Context: Further Selected Essays on Productivity, Creativity, Parenting, and Politics in the 21st Century

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Context: Further Selected Essays on Productivity, Creativity, Parenting, and Politics in the 21st Century

3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 · rating details · 126 ratings · 28 reviews

One of the internet’s most celebrated hi-tech culture mavens returns with this second collection of essays and polemics. Discussing complex topics in an accessible manner, Cory Doctorow shares visions of a future where artists control their own destinies and where freedom of expression is tempered with the view that creators need to benefit from their own creations. From e...more

Paperback, 240 pages

Published October 1st 2011 by Tachyon Publications

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Jan 06, 2013 Dan Allosso rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: futurism

Cory Doctorow is the guy behind Boing Boing. He is also the author of several sci-fi and Young Adult sci-fi titles, including Little Brother (2008), which I’ve just begun reading.

This is a volume of short essays that originally appeared as editorials in periodicals like the Guardian, but they’re thematically related and repeat several important themes like Doctorow’s concerns about net neutrality and copyright in interesting and useful ways.

One of the most interesting articles was called “Natu...more Cory Doctorow is the guy behind Boing Boing. He is also the author of several sci-fi and Young Adult sci-fi titles, including Little Brother (2008), which I’ve just begun reading.

This is a volume of short essays that originally appeared as editorials in periodicals like the Guardian, but they’re thematically related and repeat several important themes like Doctorow’s concerns about net neutrality and copyright in interesting and useful ways.

One of the most interesting articles was called “Nature’s Daredevils,” and was about writing sci-fi for the YA audience. Although science fiction has always appealed to teen boys, since I was a young fan it could be argued that the genre “grew up” and that authors like Stephenson, Gibson, and Sterling appealed to at least a slightly wider audience. But the old-fashioned sci-fi I grew up with didn’t really have the self-consciousness about being “YA” in the way that term is now understood.

Doctorow says “YA SF is gigantic and invisible.” (Doctorow, Cory (2011-10-01). Context (Kindle Location 296). Independent Publishers Group. Kindle Edition.) YA bestsellers are moving ten times the books of comparable “adult” sci-fi. Although YA titles are not taken seriously (yet?) by Hugo and other award committees, they have a wide range of advocates out in the reading world, including teachers, YA librarians, and a big group of genre activists and specialized reviewers.

As they should. Unlike adult SF (which now means “speculative fiction” as well as good old sci-fi) Doctorow says kids “read to find out how the world works…[and] use books as markers of their social identity” (Kindle Locations 302-305). The “consequentiality” of writing for young adults is very satisfying, says Doctorow.

“Adolescence is a series of brave, irreversible decisions,” Doctorow says, quoting another YA author. Young adults “live in a world characterized by intense drama, by choices wise and foolish and always brave. This is a book-plotter’s dream. Once you realize that your characters are living in this state of heightened consequence, every plot-point acquires moment and import that keeps the pages turning. (Kindle Locations 322-329). This is true, I think. And not only for the SF writer. For the historian too. Maybe especially for the historian, talking to young people about actions and consequences in the past. How much more powerful might some of these stories be, when kids realize that they actually happened. People actually did this stuff, it didn’t just come out of some novelist’s imagination. So it’s really possible…

The more classic Doctorow articles deal with “intellectual property,” copyright, and new media in interesting and creative ways. For example: “people,” Doctorow says, “who’ve ‘had their property stolen’ are a lot more sympathetic in the public imagination than ‘industrial entities who’ve had the contours of their regulatory monopolies violated,’” and this gives giant media corporations an opportunity to mount an elaborate false-flag operation over copyrights to distract us from their ongoing attempts to privatize the web. (Kindle Locations 1389-1391). And along the way I took down a half dozen names and titles to go out and find, expanding the link-tree. So it was a really useful anthology.
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Oct 07, 2011 Artur Coelho rated it 5 of 5 stars

Este foi um daqueles livros que me agarrou ao fim das primeiras linhas. Descarreguei o epub gratuito da página de Doctorow e deixei-o no tablet, apenas para lhe dar uma vista de olhos antes de o descarregar para o leitor de ebooks. E não consegui parar de o ler.

Context não contém grandes novidades: colige ensaios e artigos de opinião que o autor de ficção científica, activista dos new media e um dos curadores do sempre fascinante Boing Boing publicou ao longo dos anos. O que emerge é uma visão...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction-reference, sf-fantasy-horror

I kind of love Cory Doctorow, so I can't claim objectivity here. Still, I think this collection of essays (all of which appeared elsewhere) are pretty splendid, and cast a penetrating light on a lot of business having to do with writing, publishing, and technology. Doctorow is a great explainer of tedious arcana (he understands copyright issues better than any number of contract lawyers I've worked with), and his discussions of such thorny issues as internet book piracy or the octopoidal ambitio...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Adam Ross rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: intellectual-property, culture

Technology cannot be ignored, and those that attempt to slow the progress being made are condemning themselves to oblivion as well as (more importantly) bankruptcy. Creativity, Doctorow argues, must be free-as-in-freedom; the giant corporations and artists who hunt for and slap lawsuits against any and all violations of their copyrights (real or imagined) kill more than just their fanbase, whom they are mercilessly persecuting for enjoying their creations, but also stagnates creativity and cultu...more Technology cannot be ignored, and those that attempt to slow the progress being made are condemning themselves to oblivion as well as (more importantly) bankruptcy. Creativity, Doctorow argues, must be free-as-in-freedom; the giant corporations and artists who hunt for and slap lawsuits against any and all violations of their copyrights (real or imagined) kill more than just their fanbase, whom they are mercilessly persecuting for enjoying their creations, but also stagnates creativity and cultural development itself.

Context is a collection of some of Doctorow’s best essays that have appeared in The Guardian, Lotus, Wired, the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, as well as his blog and website Boing Boing. (Context can be downloaded for free here; it’s licensed under a Creative Commons license, which means you are free to download, upload, remix and share it with anyone you wish). They express Doctorow’s keen and perceptive insights into recent developments in technology and internet culture; often fiery and enthusiastic as well as sharply logical argumentation combine in a package full of marvelous prose that makes the collection frequently not merely interesting, but pleasurable, to read.

Even as he brilliantly argues against cloud computing and points out that streaming video will never stop downloading and piracy, issues that are very serious and impact the rights of the user and the future of actual private ownership, Doctorow never forgets his wit and his charm (not to mention his ability to turn a phrase or use an aptly insightful metaphor). His pieces never rest on pugnacity or fiery prophetic jeremiad alone, which would make them a slog and a pain to get through like any other self-righteous tract of denunciation. Instead, you find yourself won over by his common sense and delightful sense of humor. After a few essays on the superiority of open source OS and programs and I’m pretty much ready to switch to the Ubuntu OS myself.

Easily the best essay in the collection was an unexpected one. Doctorow has recently become a father to a little girl of about 16 months (at the time of writing), and his piece “Jack and the Interstalk” is a magnificent bit on how he has thought through the exposure of his children to computers and technology. He reveals how parents can use their computers as a means of creating an interactive experience for their children by decribing how he and his daughter will look up images of the various elements they stumble across in their stories, and how they have used those images to then build props from household items based on the stories that become a game of chasing and running around the house and actually participating in the stories they’re reading. To me this is a beautiful picture of redeeming the technology for better, interactive, participatory culture, rather than something you turn on to zoink your children out when they get too rowdy.

It is easy to see why this essay was put first in the collection. It really sets the stage for the whole book’s argument – that we have nothing to fear from technology, which encourages freedom and diversity of use, builds participatory, creative culture in which ordinary people can transcend their status as passive consumers into participants in the creation and production of culture and development. Ultimately, it is this idea that so threatens the multinational corporations. They are uninterested in our becoming producers, because they are the producers, and the moment we no longer need them as gatekeepers and gateways to accessing and producing culture, that moment they will perish, their goods lose value, and their bottom lines bottom out. And that is why Context, and the things Doctorow argues for, are so very important and vital at this moment in history.

http://atrossbooks.com/2011/12/23/boo...(less)

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Oct 04, 2011 Kate O'Hanlon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: technology, essays

This is all (or almost all) reprinted essays from publications like The Guardian, or Locus. There doesn't, unfortunately, seem to have been much curation of the selection (three essays about the iPad? gimme a break).

