Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow
2/18/25; 400 pages
Tor Publishing
Martin Hench Novel #3
Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow is the excellent, very highly recommended period tech novel and the origin story of forensic accountant
and computer security expert
Martin Hench.
Martin Hench flunks
out of MIT, but while there he falls in love with the emerging computer
technology and programming along with all of the possibilities it
represents. He also meets his friend Art, joins a group of assorted
people all obsessed with programming, works for a dubious business,
obtains a 2 year degree in accounting, and eventually he and Art make
their way to San Francisco. There he picks up odd jobs until he talks to
a predatory computer business, Fidelity Computing. He ends up working
for the start-up company that was started by three of their best former
saleswomen who are actively opposing Fidelity's business practices.
This is a
well-written, completely compelling, detailed period drama that captures
the time period and the excitement over personal computers along with
the atmosphere in San Francisco and the growth of Silicon Valley as a
technology hub. The pace is fast and the plot is engaging so the pages
just fly by. It also confronts the very real issue of computer companies
trying to lock customers into their brand alone rather than making
parts (and operating systems) interchangeable.
Hench is a
fully-realized, complex character with both strengths and flaws. All of
the secondary characters are equally fully developed as unique
individuals. Readers meet Hench at seventeen and into his early 20's
while he experiences growth and learns many life lessons that will make
him who he is later on in life.
This is the third book in the series, but the series has been presented
in a reverse chronology so this starts in the late 1970s and continues
into the early 1980s. It can be read as a standalone novel. The first novel in the series is Red Team Blues followed by The Bezzle (set in the 1990s).
Thanks to Tor Publishing for providing me with an
advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and
expresses my honest opinion.
No comments:
Post a Comment