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Robert J. Sawyer

WWW: Wake Hardcover – Bargain Price, April 7, 2009

by Robert J. Sawyer (Author)

4.3 416 ratings

Book 1 of 3: WWW Trilogy

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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"One of the foremost science fiction writers of our generation"(SF Site) comes to Ace with a trilogy of the Web's awakening.

Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math-and blind. Still, she can surf the net with the best of them, following its complex paths clearly in her mind. But Caitlin's brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colors and shapes. While exploring this amazing realm, she discovers something-some other-lurking in the background. And it's getting more and more intelligent with each passing day...

Book 1 of 3

WWW Trilogy
Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Ace Hardcover
Publication date

April 7, 2009
Dimensions

6.56 x 1.21 x 9.3 inches
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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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002YNS11Q
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace Hardcover; 1st edition (April 7, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.56 x 1.21 x 9.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #9,500,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10,914 in Technothrillers (Books)
- #28,220 in Deals in Books
- #298,984 in Science Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 416 ratings

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Robert J. Sawyer

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Robert J. Sawyer is one of only eight writers ever to win all three of the world’s top awards for best science-fiction novel of the year: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He has also won the Robert A. Heinlein Award, the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award, and the Hal Clement Memorial Award; the top SF awards in China, Japan, France, and Spain; and a record-setting sixteen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”).

Rob’s novel FlashForward was the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, and he was a scriptwriter for that program. He also scripted the two-part finale for the popular web series Star Trek Continues.

He is a Member of the Order of Canada, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government, as well as the Order of Ontario, the highest honor given by his home province; he was also one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Rob lives just outside Toronto.His website and blog are at sfwriter.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon he’s RobertJSawyer.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

416 global ratings

5 star		55%
4 star		26%
3 star		14%
2 star		3%
1 star		1%

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Critic's Corner

Engaging, Interesting Story!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 30, 2010

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"Wake" is a great science fiction book with real science and some interesting subplots that keep the reader moving. Well-paced, the author challenges the reader with various plots and at the same time throws in a bit of Canadian trivia.

What I liked were the responses with not only technology but the characters' reactions as well. The main story deals with Caitlin, a math expert ("Calculass" is her web name) not quite 16 yet, but blind since birth. A doctor in Japan fits her with a special device that decodes the signals from her eye to her brain and creates two things: one, she can see again! Two, she can see the Web. Yes, she can see the movements of the World Wide Web.

However, unknown to everyone, there is a presence that is also being born. It realizes it exists, forms thoughts and conclusions and finally decides to contact its only other terminal: Caitlin!

The book moved me to tears when she discovered her sight. The author clearly must have some experience with the blind and disabled to write so clearly on such a sensitive subject. Caitlin relates her tale to that of Helen Keller and Keller's teacher, Ann Franklin. And how like Ann Franklin, Caitlin is teaching the web intelligence (dubbed Webmind) about Man.

The subplots are interesting as well. They're not all concluded by the end of the book and for some readers (as you can see by other reviewers) seem put off by this. But I'm not. I see where Sawyer is going. There just was not enough "book" to complete the subplots. This is after all a trilogy, right?

A group of people have discovered a way of communicating with an intelligent ape. Unfortunately there are others who want to sterilize the ape and stop his formation.

Another group, this time in communist China, want to stop a deadly strain of H1N1 virus (called H1N5 in this fictional world) and so cut off the internet from the rest of the world while they shamelessly murder thousands of peasants to stem the tide of contagion. A man finds out about this but may not live long enough to tell the world. Intense.

Finally, there's Caitlin herself. She feels protective of the Webmind and is not sure how to proceed with it. Meanwhile Webmind wants just one question answered. Who is he?

Bottom Line? The book is written at a young adult level and the character development is clear with Caitlin. And her autistic father and genius mother are characters to contend with. Great story, interesting premise of an intelligence on the web.

I'm really wanting to read the second book now to see how it all turns out. The book ends on a thrilling note that gets the reader to want more. I found this same technique with J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series and that works here as well.