I read and enjoyed these articles more the first time around, and maybe I only enjoyed Doctorow's last collection, Content because the, ahem, content was new to me. But in addition this Content had much something of a unified theme to the essays, where are Context is more of a kitche...more

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Oct 08, 2011 chelsea rated it 2 of 5 stars

I actually read the earlier edition of this book, with a whole different set of essays, but couldn't find it on Goodreads?
I think the volume was too repetitive. It seems that Doctorow has certain things he likes to talk about, and definitely seems to know his stuff and he's very clever with words, but this book just seems to be a compilation of a number of articles/ talks about essentially the same things making many of the same points, just with slightly different dressings or nuances.
In gener...more

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Jun 11, 2012 May rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012, technology

Let's face it. Not everyone will embrace this collection of essays and put it on their top 10 list although some of these essays truly resonated with me.

My favorite essays included: parenting in the 21st century (how do you balance technology with raising a toddler); his writing process (I really liked the fact that he talks about he organizes his ideas in Twitter and how he even thought about he is archiving his computer drafts); streaming vs downloading debate (I do a mixture of both and have...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Stefan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: advance-reading-copy, non-fiction, www-tor-com-review

When you consider the entirety of Cory Doctorow’s creative output, it’s actually a bit surprising that the first title in his bio is “science fiction novelist.” After all, if you add up the amazing amount of blog posts, magazine articles, newspaper columns, speeches and various other non-fiction he produces, I’m pretty sure that they would add up to more words per calendar year than his fiction, and in terms of visibility it’s quite possible that more people have seen his name connected to a blo...more When you consider the entirety of Cory Doctorow’s creative output, it’s actually a bit surprising that the first title in his bio is “science fiction novelist.” After all, if you add up the amazing amount of blog posts, magazine articles, newspaper columns, speeches and various other non-fiction he produces, I’m pretty sure that they would add up to more words per calendar year than his fiction, and in terms of visibility it’s quite possible that more people have seen his name connected to a blog post or newspaper column than on the cover of a novel.

Adding some balance to Cory’s bibliography, Tachyon Publications just released Context, Cory’s second collection of essays after 2008’s Content. Fans of the author will know what to expect, and for readers who are only familiar with Cory’s novels, this book is a great place to start and get to know one of the 21st century’s most interesting and prolific minds.

Context collects over forty of Cory Doctorow’s non-fiction pieces released since 2008. These were originally published in a number of other publications, including UK newspaper The Guardian, magazines such as Locus and Make, and blogs like Boing Boing (which Cory co-edits). Most of these essays are just a few pages long, making this one of those books that’s great to nibble at, reading one or two selections at a time rather than tearing through the whole thing in one sitting.

As for subject matter, the book’s subtitle is “Further Selected Essays on Productivity, Creativity, Parenting and Politics,” and those four categories sum up the book’s topics fairly well, as long as you’re okay with filing “copyright” and “privacy” under one of them. Many of these short essays read like expanded versions of Cory’s blog posts, chronicling what (in one of these essays) he calls “the vertiginous hilarity of our age of wonders.”

The common thread running through these essays is the point where technology, information and humanity intersect. Cory lovingly describes his writing process and the hardware and software he uses, talks about the way the various ebook outlets affect book distribution and the publishing industry in general, discusses why he won’t buy an iPad, relates how he became the victim of a phishing scam, and generally covers a wide range of topics that are relevant to anyone living in the information age, all in his usual direct, no-nonsense style. Given that all of these essays have individually been published in various outlets before, there’s a good chance that there won’t be a lot of new material here for people who follow Cory’s writing closely, but they draw from enough sources that there should be a few new things here even for the dedicated fans, and even if not, it’s still nice to have them all together in one cover.

