The Unincorporated Man

Nov 03, 2010 Aerin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, science-fiction, well-that-was-terrible

There are good books, there are bad books, and then there is The Unincorporated Man. While it's definitely not good, and it really is pretty bad, it's bad in such a spectacular, clusterfucky sort of way that it's almost awe-inspiring. And I don't mean that in a so-bad-it's-good way, or in a so-bad-it's-hilarious way. It's so completely all over the map, and fails so monumentally in everything it sets out to do, and is packed so full of preachy political horseshit, and is so constantly rushed but...more

68 likes · like · see review

May 30, 2009 Ceridwen rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who have already seem the movie.

Recommended to Ceridwen by: Richard

Shelves: sci-fi, the-future-is-now, not-for-me-maybe-for-you, stolen-from-richard, what-are-you-doing-dave, space-the-final-frontier

I have received a transmission from the future. Sadly, its contents contained no useful information, instead being a review of the movie of The Unincorporated Man. Try betting on this:

The plot: A man, Justin Cord, is cryogenically frozen and thawed out 300 years in the future, when all people are incorporated as, well, corporations. A future person's parents get 20%, their siblings get a share or two, the government gets a legally mandated 5% in lieu of taxes. That person barters away the rest t...more I have received a transmission from the future. Sadly, its contents contained no useful information, instead being a review of the movie of The Unincorporated Man. Try betting on this:

The plot: A man, Justin Cord, is cryogenically frozen and thawed out 300 years in the future, when all people are incorporated as, well, corporations. A future person's parents get 20%, their siblings get a share or two, the government gets a legally mandated 5% in lieu of taxes. That person barters away the rest trying to acquire housing, an education, whatnot. Confusingly, there are also actual corporations, in the modern sense. When someone works for one, and he or she doesn't hold a majority of their own shares (not likely until later in life), then they live in a kind of indenture, and the corporation can more or less dictate their lives. Despite this lack of freedom, the world is otherwise utopian: nanotech and similar advancements have made every single person on the planets, well fed, very pretty, and functionally immortal.

Angelina Jolie plays Neela, the woman assigned to reintegrate Justin into society. While Ms. Jolie encompasses the fem-bot beauty described in the book, I'm troubled by the persistent sense that she is always acting and not truly inhabiting the role. On the one hand, the character of Neela is a consummate actor, trained as she is to smooth the transition when there's been a gap between suspension and reawakening, sometimes measured in years. However, despite being told many, many times by the authorial voice that she's a gifted reintegrationist, her actions do not show this to be true. If, indeed, there is a social taboo again reintegrationist and subject forming a romantic attachment 300 years in the future, then she would have taken one of the 500 chances to get out. Otherwise she is a perv. And Jolie encompasses both perviness and actorliness, so it mostly works.

However, Mark Wahlberg as Justin Cord, the hero of the story, is a total disaster. Current wisdom holds that Wahlberg functions best in an ensemble, and the current wisdom isn't wrong. After the debacle of “The Happening,” where Wahlberg botches a middle-class everyman, clearly producers thought it was time for Wahlberg to botch a brilliant industrialist. But while the mess of “The Happening” isn't close to being entirely Wahlberg's fault, the same is true for this film.

Justin's awakening in this world sets off a bunch of reactions. As the only unincorporated man, he's a threat to order, and shocks the economic and social systems. As a billionaire industrial from late-millennium America, the whole concept of personal incorporation makes Mr. Cord feel all itchy and cranky, and several legal maneuvers are deployed to get his ass to incorporate. No dice. You can never take our freedom! Forty-four forty or fight! Or something. He becomes a lightning rod for the de-incorporation movement. I had a hard time buying the rousing quality of the speeches Mr. Cord delivers throughout the book toward this end - St Crispin's Day, it's not - but Mr. Wahlberg's delivery completely eliminated doubt.

He's affable enough, though, and the Mardi Gras hook-up between Neela and Justin (complete with bat wings and a tail, for all you pervy pervs out there) is totally hawt. Justin, despite Marky Mark's blankness, also has more to do in the film than the book, instead of lolling around, eating cold cereal - seriously, it's like a thing - and quoting Milton Friedman. The best aspect of the book is the careful attention to technology and it's implications, and seeing fluid floor-plans, sourceless lighting, and flying cars in the movie was just plain fun. Technology is always cool.

Keanu Reeves, though, as Hektor Sambianco, that's the stuff, right? Mr. Reeves is an interesting case. He has tremendous range. No seriously, think about it: from Shakespeare to rom-com, action to dramaction, indie faves and weird sci-fi anomalies. He plays all these roles with the same aplomb he has in his Best Role Ever: “Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.” His affability is his greatest asset, and it works well against Marky Mark's blankness. In playing the bad guy, the corporate spider who spins webs to capture the only Unincorporated Man, Mr. Reeves's cheerful stupidity epitomizes the banality of evil. (I'm sorry, Hannah Arendt. You're probably rolling in your grave.)

The film also smooths over a lot of narrative lumpiness one can find in the book. There are two authors: the Brothers Kollin. The editing is choppy, and there's an disorienting sense of pull-back when the Libertarian drops his info/evangelizing into the meat of the tale. In the film, this is paid homage to in the voiceover, the dreaded authorial voice in film, and like in Blade Runner, the voiceover is almost completely unnecessary. The film also excised a bunch of information clearly meant to cover plotting in the sequels, which is awesome. All in all, the film was better than the book.

