What do you think?
Rate this book
The Civility Code
Regulate the words. Prosecute the Dissent. Control the rest.
14,014. The number of Prohibited Words had grown very year under the determined leadership of Collis Lafferty, Commissioner of the Civility Commission (CivCom). Lafferty was driven to expunge all offense from civilized society.
NO ONE HAD THE RIGHT TO OFFEND ANOTHER.
A small group of cyper hacktivists, X, are the last remaining civil dissidents. When their leader Sid the Squid, the world's most famous hacker and CivCom's most vocal critic, is arrested, X is on the brink of unraveling.
The struggle to preserve freedom of opinion falls to X members Sylas the Stylus, Bucky Lastard, and NebuLes. Now they are in a race against the clock to stop Commissioner Lafferty before CivCom uncovers their true identities and prosecutes them under the Civility Code.
14,014. The number of Prohibited Words had grown very year under the determined leadership of Collis Lafferty, Commissioner of the Civility Commission (CivCom). Lafferty was driven to expunge all offense from civilized society.
NO ONE HAD THE RIGHT TO OFFEND ANOTHER.
A small group of cyper hacktivists, X, are the last remaining civil dissidents. When their leader Sid the Squid, the world's most famous hacker and CivCom's most vocal critic, is arrested, X is on the brink of unraveling.
The struggle to preserve freedom of opinion falls to X members Sylas the Stylus, Bucky Lastard, and NebuLes. Now they are in a race against the clock to stop Commissioner Lafferty before CivCom uncovers their true identities and prosecutes them under the Civility Code.
464 pages, ebook
First published March 19, 2016
246 people want to read
About the author
Michael W. Anderson
2 books27 followersIt was 2008. I had taken a year and a half hiatus from law school at the University of Pennsylvania and moved half-way across the world (maybe further), to Doha, Qatar. I had been granted a Fulbright Fellowship by the U.S. Department of State, and in between conducting my research, teaching at Qatar University, battling intermittent internet access and exploring the country (camel races, cross country motorcycle rides, visiting the souqs, etc.), I found myself with extra time on my hands and, for the first time in my life, an insatiable desire to write.
I've always been an "ideas guy." But I soon found out that writing was more than simply putting ideas on paper. There is not only an art to it, but a science. A writer must understand concepts such as show, don't tell, proportion, beats, characterization and exposition, and voice. My earliest attempts at writing left a lot to be desired.
But when you work hard at something, anything, eventually you will get a break. Mine came in the form of a really pretty girl (one who I eventually married). She was a writing major and taught English at the university level. She showed an interest in my writing and, through much cajoling, convinced me to read the first few chapters of my first book to her. Then she re-organized it, slashed dross, and re-read it to me. A light went on in my head. From then on I was on the path toward becoming a true writer.
I've always been an "ideas guy." But I soon found out that writing was more than simply putting ideas on paper. There is not only an art to it, but a science. A writer must understand concepts such as show, don't tell, proportion, beats, characterization and exposition, and voice. My earliest attempts at writing left a lot to be desired.
But when you work hard at something, anything, eventually you will get a break. Mine came in the form of a really pretty girl (one who I eventually married). She was a writing major and taught English at the university level. She showed an interest in my writing and, through much cajoling, convinced me to read the first few chapters of my first book to her. Then she re-organized it, slashed dross, and re-read it to me. A light went on in my head. From then on I was on the path toward becoming a true writer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 4, 2020
Hm, I don't really know how to feel about this.
I really like the premise for this book, but for some reason it was just hard to follow for me.
Other than being a little hard to follow, I didn't have any problems with this book and I actually quite like how the society was structured.
I'm not sure if it was just me, but the story just seemed a little slow and flat; admittedly, I wasn't very engaged, but it does address a lot of the issues that are becoming more prominent today, especially with the extreme political correctness that everyone is starting to grab onto, and maybe I'll revisit this someday and see if it's different the second time around.
I really like the premise for this book, but for some reason it was just hard to follow for me.
Other than being a little hard to follow, I didn't have any problems with this book and I actually quite like how the society was structured.
I'm not sure if it was just me, but the story just seemed a little slow and flat; admittedly, I wasn't very engaged, but it does address a lot of the issues that are becoming more prominent today, especially with the extreme political correctness that everyone is starting to grab onto, and maybe I'll revisit this someday and see if it's different the second time around.