Tor.com published a generous excerpt of Context a few weeks ago (this review was originally written for that site, by the way), and reading those five selections is a great way to find out if this book is for you. One of my favorites is the very first essay in the book, “Jack and the Interstalk: Why the Computer is Not a Scary Monster,” about how Cory and his toddler daughter Posey use the computer together. It’s insanely cute—she sits on his lap watching videos in a corner of the screen while he answers his morning email—but at the same time it’s informative and funny and highly relevant to any parent who is trying to figure out how to handle a toddler’s inevitable fascination with that shiny screen mommy and daddy spend so much time looking at. A few essays later, he fast-forwards to the usage of computers in the classroom and proposes a “Web Literacy” curriculum that suggests “censorware”—commonly used to limit web access in schools—as a starting point. Context is full of this type of fascinating and insightful material, coming from someone who’s given a lot of thought to how information and technology affect our lives in various ways.

Of course there’s also a good amount of material here about copyright (sample title: “Intellectual Property Is a Silly Euphemism”) and the “information wars” in general. I’m sure not everyone will agree with Doctorow when it comes to these issues, but even if you don’t, his long involvement with this topic at least goes a long way towards outlining the boundaries of the debate, which is sure to continue for many years to come. And again whether you agree with him or not, it’s refreshing to see someone who practices what he preaches with such enthusiasm. (As most people probably know by now, Cory offers all his books as free downloads under a Creative Commons license on his site. For people who want to show their appreciation for all those free books, he offers the opportunity to buy a copy for a classroom or public library in need — e.g. here’s the page to do so for Content, his first essay collection.

There aren’t a lot of authors out there that I consider myself a fan of. There are many writers whose books I love, but to me being a “fan” implies more than just having an appreciation for a writer’s creative output. It includes a few less tangible qualities, like the author being an interesting person and having a relevant blog and maybe even occasionally “doing the right thing.” Your definition of what constitutes interesting, relevant and right will obviously affect all of this, but for me Cory Doctorow is one of those people, and Context is a great example of why he’s more than just a great novelist. If you’ve enjoyed one or more of his novels in the past, Context is a good way to sample some of the other consistently entertaining information Cory Doctorow emits on a regular basis.(less)

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Jan 17, 2012 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not so much brain candy as brain popcorn - Doctorow, as a blogger/columnist, writes very short-form essays and while they contain great ideas, they can only have so much substance. However, still totally enjoyable and what I assume is a pretty good introduction to his non-fiction work (I wonder if his first collection of essays wouldn't be better, but the library has just bought this one so far).

I'm glad that such cool people are thinking hard about the intersection of culture and technology (a...more

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May 14, 2012 Glenn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: poli-sci

Another great collection of Cory Doctorow's smart, funny and insightful essays culled from the Guardian, the New York Times, Wired, and other smaller publications. Topics range from software to parenting, from copyright to post-scarcity economics, and per the internet-shortened attention spans of the 21st century, most are under 5 pages. Only a few selections feel dated, and that is due more to the pace of modern life than to any flaw in Doctorow's writing. If you need to know why not to buy an...more

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May 01, 2012 Phil rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This is a much more balanced collection of essays than the previous volume, Content. There's still a great deal of material dealing with Doctorow's two favorite topics--the evils of Digital Rights Management software and how "Big Content" is attempting to undermine Internet culture through the abuse of copyright law--but he also mixes it up with a variety of other subjects. There are essays about his approach to writing and what tools he uses, new media versus old media, tips on raising a techno...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

A good collection. More up-to-date than Content of course, but they both have the same impact. The one thing that I really didn't enjoy about this book, and this is a trivial matter, was the fact that this collection did not present where the essays had originally been published. SInce the essays sometimes come from different years and context matters, it is something I enjoyed in Content and missed in Context. So Cory, if you're ever to publish another one of these, please consider heading them...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a really great collection of essays and stories from author, activist, blogger and Boing Boing co-founder Cory Doctorow. They were all thought provoking, and made you hit different levels of anger, incredulity and sadness. Interesting how the advancement of technology which has (and continues to have) the power to change our lives is so often exploited, mismanaged and squandered by large corporations who often treat us very poorly yet continue to rake in the profits on our backs.

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Apr 14, 2012 Terri Light rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: prof-xenia-glitchy-picks

Mixed essays from science fiction novelist and Boing Boing co-editor Doctorow? Yes, please! On various ideas we have the same mindset. And on other ideas, I have not the technological chops to even fathom the full argument. Yet here I am wondering how anyone (and who that anyone is) is going to crack into my digital fortress after I die. Hmmmm.