End trans.

So there you have it, dear readers. Wait for the movie. (less)

23 likes · like · see review

May 14, 2013 Zachary Jernigan added it

Shelves: stopped-reading

Well, it didn't take long for this to turn into a piece of shit. 50 pages in, and already we've got the libertarian superman protagonist appear and start to dazzle everyone. He's a tall, handsome man who "lives by his own rules" (ugh) and, despite having been in the world of the future for a total of about a day, is already outsmarting everyone around him and disarming/intimidating women with his charm. There'll probably be a scene where he gets a gun and shoots it better than everyone else.

Why,...more

6 likes · like · see review

Apr 30, 2009 Ninja Sock Puppet rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Libertarians; Spartacus-lovers; Milton Friedman, were he not tits-up

Recommended to Ninja Sock Puppet by: Dani Kollin

Shelves: authors-whose-websites-i-ve-done, authors-i-ve-met

Let me begin by announcing that I am not, nor will ever be a Libertarian. However, you do not need to be a Libertarian to appreciate this book's ideas and story. If you are a Libertarian, you will probably buy boxes of this book in a Scientology-like effort to pump sales onto the Bestsellers list.

This story (co-written by brothers Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin, despite what Goodreads tells you) takes the idea of capitalism to the extreme, so that 300 years in the future everyone is a corporation...more Let me begin by announcing that I am not, nor will ever be a Libertarian. However, you do not need to be a Libertarian to appreciate this book's ideas and story. If you are a Libertarian, you will probably buy boxes of this book in a Scientology-like effort to pump sales onto the Bestsellers list.

This story (co-written by brothers Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin, despite what Goodreads tells you) takes the idea of capitalism to the extreme, so that 300 years in the future everyone is a corporation: your parents get 20% of your future earnings, the government gets 5%, and you sell shares of yourself to various people and institutions to get what you want. The idea, according to the story, is that everyone becomes interconnected and altruism gets a capitalist kick in the pants to make a happy successful utopia where everyone is happy and at peace. But are they? DUN DUN DUN!

The world is well imagined and full of interesting details that I've been missing from my Sci-Fi reads lately. The brothers Kollin explore the ramifications of nanotechnology and AI, all woven into a treatise on capitalism and freedom. This is the Sci-Fi I grew up on without fully understanding, the Sci-Fi of Heinlein, LeGuin and Star Trek, Sci-Fi that not only tells a story but explores ideas that you can't really explore in any other genre. It's the classic Gedankenexperiment, the book whose eventual movie trailer will begin with, "In a world where..."

R.I.P. V.O.G.

This is not to say that the book has no flaws. It is their first book, and little things kept annoying me like the characters constantly beginning sentences with the name of the person they're talking to instead of assuming I'd be able to keep it straight. There are also a few info-dumps where the action stops and backstory is inserted, but I was less annoyed by that as there are a lot of ideas they've crammed into this book.

Most importantly, however, there is action. Things happen. People change. Technology is used awesomely. It seems like a lot of the books I've been reading lately are light on the awesome technology the authors can dream up and are instead stuck on crap I don't care about like endless journeys from here to there and then oops, plot twist, please read my sequel. Though the end suggests a sequel, all of the action of this book comes to a conclusion with a climax and epilogue that had me taking a 1.5 Earth hour lunch break to finish it.

I liked this book. It has a good premise, and backs it up with a good story. I can't wait to see what else the Brothers Kollin come up with.(less)

9 likes · like · see review

Jun 02, 2010 JulesQ rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like science fiction and are patient

Recommended to JulesQ by: Tyler Cowen

Shelves: 2010

So, I think I liked this book a lot better while I was reading it than once I was done -- it might just be because the first half was like 42 times better than the second half. And once it was done I was left feeling very unsatisfied, and I think there are a couple of reasons for this.

The premise of the book is that in the future, people are like individual corporations which can buy and sell percentages of their earnings -- the government gets an automatic 5%, parents get 20%, and the rest you...more So, I think I liked this book a lot better while I was reading it than once I was done -- it might just be because the first half was like 42 times better than the second half. And once it was done I was left feeling very unsatisfied, and I think there are a couple of reasons for this.

The premise of the book is that in the future, people are like individual corporations which can buy and sell percentages of their earnings -- the government gets an automatic 5%, parents get 20%, and the rest you can sell to pay for schooling, training, stuff, etc. Throughout the book various characters give various reasons for why this is a grand way to go. And then there's the one dude, who basically time travels without being part of the incorporated system and starts whining about slavery and freedom and *minor spoiler alert* starts a revolution.

So, problem the first: I actually think that self-incorporation isn't that terrible an idea -- a significant problem with this future society is that it's involuntary, but I think that voluntary incorporation in exchange for currently unreachable benefits is not the worst idea anyone ever had. Especially given that people can eventually buy back their stock. This probably makes me a terrible person, since despite the fact that many people make many logical arguments for the system, it's obvious that you, as the reader, are supposed to have an automatic pro-"freedom" gut reaction that makes you disregard any of those arguments as automatically slavery. But seriously, especially given that at least initially 75% of your stock is yours to sell, incorporation actually isn't that much like slavery after all -- maybe more like indentured servitude, but I don't think indentured servitude was the worst idea anyone had either. Bleh. Also, I think you are supposed to have an automatically negative gut reaction to big, bad corporations. And I don't. I don't think that profit seeking behavior in corporations is inherently evil. I don't think corporate boards who direct such profit seeking behavior are evil. But, apparently you're supposed to.

