I read this book while reading Wael Ghonim's "Revolution 2.0." While Ghonim's account reflects on his own personal story, Idle's book recounts the collective memory of a country. Initially, I didn't think Idle's style of using various tweets would captivate my attention, but within pages of this book, the story unraveled. It was interesting and heartfelt to learn about Egypt's revolution through the eyes of the people who actually participated in the revolution. While I am sure many historians will try to retell this story, there is nothing like using testimony of actual participants. Who knew Twitter and its users would serve as the newest primary source documents!? This is both exhilarating and disturbing. Exhilarating because it's not like any description of a revolution anyone has ever read before -- each tweet is in the moment, with no reflection and only the information at hand. Given that many of the tweets are also calls to action -- come here now; we need cold medication; etc. -- you get a viewpoint that is truly new. When one of the contributor's feed goes silent, when a report comes in that he is missing, when a stranger answers his phone -- this is extraordinarily dramatic. The distressing thing about it is that sooner or later the fact that these revolutionaries harbor deep anti-Israel (and possibly anti-Semitic) feelings comes up. There's one contributor in particular who is smart, charming, non-violent -- and then, once they've won, basically says "on to Jerusalem." No, I am not suggesting that his support of Israel justified Mubarak. I am saying that while anything good that happens in Egypt will be the result of how these revolutionaries acted in Tahrir Square, there are also things that may result from their actions that are far less desirable.
What do You think about Tweets From Tahrir (2011)?
I've never thought that this book would be that great. I loved the idea. Proud to be Egyptian.
—tranmai
Tweets are not really readible in a book form. Nice idea though.
—elmo13
If you want to live the Egyptian Revolution, read this book :)
—yakster