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Jan 28, 2012 Brett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reading-list, business, creativity, culture, media, non-fiction, nonfiction, technology

A collection of some of Cory Doctorow's essays on various topics. I enjoy his fiction, but this was really the first time I read any of his non-fiction. I almost think I like it better. His ideas span a wide breadth, and these essays provide just enough depth to get you interested in the ideas and want to explore them more on your own

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Dec 14, 2011 reverend dak rated it 4 of 5 stars

A good collection of essays about the now, being productive, technology and the future. I like his style and how he views the modern world and ideas to make it a better, smarter and modern place.

He changed my opinion on the significance and validity of Young Adult fiction.

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Jul 01, 2012 ADD rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographical

Interesting book. A series of short essays on a variety of topics (as the subtitle indicates). Some topics didn't resonate with me since the topic dealt with technological items which I am unfamiliar. Many had insights and a perspective that made me go "hmmmm". A light, intriguing read for someone looking for a different sort of logic.

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May 22, 2012 Maureen rated it 1 of 5 stars

I really disliked Doctorow's ranting and ravings on productivity, creativity, parenting and politics. His whining voice and opinions of self righteousness are unbecoming of an adult nonfiction writer. Save it for the science fiction!

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Feb 03, 2013 Joey rated it 5 of 5 stars

A worthy successor to "Content". Everyone should read this book. A world where the ideas in this book become common practice (and common sense) is one that I want to live in.

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Mar 21, 2012 Desiree rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! It is a collection of essays, but they all seemed right up my alley! Most of them are about computers and the net... A must read!

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Jul 10, 2012 Kent Winward rated it 4 of 5 stars

This collection was exceptional when the essays focused on digital rights management, copyright and licensing. The science fiction and writing portions were also enjoyable. The encryption and data preservation articles lagged a bit for me, but were just enough to feed into my data paranoia. Despite the title, not too much on parenting and politics.

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Nov 30, 2012 Ray Charbonneau rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, non-fiction

Cory is a clear and entertaining writer, and it helps that I agree with most of what he writes about here.

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Mar 22, 2013 Florin Pitea rated it 5 of 5 stars

An excellent collection of essays about copyright, encryption, parenting and the future of the Internet. Recommended. For an extended presentation, please visit my blog here: http://tesatorul.blogspot.ro/2013/03/....

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Jul 06, 2012 BAKU rated it 1 of 5 stars

Nothing of particular use or interest in here

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Apr 23, 2012 Noel Rooks rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

A collection of columns. Not bad, not great.

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Feb 29, 2012 Gsmalz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Visionary.

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Feb 12, 2012 Gene Quagmire rated it 5 of 5 stars

More profound sensibility about sensitive issues.

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Feb 06, 2012 Qasim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Out of date but still insightful.

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May 17, 2013 Neil Cotter added it

May 03, 2013 Brad Pierce marked it as to-read

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About Cory Doctorow

Canadian blogger, journalist and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing.

He is an activist in favor of liberalizing copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licenses for his books.

Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, Disney, and post-scarcity economics.

http://us.macmillan.com ...more

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Quotes from Context: Further Selec...

“... the Kindle is a "roach motel" device: its license terms and DRM ensure that books can check in, but they can't check out.” — 7 people liked it

“Every telecomm company is as big a corporate welfare bum as you could ask for. Try to imagine what it would cost at market rates to go around to every house in every town in every country and pay for the right to block traffic and dig up roads and erect poles and string wires and pierce every home with cabling. The regulatory fiat that allows these companies to get their networks up and running is worth hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars.

If phone companies want to operate in the “free market,” then let them: the FCC could give them 60 days to get all their rotten copper out of our dirt, or we’ll buy it from them at the going scrappage rates. Then, let’s hold an auction for the right to be the next big telecomm company, on one condition: in exchange for using the public’s rights-of-way, you have to agree to connect us to the people we want to talk to, and vice-versa, as quickly and efficiently as you can.” — 4 people liked it

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title link	preview: Context: Further Selected Essays on Productivity, Creativity, Parenting, and Politics in the 21st Century
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Context: Further Selected Essays on Productivity, Creativity, Parenting, and Politics in the 21st Century

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