Do you ever feel like the world — online, offline, everywhere — is getting worse?
According to one of the internet’s absolute favorite cultural commentators, science fiction author Cory Doctorow, you’re right! In his latest book, Doctorow points to how and why a handful of profitable companies are slowly breaking the internet, one platform and service at a time. Don’t miss Enshittification with Cory Doctorow at the new Library Shop Mission Hills.
“I always love Cory’s shit, but Enshittification is not only a smart, funny, and refreshingly furious screed on how tech has betrayed us all— but also a bracing, daringly optimistic plan for how we can free ourselves from awfulness.”
— John Hodgman
Join us at 925 W. Washington St for this author talk, Q&A and book signing. Neighborhood parking is available adjacent to the bookstore, and delicious dining is also available within walking distance of the shop. This is a ticketed author event, and your book is your ticket: up to 2 guests can reserve their spot per book purchased through Library Shop SD online. Your online purchase of Enshittification adds your party to our guest list. Proceeds from all sales support the San Diego Public Library. Click “Register” to make your book purchase and complete your event registration using the drop down menu at our bookstore website.
Doors will open at 6:30pm, and the event will begin at 7:00pm on December 1. Optionally, you can pick up your book early at the Library Shop Central location (330 Park) — or you can pick it up at Library Shop Mission Hills during event check-in on December 1.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Enshittification: it’s not just you — the internet sucks now. Here’s why, and here’s how we can do something about it.
We’re living through a time in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of… un-usability. It’s frustrating, demoralizing, and even terrifying.
Enshittification both names the problem and offers a way out.
When Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification” in 2023, he was not just finding a fun way to say “things are getting worse.” He was making a specific diagnosis of a process that we need to work to change.
The once-glorious internet, an accessible platform that connected billions, has been colonized by platforms that begin by offering all-but-magical promises to their users — and, at least initially, deliver a great experience. But once users are locked into a platform like Facebook or Twitter, large tech companies will quickly worsen their offering to end-users to maximize profits. In the end, these platforms and services that we grow to rely on become dysfunctional or fall into disuse entirely.
Doctorow’s term clearly resonates with modern experience, so much so that the American Dialect Society named it its 2023 Word of the Year. In Enshittification the book, Doctorow offers relief, charting a path that we can take to de-enshittification online and off.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CORY DOCTOROW is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. His past books include a blend of science fiction with dystopian themes, and also journalistic nonfiction with dystopian themes. The Lost Cause, Doctorow’s solarpunk science-fiction novel, explores hope amidst the climate emergency. The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation is a Big Tech disassembly manual. Other recent books include Red Team Blues, a science fiction crime thriller; Chokepoint Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; the Little Brother series for young adults; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesy the Monster Slayer.
