Book finished

[johnridley]

Makers by Cory Doctorow

OK, I feel I have to give this one five stars. I normally only do that for things I consider masterworks. I don't know if I consider this exactly a masterwork but it was probably the most enjoyable book I've read in many months.

I absolutely loved the ideas he spins out and the characters. I wanted to be a part of it.

This book is available for free under Creative Commons license at craphound.com. But I bought a copy from Amazon anyway. Dude's gotta eat. It's interesting that I'm more willing to pay people money when they give their work away for free. Also when the work is excellent.

★★★★★

Comments

How Cory likes to be paid

[tlunquist.livejournal.com]

Having had the distinct pleasure of hanging out with Cory at some length at the Capricon where he was the GoH, I learned he doesn't really need to sell books in order to eat, but he does have a terrific relationship with his publisher and he wants said publisher to make money on his books.

So if you are like me, and you prefer to read his stuff on an electronic device rather than buying treeware (and if you already have a free electronic copy, it hardly makes sense to pay for another one), Cory suggests that you buy one or more copies of his book(s) and donate them to a library or school. He has even set up a sort of clearinghouse to make this easy -- you can get details on his website here and elsewhere: http://craphound.com/walh/contribute/give-a-copy

Entities that want copies of his books tell him how many they want, and would-be donors send the books directly to the donees using info he puts on the website. Note - the copies of "Makers" still showing as needed from the Philadelphia Free Library have all been donated already -- I know; I did it. Just flipped Cory an email reminding him to update that page.

I agree with you completely on the 5-star rating. I don't love everything he writes, but Makers is definitely a great book.

Re: How Cory likes to be paid

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I bought I think 3 copies of Little Brother for some libraries after reading that. Thanks for the reminder.