Sunday, July 05, 2009

BYBS: A Good Read

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow is an interesting read for those of us who want something relatively light about internet style futurist societies.

The actual plot revolves around (I'm not making this up) a struggle over who gets to control Disney Land. That Doctorow can get me to keep reading a book with that premise is a pretty impressive feat all by itself.

The book is also full of cool ideas. One of the things that I found the most interesting is the notion of "woofie." Woofie is a kind of measure of what other people think of you, though the particulars are never really explained fully. There is "right handed woofie" which measures what others who you agree with think of you, and "left handed woofie" which measures what people who disagree with you think.

It also has economic repercussions - if you have lots of woofie it is implied that you can get more resources out of society - but once again, this is never explained.

As someone who does not enjoy exercise for it's own sake, I spend a lot of time reading while I'm pounding out my 60 min. Having something to take my mind off the fact that I am exercising can make the difference between getting in 60min and getting in 10min.

1 comment:

SandyCarlson said...

That's interesting, Whatever. Sounds like a really good book. I would love to be in charge of Disney for a day or two!

Thanks for recommending those movies.