Problem the second: The book has a really annoying habit of building detailed back stories for characters who matter for about six seconds in the book. Like this reporter who's sole function is to report the arrival of the Unincorporated Man and then later get another special interview for him gets seriously like 20 pages of back story -- which, granted, also SORT OF reveals something about another absent character, but not really. Related to this, the book starts to wander off into subplots that end up having nothing to do with anything. For example *spoiler alert* it turns out that the AI entities in the book ARE REAL INTELLIGENCES!!! AND THEY HAVE A MEETING! IN WHICH THEY DECIDE THAT THEY AREN'T GOING TO AFFECT THE PLOT OF THE BOOK!!! I'm not even kidding. Why are you even in this book HAL-like intelligences? (It turns out that there's going to be a sequel, so maybe they will matter then?)

Problem the third: This was obviously a first novel. There were also sentences that would occasionally jar, a backstory to the creation of the incorporated system that didn't seem to connect well, and some other minor stuff. But I enjoyed reading it -- the premise is thought-provoking enough, and it engaged me enough to get me through many, many hours of air travel with its accompanying annoyance.
(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 17, 2009 Corry L. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-f, books-i-own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · like · see review

May 04, 2009 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2009, science-fiction, fiction, business

First, thank you to Ayn Rand for not writing her 'economic libertarian' novels in a series, (e.g. imagine reading the last page of Atlas Shrugged Library Edition Part 2..."stay tuned for Ann's continuation of the Atlas saga, _Atlas Itched_!") The only serious disappointment was the author's inability to complete this in a single volume. Having said that, the Kollin brothers are a very clear major new voice in science fiction, very welcome. This novel could be a nominee for the nebulas or hugos n...more

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 12, 2013 Sean Randall rated it 4 of 5 stars

“The Swiss disappeared,” he sighed, “but Star Trek lives on. Go figure.”

This was a crackingly enjoyable story, with a pretty cool idea behind it. The whole concept of Incorporation is a little tricky to get your head around, but the social degradation due to the VR onslaught totally provides an ironclad reason for a tectonic shift in society. There are even some compelling arguments put forth for the whole system to actually work.

But, of course, there's a spanner in the works of this postmodern...more

like · see review

Jan 06, 2013 Graham Crawford rated it 2 of 5 stars

This started out with such promise. The first third was filled with lots of interesting ideas. I very quickly realised the characters and plot were only there as scaffolds to move me from one idea to another - and I thought - OK - it's one of *those* books! I can cope with this as long as the ideas keep coming one per page. Alas the ideas ran out and I was left with emotionally adolescent characters who were at their most believable when caught stealing the last beer from the mates fridge. Write...more

like · see review

Jul 15, 2012 Clay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-fantasy

The cover jacket blurbs mention Robert Heinlein twice – which usually is code for “old-fashioned” and/or “predictable”, but “The Unincorporated Man” (Tor, $25.95, 479 pages) actually does recall the mid-century master of so-called classic scifi. Brothers Dani and Eytan Kollin have constructed a well thought-out scenario and then take what appears to be a simple story in unexpected directions.

The setup is two-fold: First, society has evolved into a completely business-oriented model. Each person...more The cover jacket blurbs mention Robert Heinlein twice – which usually is code for “old-fashioned” and/or “predictable”, but “The Unincorporated Man” (Tor, $25.95, 479 pages) actually does recall the mid-century master of so-called classic scifi. Brothers Dani and Eytan Kollin have constructed a well thought-out scenario and then take what appears to be a simple story in unexpected directions.

The setup is two-fold: First, society has evolved into a completely business-oriented model. Each person is her own corporation, with shares and stock prices. Most people don’t own a majority of their own stock, and thus must take jobs that their stockholders prefer rather than what they prefer. In addition, most people are known as “pennies”, because their stock is about as valuable as penny stocks are today. Government is no longer a major player, as taxes are outlawed, and any corporation can compete with the government in the delivery of services. There are no wars, and the rule of the large (familiar) corporations is mostly benevolent, though tilted toward the rich.

Into this brave new world comes Justin Cord, a 21st century billionaire who developed a fatal cancer that could not be cured in his day. He spent much of his fortune on developing a perfect cryogenic suspension chamber that would preserve his body until a time when he could be healed, and then hid the body in a secluded mine. When the Great Collapse came, traditional cryogenic storage facilities were destroyed, but Cord slept on, hidden from the world.

When he’s discovered, thawed and healed, he emerges into the world unincorporated, a unique individual – but a very smart and tough one (in the tradition of Heinlein protagonists). His struggle to stay free puts him in conflict with the powers-that-be, but the Kollin brothers twist the plot and develop meaningful moral dilemmas that all the characters must fight through.

Though “The Unincorporated Man” is a complete-unto-itself novel, it’s clear from an undeveloped subplot that there are more books to come in this series, and assuming that the brothers Kollin get better as they go along, it will be a series worth paying attention to.

(less)

like · see review

Nov 03, 2011 trav rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, read-but-unowned

I read a lot of business books. It's just something I enjoy... but not as much as a good sci-fi tale and this book combines both. The book is loaded with lots of ideas early on. Such as, ownership, property, government, investing, money, etc. It's a very 'free markets can heal the world if we'd just stay out of the way' will solve 99% of the world's issues if we'd let them. But as the story unfolds, it's individuals and people that have to take us the rest of the way.

