The Boy Who Could Change the World

The Writings of Aaron Swartz

Aaron Swartz author Lawrence Lessig editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Verso Books

Published:1st Feb '16

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Boy Who Could Change the World cover

A testament to a technical genius and a passionate activist, Aaron Swartz: his essential writings on internet culture, hacktivism and the freedom of information

In January 2013, Aaron Swartz, under arrest and threatened with thirty-five years of imprisonment for downloading material from the JSTOR database, committed suicide. He was twenty-six years old. But in that time he had changed the world we live in: reshaping the Internet, questioning our assumptions about intellectual property, and creating some of the tools we use in our daily online lives.

Besides being a technical genius and a passionate activist, he was also an insightful, compelling, and cutting critic of the politics of the Web. In this collection of his writings that spans over a decade he shows his passion for and in-depth knowledge of intellectual property, copyright, and the architecture of the Internet. The Boy Who Could Change the World contains the life's work of one of the most original minds of our time.

He was brilliant and funny. A kid genius . Aaron was not just, or even primarily, a computer geek. His defining feature was a constant struggle for what he believed was right. -- Lawrence Lessig
Aaron had an unbeatable combination of political insight, technical skill, and intelligence about people and issues. I think he could have revolutionized American (and worldwide) politics. His legacy may still yet do so. -- Cory Doctorow
I always found it genuinely inspiring to watch Swartz exude courage and commitment at such a young age. -- Glenn Greenwald
We've lost a fighter. We've lost somebody who put huge energy into righting wrongs. -- Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
"What a bittersweet exhilaration you feel re-reading Swartz's impossibly brilliant, capacious writings all in one place. This volume makes clear what those of us who knew Aaron already grasped: when we lost Aaron, we lost one of the most exciting minds of our time." * Chris Hayes *
Swartz left behind an impressive body of writing that still has the power to rally others... Clear, well read and sourced * Financial Times *

ISBN: 9781784784966

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 547g

368 pages