So, I finished Cole Stryker's book, Epic Win For Anonymous: How 4chan's Army Conquered the Web. Can't say that I really learned anything, but I doubt that academics who've been studying 4chan for the past two years are his target audience.

The book makes good on its promise to peer into 4chan without succumbing to the "fear, condescension, and hand-waving that dominate mainstream coverage of internet culture", and it's certainly one of the few accounts -- along with Julian Dibbell's work -- of 4chan by someone who "gets" it.

The book is shockingly current -- it mentions that Nyan Cat was viral for over a month at the time of writing -- but, as a result, feels like it was written very quickly. I don't blame Stryker -- in fact, I'm jealous -- but it's clear that Epic Win is more about "getting there first" than offering any substantive analysis, and the bulk of the volume simply recounts the major raids and memes that have ties to 4chan and Anonymous.

By far, the strongest section of the book is the fifth chapter, wherein Stryker traces the various other websites and movements (from phone phreaks to eBaum's World) that contributed to 4chan's development. It's pretty good for amateur cultural history, and it illustrates the centrality of the lulz to the history of the internet.

So, if you find yourself confused by the activities of 4chan, or, if you're frustrated by the mainstream media's utter failure to comprehend Anonymous, then Stryker's book provides a good primer. And, like 4chan itself, the book is a good reminder of how culture on the internet actually works, as opposed to the way various marketers and social media moguls keep telling us it does.