May. 14th, 2020

alobear: (Default)
Permanent Record is Edward Snowden's autobiography, which is also an expose (of the stuff he exposed in 2013), a treatise and a warning. But it's also an epic love story.

I found it interesting, conversational, and mostly quite compelling. I enjoyed the descriptions of his childhood, and was intrigued by the tale of his work life, gradually building up to his decision to reveal NSA secrets to the world.

It's largely unemotional, except when it's not. And it does a good job of making all the technical and bureaucratic stuff both understandable and interesting. It's also clever, pointing out towards the end that the government probably knows who is reading the book and might take interest - always a good idea to make the cause you're fighting personal to the person you're trying to persuade.

But it's the history of his relationship that held my interest the most and kept me reading to find out how it would turn out. So, the book covers a lot of bases, and does so well.

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