I finally got a copy of #TheBezzle . I'm so looking forward to reading an assembly language thriller? Do I have that right, @pluralistic . The Bezel is an assembly language thriller?
This arrived. Yay. I love Will Wheaton reading Cory's @pluralistic's books but I have to own the hard copy too. Loving learning more about cybersecurity, crypto and finance with Marty Hench. #thebezzle#RedTeamBlues
So, if you've read my other book reviews this year, you'll be familiar with the name Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic). If not, become familiar! His work (published in books, delivered by RSS feed or Xitter, or appearing on various websites) is always entertaining and informative.
The infotaining nature of his writing is clearly evident in his latest book: The Bezzle. I backed the Kickstarter that successfully funded an audiobook version, although audiobooks aren't my thing and I read it in eBook form on my Pixel 6a. It's the second Martin Hench book, a period piece starting in the dotcom boom era, years before the first Hench book, Red Team Blues. Here we see a less established Martin (sans tour bus) stepping unwittingly into the attention of a sleazy robber baron. Events spiral wildly away from a burger-supply Ponzi scheme (no, really) as the book progresses.
The book structure is a little odd; it felt like the pelt of two-and-a-half Last Week Tonight With John Oliver episodes stitched onto the bones of a modern-day Grisham novel. Here the blend of entertaining and informative comes to bear; you know you're being educated as you read, but it's enjoyable, so it doesn't feel like a lecture. There's lessons about MLM investment traps, the hideous state of the California prison-for-profit system, unfair music royalty practises, and more.
The Bezzle was a quick and excellent read, and I'll be delving more into Doctorow's back catalogue as the year progesses, thanks to a tasty Humble Bundle deal that's still active as I write.
I lost sleep last night to #TheBezzle by @pluralistic, a book about the ruination of prisons by private equity.
My brother went to jail in 2023. For dinner, two slices of bread, a slice of ham. My parents were paying $600/mo for video calls to his "free" tablet. I couldn't mail him a book, but had to have it sent by Amazon. Worse, the GED program was in practice non-existent.
I'm teary-eyed and grateful that Doctorow wrote a (great) story about the sleaze of these management companies.
Die Abendlektüre gestern nach den KI-Diskussionen: Das neue Buch von @pluralistic Cory #Doctorow: "The Bezzle", der zweite Martin Hench-Roman nach #RedTeamBlues. Als Audiobook gelesen von Will Wheaton (und nicht erhältlich auf Audible, weil DRM-frei). Von mir als eBook gelesen. #TheBezzle
If there's one thing I took away from ProPublica@newsie.social's explosive #IRSFiles, it's that #TaxAvoidance (which is legal) isn't a separate phenomenon from #TaxEvasion (which is not), but rather a thinly veiled euphemism for it:
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
That realization sits behind my series of #noir novels about the two-fisted forensic accountant #MartinHench, which started with last April's #RedTeamBlues and continues with #TheBezzle, this coming February: