Plot or Premise

People from the future are reaching back again into a version of their past.

What I Liked

When I read Peripheral, I had no idea it was part of a trilogy or that there were other books in the series. I just knew that I enjoyed Gibson’s writing and looked for other recent books by him. I found Agency, and initially thought it was a similar theme to the previous book, not that it was actually in the same universe. A young woman is hiding from the paparazzi because of a relationship she once had with a very famous guy and takes on a computer-related job to pay the bills. She is to interact with a virtual assistant / pseudo game-AI and see how lifelike it can appear, and whether it displays signs of self-agency. The company intends to monitor all of her interactions with the program, use it to improve it, etc. Except the program doesn’t like that, and becomes more self-aware. Everyone involved realizes the program is more than they thought, and the woman is now in danger from the people who hired her who want to shut everything down, others who want to access the program, etc. It’s a race to the end where no one but the program knows the finish line.

What I Didn’t Like

There is a nebulous connection between this reality and the previous book, but it seems to be further back in time. Yet some of the other characters from the slightly later past end up getting involved too, without much explanation if they are crossing old timelines or not. Plus, while the series is called Jackpot, you never find out really what the Jackpot is or why it’s named that…at some point in the future, a series of lines of societal degradation finally reach a tipping point, much of the world’s population gets eliminated, and you end up with a huge divide between the rich and poor — all after the “Jackpot”. Maybe it will be explained in Book 3, not yet announced. The socio-economic manipulations are not quite as prevalent, but some societal stuff happens in the background, far enough back that you are now in the recent timelines of our own society, yet way beyond what we can do even now.

The Bottom Line

More like books set in the same universe than a trilogy

Plot or Premise

Michael Wernick is a former Clerk of the Privy Council in Canada and his book provides advice on the “tradecraft of politics” i.e., what Prime Ministers or Ministers do or should consider doing while in office…or at least the “how” of a given day.

What I Liked

The opening was quite strong, I felt, with some good information on life from the view of being the Clerk. It had a very down-home, practical feel to it, and I was excited to see where it was going to go. I particularly liked that it was not about reform or how things “ought” to be, but stayed pretty focused on “how it (currently) works”. As Wernick notes, there are lots of other books out there that talk about reform or changes in general or comparisons of how certain leaders have governed. While much of the book is about the decisions of PMs or Ministers, I was more interested in the elements around the roles, behaviour and attitudes of political staff, as well as the operational aspects of being a DM. I particularly liked his insights into the structural imbalance that “…political offices tend to underestimate implementation risks and costs and to be impatient about timelines, whereas departments tend to be overly cautious and are likely to go to what they are familiar with as a solution.” There were also some good insights into the way Comms people view announceables or deliverables from the political side (short-term, pointed) and departmental side (potentially longer-term, incremental).

What I Didn’t Like

The middle section of the book lagged for me. What started off as down-home guidance that would benefit anyone started to read more like a memo to the PM or a Minister for a transition note. At times, it even veered somewhat into Machiavelli’s The Prince, minus the advice that it is better to be feared than loved. Yet much of that detailed or pointed behavioural advice is likely of little interest to the average reader, and I felt my interest dropping with each passing page until the DM section started.

Disclosure

While I do not know the author, I have worked closely with his sister and respect her immensely.

The Bottom Line

Great insights into the hidden world, with just a twinge of memo language.