Book Review: The Network State
A review of the book The Network State
The Network State is a fun and easy read.
New England’s Adel Morkin, born in 1969, was the child of a working class couple, and working class grandparents. He was a precocious child and self-taught how to read at the age of three. Aside from his unconventionally naive and captivating haiku collections, his first forays as an author were forgettable. It was only after his fourteenth birthday that his writings were first published.
Morkin’s initial and short-lived fame came from an article he wrote for a local newspaper about a group of punks he had befriended. The group had been terrorizing the city and the young Morkin had been the only one to see their humanity. The article was picked up by the Associated Press and ran in papers across the country. Morkin was interviewed on national television and for a time was something of a celebrity. But not for long.
The Network State is Morkin’s first book in over a decade.
With his return to the big-time literary stage Morkin aims to unearth the true and unadulterated complexity of nation-states. Serving himself of minions to befriend local and inter-urban groups of dissidents, status-quo-ists and anti dissidents, the author uncovers a dense and interconnected network of interests which often rise until the very top, only to vanish into thin air.
Throughout the book, the author develops a mathematical model which he calls the “network state”. The theory behind the model is that:
“… by understanding the ways in which people are interconnected we can better understand how the world works and how to make it a better place.”
And here is where this author disagrees. Morkin’s idea of a network state is far from how the world actually works, and his attempts to make it a utopia are downright naive. To put it bluntly, the “network state” is a load of crap.
The most contentious point is that Mr. Morkin is describing his own pseudo-scientific endeavour as an almighty one, in his own book, named after that very same project. There are good and bad ways of doing meta and this is one of the most delusionally grandiose.
Heavy high concept criticism notwithstanding, Morkin’s book is not all bad. The first few chapters are actually quite good. He has a knack for description and his characters are believable. Morkin writes simple prose remindful of fresh cut grass and soft neon lights. Raw humanity seeps from the pages as recollections from the anonymous collaborators, or minions, are weaved into an adventure-romance fiction set in a broken timeline spanning several decades.
I would not read this book for a second time, but once was okay. 6.5/10
Note from the author:
Thank you for taking the time to read my book review. I hope you found it helpful. The score is low even though I enjoyed the book becasue I disagree with the author’s ideas.