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Eastern Standard Tribe
Eastern Standard Tribe
"Cory Doctorow is just far enough ahead of the game to give you that authentic chill of the future, and close enough to home for us to know that he's talking about where we live as well as where we're going to live; a connected world full of disconnected people. One of whom is about to lobotomise himself through the nostril with a pencil. Funny as hell and sharp as steel."- Warren Ellis, Author of Transmetropolitan.
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--
Dedication
For my parents.
For my family.
For everyone who helped me up and for everyone I let down. You know who you are. Sincerest thanks and most heartfelt apologies.
Cory
--
1.
I once had a Tai Chi instructor who explained the difference between Chinese and Western medicine thus: "Western medicine is based on corpses, things that you discover by cutting up dead bodies and pulling them apart. Chinese medicine is based on living flesh, things observed from vital, moving humans."
The explanation, like all good propaganda, is stirring and stilted, and not particularly accurate, and gummy as the hook from a top-40 song, sticky in your mind in the sleep-de
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Readers reviews
3.2
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Couldn't get into the writing syle at all. Lots of unnecessary words and philosophizing. Gratuitous use of foul language didn't help.
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The book is well-written, but I found it a bit hard to read - the pseudo-internet talk didn't help and I figured rather late, that the EST/GMT "organizations" or tribes related to the timezones, so some more abbreviations that didn't make sense.
In that regard it isn't helpful that the book starts with the end - the 'hero' is standing on the roof of a mental hospital, reflecting his fate while the story unrolls - of course, we don't know this at the time, it's just the guy standing somewhat unrelated on a roof.
The concept of "tribes" and loyalties according to timezones seems a bit ridiculous to me, as well as that great business idea that the main character develops, that just wouldn't work out (well, if it did, the author wouldn't have written this book but would enjoy the millions he made with it).
Hmmm - "one-way osmotic materials" would be a perpetuum mobile, I'd think - amazing how you can get the science wrong with so few words - and that in a book that contains so little science...
Well worth the time reading and one of the few "modern" free eBooks and as that one of the higher quality ones, but not one of the best books on a more genera scheme.
I.
In that regard it isn't helpful that the book starts with the end - the 'hero' is standing on the roof of a mental hospital, reflecting his fate while the story unrolls - of course, we don't know this at the time, it's just the guy standing somewhat unrelated on a roof.
The concept of "tribes" and loyalties according to timezones seems a bit ridiculous to me, as well as that great business idea that the main character develops, that just wouldn't work out (well, if it did, the author wouldn't have written this book but would enjoy the millions he made with it).
Hmmm - "one-way osmotic materials" would be a perpetuum mobile, I'd think - amazing how you can get the science wrong with so few words - and that in a book that contains so little science...
Well worth the time reading and one of the few "modern" free eBooks and as that one of the higher quality ones, but not one of the best books on a more genera scheme.
I.
09/20/2008
I like some of this authors works alot but could not get into this one at all and gave up reading it after a couple of chapters. It could be that I am just not enough of an internet junkie to really get this one.
06/01/2008
I am an internet junkie with chatmates scattered around the globe. This means I am sleep deprived and harbor a fear and hatred of the first month of daylight savings time. To say that this book struck a chord in me is an understatement. The story caught me with the first chapter and kept me awake and on my computer all the way to the end.
04/13/2006
This is a captivating look at a very possible near-future social fabric, though a solid working knowledge of the internet and related technology is a prerequisite full enjoyment. It's a mystery in the classic sense, and fully enjoyable as such, that is seasoned with very plausible technology and set in a near-future society toward which we are very quickly headed (if we haven't gotten there already).
05/07/2005