What do you think?
Rate this book
Raw Thought, Raw Nerve: Inside the Mind of Aaron Swartz
Aaron Swartz taught himself to read when he was three. At twelve, he created Info Network, a user-generated encyclopedia, which he later likened to an early version of Wikipedia. Not long after, Aaron turned his computer genius to political organizing, information sharing and online freedom.
In 2006, Aaron downloaded the Library of Congress's complete bibliographic dataset. The library charged fees to access them. However, as a government document, it was not copyright-protected within the USA. By posting the data on OpenLibrary.org, Aaron made it freely available. Eventually, the Copyright Office sided in favor of Aaron.
In 2008, Aaron downloaded and released 2.7 million federal court documents stored in the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) database managed by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The Huffington Post characterized his actions as: "Swartz downloaded public court documents from the PACER system in an effort to make them available outside of the expensive service. The move drew the attention of the FBI, which ultimately decided not to press charges as the documents, were, in fact, public."
In late 2010, Aaron downloaded a large number of academic journal articles through MIT's computer network. At the time, Aaron was a research fellow at Harvard University, which provided him with an authorized account. Aaron's motivation for downloading the articles was never fully determined. However, friends and colleagues reported that his intention was either to publicly share them on the Internet or uncover corruption in the funding of climate change research. This time, faced with prosecutors being overzealous and a dysfunctional criminal justice system, Aaron was charged with a maximum penalty of $1 million in fines and 35 years in prison, leading to a two-year legal battle with the US federal government that ended when Aaron took his own life on January 11, 2013.
Between 2007 and 2011 Aaron read over 600 books; one book every three days. Early on, Aaron made a point to write about his findings and reflection. From the "Hello World" post published on January 13, 2002 to the last known article written on November 1, 2012 "What Happens in The Dark Knight," Aaron published 1,478 articles on his personal blog; one article every three days.
Aaron dealt with a wide range of subjects going from politics, economics, science, sociology, through technology, education, nutrition, philosophy, among many others. But beyond that, the clarity of Aaron's mind on the difficulty of the subjects he was dealing with at such a young age is striking. When the typical 16 year-old college student worries about fitting in and mating, Aaron was tackling with a book publication and wondered about what he should do with his life. At 18 he read Noam Chomsky, and at 23 wrote the very impressive 12,000-word piece "A Summary/Explanation of John Maynard Keynes' General Theory." This article was dealing with such complexity that two days after its publication, it was followed by a -much- shorter and accessible version, titled "Keynes, Explained Briefly."
Five months before his death, Aaron completed "Raw Nerve," a series of articles reflecting on life, depicting an honest, painful and yet beautiful picture of the tragedy of life. Perhaps then, Aaron knew his time was drawing to an end...
There have been numerous criticisms about Aaron's decision to end his life. Some agree with it, some don't. Whether he made the right decision is certainly not for the editors of this present book to comment on.
Instead, we decided to focus on the positive impact Aaron made on us all. "Raw Thought, Raw Nerve: Inside the Mind of Aaron Swartz" contains the life's work of one of the most original minds of our time.
One volume, 824 pages.
In 2006, Aaron downloaded the Library of Congress's complete bibliographic dataset. The library charged fees to access them. However, as a government document, it was not copyright-protected within the USA. By posting the data on OpenLibrary.org, Aaron made it freely available. Eventually, the Copyright Office sided in favor of Aaron.
In 2008, Aaron downloaded and released 2.7 million federal court documents stored in the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) database managed by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The Huffington Post characterized his actions as: "Swartz downloaded public court documents from the PACER system in an effort to make them available outside of the expensive service. The move drew the attention of the FBI, which ultimately decided not to press charges as the documents, were, in fact, public."
