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Extracts

Radicals by Jamie Bartlett

How the internet is killing democracy (and how we save it)

The People Vs Tech

An urgent polemic about the precarious future of democratic society in the tech age from the bestselling author of The Dark Net

A superb book by one of the world’s leading experts on the digital revolution... Bartlett finishes by offering us “20 Ideas to Save Democracy". These thoughtful pointers ... provide both invaluable food for thought and a fitting end to an outstanding book

There are thousands of books about the internet and its impact on society, but this is the only one you really need... I can't think of a more important book right now

The People Vs Tech is a vital guide and a call addressed to those who are unwilling to play the part of the hapless shipowner in the coming war for our minds and democracy itself

A timely new book by Jamie Bartlett of Demos, The People Vs Tech, spells out why it's vital that politicians seize this moment to reform our attitudes to technology

The People Vs Tech is an erudite book that sheds light on the unwanted social costs of the big tech revolution. An essential read for pretty much anyone in the world of politics

Highly readable... [Bartlett] is surely right to argue that our futures will be shaped by how the winners and losers respond to the changes unleashed by technology, as much as by the technology itself

Bartlett effectively manages to condense the political challenges of technology into his six-pillar framework. This book can therefore serve as both a foundational introduction to the current technological and political landscape, whilst also providing much-needed clarity to even the seasoned reader of such issues... When it comes to rapidly-scaling technology companies, society must now ask the right questions – and Bartlett’s book is a strong place to start.

A fascinating, though sometimes sobering and even frightening, journey

Jamie Bartlett is the bestselling author of The Dark Net, Radicals, and The People Vs Tech, which was longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and won the 2019 Transmission Prize. He founded the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the think-tank Demos and regularly writes on technology and society for the Spectator, the Sunday Times and elsewhere. In 2017 Jamie presented the two-part BBC TWO documentary series The Secrets of Silicon Valley. His TedTalk about dark net drugs markets has been watched nearly six million times. In 2019 his critically acclaimed BBC podcast series The Missing Cryptoqueen reached number 1 on the iTunes charts, and has been downloaded millions of times.

**Winner of the 2019 Transmission Prize** 
**Longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing** 
 
‘A superb book by one of the world’s leading experts on the digital revolution’ David Patrikarakos, Literary Review 
 
‘This book could not have come at a better moment... The People Vs Tech makes clear that there is still time – just – for us to take back control’ - Camilla Cavendish, Sunday Times 
 
The internet was meant to set us free. 
 
Tech has radically changed the way we live our lives. But have we unwittingly handed too much away to shadowy powers behind a wall of code, all manipulated by a handful of Silicon Valley utopians, ad men, and venture capitalists? And, in light of recent data breach scandals around companies like Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, what does that mean for democracy, our delicately balanced system of government that was created long before big data, total information and artificial intelligence? In this urgent polemic, Jamie Bartlett argues that through our unquestioning embrace of big tech, the building blocks of democracy are slowly being removed. The middle class is being eroded, sovereign authority and civil society is weakened, and we citizens are losing our critical faculties, maybe even our free will. 
 
The People Vs Tech is an enthralling account of how our fragile political system is being threatened by the digital revolution. Bartlett explains that by upholding six key pillars of democracy, we can save it before it is too late. We need to become active citizens; uphold a shared democratic culture; protect free elections; promote equality; safeguard competitive and civic freedoms; and trust in a sovereign authority. This essential book shows that the stakes couldn’t be higher and that, unless we radically alter our course, democracy will join feudalism, supreme monarchies and communism as just another political experiment that quietly disappeared.

Radicals

A groundbreaking and shocking new work of non-fiction from one of the brightest young thinkers of today.

Very interesting book, lots of fascinating details.

Bartlett is an accomplished journalist: careful, dispassionate and willing to put the time in. And once again he does the work, spending time with people whom less committed reporters might wish to avoid. And he does so with a degree of sympathy that is as impressive as it is rare... All of the chapters contain thoughtful and intelligent reflections on the position of outsiders who, as Bartlett reminds us, could well be proven by history to be ahead of their time.

