Name: Vojtech's review of Permanent Record by Edward Snowden
Item: Permanent Record
Rating: 5
Author: Vojtech

Edward Snowden

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it. Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online—a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

Permanent Record

Vojtech

Anthony

I’ll be honest, I was hoping for more technical stuff and more talk about the information Edward released. I was also expecting it to be more about his life post-leak.

That being said, I enjoyed Ed’s story. His writing impressed me and whatever writing school Joshua Cohen put him through is one I’d like to attend.

It was interesting to see how his family background helped set him up to do what he ended up doing. The book briefly touches on interesting tech, the government, and even love. Nothing mind blowing but a good read nonetheless.

Must read if you want to understand mass surveillance. Great book by an American hero.

Diamond Jim

Shona Tiger

May not agree with his politics or even necessarily like the person he describes in the book, or his rants - but an interesting and possibly important read.

Simao Freitas

Very good pace and incredible well written.

Andy Sporring

Was a bit disappointing, but hey then guy is already a legend.

Yasser Yahia

There is a huge difference between suspecting that something exists and knowing for sure that it does. It is scary and unsettling to know that everything (like literally everything) that you do online (and some of your offline activities as well) is not just being recorded, but will be kept forever!! You'll die but those records are not going anywhere. They will always be there for some government to use against you when the time comes.

Kuba Milcarz

Last year I listened to an audiobook version. Once again my experiments proved that reading >>> listening to audiobooks. Fascinating story!

Jk Jensen

Permanent Record is a well written memoir of Snowden’s life from childhood through whistleblowing to now living in exile. I don’t know if he had a shadow writer but his voice shines through bright and strong and passionate. The technical explanations he gave were of an appropriate depth and the ending was just right; instead of calling you directly to action he offers the facts and lets you come to your own conclusions. Again, it was well written. You can tell great care was taken to tell the story and tell the most important aspects of it without boring the reader.

Emma Friedheim

Lotta thoughts. As far as memoirs go, this is certainly a fascinating read. Did it change my mind? No, it did not. But it is always interesting to get a small window into someone's mind.

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it. Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online – a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

Nat Welch

Not too much here that I didn't know, that being said, was pretty well written, but not very engaging.

Luisa Mallory 

This book that pictures a big part of Edward Snowden's life was a very good read for me. I finished it within 2 days, because it was written so well and grasping. I was in possession of the basic knowledge about this whole happening, but this book gave me some more insight and I now know for sure what a brave man Snowden is, and I hope people like him will have better chances for continuing their life as they like in the future.

Rob Brogan

Really great to have a broader perspective on this huge shift in our perception of technology. I admit skipping a little bit in the beginning where it felt the intro-level explanations of some things were too rudimentary for me. I understand it's good to reach a broader audience, so I won't fault him for that. Great book overall!

Kirill So

Overall I was psyched to read the book but it came out as a bit of a disappointment. The book is catered towards a general audience and has a lot of explanations how IT systems and databases work. As a technologist for some time the insights were not super valuable (aside of explanation how surveillance and other data mining was working). I think for the majority it's an insightful bridge to the world of mass data collection and what happened. I really enjoyed reading about the reasons why Ed did what he did and his thought process. However, my expectations were a bit higher with some more details on what happened to post Moscow and what's next for the future.

Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government's system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it.Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online - a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet's conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

Darice de Cuba

You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who never heard of Edward Snowden. Many of us can still remember when the news broke that the NSA is able to spy on anyone and that many countries are helping with this and doing this also. With this memoir, we get to know the person, Ed. Ed tells us about his childhood, growing up in a family of public servants. How 9/11 changed him. The road to becoming an NSA sub-contractee and his ultimate decision to expose the truth.

If you, like Ed, are a child of the 80's you'll recognize some of the similar experiences. And especially if you are also a geek/nerd, you'll enjoy his NES stories amongst others, and when he explains the technical details involved in his life and later, work. Ed is also very knowledgeable at politics and philosophy, not the bookish kind, but the moral and ethical dilemmas.

The part of the book that touched me most, was the, till this book, untold part. His personal struggle when he found out the truth, coming to a decision about what to do. His relationship with his girlfriend during those years. The flight to Hong Kong, how the story almost never was. The refugees who helped and protected him. 

“They fed me, they let me bathe, they let me sleep, and they protected me. I will never be able to explain what it meant to be given so much by those with so little, to be accepted by them without judgment as I perched in corners like a stray street cat,”

It brought tears to my eyes when you finally really absorb and understand the sacrifices he made. He believed he would never see his loved ones again. 


“The preparations I was making were those of a man about to die. I emptied my bank accounts, putting cash into an old steel ammo box for Lindsay to find so that the government couldn’t seize it. I went around the house doing oft-procrastinated chores, like fixing windows and changing lightbulbs.”

This book should be read by everyone. To make one aware of what real journalism is, of how fragile our freedom is and to have the courage to stand-up when needed.

Vojtech &
Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

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