PopCo
{{short description|Book by Scarlett Thomas}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book |
| name = PopCo
| orig title =
| translator =
| image = PopCo Paperback.jpg
| author = Scarlett Thomas
| cover_artist =
| country = Great Britain
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Novel
| publisher = Harper Perennial
| release_date = 2004
| media_type = Print
| pages = 452 pp
| isbn = 1-84115-764-3
| oclc= 59355647
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
PopCo is a 2004 novel by British author Scarlett Thomas. The book addresses several mathematical topics.
Plot
It tells a story of twenty-nine-year-old Alice Butler, a quirky, fiercely intelligent loner with an affinity for secret codes and mathematics. She works for the huge toy company named PopCo, where she creates snooping kids' kits - KidSpy, KidTec and KidCracker. At the company conference Alice and her colleagues are brought into developing the ultimate product for the teenage girls.
Reception
The novel has been compared to Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, with similarities including a buried treasure subplot and flashbacks to Bletchley Park.{{cn|date=November 2022}}
A review in the journal of the American Mathematical Society praised its "subversive and lively style".{{cite journal |last1=Kasman |first1=Alex |title=Book review |journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society |date=February 2006 |pages=215–217 |url=https://www.ams.org/notices/200602/rev-kasman.pdf |access-date=19 November 2022}} A review in The Independent praised "the weight of ideas and downright chutzpah crammed into this book."{{cite news |last1=House |first1=Christian |title=PopCo by Scarlett Thomas |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/popco-by-scarlett-thomas-52980.html |access-date=19 November 2022 |work=The Independent |date=22 August 2004 |language=en}} Another review in The Independent described it as "a big, zeitgeisty novel that free-associates in the way that only cyberpunk science-fiction used to be able to do. It is such enormous fun, and so peppered with sharp observations and satirical jabs, that it gets away with editorialising patches [and] a certain hastiness of composition".{{cite news |last1=Newman |first1=Kim |title=PopCo, by Scarlett Thomas |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/popco-by-scarlett-thomas-556734.html |access-date=19 November 2022 |work=The Independent |date=16 August 2004 |language=en}} A review in The Guardian described it as "awkward" but ultimately enjoyable.{{cite news |last1=Phillips |first1=Charlie |title=Books to give you hope: PopCo by Scarlett Thomas |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/aug/17/books-to-give-you-hope-popco-by-scarlett-thomas |access-date=19 November 2022 |work=the Guardian |date=17 August 2016 |language=en}}
However, another review in The Guardian found it "clumsy", writing "Thomas cannot decide whether she is writing a boarding-school adventure or a dystopic tale of global corporations."{{cite news |last1=Montgomery |first1=Isobel |title=Fiction: Aug 28 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/aug/28/featuresreviews.guardianreview11 |access-date=19 November 2022 |work=the Guardian |date=28 August 2004 |language=en}} A review in the Daily Telegraph wrote "its adolescent earnestness and its morally fibrous manifesto can make for queasy reading."{{cite news |last=Cross |first=Stephanie |title=Paperbacks |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3646324/Paperbacks.html |access-date=19 November 2022 |work=www.telegraph.co.uk |date=4 September 2005}}
PopCo was a 2004 book of the year in Time Out and The Independent on Sunday.{{cn|date=November 2022}}