Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780007288427ISBN:0007288425
Description: Good. Our aim is to create value for our customers through the provision of low cost, affordable products and an overall satisfying buying experience. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780007288427ISBN:0007288425
Description: New. NEW-SHOP SOILED COPY-TRUSTED DEVON (UK) BASED SELLER-IN STOCK-SENT WITHIN 1 WORKING DAY-AVAILABLE BY EMAIL FOR QUERIES-NO QUIBBLE REFUND IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED- read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Date Published: 13/10/2008
ISBN-13:9780007288427ISBN:0007288425
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780007288427ISBN:0007288425
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 384 pages. The ultimate tale of teen rebellion--one seventeen-year-old against the surveillance state. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Tor Teen
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780765319852ISBN:0765319853
Description: Very Good. First Edition-First Printing. Minor shelf wear. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Tor Books
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780765319852ISBN:0765319853
Description: Very Good. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 382 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Description: Fair. Dust Cover Missing. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Edition: First Edition; First Printing
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: TOR, New York
Date Published: 2008
Description: Very Good. An Advance Reading Copy in pictorial wrappers. Slight crimp at the bottom of the front cover. After being interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security after a terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, uses his expertise in computer hacking to set things right. read more
Description: New. Please note that deliveries to addresses in the UK and Europe will be in 4-14 business days. Other countries should refer to Alibris standard times. ISBN10: 0007288425. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Tor Teen
ISBN-13:9780765319852ISBN:0765319853
Description: Used-Very Good in Good jacket. FIRST EDITION hardcover; Very good condition. very clean and bright pages; Book has almost no shelfwear; tight spine; Reliable customer service and no-hassle return policy. read more
Description: New. PLEASE NOTE: All books are promptly shipped from our UK warehouse using Royal Mail International Priority mail. Heavier or more expensive books are shipped with a TRACKING NUMBER. Professional and reliable bookseller (est.1987). read more
"Torn between two and three stars. I enjoyed reading this; the plot was interesting, and all the informative parts were pretty accessible (well, the computer/crypto stuff was done much, much better than the history). But I thought the writing was pretty bad--it got increasingly melodramatic as the book went along. I kept waiting for Marcus to say to one of his friends "But down here, it's our time! It's our time down here!". I never bought his voice as that of an American kid--there were Britishisms that I don't think could come entirely from having a British mother--but that's probably more due to sadly sloppy copy-editing than anything else. Phrases were repeated all over the place (Marcus told us twice that the best role-playing games were at "the Scout camps out of town", for instance), the text said "Van" when it should have been "Ange" at least once, Marcus's mother was referred to as both Louisa and Lillian on the same page... Overall, the book is a vehicle for the author, not an organic story.
I can see that this is an important and thought-provoking book that a lot of kids will enjoy, but for the love of god, please don't give it the Printz."
"In an attempt to win over a new generation of sci-fi readers, Cory Doctorow's "Little Brother" is marketed as a young adult book. However, adult readers shouldn't worry that Doctorow's book will leave them behind or have them feeling juvenile for reading it.
"Little Brother" is a mature, contemporary novel that looks at the issue of security in a near-future that doesn't seem too far from today. When San Francisco is attacked by terrorists, seventeen-year-old hacker Marcus and his friends are out playing the latest mission of the most popular game of the day. Because of their proximity to the attack and their background as hackers, Marcus and his friends are detained and questioned by the Department of Homeland Security. Stripped of his rights, Marcus is eventually set free, but finds that new restrictions placed on the Internet and the world under the banner of making his country more safe are having the opposite effect. Marcus sets out to restore his true freedom and take out the oppressive regime of the Homeland Security Officers.
"Little Brother" doesn't shy away from the big questions. While this novel is set in a non-defined near future, Doctorow is clearly commenting on the ways and means used today to keep our country and world "safe" from the next attack. At one point does it go from keeping us safe to denying us our freedoms and is that tradeoff worth it in the long run? Doctorow's story of Marcus and his fight against the larger Big Brother is fascinating and terrifying all at the same time. As you read the story, you may realize just how much of our basic, assumed freedoms have been abridged all in the name of security and safety.
Doctorow also takes this opportunity to provide readers an education of security systems and computer programming. In what easily could have been some of the driest portions of the novel, Doctorow is able to give the reader some insight and knowledge, which may leave you curious to pursue more information on the inventors and security methods.
Doctorow is something of an Internet celebrity, having revolutionized the marketing of his novels through taking advantage of on-line distribution. He's grown as a writer since his debut in "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" and with "Little Brother," while he's writing for a young adult audience, he's found a new level of mature and assured writing that makes "Little Brother" one of the more remarkable and haunting books I've read this year."
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you! That's the lesson in this modern David & Goliath novel where David is a technologically savvy teenager and Goliath is the U.S Department of Homeland Security. In a scenario all too plausible, Doctorow shows what might happen if the DHS were to take their reaction to a terrorist attack a little (or maybe a lot) too far. Who would stand up to the government forces taking over people's lives and identities? It's a wild ride as you follow Marcus and his fellow gamers in a real-life battle for freedom. Very timely and a real page-turner."
"SPOILER ALERT (in case the little checkbox I clicked below is not adequate warning that this review contains spoilers).
After all the hype, I expected more, so maybe I'm grading somewhat harshly. Still, a nicely put together primer on security and security theatre, although I suspect very few of the explanations Cory includes about how things work are needed on my friendslist (not entirely true: I did not, for instance, know how to make a hidden-camera detector out of a toilet paper roll and LEDs before reading this). Even unneeded, they're well written, and generally it's just cool to see a lot of this stuff. But I have two major complaints:
1) I feel the book does an incomplete job of justifying the freedom side of the "security versus freedom" debate. And yes, I know that's a false dichotomy, and I know the arguments, but I didn't feel Little Brother presented them well. The justification for the kids' actions never got above the level of "this is somewhat annoying and inconviniences me, so I'm going to inconvinience them (the DHS) right back". Which can work, but it felt shallow.
2) My other (bigger) complaint is with the resolution. After all this hacking and whatnot to try to show the DHS is a bunch of incompetent fools, what shuts them down but the main character just dumping his story to an investigative reporter and letting her do all of the work. All of the effort that was actually effective in making the DHS change (in the book) happened off-screen. This did a lot to reinforce the "kids throwing tantrums" vibe I got. So about 90% of the book was vandalism, and while I understood why, in the end that vandalism didn't even help. Sure, this is somewhat realalistic (in that we all do things that end up not helping our final goals) but forgive me if in an adventure novel I want the characters actions to matter more in the final resolution."
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