Inside the anti-political revolt that gave us Brexit and Trump... Bartlett is right to remind us that democracies are not necessarily the natural order, and that they need fresh ideas to survive some very scary emerging challenges.

Bartlett has put together a fascinating book and is an excellent narrator.

He is a natural storyteller and Radicals is a book of tales. Showing understanding and humility, whilst moving himself to the role of outsider or studied observer when needed, Bartlett exercises the art of storytelling. His ability to be probing whilst remaining sensitive and non-dismissive draws out intriguing details that could easily have been lost... Intriguing and sometimes fraught with a little jeopardy, you can’t help but get hooked on the narratives.

A smart, serious book that goes out into the world, reflecting on lives rather than headlines. Excellent.

Radicals sets out to describe and understand this new spirit of radicalism... Throughout, Mr Bartlett is a friendly guide, with a reporter's eye for detail and a willingness to engage with his subjects.

Enlightening and unnerving... Bartlett, ever the knowledgeable guide through murky political and technological waters...embeds himself with these groups and approaches each with a commendable balance of genuine open-mindedness and healthy scepticism... A highly recommended read, Radicals could influence you to chase after some of these utopian organisations and ideas, or make you want to flee from them just the same.

Entertaining... the apparently laconic approach disguises sharp insight and meticulous investigation. The narratives lead the reader to conclude that any state wishing to flourish should make more room for radicalism.

A hugely original account of how it is outsiders, often sitting uneasily on the traditional left to right spectrum who across the globe are forcing changes on the mainstream.

Bartlett notes the amplifying effect of the Internet as an echo chamber for affirming beliefs that may not be widely accepted in broader society, and keeps his general observations upbeat, even in an age of angry political populism. He leaves readers with the observation that liberal societies are inherently risky and unstable, but their ability to accommodate radical views is also what allows them to change, and that change is generally for the better.

Radicals interestingly ... chronicles Bartlett’s experiences embedding himself in various radical groups ... Engaging ... Thoughtful and challenging.

From the creator of hit podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen 
______________________________ 
'Thoughtful and intelligent' Observer 
'Inside the anti-political revolt that gave us Brexit and Trump' Evening Standard 
'Fascinating... Excellent' Literary Review 
'Must read … A radical odyssey' Daily Mail 
 
In the last few years the world has changed in unexpected ways. The power of radical ideas and groups is growing. What was once considered extreme is now the mainstream. But what is life like on the political fringes? What is the real power of radicals? 
 
Radicals is an exploration of the individuals, groups and movements who are rejecting the way we live now, and attempting to find alternatives. In it, Jamie Bartlett, one of the world’s leading thinkers on radical politics and technology, takes us inside the strange and exciting worlds of the innovators, disruptors, idealists and extremists who think society is broken, and believe they know how to fix it. From dawn raids into open mines to the darkest recesses of the internet, Radicals introduces us to some of the most secretive and influential movements today: techno-futurists questing for immortality, far-right groups seeking to close borders, militant environmentalists striving to save the planet's natural reserves by any means possible, libertarian movements founding new countries, autonomous cooperatives in self-sustaining micro-societies, and psychedelic pioneers attempting to heal society with the help of powerful hallucinogens. 
 
As well as providing a fascinating glimpse at the people and ideas driving these groups, Radicals also presents a startling argument: radicals are not only the symptoms of a deep unrest within the world today, but might also offer the most plausible models for our future.

The Dark Net

A groundbreaking examination of the darkest corners of the internet

A fascinating and disturbing journey through the furthest recesses of the Internet. Jamie Bartlett is an expert guide... he shines an invaluable light on a world that remains determinedly opaque.

A hell of an achievement... Buy it and read it.

Eye-opening … Bartlett is an informal yet informed guide … As befits a cross-party intellectual, he minimizes binary distinctions, conveying instead a mixture of conservative disquiet and liberal tolerance. The tales he tells are exemplary, titillating and sometimes frightening

Bartlett anatomises the usual bogeymen and demonstrates that they’re real.The Dark Net is, for anyone engaged with the web and the effects it is having on our culture, necessary reading... a flashlight in a dark, dark cellar.

