The shockwave rider

SUMMARY: A Science Fiction Book Club Selection "When John Brunner first told me of his intention to write this book, I was fascinated -- but I wondered whether he, or anyone, could bring it off. Bring it off he has -- with cool brilliance. A hero with transient personalities, animals with souls, think tanks and survival communities fuse to form a future so plausibly alive it has twitched at me ever since." -- Alvin Toffler Author of Future Shock He Was The Most Dangerous Fugitive Alive, But He Didn't Exist! Nickie Haflinger had lived a score of lifetimes...but technically he didn't exist. He was a fugitive from Tarnover, the high-powered government think tank that had educated him. First he had broken his identity code -- then he escaped. Now he had to find a way to restore sanity and personal freedom to the computerized masses and to save a world tottering on the brink of disaster. He didn't care how he did it...but the government did. That's when his Tarnover teachers got him back in their labs...and Nickie Haflinger was set up for a whole new education! "One man has made it his mission to liberate the mental prisoners. to restore their freedom in a world run mad. Nickie Halflinger, the only person to escape from Tarnover- where they raise hyper-intelligent children to maintain the political dominance of the USA in the 21st century {u2013} is on the run, dodging from loophole to crevice to crack in the computerised data-net that binds the continent like chains. After years of flight and constant changes of identity, at the strange small town called Precipice he discovers he is not alone in his quest. But can his new allies save him when he falls again into the sinister grasp of Tarnover...?"--Goodreads.com This 1975 book pretty much nailed the contradictions inherent in global networking, long before the network was created. It's full of wiretapping spooks, genius kids, networked churches, fake identities, network worms, encryption, nonprofits that outfox the spooks to help society, the works. This alarmist fantasy warns against the loss of individual freedom that might result from widespread use of information technology and against the psychological effects of rapid technological change