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Makers by [Cory Doctorow]

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Makers Kindle Edition

by Cory Doctorow (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Perry and Lester invent things: seashell robots that make toast, Boogie Woogie Elmo dolls that drive cars. They also invent entirely new economic systems. When Kodak and Duracell are broken up for parts by sharp venture capitalists, Perry and Lester help to invent the "New Work," a New Deal for the technological era. Barefoot bankers cross the nation, microinvesting in high-tech communal mini-startups. Together, they transform the nation and blogger Andrea Fleeks is there to document it.

Then it slides into collapse. The New Work bust puts the dot-bomb to shame. Perry and Lester build a network of interactive rides in abandoned Walmarts across the land. As their rides gain in popularity, a rogue Disney executive engineers a savage attack on the rides by convincing the police that their 3D printers are being used to make AK-47s.

Lawsuits multiply as venture capitalists take on a new investment strategy: backing litigation against companies like Disney. Lester and Perry's friendship falls to pieces when Lester gets the fatkins treatment, which turns him into a sybaritic gigolo.

Then things get really interesting.

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Print length

597 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Tor Books
Publication date

July 23, 2010
File size

1156 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this tour de force, Doctorow (Little Brother) uses the contradictions of two overused SF themes—the decline and fall of America and the boundless optimism of open source/hacker culture—to draw one of the most brilliant reimaginings of the near future since cyberpunk wore out its mirror shades. Perry Gibbons and Lester Banks, typical brilliant geeks in a garage, are trash-hackers who find inspiration in the growing pile of technical junk. Attracting the attention of suits and smart reporter Suzanne Church, the duo soon get involved with cheap and easy 3D printing, a cure for obesity and crowd-sourced theme parks. The result is bitingly realistic and miraculously avoids cliché or predictability. While dates and details occasionally contradict one another, Doctorow's combination of business strategy, brilliant product ideas and laugh-out-loud moments of insight will keep readers powering through this quick-moving tale. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Canadian-born Cory Doctorow is the author of the science fiction novels Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Eastern Standard Tribe, and Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, as well as two short story collections. He is also the author of young adult novels including the New York Times bestselling Little Brother and For the Win. His novels and short stories have won him three Locus Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He is co-editor of the popular blog BoingBoing, and has been named one of the Web’s twenty-five “influencers” by Forbes Magazine and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From Booklist

Covering the transformation of Kodacell (formerly Kodak and Duracell) into a network of tiny teams, journalist Suzanne Church goes to Florida and the inventors behind it all, Lester and Perry, who have more ideas than they know what to do with. The New Work (i.e., the network) takes off, with a mini-startup in every abandoned strip mall in America. But suddenly, it crashes, and things get really interesting. Lester and Perry build an interactive ride in an abandoned Wal-Mart, a nostalgia trip through their glory days, that catches the eye of a vicious Disney exec—and the old corporate giants fight their last battle against the new economic order. Doctorow’s talent for imagining the near future is astonishing, and his novels keep getting better. His prognostications are unnervingly plausible and completely bizarre, obviously developed from careful observation of what’s going on at the bleeding edge of technology and culture. The characters are simultaneously completely geeky and suave, lovable and flawed. Even the suits, marketing people and lawyers, are interesting. --Regina Schroeder --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

“Doctorow’s combination of business strategy, brilliant product ideas, and laugh-out-loud moments of insight will keep readers powering through this quick-moving tale.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Appealing characters and extremely interesting ideas that will appeal to his fans and SF aficionados as well as readers interested in cogitating on the social consequences of cybertechnology’s nearexponential growth. Enthusiastically recommended.” — Library Journal, starred review

“This is just one king-hell of a science fiction novel. Nobody in the world but [Doctorow] could have fabricated this amazing thing. It reads like it was written in 800-word van Vogt bursts in between yoga sessions, but man, this is the stuff. It makes twentieth century science fiction read like an antique collection.” —Bruce Sterling

