Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom is a novel by Cory Doctorow about a futuristic society where death and poverty have been eliminated. Money has been replaced with a reputation-based currency (think Facebook likes), and corporations have been replaced by adhocracies, smaller groups that succeed on the quality of their works and how enjoyable they are to work for. The story revolves around Julius who works in an adhoc at Disney World who has recently been murdered (or, at least, temporarily killed for a day while a backup was made) and his investigation that causes him to lose his girlfriend, his best friend, and all his reputation.

I got the book as part of an audio book Humble Bundle.

Status

I own an audio book version and have listened to it.

Review

Good

• I like how the author gave a fairly detailed explanation of what it would be like to have a cybernetic implants in your brain and be able to use it for all sorts of different tasks.
• A currency based on reputation is a fun idea, and shows how easy it is to become bankrupt if you're an asshole.
• I enjoyed the Snow Crash reference.

Bad

• A lot of the word usage seemed rather forced.
• If you're familiar with the song Rocky Raccoon, you already know who the murderer is.
• A large portion of the book is the main character bitching about everything. It gets old.
• The audio book is poorly made. It's read by the author who occasionally stumbles over his words and inadvertently records the sound of himself turning the pages of his print out.

Ugly

• Nothing really, but I didn't enjoy the book that much.

Link

• en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Down_and_Out_in_the_Magic_Kingdom - Wikipedia.
• gutenberg.org/ebooks/8086 - Project Gutenberg.