Unabashed

I just finished reading Little Brother, and like just about everyone else who’s read it, I loved it. There’s been a lot of commentary about this book, and I agree with most of what I’ve read (especially this one), so I won’t add to it here. I’ll just say that this is a book people need to read. And it’s good. Really good.

Interestingly, I began reading the free PDF Cory posted on his website and liked it enough that by the time I was halfway through it went and bought the old hardback. Interesting the way that works, eh? Coincidentally, that’s exactly the way Doctorow legitimizes his tradition of posting free copies of his ebook, figuring that people don’t really like reading books on electronic devices, and if the reader likes the material they’ll go out and buy it (I know he thinks that way because he says so in the PDF’s introduction). Me, I didn’t buy it because I don’t like reading on an electronic device; I like reading ebooks on my Palm T|X or my Blackberry. I just bought it because it’s that good, I want my wife to read it, and I want it in my house for posterity’s sake. I want my children to read it one day. 

By the way, Little Brother is also a NY Times bestseller, so evidently giving away free copies of a book isn’t a death knell. It isn’t even a cold sore (Suck it, copyright proponents!). It would be interesting to know how many times a download led directly to a book sale.

Anyway, I look forward to more books like this from Cory. He’s already established as a great blogger and an activist for liberalizing copyright laws, and, though this isn’t his first book, it is his best, and it is the one that officially made him an author whose books I will buy from now on.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: author, authors, bestseller, copyright, Cory Doctorow, e-book, ebooks, little brother, piracy