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Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography (2011)

by Julian Assange(Favorite Author)

3.64 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0857863851 (ISBN13: 9780857863850)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Canongate Books

review 1: This is a good read, showing us how this extraordinary man and body of works, is the sum of the upbringing and interests and choices made throughout his life and before it began. The publishers state at the outset that the author spoke with a ghost author and made tapes for many hours, before deciding as the book was being prepared, with hefty pre-sales and with his advance cheque paid over by him to his lawyers, that he'd rather not publish an autobiography. That would seem rather late in the day to get modest. Honouring their written contract, the publishers went ahead and produced the book - rightly, I would say. Assange is Australian, from a free-spirit mother who met his father at a civil rights rally and who married his stepfather a few years later. Both men have p... morelayed a part in his life though he did not meet his father until he was grown. While the author never seems to have held down a steady job, and lived in squats, he nevertheless was able to study subjects of his choosing including quantum physics at university after a mediocre school result. That has to say something in favour of Australia's opportunities, though he doesn't acknowledge them. The early years of hacking are the best described as young teens played with basic computers, learning to write code and via a modem, to phone in to early bulletin boards and exchange messages on how to explore with their box of circuits and wires. This became obsessive in some cases and the kids were wandering around inside major firms, government and army systems which were poorly secured at that time. The later years are more full of personal anger and attacks on major players in the world trouble zones, as well as on supposed colleagues who let the author down at times. I could not see why he did not understand the established media point - they were journalists and he came along with a couple of fellow hackers, claiming to be journalists too. Had he worked for any media outlet? Joined a journalists' union? Gained a journalism degree at college? No, he'd studied quantum physics when he got out of his sentence for cyber crimes. So they treated him as a source, and perhaps a loose cannon at that, rather than as a reporter or publisher. As to the alleged sexual misconduct charges facing Assange, having read his account, it seems to me that there was considerable stupidity on both sides of the story, but no charges that I would expect to stick. The man was daft enough to sleep with two different newly-met women over the course of a few weeks after he'd been warned that the US would attempt to smear him and that a honey trap (attractive female) could be likely. The women were daft enough, so it seems, to sleep with this globe-trotter without insisting on protection. They may then have been used by manipulative forces. I think any sensible female or male judge would throw the matter out of court. However, given that governments, banks and many other major interests think the man and his team have released too many embarrassing documents, he is probably safer in the Ecuadorian embassy. I noticed two spelling errors in the body of the book and several in the examples of leaked documents. This may be because WikiLeaks has been so rushed in preparing the vast volume of releases, or it may be because not all their staff are English-speakers. Certainly it has to be said that these leaks paved the way for a British newspaper to release the scandalous expenses and house-flipping claimed by British MPs, most of it their technical but not moral entitlement. Though that didn't go via Assange, he'd shown that it could be done and that the public wanted to see such issues coming to light about their governments. What comes of the WikiLeaks releases may be still in the making. The clock cannot be put back, though some wish it could and want to live in the cosy, secretive past. Leaks on web platforms are here to stay. For that, the world will eventually thank this man, who seems to have no personal ambition of his own but may have matured further in the past couple of years.
review 2: I find the topic of Julian & Wiki Leaks very interesting yet I also don't know exactly how I feel about the information becoming public. To a degree I do believe our Government needs to keep done issues quiet and not known for the basic person or the World to learn about. That said, I do believe that most of our Government is corrupt or Senators etc each have their own agendas and what is it that we can rely on and what can't we believe. I wish this book had given a bit more insight into Julian's life other than the minor stories that were mentioned. I also didn't care for the writing of the Ghost writer and felt after all the hours of tapping from Julian he could have made it a but more interesting to read, it was quite dull and although I love autobiographies and am interested in this story, I truly struggled with this one. I think this book is just one more way for some people to make money off a person that is on the TV and being talked about and that's a shame because it certainly wasted my time less

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