Book Review: For The Win

I was excited to be able to do an official HiR book review, especially for an internationally acclaimed author. Really, I was happy to read a thick tome of investigation into the social interactions of modern teenagers and the digital economy. Cory Doctorow has skills as an author that I enjoy, especially his ability to take concepts and event of real life, shake them up into a story and present us with a very plausible near future, a-la Little Brother.

For The Win began in just such a fashion and I worked my way through the nearly 500 page volume in under a week. Well researched, check. Developed characters with believable interactions, check. Locations, real and virtual, check and check. An interesting story line and plot, well, sorta check. You see, For The Win fell apart for me because I couldn't get into the importance of the overall plot. Unioinizing the distributed workers of virtual worlds through the virtual world is a great concept but I just couldn't make it work out in my head. Maybe it's because I am beyond the idealistic stage that the book targets in it's YA market. Maybe my very centrist politics couldn't be suspended in disbelief enough to get into that aspect of the story.

In my view Doctorow wrote the story from the angle that oppressed workers need a union to emerge from under the thumb of their oppressors. I can agree with that, to a point - the "need" point. Doctorow danced with the issue in the plot, trying to make the heirarchy of the unions into a community driven grass-roots effort and I've spent time since finishing the book contemplating if the SPOILER ALERT!!!!!111!!!one1!! failure of the union effort was an example for the failure of such a organisation or if it was merely an attempt to provoke thought as to how the idea of a union needs updating for a modern hyper-communication driven society by showing a possible mode of failure.

I finished the book with a profound sense of meh. And, I didn't want to. In the end I felt the story ran a good 200 pages more than it needed to, even though the book didn't feel padded. The story just seemed that it could fit into the confines of a shorter book and be even more though provoking and relevant to a YA reader. Having been a young reader back in my, well, younger, days I know just the size of this novel would have been off putting for many. I know a good number of young readers can handle novels of this length but there is always that nag in the back of a teenage mind that there is something important that might take precedence over knocking out hundreds of pages. I can easily see the novel being applied to a political or economical theory course and and can hear the goans of much of the class as the instructor hands out stacks of thick paperbacks.

Hacker Fuel Review: Starbucks VIA Instant Coffee

I'm kind of a coffee snob. Not an ultimate connoisseur, but a bit of a snob. I usually drink one or two mugs (~16oz each) of pressed coffee per day. I have a press pot at my desk, and another at home. I grind fresh, locally-roasted beans with a conical burr coffee mill, and bring them to work to brew. I drink my coffee black, as $DEITY intended. (Sorry to bite your style, liquidmatrix guys, it's CATCHY!)

I occasionally partake in a fatty, chocolaty, girly mocha. Since most of the coffee shops in a reasonable distance to my office provide espresso drinks that are either unpredictable or predictably acrid, I opt for Starbucks. It's close. It tastes the same every time, and it's tolerable. That, and the people who work there are friendly, giving me the occasional hook-up.

This time, the "hook up" was a few samples of their new Starbucks VIA product. I put "hook up" in quotes because I'm pretty sure that they're supposed to hand these out to everyone that bothers to enter the store. "It's not instant coffee," Eric said, trying to eschew the stigma associated with the crystallized offal sold as classic instant coughee, "It's micro-ground soluble whole-bean coffee. You'll probably like it." I could instantly tell that the manager had been to training about this product. After all, Instant Coffee Is Serious Business. You can tell from the advertisement floating around on YouTube.


Reluctantly, I took the packets -- disturbingly packaged not entirely unlike individual serving Taster's Choice instant coffee. Heebie jeebies!

When it was time for my mid-morning coffee, I glanced over at my little container of recently-roasted, even-more-recently-ground beans, Then at my stainless steel press pot. Then over to this little pouch of coffee dust. I took the plunge, opting to try Italian Roast, the boldest (their words, not mine) of the samples gifted to me.

Supposedly, one Starbucks VIA packet is scientifically engineered to dissolve in eight fluid ounces of clean, piping-hot water for an imbibery experience that's indistinguishable from a freshly-brewed cup-o-joe from the Starbucks down the street. That's not really saying much, now, is it?

Reaction:
I have to admit, it's not as bad as I'd thought. It certainly is no replacement for my press pot and fresh-ground coffee snobbery, but it works. And it's caffeinated. Or maybe it's the placebo effect that's keeping my brain-aches at bay and giving me a slight boost. The finely-ground coffee leaves a familiar and comforting layer of sediment at the bottom of the mug that one does not encounter with traditional instant coffee.

I skipped the precise measurement of water and suggest you do the same. Put the coffee powder (which really is whole-bean coffee, finely ground!) into you favorite caffeine-quaffing vessel, and add hot water a bit at a time. Sample it frequently until it strikes a balance you like.

Would I buy it?
I forgot to check the asking price on the way out. It certainly does compete with the taste of a $1.50 cup-of-joe, but I doubt I'd pay more than 50 cents each for the privilege of mixing this stuff up myself. It's hands-down the best instant coffee I've had. It'd work in a pinch, and would probably be great for backpacking or office coffee emergencies.