This review originally appeared on Goodreads on May 2, 2012.

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

By Cory Doctorow – Tachyon Publications – October 1, 2011

Review by Robin Marx

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-savvy child, and a critique of the freemium business model.

Context is a more mature volume than its predecessor. When compared to Content, Doctorow seems to have developed as a writer, and his views are more well-rounded and eloquently expressed. Much like the first collection of essays, this book is pretty superfluous for a regular BoingBoing reader, but it should be a worthwhile read for the uninitiated. I recommend that the first book, Content, be skipped entirely in favor of this sequel, as Context touches upon similar topics in a less monotonous manner.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on October 3, 2011.

Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future

By Cory Doctorow – Tachyon Publications – September 15, 2008

Review by Robin Marx

To readers of the BoingBoing blog, Cory Doctorow needs no introduction. The contents of this book will likewise be familiar, as it covers Doctorow's favorite topics, the so-called copyfight struggle of regular folks versus overreaching intellectual property owners, the wrongheadedness of digital rights management technology, and the growing encroachment of government surveillance into everyday life. These are all important topics, and Doctorow handles them deftly. However, like Dawkins' and Hitchens' books about atheism, the people who most need to learn about these topics are also the least likely to pick this book up.

The book also suffers somewhat from a lack of variety, especially during the first half. Taken individually, they're well argued, but because most of the essays are variations of the same few themes, the compilation as a whole suffers.

In the end, it's difficult to determine who to recommend this book to. BoingBoing readers don't really need it; they can just keep reading the blog for up to date arguments on the same topics. It may be more worthwhile for people who don't know much about DRM and the conflict between intellectual property owners and Internet society, but again, I'd probably just direct them to Doctorow's work at BoingBoing instead.

★★★☆☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Nonfiction #Content #CoryDoctorow