A provocative, engrossing dialogue sure to raise eyebrows.
Two powerful, conflicting tech execs exchange thoughts on the future of the Internet.
In the early summer of 2011, while WikiLeaks was under full investigative crackdown, its Australian co-founder, Assange (Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet, 2012), was under house arrest in Norfolk, England. When given a chance to be interviewed by Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, for a book he was writing, Assange welcomed the opportunity to possibly “understand and influence what was becoming the most influential company on Earth.” (Assange’s pan of Schmidt’s eventual book is dutifully included in this volume—“a startlingly clear and provocative blueprint for technocratic imperialism.”) With neither technological revolutionary an advocate of the other’s philosophy, the sparks flew throughout their three-hour conversation, which is transcribed here. In response to Schmidt’s probing, Assange discussed his frustration with the URL system; Bitcoin’s statelessness; and WikiLeaks’ motivations and the development of its defining technology. This book also contains Assange’s heavily footnoted commentary on the preamble leading up to his discussion with Schmidt, its aftermath, and the prospects facing contemporary digital media. Assange describes Schmidt as a wunderkind who acts with “machinelike analyticity,” a quality apparent during the interview, even though their intricate verbal volleying becomes diluted by the hovering, intimidating presence of Jared Cohen, a former adviser to Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton and current director of Google Ideas. Their jargon-filled conversation will surely fascinate the tech-savvy and perplex neophytes while redefining both Assange and Schmidt as extremists in their shared passion for ushering in the next wave of digital development. Though the two men are opposites in their objectives, the book emphasizes their roles as visionary predictors forecasting the future of Internet communications.
A provocative, engrossing dialogue sure to raise eyebrows.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-939293-57-2
Page Count: 200
Publisher: OR Books
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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