The entire book is set in th...more I read a lot of business books. It's just something I enjoy... but not as much as a good sci-fi tale and this book combines both. The book is loaded with lots of ideas early on. Such as, ownership, property, government, investing, money, etc. It's a very 'free markets can heal the world if we'd just stay out of the way' will solve 99% of the world's issues if we'd let them. But as the story unfolds, it's individuals and people that have to take us the rest of the way.

The entire book is set in the future where everyone is self-incorporated. That is, as soon as you are born, the government gets a certain percentage stock in you, your parents and their friends probably take out some shares. As you grow older schools, classmates, the general public all invest in you, your life and your future, with the idea that if they help invest in your beginnings, once you become successful and rich you will buy them out to get majority ownership of yourself and they get rich. If you're unable to increase your self-stock's value, then they sell-off their stake in you. So a mining company could buy up all your stock and move you to the moon to mine ore or something like that.

But, introduced into this world is a savvy businessman unfrozen from the past... predating the incorporation period. So he is unincorporated, untaxed, not contributing to society as they see it. So what to do? Force him to incorporate and sell off parts of himself to business owners? Leave him alone and risk his "unalienable rights" thinking and talk to spark an uprising? Soon enough there is bloodshed, legal proceedings with businesses and governments aligning themselves against this man from the past.

It's a great concept and idea. Certainly one that gets people talking. Especially in this day of micro-payments and crowd-sourced funding many sites and non-profits are pursuing.

At a minimum, it's a fun sci-fi yarn. At the most, it will get you thinking, talking and looking at the good and bad of how things are run in America.(less)

like · see review

Aug 20, 2011 Amodini rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was eager to read this book, because it looked like an interesting premise wrapped up in hard science fiction. Unfortunately, that illusion broke very quickly. This book is fairly shallow science fiction, because although it has futuristic gadgetry and niftily named inventions, there is not much "science" to back it up. The entire story is propped up by one idea and one idea alone - incorporation, and the book, it seems, is but an exercise to project that idea. The sci-fi angle seems an aftert...more I was eager to read this book, because it looked like an interesting premise wrapped up in hard science fiction. Unfortunately, that illusion broke very quickly. This book is fairly shallow science fiction, because although it has futuristic gadgetry and niftily named inventions, there is not much "science" to back it up. The entire story is propped up by one idea and one idea alone - incorporation, and the book, it seems, is but an exercise to project that idea. The sci-fi angle seems an afterthought to the whole process.

I'm put off that this is not the sci-fi read I was hoping for, but am willing to overlook that fact, if the book by itself was engrossing enough. Unfortunately, it fails on that count too. The writing is bad (and I doubt the book had an editor). The style is clunky, and the authors have a tendency to harp over and over explain every thought and event, putting an end to any semblance of mystery or intrigue. The narrative breaks every so often with the authors taking little segue-ways to explain the new fangled technology. Thus the pace is lackadaisical, and the characters underdeveloped. As such, although I do like the main protagonists Justin and Neela, I do not know too much about their inner selves and am hard pressed to feel more than perfunctory warmth for them.

"The unincoporated man" tries to do many things. It is situated in a futuristic world, so it has the trappings of science fiction. There is a social and financial theme, as well as a budding (forbidden) romance. There are also wordy scenes in a court of law. All this is tied up in its over-arching theme of incorporation. Although I appreciate this book for its novel premise (really, what is better than a great big new idea ?), I do think that many facets of good storytelling were sacrificed to propagate it. Better written, and with adequate emphasis on character development and story this might have been a great book. As it is now, I had trouble finishing it up, although I did finish it.

Full review here.(less)

like · see review

May 30, 2011 Text Addict rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

The literary political-social dialectic and is alive and well, and being published by Tor: The Unincorporated Man looks like a political treatise disguised as a pretty good novel. Cleverly, it sets up a conflict with one unfortunate aspect of its ideal Objectivist/Libertarian future society, and in demolishing that one aspect it leaves the rest of the socio-political structure intact and unchallenged. As I said, clever.

For those not familiar with the modern Objectivist/Libertarian strain of thou...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 20, 2011 Benjamin Uminsky rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

I really would have liked to have liked this book (if that makes any sense). I just can't bring myself to give it a higher rating. The premise really caught my eye and I think if more thought and effort was put into plot and character development, you might have wound up with a pretty good story.

Here is the thing... I love science fiction because it is such a great medium to explore social criticisms and political analysis while telling a great story. Allegory and metaphor presented through scie...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 08, 2011 Stephan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book brings us to a world that looks like the best of our possible futures from now with one glaring exception. Everyone in this world is personally incorporated. That means that everyone has stock in themselves and it can be bought and sold like any other stock. 5% of your stock goes to the government, and 20% goes to your parents. The governments stock can never be sold or increased. I would say that the 5% is basically a 5% flat tax but in this world TAX is the most foul of words. All of...more

like · see review

Jan 29, 2011 Will rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book... made me itch.

It reads like a 1950s potboiler. The characters are cardboard stereotypes. The plot is hackneyed. And the central conceit, a system of incorporation, is a problem, because a) it's silly (WHY was this solution considered? HOW did it get introduced?) and b) social forces would have acted far sooner to challenge the central premise, without requiring the figurehead. The ridiculous figurehead.