September 1, 2017
Quite an engaging little sociological nightmare for everyone who values their freedoms. Recommended.
May 24, 2016
from Amazon: "14,014. The number of Prohibited Words had grown every year under the determined leadership of Collis Lafferty, Commissioner of the Civility Commission (CivCom). Lafferty was driven to expunge all offense from civilized society.
No one had the right to offend another.
A small group of cyber hacktivists, X, are the last remaining civil dissidents. When their leader Sid the Squid, the world’s most famous hacker and CivCom’s most vocal critic, is arrested, X is on the brink of unraveling.
The struggle to preserve freedom of opinion falls to X members Sylas the Stylus, Bucky Lastard, and NebuLes. Now they are in a race against the clock to stop Commissioner Lafferty before CivCom uncovers their true identities and prosecutes them under the Civility Code."
I found this book very disturbing considering recent events. personal pronouns are offensive, everyone is ze or zir depending on tense, instead of Miss/Mrs/Mr/Ms, everyone is Msr. Small children are encouraged by their teachers to rat out their family for using prohibited words - even like boy or girl - to the Civility Commission. You never really hear anything about the government, or if there was I missed it, so I'm not sure if the Civility Commission was running the country what. The book was pretty well written, though. Several times it did remind me of the movie Pleasantville, only with words instead of color, although in this case an offense against the Code can actually get a person tried and locked up and "rehabilitated", and if they aren't on meds before their conviction, they certainly are afterward. The lengths to which the Commission is willing to go is alarming. The story is certainly a harsh reminder of how precious or freedom of speach is, and how strongly it needs to be defended. And it reminded me of a news story recently about some goofball at a university trying to push the whole ze/zir/te/whatever the heck agenda, which just inforced the chilling nature of the trend of everyone being offended by everything.
And if anyone tries to call me ze, I'm going to smack them. And then we'll probably have an offensive little talk.
No one had the right to offend another.
A small group of cyber hacktivists, X, are the last remaining civil dissidents. When their leader Sid the Squid, the world’s most famous hacker and CivCom’s most vocal critic, is arrested, X is on the brink of unraveling.
The struggle to preserve freedom of opinion falls to X members Sylas the Stylus, Bucky Lastard, and NebuLes. Now they are in a race against the clock to stop Commissioner Lafferty before CivCom uncovers their true identities and prosecutes them under the Civility Code."
I found this book very disturbing considering recent events. personal pronouns are offensive, everyone is ze or zir depending on tense, instead of Miss/Mrs/Mr/Ms, everyone is Msr. Small children are encouraged by their teachers to rat out their family for using prohibited words - even like boy or girl - to the Civility Commission. You never really hear anything about the government, or if there was I missed it, so I'm not sure if the Civility Commission was running the country what. The book was pretty well written, though. Several times it did remind me of the movie Pleasantville, only with words instead of color, although in this case an offense against the Code can actually get a person tried and locked up and "rehabilitated", and if they aren't on meds before their conviction, they certainly are afterward. The lengths to which the Commission is willing to go is alarming. The story is certainly a harsh reminder of how precious or freedom of speach is, and how strongly it needs to be defended. And it reminded me of a news story recently about some goofball at a university trying to push the whole ze/zir/te/whatever the heck agenda, which just inforced the chilling nature of the trend of everyone being offended by everything.
And if anyone tries to call me ze, I'm going to smack them. And then we'll probably have an offensive little talk.
August 7, 2016
I won this near future, dystopian fiction through First Reads on Goodreads, as I do so many of the books I review here. The Civility Code by Michael W. Anderson is the first book of a trilogy.
The premise of the series is that offensive language has become a criminal offense, they added an amendment to the Constitution to this affect (Basically you are legally bound to be politically correct). To enforce this new law, a Civility Commission has been created. The commission investigates incidents of offensive language, prosecutes violators civilly and criminally, and determines what words are to be added to the prohibited word list each year. In the 20 years, since the law was enacted, 14,014 words have be added to the prohibited list. The list includes such words and phrases as: drunk driver, he, she, Mr., Miss, Mrs., clueless, fat, go on a diet, and not right.
