Read This: "The Circle" by Dave Eggers

This probably won’t surprise you, but I am a big conspiracy girl. I once discovered – completely by accident – that conspiracy theory is kryptonite to cocktail party conversation.

Happily, I discovered this at a friend’s wedding, when I was stuck talking to her uncle, the most boring, long-winded man on the planet. When I threw my conversational nugget about conspiracy theories into the mix, he made up an excuse to get away from me.

I was equal parts offended and psyched. Which was the exact same reaction I had to the book I just finished, which also – coincidentally – touches on conspiracy theory.

The book in question?

The Circle by Dave Eggers.

Mostly, The Circle deals with the “a ha” moments our heroine, Mae, has when she lands a job at a company that bears a striking resemblance to Facebook. Mae’s company is basically a fictionalized Facebook, a start up where legions of hip, young things labor to connect all via their social media site that’s everything to everyone.

The company’s aim is to create a better society through surveillance. Think nanny cam on global scale. There are cameras everywhere, recording everything, with a vast audience of viewers watching, “liking” and controlling the results.

While this “smile, you’re on camera” state may help stop many human rights abuses, it’s creating a few too. The ethical questions Eggers covers are broad. What are the moral implications of a world where everyone and everything is known?

But just as your head starts to hurt from thinking about this stuff, Eggers throws in an issue that’s downright tawdry. Such as, who owns the digital rights in a hook up situation? Mae foolishly gets carnal with a coworker who records and posts the action online.

Is this an ethical breach or much ado about nothing? Shakespeare would be mystified by this brave, new world where the rules on romance and everything else have been rewritten. Is the technology Mae’s company offers the best thing to happen to humanity or the worst?

Read and discuss. Or read, discuss and, with your vocal opinions on the issue, scare off your friend’s boring uncle at the next family gathering.

Happy reading, guru girls & guys! (Click this link to go to amazon.com to learn more about "The Circle", available for around $12 for e-readers.)