Justin Cord is basically John Galt, frozen and petrified. The book reads like Ayn...more

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 15, 2010 James Elkins rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, dystopian-sci-fi

The Kolin brothers have created a fully realized utopian future in "The Unincorporated Man", including all of the hidden flaws. What struck me was that the Kolin brothers manage to convey so many solid economic, sociologic, and philosophic quandaries, that we are faced with today, in a simple straightforward manner. The technologies that are employed throughout the book are not unimaginably fantastic either, almost all of them have been discussed in recent years in "Scientific American" and "Dis...more

like · see review

Oct 21, 2010 Gio rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ever experience travel or a good book that changes the way you look at the world? If you've read "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein or even "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells then you may have experienced that out of place aura surrounding a character who's estranged from his world. Try traveling in a foreign country and you'll know the feeling of how it can estrange while exhilarate you at the same time.

The Unincorporated Man creates a fish out of water character in Justin Cord. Cord...more Ever experience travel or a good book that changes the way you look at the world? If you've read "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein or even "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells then you may have experienced that out of place aura surrounding a character who's estranged from his world. Try traveling in a foreign country and you'll know the feeling of how it can estrange while exhilarate you at the same time.

The Unincorporated Man creates a fish out of water character in Justin Cord. Cord wakes up from a 300 year cryogenic sleep to a world where humanity has populated the solar system, has developed flying cars, laser driven transports, and near immortality. Yet the strangest part of the brave new world comes in the form of a system of personal incorporation. In the Kollin Brother's 24th century earth, human beings own and sell stock in themselves. So put a 21st century man into such a world and you get a rather interesting story. The Unincorporated Man lives up to its intriguing premise and doesn't at the same time.

The book delivers on plot. Dani and Eytan Kollin took a good idea and fleshed it out - somewhat. They took unconventional turns and spun a yarn about that pits a single man against an enslaving system that ends with a potential victory, but for whom? Well, you'll have to read the next installment, "The Unincorporated War" to find out. The Kollins did a good job and would deserve high marks had it not been for a few of big flaws. First, there's a mystery that arises at the onset of the novel, which will determine everything that happens throughout of the story. This mystery is a key plot point and it's left hanging until the end. Yeah, the reader has to get through nearly 400 pages to resolve the key point. And when the resolution comes around, the reader is made the believe the Justin Cord has been burning and digging around to find the answer when in fact he didn't. It's a neat tie up that nearly worked. A reader might forgive such a mistake in lieu of an interesting story, but while tying up the thread, the authors injected that Justin would have been assassinated countless times and I wondered when those occurrences happened because they would have added so much more intrigue to the story.

There's also some romance in the book and while it's good to have the hero find his future-shock love, it's another thing when the affair is a foregone conclusion. As a reader, I would have preferred something more as in some competition, some intrigue, or a social taboo that never really came into play. So the story didn't quite deliver on Justin's love life for me.

First time and even experienced novelists often make mistakes. In Chapter 4 of the book, the story develops "The Chairman" character as having been born to a wealthy family. He becomes a powerful man who eventually takes over the most powerful corporation in the solar system. The mistake is that by the end, the Chairman's history takes a dramatic change. This is a forgivable inconsistency, but a notable one none the less.

Despite the few flaws and plot development issues, the Unincorporated Man is built around a good story.

The writing on the other hand is full of "to be" verbs and use of the most over used word in writing, "unique".

Overall, I couldn't give this book higher marks because all it had at the end was a interesting plot. I might be alone in my views, but I believe that this story had the potential to be great. Instead it's alright and that's the best I can say.

(less)

1 like · like · see review

Aug 12, 2010 Annette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Giving this book 4 stars for content and ability to provoke thought, not necessarily for stellar writing. IMHO the characterization and pacing were a bit ragged at times, but as a whole the package was seriously impressive.
Plot in a nutshell: 300 years in the future humanity has the tech to bring you back from the dead as long as most of your brain is intact. Combined with anti-aging treatments, lifespans are now measured in centuries rather than decades. On top of this, the whole planet is at...more Giving this book 4 stars for content and ability to provoke thought, not necessarily for stellar writing. IMHO the characterization and pacing were a bit ragged at times, but as a whole the package was seriously impressive.
Plot in a nutshell: 300 years in the future humanity has the tech to bring you back from the dead as long as most of your brain is intact. Combined with anti-aging treatments, lifespans are now measured in centuries rather than decades. On top of this, the whole planet is at peace and real poverty has actually been eliminated by the most stable political system humanity has ever known: Incorporation. At birth every child is incorporated with 100,000 shares of stock, 20% of which is held by the parents, 5% by the practically emasculated government, and the rest of which is sold to anyone who wants it - in exchange for education, room and board, medical treatment, or just spending money. People then spend most if not all of their adult years attempting to gain a majority in themselves, which will give them autonomy (mostly) over where they work and for whom. While the law prevents one's personal share of stock from dropping below 25%, most never achieve self-majority. Into the midst of this, the "corpsicle" of a billionaire from the early 21st century is unexpectedly unearthed and re-animated. (For a variety of reasons he's the Only survivor from our century: Disney didn't make it!)
This time traveler refuses to incorporate, which he views as nothing more or less than slavery. Neither his new friends nor most of the rest of society can begin to comprehend this, and yet his continuing refusal combined with his personal magnetism and leadership skills ends up causing tremendous upheaval in the whole system as everyone is forced to consider what "freedom" really is.

