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itchystring's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.25
style grew tiresome about 2/3 of the way through but all the content is fascinating.
qontfnns's review against another edition
4.0
A peculiar mix of essays, poetry, philosophy, and the history of information science x gender studies. The book is structured almost like a random train of thought you find yourself in while daydreaming. Like it does have a logical sequence (i guess) and overall.. cohesion.., overall... But it took me aback how unpredictable the journey there was. And to be honest, most of the technical parts just leaked through both of my ears almost right away, but i found the personal and nuanced approach intriguing and novel. The thing i said about poetry, i don't mean poetry poetry per se, the book's just written like in cursive sometimes, super whimsical for a non-fiction. And i probably won't read about zeros and ones any other way.
neolemur's review against another edition
5.0
I will write a review later but this was the most delightful work of theory I've ever read.
dylan2219's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
4.25
Hugely underrated - I never see anyone talk about this book today, yet its influence is so widespread and its an absolute banger. Back in the 90s, lots of theorists in the UK were taking lots of drugs and fascinated by psychoanalysis and technology. Sadie Plant made two huge innovations: she reframes all that narrative around women, and she is actually good at making predictions and arguments. While a lot of the writing on tech from this period seems dated and very misguidedly utopian now (think shit like CyberH4cking.... Motherboard Megadrive... Net-O-Sphere.... W3bP1ugging.. and a lot of proselytising about our post-human digital liberation) Plant writes with a reluctant prescience, studying history carefully to make connections and inferences, rather than dramatic predictions, and she retains a healthy scepticism throughout, even though her writing overflows with an almost erotic thrust of desire for the world of technology. Zeroes and Ones is a kind of theory-narrative, an alternative history of computation that begins with the prophet Ada Lovelace, taking us through the world of weaving, electrical engineering, cyborgs, culminating in the ocean, cellular mitosis, and DNA itself. Plant uses a mosaic-like, hyperlink approach to her arguments, juxtaposing various scraps of historical evidence with contemporary trends and theoretical innovations. My biggest problem with this is her massive overreliance on quotation, which sometimes feels a bit lazy and repetitive (some chapters are easily 50-70% quotes juxtaposed together, feeling more like a research scrapbook than an original work). It also makes the occasional bizarre inference or counterpoint (as one is wont to find in older theory) and occasionally struggles to bring its many tangential threads into the weave and weft of its broader construction. The general thrust of the book though is profound, highly prescient and relevant, and has aged remarkably well. This book's underrated status does not belie the bang-on nature of a lot of her predictions and analysis. It's a blast, a mind-bender, and a real refreshing innovation on thinking about tech, which feels incredibly rare given the present abysmal state of our Web 3.0 futures (not even to touch upon our Stockholm Syndrome with Web 2.0)
pastaviking's review against another edition
4.0
It's refreshing to read a book about technology and cultural theory written by a woman (who proudly proclaims her age "thirty-three" as a credential). As a male reader, I value being privy to such a thoughtful, nuanced, and suggestive connection made between Ada Lovelace, weaving, textiles, computer programming, math, possibility, female sexuality, the politics of gendering, and the inevitability that the system of male-domination will implode on itself.
I want to offer criticism for smaller points throughout the book, but the very nature of the subject makes me feel unqualified to do so. It was pointed out to me, again, that men try too hard to jump in and tell women how to be more like them. So instead, I am simply grateful to have been an audience for her brilliant mind.
I want to offer criticism for smaller points throughout the book, but the very nature of the subject makes me feel unqualified to do so. It was pointed out to me, again, that men try too hard to jump in and tell women how to be more like them. So instead, I am simply grateful to have been an audience for her brilliant mind.
gyrus's review against another edition
5.0
No doubt there’s much more to be explored in the shifting borderlands between men, women and machines; but check here first for all the most interesting pointers... More: http://dreamflesh.com/reviews/zerosones/
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