The Cybergypsies

by Indra Sinha

The story of bad behavior--fanaticism about small debates, gender-disguised "Netsex," the spending of other people's money on vast phone bills--has been told by others. In The A True Tale of Lust, War, and Betrayal on the Electronic Frontier, Indra Sinha tells the same story in a British context where the poverty and uncertainty of the Thatcher era made everything that much more intense and obsessive. This is also the story of the near collapse of the author's he withdrew from his wife or dragged her off to meet Net chums who never showed up--or showed up and never introduced themselves. These were also the years of his growing political commitment--a highly paid copywriter, Sinha started using his skills for good causes like exposing the use of chemical weapons by Saddam against the Kurds. He writes well about his discomfort with his Net friends' games of expensive verbal sadomasochism in the face of real evil. This is a moving and wise book about a man who loved games and came to feel that he could no longer, in good conscience, play them; there is real pain here, in his rejection of a sort of beauty. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk

Genres: History, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Indra Sinha (born in 1950 in Colaba, which is part of Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra, India) is a British writer of English and Indian descent. Formerly a copywriter for Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners, Sinha has the distinction of having been voted one of the top ten British copywriters of all time.

Indra Sinha's books, in addition to his translations of ancient Sanskrit texts into English, include a non-fiction memoir of the pre-internet generation (Cybergypsies), and novels based on the case of K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra (The Death of Mr. Love), and the Bhopal disaster (Animal's People). Animal's People, his most recent book, was shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize and a regional winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Sinha is the son of an Indian naval officer and an English writer. He was educated at Mayo College, Ajmer, Rajasthan in India; Oakham School, Rutland, England and Pembroke College, Cambridge in England, where he studied English literature. After living in England for four decades, he and his wife currently live in southern France. They have three adult children.

Reviews

[Meghan Fidler · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I closed the cover of "CyberGypsies" I thought to myself, hell, I would rather like another 500 pages. Sinha wrapped politics, technology, time and the experience of joining web communities brilliantly. I loved this book.
Indra Sinha did homework. The novel is incredibly well informed, and it's technical descriptions are spot on. Computer Bodies--coded by binary or Double helix--correlate in an intricate dance of human rights, marriage, sex, and life.
Whatever your preconceived notions about the contents of a book about the Internet, throw them out. This narrative is so much more complex, horrifying, and beautiful. As the main protagonist Bear learns:
"I am angry. I didn't expect to be. I don't want to be. I feel like a fool because I know this is going to sound worthy and pious; but Lil, it's not safe, because what we imagine we make true and there's already horror enough in the world."

[Peter]

Weird, strange, but really familiar...: I didn't knew what to expect when I ordered this book. I found something I really know (the life and the adventures of a cyber-addict in a virtual world), but also very touching information about human right, philosophy, marriage and other things. For me, this book was a catharsis and I spent sometime remembering the old BBS days and some facts of my life. Incidentally, I also renewed my support to Amnesty International.

[Christian Bauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book I ever copyedited solo, for Viking, back when it first came out in US, late 90s. A book that deserved a better reception than it received.

[fugue state]

A must read

Before Google annexed Earth, before Twitter -- before iPhones! In the beginning there were visionaries, freaks, supple and powerful minds. There were Cybergypsies.

Awesome

[Manu · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all those who consider themselves cyber wanderers, this is a must read. It shows us glimpses of the net before it became the www. It talks of the mid eighties to nineties when early cybernauts roamed about bulletin boards (BBS) and multi user domains/dungeons (MUD) creating their own versions of reality in extravagant roleplays.

In what seems to be almost autobiographical, it is the story of Bear, a copywriter who is unable to get over the cyber addiction that threatens his marriage, and who still finds time to help the Kurdish cause and the victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy, and go about hunting clues to meet his virtual friends in real life.

It also talks about his various co-habitants on SHADES and VORTEX, virtual worlds, who, along with the worlds they created, perhaps played a large role in defining what the net is now. A disconcerting thought is that a lot of issues discussed in this book stille exist in one form or the other, and especially in this part of the world, the impact of the internet has still not been seen.

Personally, i winced when i realised (after buying the book) who the author was, because another work of his (The Death of Mr.Love) had really irritated me with its pale climax, but this one was a pleasant surprise, though his complete irreverance for chronology can be a bit confusing at times. :)

It is an extremely good first person view of the early days of the net and an excellent read for anyone who has any interest in the early uses of this medium, and can wonder how it must have been then, in the imaginary worlds they made and shared.

[Tricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sounded like it could have been very interesting, and I'm not sure if the fact that I'm reading it 11 years after publication makes it less enjoyable. It is a book about the early days of the internet, of a time of modems and MUDs and before websites existed, but instead of feeling like a journey into a fascinating past, it instead felt tedious and stilted. The story is told in random out-of-sequence bits, in different viewpoints, but essentially about one man's voyage into the depths of weirdness... but ultimately I did not care about him or the people he was writing about. I am not sure if perhaps I've read parts of this before, or maybe one of the chapters was put elsewhere, because it all felt familiar - in a bad way, as if it was all a big cliche of the world of online gaming and the sad people addicted to it.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

As mentioned by others this book really looks at the MS-Dos early role player games and as such has more relevance to that era of computing ..however substitute MUD for Facebook/MySpace etc etc and the story is still relevant cautionary tale as it is on the obsessive nature of the seeming trivial aspects of internet life.
I enjoyed more so some of the more political aspects of this book the work with Amnesty, Bhupal and the likes..the information on these aspects and the harsh reality of life for some individuals against the back drop of the nonscence life of SHADES make for a great read.
It's a book with persevering with as early on it reeks of just a gamers 'Dungeons and Dragons' type thing but is much more.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story takes place in the early days of the internet, so different from what the world wide web has become that it reads almost like science fiction. But oh boy, the main character's MUD (the ascii forerunner of the MMORPG) experiences and addiction sure seemed mighty familiar. Everyone's who ever played a MUD should check this book out.

[Costin Manda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The "experimental" writing style, meaning random anecdotes put together in no particular order about random people and from random perspectives, really threw me off. I imagine writers often get an idea about something and they quickly write it down in a notebook they keep with them. You get enough and you might conjure up a book. Yet, in my mind, as a reader, just stringing them together and calling it a book is not how you do it.

I read about 10% of it and gave up.

[Robert Kline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the life of a man who delved deep into the “fantasy world” of the early years of the internet, and who later found himself becoming horribly addicted to the screen. This was beautifully balanced with the “real world” accounts of his offline life which were just as interesting. A great snapshot of life in that era (both online and off). His play with non-linear timelines really crafted this book into a well-thought artful reading experience.

[Brett Fujioka]

Several passages have aged well in the book. For starters, I don't think it's controversial or stretch for anyone to compare Romanticist Movements in Europe to Very Online communities. Secondly, Sinha portrayed cases of sexual predators, perverts, gender fluid, and polyamorous communities that are all too prevalent in contemporary internet culture.

[Eamonn McHugh-Roohr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bear was terminally online before it was cool, and writes about it with a graceful pen that few have matched since.

Must read for anyone who's ever wondered if they spend too much time on the internet!

[Anne-Alexandra Lovichi]

DNF@15%
I don't understand anything.

[Sandy Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the 5-book challenge. Before that, I'd never heard of it. It is odd reading a book that is so entrenched in the vagaries of cyberspace before the advent of social networking. While I was reading it I had a somewhat odd epiphany that at the time this book was written, a person's identity was essentially divided, that is, you are you in reality, but in cyberspace your identity is something you create, and that individual is independent of the you of reality. Now, though, thanks to myspace, twitter, fb, etc, the real you has infiltrated cyberspace, and it's almost impossible to create a persona that is not somehow attached to who you are. It's a vicious turnabout, for how can we aspire to who we want to be if we are forced always to be ourselves.

My biggest complaint about the book is the harum scarum plotting and nose-thumbing at narrative. I guess I'm still old-fashioned enough that I can't be satisfied without at least some overall structure. I sometimes had the feeling like I was reading over Sinha's shoulder while he practiced random journal entries. At times I wished I could lean over and hold down the backspace key. But there were some surprising gems along the way, my favorite the following exchange: Luna asks Bear, "How much of our "real" lives do you suppose is lived in the imagination?"
"Sixty percent?" I venture.
"One hundred percent," says the old lady.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an eye-opening tale into the pre-web era of the internet.

I read it when it came out and it really just blew my young mind.

That there was this whole world out there full of weird and wonderful characters, and lets face it, TOTAL nerds like me, was a revelation. It seemed to 'get' the whole early internet culture and the people that inhabited it.

Growing up in a sleepy seaside town, I had not made many - if any - connections with kindred internet wanderers before, and it was really inspiring to me personally.

It's a very well-written book too.

[Nadja · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started out thinking it was a great book but after a while the story just got...tedious. And circular. The Times review said: "...it is a demonstration of why we need to read." Maybe I just missed the point. Or the plot. But I think there are better books to explore the how's and why's. The topic, though, was excellent: hacking in its early days. I really did enjoy part of this reading experience. It was the unknown unnamed part that I didn't that makes me give it a bad review.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea what genre this book is apart from just "fiction". It was very strange. Very good though, once I got used to the jumping around of the narration. Wasn't expecting all the human rights stuff either, and I found that extrememly interesting.

Giving it a 5 because whilst I doubt I'd ever call this one of my favourite books, I can't fault it. I enjoyed every minute reading it.

[Alex Melt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book set me on an odd course. Fifteen years ago I went and found these people, made it to a few parties with them, got rescued from University by them, found support and beer, and music, and firepits built on the sides of old computers.

Odd book. Changed my life.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got to page 55 before I shook my head and decided that it just wasn't for me.

[Vix Richardson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Currently reading this book, it's a fascinating premise with a poor execution. I feel that with the proper editing and rewriting this book could be much more that what it has been published as.

[Liza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book if you're at all interested in the beginnings of the text-based rpg :)