A fascinating and disturbing exploration of the outer edges of the internet and the human mind.

[A] thorough and assiduously researched account of the deviantly erotic, subversive and criminal aspects of web life.

A confident and well-informed guide... By meeting the people behind the online activity, Bartlett humanises it.

The Dark Net offers smart, provoking reportage from the crooked crannies of digital culture, married to a quietly impressive analysis of how technology is amplifying both the best and the worst of us. Required reading for anyone looking to escape media hysteria and get to grips with the 21st century's most compelling, discomforting complexities.

A picturesque tour of this disquieting netherworld… the darkest recesses of the internet, for better and for worse, and being illuminated.

A judgement-free look at the mechanics of trolling and other internet bad behaviour and generates more light than heat.

Reveals a hidden, seedy world where people lurk behind pseudonyms and dupe others into revealing their bodies on camera to be used against them in public shaming. If you’re shocked to discover that last year approximately 20 per cent of drug users bought their stash online, you’ll find this fascinating. Bartlett is an able guide on a journey through the margins of the web.

A well-researched book, studded with enlightening interviews

A gripping read, more thrilling and chilling than many a fictional tale of the digital could ever be.

The book's great contribution is non-sensationalist reporting about very touchy subjects. If we're going to keep making laws about this stuff, we need this kind of sanity.

This book ticks all of my boxes: fascinating subcultural studies, a brave nosedive into often scary worlds, and a pacey writing style that makes you think you’re reading a good thriller. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what the depths of human depravity look like, but can’t get the time off work to find out for themselves.

A meticulous, discomfiting account of the human stories behind each headline

An intelligent and revealing introduction to the denizens of the web’s underworld.

Accessible, entertaining and brilliantly written, The Dark Net explores the negatives and the positives of the digital underbelly, and is a must-read.

An excellent book that entertains as it takes its toll.

From the creator of hit podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen 
______________________________ 
Guns. Sex. Drugs. Murder. 
The Dark Net is just a click away. 
 
Beyond the familiar online world that most of us inhabit lies a vast network of sites, communities and cultures where freedom is pushed to its limits. A world that is as creative and complex as it is dangerous and disturbing. A world that is much closer than you think. 
 
The Dark Net is a revelatory examination of the internet today, and of its most innovative and dangerous subcultures, stretching from secret Facebook groups to the encrypted and hidden Tor network. In it, Bartlett goes in search of the people behind the screen, meeting trolls and pornographers, drug dealers and hackers, political extremists and computer scientists, Bitcoin programmers and self-harmers, libertarians and vigilantes. 
 
Based on extensive first-hand experience, exclusive interviews and shocking documentary evidence, The Dark Net offers a startling glimpse of human nature under the conditions of freedom and anonymity, and shines a light on an enigmatic and ever-changing world.

Orwell versus the Terrorists: A Digital Short

A groundbreaking examination of the battle over privacy online

On 5 June 2013, the Guardian began publishing a series of documents leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, revealing the extent of internet surveillance undertaken by government and intelligence agencies. It provoked an immediate outcry. ‘I didn’t want to change society,’ Snowden would later say, in exile. ‘I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.’ And to some extent, he has. 
 
Snowden’s leaks have provoked important debates about the precarious balance between individual privacy and national security on the internet. As a result of his revelations, the internet – and the way many of us use it – is changing dramatically. A new ‘crypto-war’ over the right to online privacy is being waged, with the net becoming increasingly difficult to monitor, and censorship more difficult to enforce. New opportunities are opening up for human rights activists and journalists, but also for criminals and terrorists. 
 
Orwell versus the Terrorists is an insightful and revelatory examination of the history of the battle over privacy online, and a shocking glimpse of the frontline tactics of both sides. In a world in which the rules governing online activity are hazy, nebulous and often contradictory, it also presents a powerful and convincing model for the future of net-surveillance post-Snowden.

(And How Not To)

How to Talk to AI

Jamie Bartlett is one of the UK’s leading technology writers and thinkers. His previous books include The Dark Net and The People vs Tech, which was longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing. His Ted Talk about buying drugs on dark net markets has been watched nearly six million times. He has written and presented several hit BBC podcast series, including the smash hit The Missing Cryptoqueen, which reached number 1 in the podcast charts all round the world. In 2010, Jamie founded a research centre specialising in designing and applying artificial intelligence software to understand social trends.

Knowing how to speak to AI – and how not to – is a skill that everyone now needs. This book will help the reader understand how to make the most of these incredible new technologies, without succumbing to new powers of manipulation and control. 
 
Hundreds of millions of people now talk to AI like ChatGPT every day. They organise their finances and holidays, ask advice, seek therapy and find love – via machines. Almost overnight, chatbots are transforming society, politics and business. 
 
This is one of the biggest and fastest technological changes in history – but most people still don't really understand how AI works, how to make the most of it – or what the dangers are. As some people use it to turbo-charge their productivity at work, others are falling into dangerous conspiracies, delusions and psychosis. 
 
In How to Talk to AI, tech commentator Jamie Bartlett takes the reader inside the machine: showing how we can stay in control of our powerful new companions, even as they are changing the way we live, feel, and think.

Jamie Bartlett

The Missing Cryptoqueen investigates a con that made Theranos look like small fry... The tragic account of how it happened is an astonishing read, plunging you into a toxic world of Insta-wealth, betrayal and ruthless ambition

Outrageously entertaining... populated with the kind of gaudy crooks, ambitious crackpots and tragically hopeful hustlers we'd expect from a Coen brothers comedy. One can only hope this shocking, compulsively readable story serves as a cautionary tale

A story of a very modern scam full of intrigue

A gripping read. Jamie Bartlett races through this compelling tale of corruption, ambition and intrigue

Bartlett skilfully [presents] OneCoin's turbulent history like a thriller

The Crypto Con That Fooled the World

'An astonishing read, plunging you into a toxic world of Insta-wealth, betrayal and ruthless ambition... A con that made Theranos look like small fry' - The Telegraph 
 
'The largest financial scam ever' - Fortune 
 
'The story of OneCoin stands out even among the outlandish capers of the cryptocurrency era' - Wall Street Journal 
____________________________________________________ 
 
In 2014, a brilliant Oxford graduate called Dr Ruja Ignatova vowed to revolutionise money. The self-styled Cryptoqueen launched OneCoin, a bold new cryptocurrency that she promised would earn its investors untold fortunes and change the world. But by the end of 2017, with billions of dollars invested from every country on earth, Ruja Ignatova had disappeared - along with the money. 
 
The Missing Cryptoqueen tells the outrageous true story of the world's most wanted woman and the author's five-year hunt for the truth. It is a modern tale of greed, rivalry and herd madness that reveals how OneCoin became the biggest scam of the 21st Century.

Jamie Bartlett

Praise for The Missing Cryptoqueen

The Missing Cryptoqueen investigates a con that made Theranos look like small fry... The tragic account of how it happened is an astonishing read, plunging you into a toxic world of Insta-wealth, betrayal and ...

A great story and a spectacular con

Outrageously entertaining... populated with the kind of gaudy crooks, ambitious crackpots and tragically hopeful hustlers we'd expect from a Coen brothers comedy. One can only hope this shocking, compulsively readab ...

The Missing Cryptoqueen investigates a con that made Theranos look like small fry... The tragic account of how it happened is an astonishing read, plunging you into a toxic world of Insta-wealth, betrayal and ...

A great story and a spectacular con

Outrageously entertaining... populated with the kind of gaudy crooks, ambitious crackpots and tragically hopeful hustlers we'd expect from a Coen brothers comedy. One can only hope this shocking, compulsively readab ...

The Missing Cryptoqueen investigates a con that made Theranos look like small fry... The tragic account of how it happened is an astonishing read, plunging you into a toxic world of Insta-wealth, betrayal and ...

A great story and a spectacular con

Outrageously entertaining... populated with the kind of gaudy crooks, ambitious crackpots and tragically hopeful hustlers we'd expect from a Coen brothers comedy. One can only hope this shocking, compulsively readab ...

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