Recommended:

WWW: Watch (WWW Trilogy)
Flashforward

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Antinomian

Potential Hugo Award Finalist (or Winner)

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 27, 2010

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Robert J. Sawyer has written some good novels in the past and this one is right up there with them. He has a very accessible style almost making the writing of the novel look too easy which is a skill of a great writer. I discovered Sawyer's latest book from a website article on Predicting the Next Hugo-Award-Winning Novel. At the time of this writing the votes are being gathered to first determine the Hugo finalists, but time will shortly tell where this novel stands.

Our protagonist is a blind high school girl, but blind in a particular way that allows her to be a recipient for an experimental process that could give her sight. However, the process ends up giving her a visual perspective of the world wide web (thus the www in the title). Now I found the entire novel to be believable in the set up of the scenario, but this ability really strained the imagination. Robert Sawyer makes humorous commentary in the novel on himself here by referencing a popular comic pane that shows a scientist writing complex mathematical equations on a blackboard and in the middle of it is the statement "and here a miracle occurs." However, this is a science fiction novel and as the phrase goes `a suspension of disbelief' allows one to flow with the novel, and I credit Sawyer for taking it light-heartedly. Sawyer's novel is quite timely with current events. Just as I was reading in the novel in China's restrictions on Google, I'm reading in the news China's restrictions and confrontation with Google. As I'm reading in Sawyer's novel about the ability to develop a technique to give a blind person sight, I'm reading in National Geographic about a procedure, with photos, on giving a blind person sight! Man, Sawyer knows his stuff. And it's a unique and significant quality to be able to write about actual events in the real world and as a reader to learn about them and to make it enjoyably entertaining at the same time. I didn't necessarily agree with the novel on that many scientists are autistic or have Asperger's Syndrome. I know many scientists and I haven't known any that were/are autistic. They may have particular characteristics such as being very focused on their jobs, but this is quality of the job, and they may not be on the cutting edge of fashion, but no differently than occurs in subgroups or even regions of the country such as New England. However, he did stoke my interest in reading up on autism and Asperger's and that's a positive unique quality of a great novel. He also refreshes one on the world wide web and on the potential development of an artificial intelligence. If you have been reading science fiction for a while you'll recognize many aspects that have been touched upon elsewhere, however Sawyer gathers topics and puts them together in a unique modern way.

I've seen on Amazon two titles for the novel, Wake and WWW:Wake. In my copy the title is WWW:Wake (with a colon, not a period) and I'm not sure if the w's are supposed to be capitalized or not as on a novel jacket they typical capitalize everything. Sawyer is planning a trilogy; this is the first of them with the subsequent novel's being Watch and Wonder putting a double meaning on WWW. Although part of a forthcoming trilogy, this novel does stand alone... there's room for follow up but isn't written as a necessity to read the follow-ups. A recommended novel.

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Michael Lynn McGuire

Book number one of a three book science fiction series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 25, 2022

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Book number one of a three book science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Ace in 2009. I have purchased the following two books in the series and am reading book two now.

Caitlyn Decter is 15 years old, a math prodigy, and blind. Not because her eyes are defective but because her retinas and brain do not communicate properly with each other. The condition is rare but a Japanese researcher has created a solution and wants to try it out on her. The result allows her to see out of one eye and to meet an entity on the internet named webmind.

This is not the first time that an author has proposed an artificial intelligence on a common platform. Orson Scott Card created the Ansible Network, an instantaneous cross star system communications network, in his Ender books that has an AI named Jane in it.

One person found this helpful

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Jo

a gripping read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 1, 2014

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A sympathetic view of the awakening of sight in a previously blind girl, mixed with detailed descriptions of aspects of 'webology', done in such a way that the narrative unfolds logically and evoking emotion. I am looking to see where the next in the series goes.