In late 2010, Aaron downloaded a large number of academic journal articles through MIT's computer network. At the time, Aaron was a research fellow at Harvard University, which provided him with an authorized account. Aaron's motivation for downloading the articles was never fully determined. However, friends and colleagues reported that his intention was either to publicly share them on the Internet or uncover corruption in the funding of climate change research. This time, faced with prosecutors being overzealous and a dysfunctional criminal justice system, Aaron was charged with a maximum penalty of $1 million in fines and 35 years in prison, leading to a two-year legal battle with the US federal government that ended when Aaron took his own life on January 11, 2013.
Between 2007 and 2011 Aaron read over 600 books; one book every three days. Early on, Aaron made a point to write about his findings and reflection. From the "Hello World" post published on January 13, 2002 to the last known article written on November 1, 2012 "What Happens in The Dark Knight," Aaron published 1,478 articles on his personal blog; one article every three days.
Aaron dealt with a wide range of subjects going from politics, economics, science, sociology, through technology, education, nutrition, philosophy, among many others. But beyond that, the clarity of Aaron's mind on the difficulty of the subjects he was dealing with at such a young age is striking. When the typical 16 year-old college student worries about fitting in and mating, Aaron was tackling with a book publication and wondered about what he should do with his life. At 18 he read Noam Chomsky, and at 23 wrote the very impressive 12,000-word piece "A Summary/Explanation of John Maynard Keynes' General Theory." This article was dealing with such complexity that two days after its publication, it was followed by a -much- shorter and accessible version, titled "Keynes, Explained Briefly."
Five months before his death, Aaron completed "Raw Nerve," a series of articles reflecting on life, depicting an honest, painful and yet beautiful picture of the tragedy of life. Perhaps then, Aaron knew his time was drawing to an end...
There have been numerous criticisms about Aaron's decision to end his life. Some agree with it, some don't. Whether he made the right decision is certainly not for the editors of this present book to comment on.
Instead, we decided to focus on the positive impact Aaron made on us all. "Raw Thought, Raw Nerve: Inside the Mind of Aaron Swartz" contains the life's work of one of the most original minds of our time.
One volume, 824 pages.
826 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 26, 2014
17 people are currently reading
325 people want to read
About the author
Aaron Swartz
10 books128 followersAaron Swartz was an American computer programmer, a writer, a political organizer, and an Internet hacktivist. He was involved in the development of RSS, Creative Commons, web.py, and Reddit. He helped launch the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in 2009 and founded the online group Demand Progress.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 30, 2025
I haven't completely finished it. I doubt i ever will, it's an encyclopedia of a man whose potential was defused too soon. I would say Aaron is who radicalised me growing up with a conservative background, critical thinking and educating one's self in ideas that opposed my own felt like a sin in itself.
However as Aaron said "it is not enough to just live in the world as it is, to take what you're given and follow the things adults tell you to do, your parents tell you to do, society tells you to do, you should always be questioning".
This simple statement that now seems like common sense felt like the great shift. Not only do I have a greater appreciation for knowledge and the rights I have but I have a sense of urgency to be apart of a greater picture because society is constantly changing its normal distribution for better and for worst and change is not catalysed by the members of the house of commons but the people in my own home.
However as Aaron said "it is not enough to just live in the world as it is, to take what you're given and follow the things adults tell you to do, your parents tell you to do, society tells you to do, you should always be questioning".
This simple statement that now seems like common sense felt like the great shift. Not only do I have a greater appreciation for knowledge and the rights I have but I have a sense of urgency to be apart of a greater picture because society is constantly changing its normal distribution for better and for worst and change is not catalysed by the members of the house of commons but the people in my own home.
November 26, 2021
Great perspectives of an idealist yet unacceptably the publishers censored a part of it.
April 27, 2019
One of the most beautiful books I have read in recent times.
May 1, 2025
We’ve lost him so early :(
This is such a beautiful book.
Aaron is one of my role models for morality and humanity. He should not be forgotten.
This is such a beautiful book.
Aaron is one of my role models for morality and humanity. He should not be forgotten.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews