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WHEN GOOGLE MET WIKILEAKS

Name: WHEN GOOGLE MET WIKILEAKS
Author: Julian Assange
ISBN: 978-1-939293-57-2

by Julian Assange ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2014

A provocative, engrossing dialogue sure to raise eyebrows.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
JULIAN ASSANGE IN HIS OWN WORDS
by Julian Assange ; edited by Karen Sharpe

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.