Like I said, it's seriously thought provoking as you watch just what the protagonist is willing to give up to maintain this precious freedom of his - love, fortune, security... I found myself almost rooting for him To incorporate as the climax drew near. If Incorporation was slavery, it was an incredibly gentle slavery, and the security and peace it provided was Real. I found myself asking questions of myself similar to the ones I did when reading Under the Yoke by S.M. Stirling, another novel about a far less benign slavery and specifically the enslavement of Europeans who did not grow up under the system. In both cases I decided that I would almost certainly exchange my basic "freedom" for the personal and corporate security and even prosperity offered by the alternate system. How Un-American of me! What happened to "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death?" Hasn't that been drummed into us since grade school?
And yet... how well is our current "Free" society (current trending towards real socialism not withstanding) really working for us? Is it eliminating poverty, abuse, and discord - here at home let alone abroad? These are questions the Unincorporated Man was asked many times by both friends and enemies, and while he freely confessed the failings of the system he remained fanatically devoted, to (at least arguably) both his and the society's detriment.
What, of course, the book Entirely overlooked is that true freedom does not depend on your political system; freedom can come only from God - specifically Christ. Without freedom from sin, everyone is a slave. With that freedom, it doesn't make a hill of beans of difference what political system you're living under. Obviously there are more and less benign societies, and I am frankly pretty happy, not to mention thankful, for the one I currently live under. But I don't think it makes me inherently weak, let alone evil, to admit that I would accept a "less free" political system if necessary - it would not change my actual freedom or lack thereof. The system proposed by "Unincorporated"
Worked, at least as far as the scope of the novel was concerned, and I would have found no reason to try to undermine it...
(But no, I am not voting for the Democrats or their Socialist policies, since I don't think that increases Any definition of freedom!)

(less)

like · see review

Aug 08, 2010 Nathaniel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: economics, sci-fi

This is what a science-fiction novel should be.

First of all: the book has Big Ideas. The biggest one is the idea of individual incorporation. Every human being is a corporation, and people and businesses can buy and sell stock in other people and other businesses. The authors do a great job of explaining what this system might look like along with truly creative and insightful socio-economic exploration of the consequences. That idea alone would have been enough for a novel, but they cram severa...more This is what a science-fiction novel should be.

First of all: the book has Big Ideas. The biggest one is the idea of individual incorporation. Every human being is a corporation, and people and businesses can buy and sell stock in other people and other businesses. The authors do a great job of explaining what this system might look like along with truly creative and insightful socio-economic exploration of the consequences. That idea alone would have been enough for a novel, but they cram several other ideas in as well like the potential dangers of virtual realities to society. As with the incorporation idea the execution lives up to the originality of the concept.

Secondly: the book is morally and philosophically complex. It's all the rage to have an obnoxious anti-hero and call that moral ambiguity, but this book honestly had me unsure of which character I agreed with throughout all 470 pages. The pros and cons of the central protagonist and antagonist's goals are balanced and believable, and despite being eye-ball deep in libertarian/free-market philosophy the authors avoid turning the story into a polemic for their real-world political views.

And lastly: it's a great story. There's understandably a bit of heavy exposition, but from the court-room dramas to the assassinations to the world-changing catastrophes this book kept me hooked from start to finish.

Dani and Eytan Kollins remind me a lot of John Scalzi. Like Scalzi you can easily tell that the Kollins's are self-consciously continuing in the tradition of the greatest writers in the genre. (Dani Kollins lists Heinlein and LeGuin as favorites on his Goodreads profile.) They tackle serious themes with fresh insight, and deliver a great read in the process. For me that's exactly what sci-fi is all about.

The only reason I held back one star (keep in mind I rate harsher than most Goodreads folks) is that the novel was a little tilted towards the cerebral and didn't deliver quite enough emotional punch. Based on the last few pages, however, I think the sequel The Unincorporated War is going to be even better. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 11, 2010 Jane rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The first half of this book had such great promise. The idea of a future where everyone is incorporated and you buy/sell shares of each other and the resulting society with all of its pros (even the poor can get decent housing) and cons (shareholders can petition for you to undergo a psychological audit if they think you've gone crazy). The protagonist, Justin, wakes up 300 years after being cryogenically frozen (during what could be our current present), into a world where incorporation is the...more The first half of this book had such great promise. The idea of a future where everyone is incorporated and you buy/sell shares of each other and the resulting society with all of its pros (even the poor can get decent housing) and cons (shareholders can petition for you to undergo a psychological audit if they think you've gone crazy). The protagonist, Justin, wakes up 300 years after being cryogenically frozen (during what could be our current present), into a world where incorporation is the norm but he is not. Justin just happens to be a reasonably intelligent and filthy rich businessman in his past and in the novel's present who uses his knowledge and his friends to try to avoid being forced to incorporate by the mega corps that control the entire economy. Obviously having an unincorporated man who wants to stay unincorporated and tries to get everyone else to believe the same is dangerous to the way the world works now.

Unfortunately, that's all the praise I have for the book. The second half devolves into this mess where fairly important characters end up doing things that have no relevance whatsoever to the story (like Manny Black's relationship) and Justin is just mired in legal battles where he gets saved by some obscure knowledge all orchestrated by certain people who are out to get him (or are they?). Okay, I can live with this constant "not knowing something important to the case and then finding out some bizarre way to win" thing going on...but the ending!

