WWW: Wake (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: simplex mode, Miss Caitlin, World Wide Web, Helen Keller (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The wildly thought-provoking first installment of Sawyer's WWW trilogy, serialized in Analog in 2008 and 2009, explores the origins and emergence of consciousness. Blind teen Caitlin Decter gets an experimental signal-processing implant that inexplicably opens up her vision to the wondrous infrastructure of the World Wide Web. Inside the Web is a newborn webmind, a globe-spanning self-contained consciousness that is just becoming aware of the outside world. Secondary plot threads about a highly intelligent hybrid primate and Chinese bloggers battling a repressive government extend the motif of expanding awareness. The thematic diversity—and profundity—makes this one of Sawyer's strongest works to date. Numerous dangling plot threads are an unnecessary pointer to the forthcoming books; readers will keep coming back for the ideas. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

Caitlin was born blind, and when, newly arrived in tenth grade, she is offered a chance at an experimental procedure to give her sight, she leaps at it, despite previous disappointments. When she returns from the Tokyo hospital in which she underwent the procedure, it seems a failure. Soon enough, though, she discovers that, instead of reality, she is perceiving the Web. What’s particularly interesting is the background noise. Something strange is floating around behind the nodes of normal Webspace; a closer look reveals that, whatever it is, it’s not just meaningless noise. Caitlin’s story alternates with those of Hobo, a chimp whose claim to fame is being one of the first two apes to video-chat online; an entity of mysterious provenance; and a Chinese dissident blogger who is quite curious about why everything from outside China is blocked. Sawyer’s take on theories about the origin of consciousness, generated within the framework of an engaging story, is fascinating, and his approach to machine consciousness and the Internet is surprisingly fresh. --Regina Schroeder

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ace Hardcover; 1 edition (April 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441016790
• ISBN-13: 978-0441016792
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #233,848 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good - but no where near Sawyer's typical high standards., June 18, 2009

By	Ray J. Palen Jr. "Ray" (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

16-year old former Texan, Caitlin Decter, is living with her family in Toronto and attending local high school. Nothing spectacular except for the fact that Caitlin has been blind since birth. She communicates through an online program she calls Jaws that is an auditory program allowing her to hear everything that is on her screen.

Caitlin and her family fly to Japan to meet with Dr. Kuroda who has come up with an experimental surgery that could give Caitlin sight. Her new electronic eyes would be downloaded with data thereby allowing her to see as well as link to the World Wide Web. This "Websight" initially has some glitches - all Caitlin sees are images that she interprets as actually being the workings of the Web. Eventually, she does gain full sight and is overwhelmed at the world that has revealed itself to her. Underneath all this, however, is a computer entity that has been "awakened" through Caitlin's new vision and she is slowly becoming one with this entity (that she later names Webmind). This novel will give you more detail into the WWW then anything you have probably imagined (or even wanted to know).

Thus begins the first book in a new trilogy by the great Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer, Robert J. Sawyer. However, I found this to be the least drawn out of any of his previous novels. The premise is good, but the characters (with the exception of Caitlin) are not terribly likable. Additionally, there are a few random plot-lines that are introduced and either dropped totally or forgotten about, I imagine, until they get reintroduced in future novels. Most specifically, a plot-line involving an intelligent chimp named Hobo who can use sign language (an obvious homage to Crichton's "Congo") has only the thinnest tie to Caitlin's story and was quite distracting from the main plot.

Like all "first" novels in a trilogy or series, much time is given to establishing characters and motives and laying the groundwork for the far more interesting suceeding novels. I trust that Sawyer has this in mind and that the rest of this series delivers much more than this often dull story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awaking Awareness, October 10, 2009

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

WWW:Wake (2009) is the first SF novel in the WWW trilogy. It is set in the near future within Waterloo, a town near Toronto, Canada, with some scenes in Tokyo, Japan.

In this novel, Caitlin Decter is fifteen years old. She has been blind since birth. Her family has recently moved from Austin, Texas, to Waterloo.

Malcolm Decter is Caitlin's father. He is autistic, but is also a renown physicist. He moved to Canada for a position at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Barbara Decter is Caitlin's mother. She has a Ph.D. in Economics, but quit her job to take care of her blind daughter.

Bashira is Caitlin's best friend at school. She attends most of the same classes as Caitlin and acts as her guide in the hallways.

Masayuki Kuroda is a neuroscientist at the University of Tokyo. He has a Ph.D. from Cambridge and specializes in signal processing within the primary visual cortex.

In this story, Caitlin receives an email from Kuroda suggesting that she might be cured of her blindness. He has messaged her because she has a rare condition -- Tomasevic's syndrome -- that indicates that her optic processing is not correctly interpreted by the visual cortex.

She and her parents decide to follow up on the message. Kuroda says that his team needs some MRIs to determine if she is a good candidate. After learning that the provincial healthcare plan will not allow MRIs for experimental purposes, they use a private clinic to get the data.

Kuroda sends her an email stating that all the results are positive. But he also says that she will have to pay her own way to Tokyo. Her parents agree that they will pay the fare.

Caitlin tells Bashira that she is going to Tokyo for an operation that might restore her vision. Bashira is excited over her being able to actually see Caitlin's favorite vocalist in concert. Caitlin is more excited at seeing her parents for the first time.

Caitlin and her mother fly to Tokyo and are met at the airport by Kuroda. Later, an optic surgeon slips the insert behind her left eyeball and then they put her to bed to sleep off the aftereffects. When they check her vision, however, she is still blind.

Caitlin wants to leave the insert in place for a while longer. At first, Kuroda prefers to remove it and try another candidate. Yet Caitlin finally persuades him and flies home with the insert and the auxiliary box, which she calls the eyePod.

Later, Kuroda sends her an update to the microprocessor and she starts seeing lines and circles during the download. Then she reverts to blindness after the download is completed. She restarts the download and she again sees the lines and circles. She is seeing the World Wide Web.

This tale also relates the thoughts of a primitive entity and a political situation in China. When the Chinese government raises a firewall against the outside world, the entity experiences a loss of capacity. Apparently the entity dwells within the internet.

This novel focuses on developing awareness of the outside world. The next volume in this trilogy is WWW:Watch. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Sawyer fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of the World Wide Web, emerging sentience, and blind heroines.

-Arthur W. Jordin

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Start for a New Trilogy from Robert J. Sawyer, June 7, 2009

By	C. Baker "[e-mail]" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Robert Sawyer is one of my all time favorite science fiction writers. The start of his new WWW trilogy is very promising, although WWW: Wake does have a few flaws, mostly because of loose ends that will be tied up in future novels (I hope).

In Wake we meet Catlin Decter, a blind 15-year old girl, who also happens to be brilliant. When a new experimental technology comes along that can cure her type of blindness, she receives an implant in her eye that allows for the signals to be processed and sent to her brain that will allow her to see. But a strange thing happens. When she first turns on the device, instead of seeing the real world she sees the World Wide Web. And something is lurking in the Web that sees her as well. As the story progresses these two entities, the human Catlin Decter, and the other unknown entity discover each other.

There are also some unresolved threads in the novel, like the monkey (a crossbreed) that can paint representational art and hold a conversation in sign language, and a young man trying to break through the wall the Chinese government puts on the Internet to hide some horrifying news. It was a little disconcerting to have these stories within the story hanging loosely at the end.

Overall, the novel is very well done, and Catlin is a very well drawn character, as is her family, including her autistic father. But at the same time the novel is not a stand alone novel and begs for completion. While I would not call this one of Sawyer's best efforts, it is quite an intriguing concept and novel and I look forward to the next chapter of the story.