Great idea (combined w Dave Eggers The Circle) warning us of our addiction to technology. The ending was very rushed but overall a great first 50 pages carries the story. ( )

While he has written several nonfiction books about technology, The Boost is Baker's fiction debut. Most of the world's population now have "boosts" or computer chips implanted into their brains to help with their daily lives. But after the United States lost the chip war, most of the chips are imported from China. When the lowly government worker Ralf discovers China has left a back-door in their chips which allows them to monitor anyone with the implants, this techno-thriller takes off. Ralf heads to Mexico to live among the only "wild" communities of humans without chips and to create a base from which to make a stand. While the premise isn't new, Baker's characters, plot twists, and innovative ideas create an unique and interesting page-turner.

Science fiction. Good idea (internet wired into our brains) but found it falling apart the second half ( )

Pros: thought provoking premise, interesting characters, quick paced

Cons: some world-building and logistical issues

Ten days before the national update for the boost, networked supercomputers implanted in people’s brains, Ralf Alvare, a software engineer, finds himself on the run after learning about an open surveillance gate in the program that would allow companies direct access to people’s thoughts and memories. His own boost chip has been ripped out and, newly ‘wild’, he’s heading to see his brother in El Paso, across the border from the infamous drug lord run city of Juarez, where no one has boosts. But John Vallinger, a lobbyist whose spent years working towards this chip update, sends one of his men after Ralf, intent on stopping whatever resistance the programmer can create.

I thought the story was very interesting, with a lot of good questions being asked about privacy vs access to information. Would you put a chip in your head that allowed you to be smarter and access information anywhere, effortlessly, if it meant that someone could track your every move, see what you’re buying, etc.? Would having a brain implant that can affect your thoughts make things better or worse? In the book there’s an app that you can apply to make the tasteless protein they eat taste like anything you program in. There were some great scenes where Ellen, for the first time without the use of her boost, gets to taste actual food and experience other sensations without recourse to a fantasy cover for it. Her observations that some things are better natural while others are better in her imagination, were very interesting.

Ralf’s family’s drama was also pretty fun to read, with the stories getting deeper as more information is revealed. I also liked that his family provided a grounding in how different people reacted to the Boost. His dad rejected and fought against it, his mother helped bring it to the US but then regretted the role she played in making it a ubiquitous thing, his older brother constantly struggled to use it and he spent most of his time in it and is lost without it.

I wasn’t a big fan of Suzy. Though she was a member of the Democratic Movement, she seemed unaware of security issues despite the domestic terrorism she could be accused of and made some odd decisions towards the end of the book.

There’s a scene towards the end of the book that may cause trigger issues for some readers. Though mostly off page, the scene is violent but necessary for the plot and the person attacked is shown as capable of defending themself earlier on. There’s a bit of follow-up in the epilogue that briefly mentions some of the ethical issues surrounding what happened, which I thought was well done.

As for the world-building, I did question, while I was reading the book, the idea that once a chip is damaged or removed that’s it, there’s no fixing or replacing it. Considering the importance of the chips (you can’t pay for things or direct cars without one), and how easily brain injuries can occur that might damage chips, it seems like there should be some alternate options available.

After I finished the book a few other questions came to me about how the world worked. For example, while it’s clear that Juarez isn’t easy to get to or leave, it’s unclear if the Amish wild area is equally blocked off, and if not, how the people there trade with their non-wild neighbours. And does Juarez manufacture all of its needs or does it get a lot of goods through the black market? And if it depends on contraband, how do its citizens pay for it when they don’t have chips and their money is worthless outside their city? I was also surprised by how far money went in Juarez. I would have thought fresh, tasteful food would be harder to grow/raise than the manufactured tasteless food the non-wilds ate. It should therefore be more expensive as the market for things like spices would be non-existent outside of the wilds and are time consuming to make.

The book is told in third person present tense (eg: Ellen blinks her eyes open.), rather than the more common past tense. I personally found the jump between events narrated in past tense and the present tense of the main text jarring. Most readers probably won’t have a problem with it.

This is a quick, entertaining read, and despite the complaints I had with aspects of it, the questions it raises - about letting a government and corporations have control over what information you can access - are relevant ones for our current world. ( )

This book is an interesting look into our not too distant future, perhaps one that is more plausible than we think. Mobile devices have already led to wearables, miniature electronic devices that act as an extension of our minds and bodies. Implants, therefore, are just the next logical step. Called “boosts”, these implants are processors that integrate with the “wet brains” in our heads, allowing us to do incredible things such as record memories for posterity, visit a virtual ballgame while your physical body is lounging in your living room, or even fire up an app to improve the taste of the food you’re eating.

But what happens when so much of the human experience is controlled by a computer, which in turn could be controlled by another person, a corporation, or even a government? In the downright Orwellian scenario envisioned by Stephen Baker, China has become the world leader in this boost technology, though Chinese implants are not subject to the same strict privacy laws as the chips negotiated for use in America. Yet, just days before a national upgrade, US software developer Ralf Alvare notices something troubling in the incoming update – an open gate which would render American chips as vulnerable to surveillance and invasive manipulation as the Chinese chips.

I found myself enjoying the premise of the novel, especially since the issue relating to the regulation of personal information is a pretty hot topic right now, as it pertains to laws regarding the collection, storage or use by governments and other organizations. The themes become even more relevant, considering our society’s love for new and shiny gadgets, and technological advances don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. The Boost can be viewed as a cautionary tale, perhaps – a warning of what might come to be if we let ourselves relinquish control to our obsession with new tech.

Baker does a good job making his scenario fascinating and believable. In a world where most people are “boosted”, things like telephones, newspapers and even street signs have become relics of bygone era. Even more interesting to note is the attitude towards those who have opted against the implant. Known as “wild”, these people who solely rely on their wet brains to do their thinking and experiencing aren’t looked upon with disdain so much as pity. But really, who should be pitying whom? That was the question I kept asking. In almost all the cases where a boosted character has lost their access to their chip, they become lost, despondent and miserable. Having depended on their implants for so long, they cannot even do simple math in their heads or remember the most basic information. While I don’t recommend being a Luddite, it’s hard to miss the message about the dangers of relying too much on technology. You never know when you’ll be without it, or if it’ll be compromised.

Admittedly, I went into this novel expecting a high-octane techno-thriller, but I was wrong about that. It was probably never meant to be one, though I think I would have liked it more if it had been written in that style. Instead, I found the book lacking a bit in suspense and dramatic intensity, and the pacing also faltered in places due in part to constant insertions of back stories and exposition. In the end, I think I found the novel’s concepts to be way more exciting than the actual plot.

Still, The Boost was an entertaining read. The energy levels were just a couple notches shy of where I would have liked them to be, but otherwise I enjoyed this book. It could change the way you look at technology, and if at first the idea of a boost in your head sounds like a good idea, you might want to think again. ( )