The story follows the struggle between a group of hacktivists known as X and the Civility Commission over the law and the prohibited words. The hacktivists have been offered a window to take amnesty for their past crimes in order to escape prosecution, while the commissioner actively and passionately hunts them down.
The premise behind the book is what drew me to enter to win it, I think that the political correct/trigger warning movement has gotten out of control already and interferes with real discussions on serious issues. When I started the book, I had a hard time getting into it. The first chapter are so were difficult, I'm not sure if it was because of the new pronouns, the net shorthand used at the beginning, that I wasn't sure I was in the mood for the story, or the writing itself. After a couple of chapters, the story started to flow more smoothly for me. It seems the writing flowed better after that.
Anderson gives you insight into the personal lives and motivations of not only the hackers, but the commissioner of the Civility Commission. I look forward to to next volume to see how the stories and the characters progress.
The premise of the series is that offensive language has become a criminal offense, they added an amendment to the Constitution to this affect (Basically you are legally bound to be politically correct). To enforce this new law, a Civility Commission has been created. The commission investigates incidents of offensive language, prosecutes violators civilly and criminally, and determines what words are to be added to the prohibited word list each year. In the 20 years, since the law was enacted, 14,014 words have be added to the prohibited list. The list includes such words and phrases as: drunk driver, he, she, Mr., Miss, Mrs., clueless, fat, go on a diet, and not right.
The story follows the struggle between a group of hacktivists known as X and the Civility Commission over the law and the prohibited words. The hacktivists have been offered a window to take amnesty for their past crimes in order to escape prosecution, while the commissioner actively and passionately hunts them down.
The premise behind the book is what drew me to enter to win it, I think that the political correct/trigger warning movement has gotten out of control already and interferes with real discussions on serious issues. When I started the book, I had a hard time getting into it. The first chapter are so were difficult, I'm not sure if it was because of the new pronouns, the net shorthand used at the beginning, that I wasn't sure I was in the mood for the story, or the writing itself. After a couple of chapters, the story started to flow more smoothly for me. It seems the writing flowed better after that.
Anderson gives you insight into the personal lives and motivations of not only the hackers, but the commissioner of the Civility Commission. I look forward to to next volume to see how the stories and the characters progress.
March 18, 2016
Freedom of speech. It's something we have grown accustomed to and almost taken for granted. And especially now, in a day and age where almost everything can be twisted around to offend someone.
But can you imagine a world where these words are prohibited? Everything is gender neutralized and the use of these words is a violation of a code, or against the law. This is the world that Anderson has constructed in The Civility Code..........and I think this is the "closest to actually happening" sci-fi/futuristic novel that I've read. Look where already are as a country as far as freedom of speech and then this offensive mentality that the younger generation especially is coming up with.
As with his debut novel, Anderson has once again given us a peek into what could very well be our not so distant future, and The Civility Code is an even more likely option.
As for my thoughts on the book, I loved it. I thought that it was very well-written and it definitely makes you think. It wasn't a "quick and easy" read per se, what with so much going on between the hackers, the "trial" of Sid the Squid, and then the individual stories coming together. But it was intense, and kept me hanging on until the end.
The characters were well-written as well. I really related to Kata, and that's kind of who I was rooting for (I still am, I can't wait to see what happens in book 2).
I was given an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
But can you imagine a world where these words are prohibited? Everything is gender neutralized and the use of these words is a violation of a code, or against the law. This is the world that Anderson has constructed in The Civility Code..........and I think this is the "closest to actually happening" sci-fi/futuristic novel that I've read. Look where already are as a country as far as freedom of speech and then this offensive mentality that the younger generation especially is coming up with.
As with his debut novel, Anderson has once again given us a peek into what could very well be our not so distant future, and The Civility Code is an even more likely option.
As for my thoughts on the book, I loved it. I thought that it was very well-written and it definitely makes you think. It wasn't a "quick and easy" read per se, what with so much going on between the hackers, the "trial" of Sid the Squid, and then the individual stories coming together. But it was intense, and kept me hanging on until the end.
The characters were well-written as well. I really related to Kata, and that's kind of who I was rooting for (I still am, I can't wait to see what happens in book 2).
I was given an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
March 16, 2016
It is a well written book with a very plausible concept. Not really a new concept mind you, authoritarian governments abound in dystopian fiction but this one strikes pretty close to home with it's essentially current-day setting. My guess is that it was pushed forward a few years to allow for the technology in the book to be close enough to real but just beyond what we have now.
