG news. I only found this out today, when I was checking out my favourite Canadian book magazine - Quill and Quire

Borders has been struggling for several years to maintain its market shore against the strong Barnes and Noble chain and Amazon. Borders closed down a number of bricks and mortar shops back in 2007, but that did not help.

The bookchain declared bankruptcy in February 2011 and closed some 200 stores at that time. Borders has been in liquidation and looking for a buyer ever since, This week it conceded defeat saying it was unable to find a buyer.

One major reason Borders has been forced out of business is Amazon. Most book buyers have discovered the comfort and convenience of purchasing their books online from their own homes. I too have been guilty of this as I like to purchase my books from an online book warehouse. When I have money that is. 

On the first page of the Borders website is a large red notice
 ALL BORDERS STORES GOING OUT OF BUSINESS

I don't know much about Borders other than it has always ran second to Barnes and Noble (the top Book store chain in the USA). Borders has also tried to expand overseas without success. I know there was at least one Borders shop in New Zealand - which did not last long. 

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Heatwave...

Cant (gasp) read (gasp, gasp). There's a (gasp) heatwave (gasp) across Ontario (gasp) right now

The last few days have been extremely hot - with temperatures breaking July records all over the place. Today here in Toronto, the temperature has climbed to 37 degrees Celcius (98.6 degrees F).

Inside my apartment, despite the doors and windows being open and the fans blowing, the temperature is currently at 32 degrees Celcius (89 degrees F). The building does NOT have central A/C and we can't afford to buy a unit right now.

The humidex for Toronto is currently 47 degrees Celsius. That means it FEELS like 47 degrees outside, (116 degrees F) and yes that means it feels like an OVEN.

I know this is not book related, but it's just too hot to read!!!

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