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

“Doctorow’s combination of business strategy, brilliant product ideas, and laugh-out-loud moments of insight will keep readers powering through this quick-moving tale.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Appealing characters and extremely interesting ideas that will appeal to his fans and SF aficionados as well as readers interested in cogitating on the social consequences of cybertechnology’s nearexponential growth. Enthusiastically recommended.” — Library Journal, starred review

“This is just one king-hell of a science fiction novel. Nobody in the world but [Doctorow] could have fabricated this amazing thing. It reads like it was written in 800-word van Vogt bursts in between yoga sessions, but man, this is the stuff. It makes twentieth century science fiction read like an antique collection.” —Bruce Sterling

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN : B003VTZU1Q
Publisher : Tor Books; First edition (July 23, 2010)
Publication date : July 23, 2010
Language : English
File size : 1156 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 597 pages
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #357,470 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #322 in Language Experience Approach to Teaching
- #1,578 in Cyberpunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #2,234 in Cyberpunk Science Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
148 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

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A Brave New World

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2020

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It seems that people either love this book or hate this book. No middle ground.

One of the reasons that people tend to dislike Makers is that it seems to advocate a socio-communal social structure where people are basically good and if you just get the lawyers out of the way, everything will work out. However, even the author doesn't seem to believe this worldview very strongly because choices have consequences and the relationships between the best and nicest people tend to decay like a rotten tooth ("all we do is magnify each other's flaws").

I gave it 5 stars for a number of reasons.

The author wrote this book just 10 years ago (hello 2020 and COVID19) yet he pressed the fabric of the technology just a bit further into the future than where we are today. At that time, 3D printers were relatively primitive, the goop expensive and touchy, and yet he saw where he would lead. I built a kit today with a micro-controller and a servo motor; the author saw a world where these parts were so readily available, so open, and so mass-produced that you could take old toys apart, re-assemble them, re-flash the firmware and re-use the tech for entire different purposes at a scale that the original innovators never conceived.

Social media in "Makers" is even more pervasive than it is today. Heaven help us if Facebook embeds itself any further into our lives (and people willingly give up the last vestiges of their privacy without a thought). I do wish that the complex filtering and reporting in social media, as described in the book, existed today.

Credit cards have "pay patches" in the surfaces of tables in restaurants and bars. Our "tap to pay" with our phones or cards is almost there.

Disneyland, in the book, has severed itself from Walt Disney's vision and are simply a group of corporate profit centers. It's still the Happiest Place on Earth, but we accept a far lower standard for happiness. And, like Facebook, Disney (in the book) wants to extend their reach in every home in America (and beyond).

I follow the author on Twitter. He may only write several hundred words a day but they are quality words.

2 people found this helpful

A love/hate relationship

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2013

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I had previously read one Cory Doctorow book: Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. I liked that one fine, and thought it was well written, and pleasingly bizarre. At the time I had no idea who Doctorow was -- i.e., that he is a sort of internet celebrity, an activist, speaker, and insanely prolific blogger. After I learned more about this intriguing guy, I bought Makers. I found it compelling and repellant at the same time. There were times when I didn't want to finish it, but I couldn't get myself to abandon it. It's strange. A lot of the writing is terrible -- the prose and the characterization. It reads as if Doctorow plowed throught the first draft in three weeks and it was published essentially as is, with no revisions. But there are passages that are truly beautiful and insightful.

Some examples of the lazy, bad writing: one of the villains, Freddy, is ugly, lecherous, and has bad breath; the other villain is named Sammy (Freddy and Sammy. Really?), and starts of seemingly as a sort of nebbishy middle manager worried about the fact that he isn't reimbursed by his employer for mileage when traveling, then turns out to be quite high up in the Disney chain of command -- he is in charge of Fantasyland. Then he turns out to be a violent psychotic. And in the end he's sympathetic to the mission of our heroes (Perry and Lester), and just wants to make cool stuff, like they do. I guess that could be a character arc.

