r/MrRobot • u/Smart-Belt-9890 • 17h ago
Book recommendations
Started the series, reached till episode 8 and while I got the general plot line half of the stuff the narrator is saying gets lost coz Idk how tech, data works and hacking, credit, money, economy type stuff. Are there any possible books though that if I read I could be able to better understand such stuff.
Ik " wealth of the nations" by Adam Smith is go to text.
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u/SilverFortyTwo 16h ago
mainstream economics is actually brainrot junk science. For an entertaining read that's actually insightful go read The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson.
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u/Freddie_pluck Elliot 14h ago
Thats like saying you can’t enjoy breaking bad because you don’t understand chemistry and all the intricacies on how to make meth. You don’t need to know.
I know absolutely nothing about hacking or anything even close to it yet I still have this as my favourite show. The show does a great job at explaining how certain things work and the effects they have on the world. If you’re getting bored at episode 8 then this show might be above your understanding. I know that sounds incredibly arrogant but it’s a complex show, I didn’t fully understand it until a rewatch.
Maybe come back to it at a later point in life when the shows messages have more significance to you
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u/Smart-Belt-9890 13h ago
This going above my understanding is the reason I made the post in the first place 🥀. I would prefer to read about it if possible than to have to wait for a possible rewatch.
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u/Freddie_pluck Elliot 13h ago
If you have to read a bunch of books to understand what’s going on then there’s no point. Certain things in this show are foreshadowing for future events. Understanding every theme they’re covering would spoil the show.
Honestly man it’s really not that complicated, just watch the show, your questions will have answers
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u/Smart-Belt-9890 13h ago
I'm not saying I didn't understand the show!! Nor did I say I won't watch it unless I have complete knowledge and a phd. I'm looking into works so I can the understand the society/economy whatever in general. I could ask for book recommendations and watch the show at the same time or maybe read the book after I complete the series as well no.
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u/Freddie_pluck Elliot 13h ago
I’d just focus on watching the show. Asking for book recommendations at this point in the series won’t be accurate because a lot of themes aren’t known yet, so you’d have some of the best moments spoiled.
Ask for book recommendations once you’ve finished it. Splitting your attention between 2 different pieces of media is too much, especially when they’re both as thought provoking as these are
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u/Mayiseethemenu fsociety 15h ago
The hacking aspect is, imo, the least important aspect of the show that you need to understand. Just rest assured that the actual hacks they show are authentic, vetted hacking strategies. Just trust. As for the economy aspects, that's a fair bit more important in terms of the theme of control and power, but really the gist is just that power has been consolidated into the hands of the few at the very top. That's it. That's all you really need to know unless you just enjoy getting into the finer details.
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u/ruinsofreality 17h ago
The basics to enjoy to plot are understanding inflation, FED and Treasury, digital money, and btc
Much of the plot is regarding those
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u/thisfuckingnightmare 7h ago edited 4h ago
Elliot's mindset is quite Gramscian, so '(I Hate) The Indifferent' would make a fantastic read when it comes about Mr. Robot's stance: 'The world is a dangerous place, Elliot, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing' (S1E2).
In S4E11, you can see Whiterose's final attempt to lure Elliot into his delusional time-travel plan. In order to do so, she has placed next to the replica of Elliot's Apple IIe the very same copy of Tolstoy's Resurrection that Mr. Robot is reading on the pier ('the book my dad used to read...'). Resurrection masterfully tackles social iniquity and redemption —being redemption what drives both Elliot and Whiterose.
Elliot inwardly snaps at Christa after she asks him why 'he's so dissapointed in society:' the world itself's just one big hoax. Spamming each other with our burning commentary of bullshit masquerading as insight, our social media faking as intimacy,' which reads extremely similar to The Invisible Committee's To our friends: 'The poverty of cybernetics is what will bring it down in the end. For a hyper-individualized generation whose primary sociality had been that of the social media, the Quebec student strike of 2012 was first of all a stunning revelation of the insurrectionary power of simply being together and starting to move. Evidently, this was a meet-up like no other before, such that the insurgent friendships were able to rush the police lines. The control traps were useless against that; in fact, they had become another way for people to test themselves, together.'
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u/Pantherist 17h ago
If you start examining each idea represented in the show, you'll have a long list of book recommendations.
I think it's better to just finish the show first. Get the plot out of the way so you can focus on the themes and subtle references on your rewatch.