As you know, my interests tend to veer from the high-tech to the underground, from authors to zine-makers, from science to punk. Well, my friend Gareth Branwyn is a bit of both. He’s been an editor at Mondo 2000 and bOING-bOING, as well as at both high-minded WIRED and the D.I.Y.-bible MAKE. He recently stepped down as Editorial Director of the latter and is currently compiling all of his various and important writings into one volume, but first he has to fund the project.
I interviewed Branwyn years ago (2001), and he told me then:
One of the great things about being so bloody old is that I’ve had a chance to experience every flavor of fringe media from the mid-’70s on. I caught the tail end of ’70s hippie media, then the punk DIY movement of the ’80s, then the ’zine publishing scene of the ’90s, and then web publishing in the ’90s.
He’s never left the scene, making his one of the most important voices in (any) media today. Borg Like Me will be indispensable for understanding 21st-century media mayhem. Don’t take my word for it, check out a 25-page sample of the book [.pdf], and watch the video on its Kickstarter page. A worthier cause you’re not likely to find or fund.