The premise that we watch what we say so as not to offend anyone becomes government jurisdiction and that it becomes so aggressively enforce is plausible but just a bit of a stretch. I'm really curious to see how this came about. Was there some landmark case that set precedent legally for offensive behavior to be regulated in such a manner? How does this get over and above The First Amendment? What is Commissioner Lafferty's motivation? He indicates at loss but not much more is given.
Really it is a cleverly written premise. I found myself pondering the plausibility of it in real life. Could we ever restrict statements or behavior like this? Could I have just said what I said if this were the U.S. in the book?
It made me think and that is a very good thing.
I look forward to Book Two. Perhaps more backstory will be given.
The premise that we watch what we say so as not to offend anyone becomes government jurisdiction and that it becomes so aggressively enforce is plausible but just a bit of a stretch. I'm really curious to see how this came about. Was there some landmark case that set precedent legally for offensive behavior to be regulated in such a manner? How does this get over and above The First Amendment? What is Commissioner Lafferty's motivation? He indicates at loss but not much more is given.
Really it is a cleverly written premise. I found myself pondering the plausibility of it in real life. Could we ever restrict statements or behavior like this? Could I have just said what I said if this were the U.S. in the book?
It made me think and that is a very good thing.
I look forward to Book Two. Perhaps more backstory will be given.
March 15, 2016
In the US in 2016, we are pushing the boundaries of what it means to have free speech. At the same time, we are raising a generation of young adults who don't know how to handle face-to-face confrontations. It is very easy to imagine that in 33 years, we could could be living in the world that Michael W. Anderson has created for his Civilogy.
The Civility Code (Civilogy, #1) was an exciting, thought-provoking, and unnervingly prophetic read. His characters are well-developed, their experiences don't feel contrived, and their reactions seem authentic to who they are. I look forward to books 2 and 3 of Civilogy, and more Anderson in general. His insightful writing begins to remind me of how Ray Bradbury could look at the problems of our human nature and show us where we'll end up if we don't keep ourselves in check.
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Civility Code (Civilogy, #1) was an exciting, thought-provoking, and unnervingly prophetic read. His characters are well-developed, their experiences don't feel contrived, and their reactions seem authentic to who they are. I look forward to books 2 and 3 of Civilogy, and more Anderson in general. His insightful writing begins to remind me of how Ray Bradbury could look at the problems of our human nature and show us where we'll end up if we don't keep ourselves in check.
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 19, 2016
I loved MWA's first book Provoke not the Children, hence I was excited to see what he came up with this time around. To be honest, it started slower than I expected, perhaps it has to do with all cyberspace peculiarities... But soon it progressed into a book I didn't want to put down. I have a 18 month year old crawling and running around the house and a full-time job, but I was carving out some time here and there so I could see the developments and finish the book as soon as possible... And now that I finished it, I'm somewhat disappointed that I now I have to wait for the next instalment. Michael, please hurry, I need to know the stories of Sylas the Stylus, NebuLes and Bucky Lastard.
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 13, 2016
Every once in a while you read a science fiction book and think, "That is not too far away" and by too far away, I mean less then a decade. The Civility Code is one of those books, and as read it, you can really feel for the characters. Without giving too much content away, this book is about what happens when political correctness meets free speech and wins by creating new laws. It is very believable and current, Once I started I had too keep reading, the only downside was this was Volume 1, bring on Volume 2.
May 6, 2016
I must admit, I put this book aside after the first few chapters because I couldn't figure out what was going on (especially with all of the zes and zirs), but when I decided to give it another try, I could NOT put it down. Wow! It's sad to say we are so far down this road already, especially with political correctness, that there is more truth to this story than fiction. The Civility Code is a timely and well-written sci-fi dystopian novel and it really takes off after the first couple of chapters. I can't wait to read book 2 and I hope Michael W. Anderson keeps on writing!
March 17, 2016
As a beta reader, I had anxiously waited for this book to finalize and be released. The concept is timely and thought provoking, yet very entertaining. The characters feel real and remind me of people I have known. It had been just long enough since my beta read that I once again did not want to put the book down. I am anxiously waiting for book 2.
"I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review."
"I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review."
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews