Earlier today, I spent about an hour composing a post, filled with links to groovy stories I’d found in the last couple of days while I found links to submit to Propeller. I added brilliantly trenchant commentary to each link, in what was destined to become a post for the ages.
You, dear reader, would have been so awed by the majesty of this post, you’d sign up for Propeller, and join me in the world of social news bookmarking. We’d form a network of like-minded people — a social news Voltron, if you will — and soon all of our stories would find their way to the front page, for great justice.
Satisfied with my work, I hit publish, and began clearing my shelf for the inevitable awards that would soon follow.
When I returned to my computer, the browser said, "Hey, Wil, just thought you’d like to know that the post you made has been saved. Enjoy your awards!"
I thanked it, opened up my blog to bask in the glow of my brilliance, and saw that the post wasn’t there.
TypePad ate it. Destroyed it. Sent it off into the land of wind and ghosts. I stared at the computer, agog, until my mouth dried out and my jaw grew sore. I couldn’t believe that it was just . . . gone. It was like it never existed.
After much furious . . . behavior . . . and fruitless searching for the post in question (which TypePad claims just doesn’t exist, like I didn’t spend an hour putting the goddamn thing together) I will now attempt to recreate the part of the post that was the most important to me:
Have you read Little Brother? I tore through it in about 4 days, and absolutely loved it. I gave it to Nolan when I finished, because I thought he’d enjoy it, and it would give us something cool that we could share.
I don’t know what it’s like for other parents of teenagers out there, but getting Nolan to pick up a book for more than three pages has been nearly impossible for the last eighteen months or so. He used to love reading, but . . . well, there are new friends at school this year. ’nuff said.
I don’t have scientific data to back me up, but I’ve anecdotally witnessed a direct relationship between someone’s willingness to read and their level of education, success, expectations for themselves, and general, uh, interestingness they bring to the table. I guess that makes me one of those "elitists" we keep hearing about, but with that in mind, you may understand why it’s been pretty damn important to me that I instill a love of reading in my kids.
"I read this in about four days," I told him when I presented the book to him, "and I would have read it faster if I’d had more time. Once it gets going, it’s hard to put down."
"Okay," he said, "I’ll give it a try."
"I’d really like to have this thing to share with you, and I know that you’re haven’t been all that inter– What?"
"I’ll give it a try," he said.
"Wow. That was easier than I expected." I thought.
I didn’t ask, but I secretly hoped that maybe he wanted to have something like this to share with me as much as I wanted to have something to share with him. Stranger things have happened.
"Okay, cool." I said.
"But I’m probably not going to finish it as fast as you did," he said.
"I totally understand," I said. "No pressure, and I won’t take it personally if you don’t dig it."
I set it down on the desk next to him while he played Diablo and walked back into my office. The symbolism of this gesture was not intentional, but also was not lost on me.
A little while later, I walked back out into the living room, and found him sitting on the couch, reading. He appeared to be about 50 pages into it.
"What do you think?" I said.
He held up one finger in the universal "wait a minute" gesture, and continued to read.
"What?" he said.
"I asked you what you thought, so far."
"It’s pretty good," he said, noncommittally, before he went back to reading.
"Cool," I said. I couldn’t believe he was already that far into the book, and though his words were carefully chosen, his body language said that it was much more than just "pretty good." Rather than press the issue, I went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of iced green tea.
Later that night, I noticed that he was sitting in the chair by our family iMac, but instead of playing games or talking to his friends on iChat, he had his head cocked to one side, Little Brother open in his lap. He’d made some serious progress in the book. I noticed that he had Firefox open to a Google search about [spoiler redacted].
I nudged Anne and pointed to Nolan.
"He’s been reading that pretty much non-stop since you gave it to him," she said quietly.
"That rules," I said.
Over the next two days, I’d see him sitting on the couch, sitting in my favorite reading chair in our den, sitting in the chair by the iMac. He was always in the same pose, head cocked to one side, Little Brother open in his lap. We talked a little bit about the characters and the events in the book, and he asked me lots and lots of questions about the technology and real-life issues Cory presents in the book.
