Mutiny — An Introduction

A Gift to Enrich ‘the commons.’

Mutiny — Why We Love Pirates and How They Can Save Us was originally released in 2012.

As I worked on the book I realised that the medium had to be consistent with the message, and that pursuing a long copyright would be against the spirit of ‘enriching the commons’ that the text calls for.

Through the excellent work of Lewis Hyde in The Gift and Common As Air I came to the conclusion that this work should model the principle of ‘private compensation, followed by public benefit,’ and thus I promised to release a version of the text into the public domain, for free.

This is the fulfilment of that promise.

I’ve hugely enjoyed engaging with people on the themes covered in the book, which range from the historic to the economic to the deeper themes that lie within pirate stories, and on further into the psychological and theological. I hope that this free edition will widen the reach of what I still feel is a rich and important message.

Writing is a complex business. For those of us who wrestle with words and thoughts, the principle motivation is not monetary. For those who are lucky enough to find an audience the rewards in these digital days are often sparse. But writing still takes time. It is still a craft. It is still, in terms of hours of labour and required resources, a work that carries real costs.

So if you enjoy the book, do drop me a line and encourage others to read it, and please consider making a contribution towards the work that went into it.

You can buy it in various editions on Amazon, or on Lulu.com, or you could just Paypal me a donation via this link.

But, most importantly, if you know a writer, spend a moment writing them a note of encouragement, and if you have a local bookshop, visit it often and buy what you can from there.

Books, as you will read in the story of the printer Henry Hill, are part of the pirate tradition, part of the way that knowledge is shared widely, part of the essential lubrication of our communities. We should do what we can to secure a future where they are able to be shared.

Hope you enjoy the book,

Stay pirate .-)

You can watch my TEDx talk on piracy and the commons here

Or jump straight to Chapter 1.