More lazy writing: people in this book double over laughing all the time; at one point someone literally rolls on the floor laughing. Have you ever seen an adult rolling around on the floor laughing? Maybe I live a humorless life, but I haven't.

On the other hand, the plot keeps racing along, and I felt compelled to run after it to see where it would go next. And the book is stuffed with ideas. And there are those flashes of brilliance in the writing that make me think that Doctorow could be a wonderful writer if he'd just slow down a bit.

But if you are aware of who he is and what he does, that doesn't seem likely.

Despite not being able to recommend this book, I'll read another Cory Doctorow. Probably Little Brother.

4 people found this helpful

A great writer of Conversations

Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2018

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This is my third Cory Doctorow novel and I've begun to develop expectations of what he will do particularly well and what, maybe, he could do a bit better. I'll leave the crit to others: yes, the characters can seem a bit wooden and interchangeable, but these are novels of ideas, and it's in the exchange of ideas, especially when they're being shared and developed in discussion, that Doctorow really shines.

Good future looking story

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2020

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Not sure how I felt overall, some uncomfortable moments along the way but does highlight the potential extrapolation of future trends. Support the move towards 4th Industrial revolution and on demand development but the whole fatkins process was a little strange. Fun characters, difficult moral choices and an interesting read.

One person found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

The Mark Jones

Defo' my flavour (tinkerer, thinker, maker and dreamer)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2012

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To me this is a book about principals and relationships, in particular friendship and the challenges there in. taking place within and bridging the disparate realms of the "Maker Movement" and multinational Corporate-ville, set in a very near future and highly plausible world, tech' speaking (IMHO).
If you're not remotely techcentric I wouldn't bother as it would read as gibberish.
I am sure this book will be seen as a prophetic vision in a couple of years time when we all have our domestic 3D printers churning out bits of "tchotchke" to sate our need for instant and momentary delectation.
The book is long and detailed and there are a few continuity flaws and some repetition . . . . .

THAT SAID! In the end (which is pretty pedestrian with no whistles, bells or explosions!)I was left with a tear in my eye, balling the book around in my hands looking for the little world of "Makers" and wanting more. So vivid was the story in my mind that I feel I'd recognise the characters were I to pass them on the street and I'm desperate to see what's so good about the "ride".

Very involving and thought provoking and I'm very glad I found it, not perfect but great for the right reader, therefore it's 5 stars.

Keep on "MAKING" ;)

Regards, Mark

Syriat

Fable of Tech Entrepreneurs

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2013

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Makers is a novel set in the near future and tells the tale of tech-savvy, business-naive inventors who are part of a new work initiative of a dotcom guru. Their inventions become popular and then through failure and success we see friendships stretched, tech fads grow and wither and an almost moralistic tale take shape. There is a narrative of trailer culture, nuclear families and America in the 21st century. The main characters are likable and the Disney influence after the halfway point is enjoyable and grows as the story goes on.

Doctrow seems like a younger version of Douglas Coupland and he covers some of the themes and genres. Its a very readable book that rips along at a good pace. Its not perfect, but as a modern day fable of corporate politics, invention and 21st century geek culture it makes some salient points and works well.

Djgos

Makes one think - Scary thought that!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 19, 2020

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Ah, I'm hooked on Corey now. Such a great ability to teach and tell all at once. My only gripe is that Death Waits isn't brought into the story more, and particularly that we don't know what happens to him at the end (🙄).

Amazon Customer

Absolutely superb!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2016

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Probably the best book I've read in ten years (and I'm not usually a great one for novels)...

As someone on the very edges of the 'Maker Movement', I was challenged and excited by the things created by the characters (and everything is either feasible today or will be soon), but this book is much more than that - every character is 'real', I've met them all and that took the story from a novel to an undiscovered reality for me.

Absolutely superb!!!

G. Rozzo

Engaging and fun book about the millennials makers

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 31, 2016

Verified Purchase

Engaging and fun book about the millennials makers: the new craftsmen and craftswomen of a dystopian, and nonetheless possibly very near, future. Enjoy!

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