Flashback: Long before Little Brother was published, I had dinner with Cory. He told me that he was working on this book for teens that was supposed to have lots of real-life lessons in it about privacy, security and civil liberties. At the time, he told me how he hoped kids would read it and head to Google after each chapter to learn more. Nolan was doing exactly that.
Yesterday was the third day since I gave Nolan the book. After school, he bounded into the house and flew into my office. I looked up from my work and saw him holding Little Brother in outstretched arms.
"I love this book!" He said. "I seriously can’t put it down!"
"That’s awesome," I said, "but it’s not interfering with your schoolwork, is it?"
"No," he said, "I’m reading between classes, and only in class when I’ve finished my work and made sure the teacher was cool with it."
I loved it that he took it to school with him. He’s been spending more time than I’d like with non-reading, non-motivated kids who are, I fear, really in danger of holding Nolan back from realizing his potential. It’s a small step (and maybe it’s only temporary) but I was nevertheless thrilled that he was reading at school, unafraid of what his current peer group would think. I was hopeful that escape velocity would soon follow.
"That’s great, Nolan," I said. "I’m so happy to hear that you’re enjoying it."
We talked a little bit more about some of the events that had unfolded in the book that day, and he pointed out that he had about 100 pages to go.
"I want to finish it right now!" He said, before pulling the book close into his chest and hugging it. He lowered his voice and dramatically added, "But . . . I must wait. I must . . . savor it."
I laughed with him. "Don’t you love it when you’re into a book that’s so good, you don’t want it to be over?"
"YES!" He said, before he raced back out of my office.
"I haven’t seen him this excited about anything in months," I thought. "This is better than I ever could have hoped for." I made a mental note to send Cory a thank you card.
After dinner last night, I found him in the living room, sitting in the chair in front of the iMac. The room was dim, mostly lit by the glow of the computer’s monitor. It silhouetted Nolan’s now-familiar stance, head cocked to one side, book open in his lap. It was, for me, a "remember this" moment.
He must have sensed me standing there, because he turned around and said, "Eighty pages to go, but I’m really stopping now. I’m going to finish this tomorrow."
I remembered all the times I’ve gotten close to the end of a book and put off finishing it. I remembered the way it felt to sit in the pull between wanting to know what happens and not wanting it to be over. I could see that Nolan was enjoying that feeling himself. I chose not to point it out.
"I’m so glad you’re into this," I said. "I’m really glad we’ve been able to share this book."
"Me too," he said.
Earlier today, while I was writing the first version of this post, Nolan sent me a text message that said, "OMG it’s over!!! So great, so great!!"
I sent back "Ha! I was just writing in my blog about how much you liked it. Yay!"
He replied, "Yeah, pretty amazing."
My heart swelled. I wonder what he’ll read next?
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Damn you Wil. Now I wanna read it.
Readers all start out that way: we find a book that’s THAT GOOD and it becomes the reading experience by which we judge all others.
For me, it was A Prayer for Owen Meaney, which a caring adult told me that I might really like. I’ve been hooked on books ever since.
Now back to Warcraft.
Seriously though, what a great gift you’ve given him.
I’ve resorted to typing all thread responses and blog posts in GoogleDocs. It’s an annoyance, but I’ve lost too many posts.
Any way, thanks for the links..
– Z
Great post Wil. I’m in the rather odd situation where I’m actually re-discovering the wonders of book reading. Two reasons – I’ve recently recovered from eye-surgery, which meant I couldn’t read small print. Also, my Windows PC is BSOD-ing at regular intervals, so less web-surfing for me.
Just finished reading HP Lovecraft’s Mountains of Madness. An extraordinary story that drags a bit in the middle, but really ratchets up the tension towards the end.
To echo what Z said, it’s usually best to save your posts in some format before trying to send them to internet land. I got in the habit of writing mine in notepad on my desktop. Once I’d finished I would try and publish through the browser. The internet gnomes that steal your posts are a tricky foe, but there are ways to defeat them.
PS – Also glad that Nolan’s reading. I was one of those kids that took books to school to read during free time. Hopefully this has rekindled his love of reading, and he’ll keep it up.
PPS – I have purchased Watchmen, my first graphic novel, on your sole recommendation to read on my beach trip this summer. I’ll be sure to let you know what I think.
PPPS – There’s no such thing as too many postscripts.
Last fall I cancelled my DirecTV subscription because I was not reading enough. I’m an engineer. Went to Harvey Mudd College for goodness sake. I should be reading!
I’m not sure how many books I’ve read since, but it’s at least 25 and I’ve become Jim Butchers bitch. Brain candy. Not nutritious, but sure tastes good. Also got my ham radio license and then upgraded to general class. New skills.
Got back in to D&D, too, for the first time in about 28 years. Had a couple of college kids I met in the game shop over just last night to play the new 4th edition module and eat roast chicken.
I blame it all on you, Wheaton. Thanks!
I think it is great that you are sharing books with your son. I read to my son every night when he was little and savored every moment. Now that he is 19 we don’t get to spend as much time together, he is with his friends. However we still talk books and they provide a bond that transcends the age and generational differences. You’ll see.
1. Your saga of the lost post made me laugh out loud.
2. What an awesome story about this cool thing you and Nolan are sharing!
3. Okay, you’re the twelve-millionth person who’s geeked out about this book. I now have to go get it. I mean, I was going to go get it before but just hadn’t have time. Now, because it has a Nolan & Wil stamp of approval I have to make time to get it.
Thanks for a great post. Cheers.
Cory Doctorow wrote a book? Huh. You’d think I would have seen some mention of it on the Internet by now…
Excellent post re-creation. I remember all too well that conflicting feeling of wanting to race through in my reading of a book yet knowing page by page that I was getting to the ending of a truly great story that I would not want to end.
There were just so many worlds I didn’t want to leave.
My daughter (11) and I have shared a lot of books in read-aloud form, but it’s only been this spring and summer that we’ve done the “Hey-I-read-this-now-you-read-it” thing – nothing heavy: Jeff Smith’s “Bone” series – and it made the reading that much more enjoyable.
Little Brother was delivered at 1:30 PM and my son (14) was finished with it at dinner. I then stayed up way too late two nights in a row to finish it. My son has already re-read the book.
It’s one of those books that every teenager should read.
Will, are you using FireFox to post your blog entries? I found an Add-On called AutoSaveTextToCookie:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6419
Basically you can configure it to save all form fields to save to a local file or a cookie so that if your post dies you have an automatic backup. No clue if its any good or not, but I’m giving it a try now. Might be worth it for you to try as I’m sure this has happened to you before now as well.
Stop making me wish I were a parent, damn you Wheaton. I’m 34, and perfectly happy being child-free.
I have a 14-year-old relation who has her name on the tree version of LB. I wrote to Cory after I’d finished it myself, and he had the good grace to thank me.
So, no pressure on Not-Neice reading it, then. I hope she reacts like Nolan – Gh0d knows, we tried to teach her to question authority, take her own measurements and pass her own judgement.
But big love to ya, man, thanks for sharing.
Okay, I joined Propeller today! Cool site! mycatranch =^..^=
Wil,
I will never understand why you push Propeller. Digg is a far superior platform, esp. seeing how you have a history with Revision 3….why?
wonderful! Nothing like sharing something you love with someone you love and having that person feel the same way…and I imagine that with a teenager, the “amazing” factor gets turned up to 11. Sweet!
That’s awesome Wil, I’ll have to get a copy for my son #2, don’t think he’s been reading much lately, too busy becoming
a level 70 in WoW.
Some of the most intensely and sweetly memorable moments in my life have been that thrill of the “home stretch” of closing in on the end of a book so good that it made you shiver. This post had the rather pleasing side-effect of bringing those memories rushing back.
For those of you not fortunate enough to learn of the background of this novel during dinner with Cory (the long-lost third Cory, the one who always had a license to drive), you may be interested to get some great background material on Little Brother from J.C. Hutchins’s excellent podcast interview at: http://jchutchins.net/site/2008/05/04/ultracreatives-interview-12-cory-doctorow/
I’m sorry for the double-comment, I made with the mistakiness on the link for the last comment.
Hutchins’s podcast interview with Doctorow is here.
The librarian’s daughter in me hearts this post so much. My ‘hook book’ was The Black Stallion when I was ten. I recently wrote an essay about it for my writing class.
I now know what I’m going to send my nephew who is in college but wants to program computer games –if someone else hasn’t given it to him already. I had tears of joy for you both after reading this post.
I just finished watching the Russian office freak-out videos that are all over the tubes today, and then came over and read, “After much furious . . . behavior…” This is making for quite the amusing movie in my head. Sorry about your lost efforts, but I hope that your fury didn’t include a shovel. (Sledgehammer? Axe? Seriously, what was that thing?)
Over the last 2 years my book reading has picked up. I started making note of the books and came up with a total 19 books for the year.
See the 2007 total list here -> http://the-heath-bar.blogspot.com/2008/01/books-i-have-read-in-2007.html
We at the middle of the year and my total of read books is at 15. A few of the books had a larger numbers of pages (~700-800 pages). With the page count in mind, I have nearly, if not meet what I have read last year. With more book reading, I now have a back log of comic to read.
For my current list of reading, see my blog here -> http://the-heath-bar.blogspot.com/
The original post wasn’t as good as this one.
What a great book to start your own GoodReads (http://www.goodreads.com/) account with! I LOVE LOVE LOVE hearing what people are reading. Goodreads does have a special place for authors…. hint hint hint. In fact, my favorite books to read are those recommended by a favorite author (and now you can glow as I quite enjoyed your Just a Geek which I bought and read absolutely because of the title). The books folks read are a little glimpse of their true nature… assuming they aren’t flat out making it all up 🙂
OK, Wil and all you folks, send me an invite to become a friend on GoodReads! I am Antigone (wo the T there)… and that is my given name, for the record 😉
I don’t have kids yet, but I’m hoping for them. Wil, you’re doing with your kids exactly what I hope to do with mine someday: share books with them, and explore the wonderful multiplicity of worlds contained therein. My parents did that with me…and I’ll treasure those grand adventures forever!
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and remember-this moments…it’s encouraging to know that there are still parents like you out there.
You are a great dad – I love how you have such a strong desire to share with your kids and to help them reach their full potential. It is inspiring. 🙂
Many years ago I discovered the life-saving practice of “save as draft” when blogging in Typepad. A lesson I learned when using Word in the 90’s which tended to destroy documents, our motto in the office was “save often!”
Ecto is a great tool, especially now that Typepad has implemented a hideously complicated new composer editor.
I read this book after Neil Gaiman posted a link to the free download for it in his blog. Like everyone else who’s posted about it, I couldn’t put it down!
When I checked online to see if a copy was available at my local bookstore, I was actually dismayed to see that it was categorized as Young Adult. So many adults will miss out on reading this because they won’t stumble upon it in the regular fiction stacks. I guess word-of-mouth will be the most effective way for adults (who don’t have kids) to find out about this powerful story.
It also makes me wonder what other good books are in the YA section that I’m unaware of.
(Come to think of it, most of the adults that I know wouldn’t understand the terminology in the book. Too bad; they’ll never know what they’re missing.)
I learned a long time ago that before you hit “post,” always, always, always highlight and copy your entry first. Once you’re certain it’s in the land of temporary memory for emergency pasting, THEN hit “post.”
“But . . . I must wait. I must . . . savor it.”
Oh goodness, Wil! I wish I could hear one of my kids say that!
My daughter is 14 and just not a reader. I have never heard of this book, but it’s available at our local library so I’m going to check it out and read it. Thanks for the tip, maybe she’ll enjoy this one.
Wil, I read this one on my Sony Reader and absolutely loved it. Little Brother is now on my Top 10 books of all time list. Just a thoughtful, entertaining read.
Thank you for this post, Wil. It gives me hope for our children! I was such an avid reader when I was in school, and only recently, I’ve really started picking up books again–mostly Neil Gaiman and classic literature like Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. I’m hoping to one day have moments with my own son that you’ve had with yours.
I read. My sons read. A lot. But my youngest went through several years (the whole hanging with friends thing) when he didn’t read at all. Then I managed to hook him on King and Koontz and the drought was over. K & K led him to other books and he’s never stopped. He still spends a lot of time on the computer but he also reads, lots of different stuff. (Bleak House right now.) I’m so happy. Reading opens up a person’s mind. The world would be a better place if everyone read. What was that book, Little Brother? Going online to the library right now to order it.
I am still reading LB, having picked it up at Balticon 42. (If you’re in the neighborhood on Memorial Day weekend, feel free to drop in!) I’m reading it very slowly. So as not to miss a drop. I emailed Cory that this was in no way a YA book, that adults could enjoy it too. Thank you for the validation. BTW, it’s scared me shitless so far as well. These scenarios are all too possible these days. I also recommended the book as an answer on AskMe
(*Ahem*)
ROCK THE FACIAL HAIR ON THE SITE, WIL!
Thank you.
Well, hell–at least I’m not the only one who’s had that happen. I started a help ticket last night–mind if I mention this when they get back to me?
“I was nevertheless thrilled that he was reading at school, unafraid of what his current peer group would think. ”
If you are lucky, one of two things will happen.
1) Nolan will spread his enthusiasm to his friends, who will pick up the book and become avid readers themselves. Or at least less likely to look down on someone who reads.
2) Nolan’s friends will decide his bookish ways no longer fit in with their group, and will shun him. And he’ll either cope with it or give up the reading. From the way you write about him, I have confidence that he’ll cope and be stronger for it.
Huh. What’s that strange, kind of stirring, warm fuzzy feeling?
Oh, it’s that part of my soul that wanted to teach kids, you know, the part that was utterly drained of all hope and all desire and all optimisim by a two-year Master’s Degree in Education program and then stomped to death by state standards and elementary school administrators.
Hmm. *pokes at it* Interesting reaction.
That’s great, I’m glad your son enjoyed it! You’ve peaked my interest, I’ll have to add it to the list… I’ve always loved to read, I remember as a kid checking out around 20 books a week from the library. Then returning the next week for another 20… Great you’re trying to pass that love onto your kids!
That’s fantastic! Nolan’s experience is exactly why I donated to some of the librarians & teachers that requested books through Cory’s site. Little Brother is actually written such that it can engage the very people who should be reading it.
Wil, your stories of parenting make me look forward to having kids someday despite all the FUD in the world. Thank you, and the kids you’ve helped raise so well, for sharing your stories with us.
This is completely unrelated to your post, but I actually read your FAQ that your prefer comments over emails, etc. There’s a story I thought you should check out, about a journalist (James Buck) and his translator (Mohammed Maree) who were detained unjustly. I’m not sure this is your kind of story, but figured I’d drop it by… I don’t expect a response, unless it moves you enough to post about it 🙂 http://jameskarlbuck.com/
Makes me want to read Little Brother, sure, but also has the same effect reading your blog has, Wil: it makes me want to write something that good. Of course that means practice. Which means actually writing. Even without a super fantabulous idea and dozens of sparkly muses circling around my head, telling me to leave it to them.
(For cryin out loud, Glen, here you are on page 8 moaning about not writing. And not very well, because that would take practice. A fricking year ago. Somebody smack me upside my fool head… http://www.llsdc.org/attachments/contentmanagers/32/LawLightsSummer2007.pdf )
Hey Wil…
How about posting a Top Ten list of your favorite books?
I would be curious to see if it included any Star Trek, Star Wars or LOTR 😉
I lost a post last night too, but it wasn’t Typepads fault…seems our internet service was going through “upgrades” and service was sporadic and then out for several hours…grrr.
Tsk tsk! I expected someone like you never to do something so silly. Dude, type in Notepad or something and save as you go. Then you paste it.
I am disillusioned. 😉
At age 40, I’m not quite the target demographic for this book, but after reading this blog entry, I’ll admit to being too curious NOT to.
And hey, I probably wasn’t the intended audience for Harry Potter either, but I read those!
And I’m with “whatupdog” — I’d be curious to see what your Top 10 books are. And equally curious to know if you read any of the Star Trek books.