The Bohr Maker [Paperback]

Linda Nagata (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1995

It is the most powerful technology known to humanity, microscopically small, allowing its user to control and change other's moods and emotions, and even to reprogram his or her own genetic structure. Its potential as the ultimate weapon or an instrument of peace has led to its ban by the Commonwealth.

Someone has stolen this outlaw technology, the Bohr Maker, from the secret files of the Commonwealth Police, at the command of a man with a genetic time bomb coded into his DNA. Nikko Jiang-Tibayan has only weeks to live, and he will do anything to stay only weeks to live, and he will do anything to stay alive, even if it means the end of life as we know it.

But then the Bohr Maker falls into the hands of a beautiful young woman in the poverty-stricken slums of Sunda. Its technology will make her both fugitive and messiah. The object of frantic searches by a walking dead man and a high-tech police force, the Maker holds the key to the total destruction of humanity -- or its miraculous rebirth....

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Nagata joins the growing ranks of sf authors inspired by the emerging science of nanotechnology. At the center of her brilliantly original first novel is a powerful, illicit device known as the Bohr Maker, a microscopic factory full of self-replicating machines programmed to transform a human host into a genius-level nanotech engineer. Nikko, a genetically altered resident of a space colony, is reaching the end of his built-in life span and is eager to procure the Bohr Maker, as much to save his own life as to break the stranglehold of Earth's ruling Commonwealth. Before he can lay hands on it, however, the Bohr Maker's earthbound owner is killed and its tiny machinery injected into the body of an ignorant, poverty-stricken woman named Phousita, which changes the destiny of everyone in unforeseeable ways. Nagata reinforces her compelling story line with a wealth of mind-bending ideas that make her work favorably comparable with that of leading-edge stylists such as Bruce Sterling and Neal Stephenson and sure to be popular with both critics and fans. Carl Hays

Review

"Nagata sweeps us into a compelling high-tech future in which nanotechnology has transformed life and society into strange new forms. The Bohr Maker is an exciting debut by a strong new writer."

-- Mary Rosenblum, author of The Drylands

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 325 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books (Spectra) (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553569252
• ISBN-13: 978-0553569254
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,348,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Linda Nagata grew up in a rented beach house on the north shore of Oahu. She graduated from the University of Hawaii with a degree in zoology and worked for a time at Haleakala National Park on the island of Maui. She has been a writer, a mom, a programmer of database-driven websites, and lately a publisher and book designer. She is the author of eight novels including The Bohr Maker, winner of the Locus Award for best first novel, and the novella "Goddesses," the first online publication to receive a Nebula award. She lives with her husband in their long-time home on the island of Maui. Find Linda on the web at MythicIsland.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative, sophisticated speculation + charming heroine, January 6, 2001

By 

David R. Downes (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bohr Maker (Paperback)

It's too bad this novel is currently out of print, since it packages intricate and imaginative speculation about nanotechnology and its impacts on humanity with lively action, exotic local color, a social conscience *and* a charming heroine with an unbeatable combination of vulnerability and clout. Phousita is an impoverished and uneducated but gentle, clever and (by the way) "beautifully proportioned" ex-prostitute who stands less than four feet tall. Accidentally infected with the "Bohr maker," a new and awesomely powerful nanotechnological device, she acquires magical, superhuman powers of life and death. Her adventures take her from the slums of an unnamed city (apparently in Java or Malaya) to artificial habitats in outer space and back again, more or less. Along the way Nagata details a vivid series of technological wonders, from trees (and humans) genetically engineered to flourish in the near-vacuum of space, to organic self-sustaining space habitats that disperse through spores (call them spaceships). Nor does she neglect the political dynamics and cultural shifts that result from such technological developments. Significant weaknesses include rather flat rendering of most characters and occasional lags in the plot's pacing. Nagata's next two books (Tech Heaven and Deception Well) do not live up to the promise of this one, in my view, but I look forward to checking out Vast and Limit of Vision.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Amazing., March 29, 2004

By 

MarvinT (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bohr Maker (Paperback)

My favorite authors include Larry Niven, Neal Stephenson, and Linda Nagata. Actually, the last few books by Neal (and I have autographed copies) have been a distinct disappointments.

But in all the mass-market books that I have been able to locate, Linda Nagata has consistently written excellent work. This is the second in the Nanotech series (w/Tech Heaven, Deception Well, and Vast), and perhaps the best.

The thrust of the book centers on the attempt to access the Bohr Maker, a "maker" that can alter the (human) host's physiology at a cellular level, and more. The technological evolution is handled very well, and some ramifications of such a technology are presented as facets of the narrative. The social situation she presents is not as well framed, but that deficiency does little to reduce the joy in reading this book.

The last 3 books of this series would certainly make it on my list of top 50, proably top 25 books.

Find it, buy it and read it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very thought provoking, August 19, 2009

By 

Andrew Richardson (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Bohr Maker (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this story -

Sci-Fi is at its best to me when it combines "real" people, a good story and lots of "it might happen sooner than you think" technologys/situations

I found the characters both otherworldy and understandable - I didnt understand thier motivation at all at the beginning, but by the end I had got "into thier heads" - I have thought about them a bit afterwards and wonder if they would seem more natural to a japanese reader, coming from a culture which emphasises self control and etiquette.

The story itself was a great yarn, but filled with many enriching observations/details - I have not felt this many times, but on closing the book I thought "This would make a great movie"

The ideas are also really intriguing - essentially a projection of how genetic engineering will manifest itselves in future generations. Since reading it (combined with a nearer-term vision presented in the movie "Gattaca") I find the subject fascinating - both in a happy "futuristic" way, but also with some sadness for my children that will have to navigate through a more complex world as these technologies increasingly influence our lives.

I dont think this book would be to everyones taste, but I loved it!!