The ending is one hell of a deus ex machina where Justin and company just happen to be at the right place at the right time (why they had to meet like that, who knows), Hector does something that is completely the opposite of the way he's been taunting and annoying people before, and somehow that's supposed to satisfy you. What?! While the ending was predictable (you really only had two options, and there was no way Justin would incorporate), what the heck is that? I was so disappointed to see that situation play out so quickly and so stupidly. It's not a good love story ending, it's not a good revenge-filled ending, it's at most a mediocre attempt to wrap up all the loose ends to get to the future Justin's plans to change the world.

Ultimately it wasn't a bad read, it was just not as good as it could have been.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Nov 15, 2009 David rated it 1 of 5 stars

A friend of mine entreated me to read a book, but I just can't slog through it. The book is The Unincorporated Man by Dani and Eytan Kollin. I made it about 1/3 of the way through.

The basic premise is that in the future, people will all be their own corporations, and their shares will be available to be bought and sold by others on the open market. Interesting!

Then, a particularly old person (Justin) comes out of cold-sleep such that he is the only person in the world who is not actually incorp...more A friend of mine entreated me to read a book, but I just can't slog through it. The book is The Unincorporated Man by Dani and Eytan Kollin. I made it about 1/3 of the way through.

The basic premise is that in the future, people will all be their own corporations, and their shares will be available to be bought and sold by others on the open market. Interesting!

Then, a particularly old person (Justin) comes out of cold-sleep such that he is the only person in the world who is not actually incorporated. Okay, I think I might have read this before (brave new world, when the sleeper wakes, etc), but it's still a good plot device to get things started, and this can provide a good point-of-view character with which to explore Prospero's island.

There are two major deficiencies with the work as a novel. First, the authors' craft of writing needs work; this is a first novel, and it shows a LOT. The exchanges are heavy on dialogue, and the narration is multiple-first-person-omniscient - it reads more like a TV series bible than like a novel to me. I think the work might have been better envisioned as a series of short stories focusing on Justin. There are a lot of "gee-whiz"isms in place which are powered by handwavium. The problem with this is that instead of merely being part of the warp and weft of the fabric of daily life, they are called out and then hand-waved away, often with a knowing smirk toward the barbarians of the early 21st century. A couple of those snarks were amusing (you're mentally deficient? at least you didn't go to Harvard...), but they get old. Also, there are some surprising errors given the premise above (i.e. a person whose stock has fallen leveraging everything he has to buy up his own shares would not be engaging in "selling short" - that's describing a long position, not a short one). In any case, the writing shows promise but could definitely use more polish.

Second, Justin himself is someone who is drawn from the Gilbert Gosseyn / Lazarus Long / James Bolivar DiGriz school of over-competent heroes, but unfortunately the more I saw of him the less I liked him. I think this may come from the challenge of writing the Übermensch as a protagonist - he's too good at seeing through the society in which he finds himself.

Anyway, I look forward to checking out their next book. (less)

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 29, 2009 Rick rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book took me a while to read. The plot was a little predictable, but what kept me going was the idea the whole future scenario of individual, ubiquitous incorporation. Everyone buys and sells shares in one another, and your main goal in life is to gain a majority in yourself. You start out life being partially owned by your parents, partially owned by the government (5%), and the rest of your shares are yours to sell, or keep. The thing is, if you want ANYTHING in life, you have to sell sha...more

like · see review

Jun 24, 2011 Earl Solper rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-worse-than-twilight, good-concept-bad-execution

Clever idea, terrible execution -- like so much modern sci-fi.

Everyone in the world is a personal corporation. The government owns 5% (and there are no other taxes) and parents own 25% at birth (to compensate them for raising their child). Everything a person earns is paid out in dividends, and, as long as the person is a majority share-holder in his own corporation, he can make career decisions for himself. People pay for college (and other things) by trading a portion of the personal stock fo...more

like · see review

Jun 18, 2012 Bonnie rated it 4 of 5 stars

A man who was cryogenically frozen wakes up 300 years in the future. At that time everyone on Earth is incorporated, meaning that at birth shares are created for the person and distributed, starting with 5% to the government and 20% to the parents. As life on goes a person wheels and deals, trading shares of themself for education and opportunities. For many people it is a goal to “own a majority” of their own shares at which point they will feel more liberated.

PROs:
I liked the premise, the set...more A man who was cryogenically frozen wakes up 300 years in the future. At that time everyone on Earth is incorporated, meaning that at birth shares are created for the person and distributed, starting with 5% to the government and 20% to the parents. As life on goes a person wheels and deals, trading shares of themself for education and opportunities. For many people it is a goal to “own a majority” of their own shares at which point they will feel more liberated.

PROs:
I liked the premise, the setup and the ideas presented in this incorporated future.

You get to see this future and more technological world through the eyes of someone from our time, as well as people from there. Justin is delighted to find that automated flying cars are commonplace. I would be too!

Interesting characters.

The chapter on the Virtual Reality Museum is well worth the price of admission.

CONs:
The writing as craft is often clumsy. Some of this could have been improved with closer editing, especially to sections of dialogue. And wouldn’t Justin have spent some time researching what had happened to people and interests (art) from his former life?

We are introduced to interesting characters and their situations, only to find out as time goes on that they are only minor characters with no follow-up on their stories. (The original Sebastian; the successful reporter who owned a share in The Chairman; Justin’s eccentric attorney; the prosecutor for the opposition and her love life; the DijAssist avatars.)

Despite how moved I was by the chapter on Virtual Reality and its role in The Great Collapse, I didn’t see all the connections. How did the world settle on personal incorporation as the solution?

The whole concept of personal incorporation was so intriguing that I would have liked even more dialogue (there was plenty) on the world and its pros and cons. What about poor people in wealthier nations? What happens to “penny stock” people? Would this make any difference to problems of child molestation? How do real corporations interact with the personal ones? How did religions participate or react?

The Unincorporated Man is a good example of how science fiction can use a thought experiment for social analysis, making us challenge our assumptions while entertaining us with a compelling story.(less)

like · see review

Jun 25, 2010 Lady Knight rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, adult

Taking nearly a month to read, this is one science fiction novel that is sure to become a classic (even if it's a cult classic). Set three to four hundred years in the future, cryogenics are a way of life, nobody truly dies, cancer is a thing of the past, and everyone is incorporated at birth. People are regularly trade their stock for food, housing, an education, etc. Enter Justin Cord, 21st c. billionaire and visionary who thought to have himself but in stasis just before he should have died o...more

like · see review

Aug 08, 2011 Gwen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved the world, it was what encouraged me to pick up the book to begin with, but the plot was...well...not engaging. Nor were the characters. It took me over a year to get through this book. It's science fiction, sure, cuz the idea of a world where people are incorporated at birth is obviously futuristic, but so much of the plot revolves around political games that I really wasn't that into. And their were plenty of things that happened only in passing that I really wanted to learn more about...more

like · see review

Sep 11, 2010 Brendan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, digital-era, fiction, book-club, scifi, politics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Unincorporated Man is a Sleeper Wakes kind of tale about a cryogenically frozen man who is awakened 300 years later by a new sort of world society that has oodles of nanotech and where everyone is incorporated. I mean to say each person is incorporated, and they buy and sell shares in one another. When you’re born, your parents get 20%, the government gets 5, you get 25%, and the rest, um… we’re not sure. But over the course of your life it gets sold for things like University and training e...more The Unincorporated Man is a Sleeper Wakes kind of tale about a cryogenically frozen man who is awakened 300 years later by a new sort of world society that has oodles of nanotech and where everyone is incorporated. I mean to say each person is incorporated, and they buy and sell shares in one another. When you’re born, your parents get 20%, the government gets 5, you get 25%, and the rest, um… we’re not sure. But over the course of your life it gets sold for things like University and training etc, etc.

It’s an interesting premise that’s well-thought out (if not all that thoroughly explained), which gets wrapped up in the same kind of story as the H.G. Wells original, namely the man with the old values messes up the world with the new ones. Some thoughts:

* The characters, both heroes and villains, are well-drawn and sympathetic. Even the biggest “villain” has a clearly defined and rational motive that you can understand.
* The book won a prestigious Libertarian award and can be read in that light as a description of the dangers of debt society and corporate life, but the authors do a pretty good job explaining the benefits of the system they describe and the dangers of our old system.
* That said, my biggest problem with the book is that the Great Collapse (an economic apocalypse of the past) is attributed to our current model of Post-industrial Global capitalism and the prosperity of the “present” era in the story is attributed to the incorporation model of capitalism. But in both cases, the novel presents other things that seem to be better explanations–the VR plague on one hand and the invention/propagation of nanotech on the other. In other words, the novel’s ideas about why the society works don’t seem to function, for me.
* The idea of the VR plague is fascinating. Essentially the notion is that as VR tech gets to the point where it can make us not only experience other things, but not be able to tell the difference, we lose much of our motivation to do things outside the VR. This continues, of course, the standard science-fictional warnings against video entertainment, continued from the video plays in Fahrenheit 451 and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Of course, with the modern era where marriages are broken up by World of Warcraft and babies starve to death while their parents play online, this doesn’t seem as far fetched as it used to.
* The Kollin brothers have imagined a really interesting world, with thoughtful discussions of nanotech, artificial intelligence, travel, and other social, political, and historical developments. It’s believable and entertaining the whole way along.

One other thing I like about the book is that I think it’s possible to disagree with the main character’s perspective, without feeling like you’re fighting upstream. It will be interesting to see what the Unincorporated War will be like.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Apr 06, 2013 Steve rated it 2 of 5 stars

The Unincorporated Man starts out well, with a solid sci-fi premise, acceptably mediocre prose, and a couple of characters with the potential to be interesting. Soon the potentially interesting characters are relegated to secondary roles as a Mary Sue takes center stage. Then, the book gets preachy and political, increasingly so throughout the length of the book, devolving into long far-right political speeches.

By the late chapters, the author is no longer content to espouse his futuristic libe...more

like · see review

Nov 06, 2012 Pamela rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a fast moving book with an interesting protaganist. It also was one of those books that really makes you think about where we are as a society and what truly is freedom. Being "incorporated" doesn't make you free, but the arguments about our economic system not really being free are true as well. I found that the incorporated system once again seem to naively express the view that the wealthy will so things to keep the workers happy because it is in their own ecomonic self-interest. How...more

like · see review

title link	preview: The Unincorporated Man
avg rating	preview: The Unincorporated Man Goodreads rating: 3.79 (1318 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4025200-the-unincorporated-man?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312055153l/4025200.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4025200-the-unincorporated-man?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin[/url]

The Unincorporated Man (Unincorporated Man #1)

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (10)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Dani Kollin

Books by Dani Kollin

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About The Unincorporate...