D. R. Cantrell

Technologically laughable but a great story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 31, 2010

Verified Purchase

The premise of this story - a blind girl gets a Device to make her see, and ends up being able to see the structure of the world wide web - was a real turn-off for me. It's ludicrous, is one of the worst-explained parts of the story, and given my profession it's a great big flashing warning that we have here an author who's going to write wrongly about something I am an expert in. However, I already know from several of his previous works that Sawyer writes good stories, so I decided to risk it and buy the book second-hand for a pittance.

I'm glad that I did. Thankfully, while he does get the technology wrong on so many levels, the story is indeed a good one, and we also have believable characters and sound dialogue. That papers over the technological cracks that would otherwise have spoilt it for me. There is another weakness though - the ending leaves far too much dangling. Of course, there's a sequel, so no doubt things will get tidied up there, but I so much prefer series where each individual episode at least tries to work on its own.

Recommended, apart from to sad sacks who insist on rigourous hyper-correctness in their fiction.

2 people found this helpful

J. J. G. Quesada

Un libro irregular

Reviewed in Spain 🇪🇸 on November 18, 2012

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Esta es una opinión sobre la versión original en inglés de WWW: Wake. Hasta donde yo sé, no hay edición en español, claro que tampoco nos perdemos mucho...

En general, me gustan los libros de Sawyer que he leído. No es especialmente brillante ni ingenioso, pero es competente y suele hilar razonablemente las historias y las motivaciones.

De las novelas que han pasado por mis manos, esta es la más floja. El problema del nacimiento de la consciencia es interesante y ha ido ganando "momento" en estos últimos años, pero Sawyer elige un camino simplón y absolutamente predecible. Aunque tiene algunas referencias a estudios (reales) sobre la consciencia que son curiosos, en general la trama presenta muchas inconsistencias.

Si nos olvidamos de esto, la historia en sí es perfecta para leer de camino al trabajo: nunca me pasé de estación, ni me costó apagar el kindle. Es decir, no consigue enganchar; es simplemente correcta.

El inglés de la novela es asequible (aunque cada uno de nosotros es un mundo en esto del "nivel" de inglés) y tener el diccionario a una presión de dedo (en el Touch) es una gozada. Es más, posiblemente, si no llega a ser por el hecho de leer en inglés, hubiese preferido leer otra cosa.

La edición en kindle es buena y puedes ver algún que otro comentario de los compartidos por losusuarios, así como las frases más marcadas (si tienes activada la opción, claro).

One person found this helpful

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B. Chris-Maria

Langsamer Start, dafür in Folge packende Thematik

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on July 27, 2010

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Das Buch beschäftigt sich mit der Entstehung von Bewustsein, dort, wo man es zuletzt vermuten würde: Im Worldwideweb (WWW), nicht nur in einem Rechnercluster sondern viel subtiler, aus dem Web selbst. Parallel dazu entwickelt sich die Geschichte, um ein blindes Mädchen, das mit Hilfe der Erfindung eines japanischen Wissenschaftlers, sehen lernt. Da die Daten Ihrer Augen zwecks Auswertung, via Web übertragen werden, wird sie von der neuen Intelligenz entdeckt und zum Lehrer des neuen Bewustseins (Webmind)....
Sehr gut geschrieben (so, wie immer bei Mr. Sawyer),am Anfang etwas zäh zu lesen, da die Metarmorphosen, die das Web beim Entstehen des Bewustseins durchläuft, wohl nur IT nahen Personen Informationen liefert - da aber durchaus plausibel!
Im Finale einfach nicht mehr weglegbar.... packend, persönlich, intelligent, ein klassischer Sawyer eben ......
den Folgeband (Watch) hatte ich glücklicherweise schon mitbestellt ;-)
Leider muss ich jetzt wohl bis Mitte 2011 auf den dritten Teil warten...

One person found this helpful

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Ariane

Read the whole trilogy

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 3, 2020

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Wake is the first in a wonderful trilogy featuring a blind girl who is connected physically to the internet, in an attempt to help her to see. What follows is amazing and beautifully written. Sawyer's research into whatever science he writes about is most instructive and interesting!

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WWW: Wake Hardcover – Bargain Price, April 7, 2009

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