Commodork Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie by Rob Ohara | Book Review
“Commodork, Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie” is a short book written by Podcaster and all-around internet personality Rob O’hara. I learned about him through his podcasts, Sprite Castle in particular, which is a terrific Commodore 64 game by game podcast. He, of course, has other podcasts including the “You Don’t know Flack” , “Throwback Reviews” and “Multiple Sadness”.
At first, I really hesitated purchasing this book because although I am into the classic gaming, I was not that much into the BBS scene, and frankly, it didn’t sound all interesting a topic to me, so for a while, this was a stopping point. However, upon further investigating, Rob has his first chapter available to read for free on his website. I went ahead and checked it out, and after reading the first chapter, I thought I would be a fun read. My first impression of chapter one was that it was surprisingly well written and engaging. Being familiar with the sound of Robs voice, I found it hard to read the book without substituting his voice in my head. One of the themes covered in the book was software piracy in the early days of computing. He covers how naughty he was with respect to that subject. I have to admit, back in the early days, I didn’t have any moral issues with copying software either. Although I never went to the degree that he did in order to build a pirated software collection.
Rob Tells many “Sordid Tales” in the book which were in fact very interesting and entertaining. He covers the fact that when he was a child, his parents actually owned a software store. How lucky is that! He must have been in hog heaven. He was lucky to have parents that shared his interests and were into Computers.
The other thing I found striking about Rob was how social he was. He was the editor of his high school paper, he was always involved in various writing projects throughout his teens and even up to this day. He would go out of his way to make a name for himself in the BBS scene, and in real life meet ups, going so far as to create his own BBS and or hacking/cracking groups. The book covered a topic I really had no prior knowledge of, Phone Phreaking. This was a method used in the days of payphones to obtain a free phone call by playing a sound into the microphone. This would enable free call to anywhere in the world. I rarely used a payphone, so I probably wouldn’t have minded paying the required ten cents. When the World Wide web was first getting footing, he tells the story of how he and many others were able to circumvent paying the Internet service providers, therefore getting free internet!
In his closing chapter, “The Downward Spiral”, reflecting back on the differences between the BBS scene and the internet, Rob articulates how the BBS was where all of his friends were. It was “close and comfortable”, and the internet was “foreign and cold”. But the internet eventually won out, and most Bulletin board systems were shut down by the late 90’s. He also speaks to his then obsession with collecting vintage computing items. He says, in a nutshell, it really wasn’t about searching for the old stuff, but it was really about memories attached to the old items. I found myself getting a little bit emotional reading the last few pages, because what he said really resonated with me. When I think about why I collect old vintage items, I believe it is mostly chasing after nostalgia and memories of times that have long since past.
The paperback is currently available new on Amazon from $10 – $15 and you can alternately download the Kindle edition for $2.99. On Rob’s website, not only can you purchase this book but you can read reviews and you can find full-color photos of all the pictures contained in the book.
Robs writing style is very smooth, almost silky, and this makes for a real quick and run read. There are so many great memories recorded and shared in this book. It’s amazing to me how he was able to remember all this stuff, including all of the BBS aliases. I find him and his stories to be extremely relatable. He does a great job and I highly recommend his book.
http://robohara.com/photo/index.php?album=Books/Commodork
Youtube Description
This is my review of the book “Commodork Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie”, by Rob O’hara. At the conclusion of my review I have included a few family interviews regarding a topic in the book.
Rob O’Hara’s website link to purchase the book and more:
http://www.robohara.com/Commodork/
Amazon.com link to buy the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Commodork-Sordid-Tales-BBS-Junkie-ebook/dp/B001U3YI1I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467673793&sr=8-1&keywords=commodork#navbar
Rob O’Hara’s podcasts:
http://podcast.robohara.com/
http://spritecastle.com/
http://multiplesadness.com/
http://throwbackreviews.com/
Oxmanagain youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/oxmanagain/
Joybubbles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joybubbles
Youtube Original Post Date: 07/04/2016
