Some of you may have been reading the serialized version of Makers ($16.49 Hardcover), by Cory Doctorow (author of Little Brother
and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, amongst others). I always forget to find the new chapters of books released this way, so I wait until they are released in full. If you are like me, you need wait no longer, as the full version of Makers has now been published on his web site. It's free and under a Creative Commons license -- you own the book you download and can do with it pretty much as you wish (which he covers on his download page).Book Description
Perry and Lester invent things—seashell robots that make toast, Boogie Woogie Elmo dolls that drive cars. They also invent entirely new economic systems, like the “New Work,” a New Deal for the technological era. Barefoot bankers cross the nation, microinvesting in high-tech communal mini-startups like Perry and Lester’s. Together, they transform the country, and Andrea Fleeks, a journo-turned-blogger, is there to document it.
Then it slides into collapse. The New Work bust puts the dot.combomb to shame. Perry and Lester build a network of interactive rides in abandoned Wal-Marts across the land. As their rides, which commemorate the New Work’s glory days, gain in popularity, a rogue Disney executive grows jealous, and convinces the police that Perry and Lester’s 3D printers are being used to run off AK-47s.
Hordes of goths descend on the shantytown built by the New Workers, joining the cult. Lawsuits multiply as venture capitalists take on a new investment strategy: backing litigation against companies like Disney. Lester and Perry’s friendship falls to pieces when Lester gets the ‘fatkins’ treatment, turning him into a sybaritic gigolo.
Then things get really interesting.
Click HERE to visit his download page - you can get Makers in several formats, all DRM free. Let me know if you see any problems in the Mobi/Kindle version ... I converted it from the HTML and have only checked as far as the Table of contents and a few pages in. The only thing missing is a cover page (you can add it yourself in Calibre or just do without), as it belongs to the print publisher and he doesn't have rights to allow it to be used in the ebooks he makes available.
