Monday, October 6

Micro-Reviews of Books Read, September 2014

Reviews of books read last month: two novels and a non-fiction book
   about the benefits of using technology.


   1. "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
     <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38447.The_Handmaid_s_Tale>
     <http://www.amazon.com/The-Handmaids-Tale/dp/038549081X>

   This dystopian novel was published in 1986 and is set in the near
   future. Religious fundamentalists have staged a coup in the United
   States, forming the Republic of Gilead. The new regime introduced
   an extreme patriarchal society, overturning many of the rights
   gained by women. There has been a dramatic reduction in births, so
   leaders of the regime are assigned "handmaids" if their wives are
   unable to have children. Before the coup, the narrator used to be
   an working woman with a husband and daughter. She was forcibly
   separated from her family, and assigned as a handmaid to a Commander
   in the regime. Her name was changed to "Offred", signifying her
   relationship to her master. She describes her daily life as a
   handmaid, which affords her some specific privileges, she has very
   few freedoms compared to her previous life. As long as she has the
   ability to conceive and stays out of trouble, she can at least
   avoid getting banished to work in the colonies and be branded an
   "unwoman".

   Dystopian novels can be heavy going, and not everyone's cup of tea.
   I seem to like reading cautionary tales like this one, which reminds
   us to be vigilant against the reactionary rhetoric of our political
   leaders.


   2. "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline
     <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9969571-ready-player-one>
     <http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One/dp/0307887448>

   Thirty years in the future, the real world has become a bleak and
   rundown place. Mounting debts have weakened governments and
   corporations, making conditions difficult for ordinary people.
   Fortunately, the infrastructure of the information age has remained
   mostly intact. Children can get an education online, and it's
   usually safer to do so than in the real world. More generally,
   people can escape the drudgery of everyday life by logging into
   OASIS, a massively multiplayer online virtual reality environment.
   An added incentive is that the founder of OASIS, James Halliday,
   left some "Easter eggs" in the system, and whoever finds all of
   them will inherit his vast fortune. But this provides an opportunity
   for Halliday's bitter corporate rival, Innovative Online Industries
   (IOI), to send its own agents into the system and to try to usurp
   Halliday's business. Halliday was a child of the Eighties, so the
   egg hunters ("gunters") believe there are clues in cultural
   artifacts of that era. "Anorak's Almanac", an electronic book that
   compiles Halliday's interests, is the go-to guide for the gunters.

   This novel delves deeply into the computer games, music, movies and
   television of the 1980s. Readers unfamiliar with these nostalgic
   cultural references may find the story harder to follow and
   appreciate. Most of the action takes place in the virtual world, so
   in-game avatars can provide alternative insights into the real-life
   characters. Overall, I found this an enjoyable page turner.


   3. "Smarter Than You Think" by Clive Thompson
     <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17707600-smarter-than-you-think>
     <http://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Than-You-Think/dp/0143125826>

   The author of this book challenges the view that over-reliance on
   technology is reducing our powers of thought and making us less
   intelligent. For example, tailored search results can lead to filter
   bubbles, where we are only present with information that confirms our
   biases. Easy access to search engines can lead us to rely less on our
   own memory. Multitasking and highly distracting social media can lead
   us to be "shallow". The author acknowledges that technology is not
   always positive. However, he argues that, when applied wisely, it can
   make us smarter. We can use technology as "outboard memory", freeing
   up our minds to concentrate on the actual problems at hand. Technology
   provides the ability to quickly search and cross-reference large
   collections of data. It facilitates increased collaboration across
   cultures and national boundaries. Computers can be used to do a lot
   of the low-level calculations necessary to work on complex problems.

   The use of technology has been an area of debate and controversy
   throughout history. For example, Socrates lamented that, compared to
   interactive conversation, books were an inferior medium to conduct
   intelligent debate. The author does a reasonable job of explaining
   how technology can take a load off our minds so we can work on big-
   picture problems. But we should remember that technology can make
   constant surveillance, creepy advertising and other invasions of
   privacy easier.