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Autonomous
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
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Publisher's summary
From award winning tech-journalist and io9 founder Annalee Newitz comes a highly anticipated science fiction debut!
Autonomous will pull listeners into a dark and dirty world that feels, at times, a bit too familiar.
Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can't otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane.
Hot on her trail, an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack's drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understand.
And underlying it all is one fundamental question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?
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Editorial reviews
Editors Select, September 2017
A debut novel about artificial intelligence and drug pirates from Annalee Newitz, the founder of io9? I was on board before I even downloaded this book - and turns out I was safe to judge it by its cover. Newitz has created a richly imagined and morally corrupt future in which both life-saving and mind-altering drugs are heavily controlled by big pharma patents, and where both humans and robots live side by side - some indentured, some having gained “autonomy”. Autonomous is as addictive as it is thought-provoking, and I can’t wait to see what comes next for Newitz. Jennifer Ikeda was also a new narrator for me, and I was impressed by her range and ability to convey characters both young and mature, human and nonhuman. —Sam, Audible Editor
Critic reviews
"The uncertainty, fear, rage, despair, and, ultimately, hope that the robots experience are all perfectly voiced by Ikeda. A thrilling examination of intellectual property rights and personal identity." (AudioFile)
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- By: Daniel H. Wilson, John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Emily Beresford, Tamara Marston, A.T. Chandler, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Humans beware. As the robotic revolution continues to creep into our lives, it brings with it an impending sense of doom. What horrifying scenarios might unfold if our technology were to go awry? From self-aware robotic toys to intelligent machines violently malfunctioning, this anthology brings to life the half-formed questions and fears we all have about the increasing presence of robots in our lives.
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Has some bright spots
- By ChrisM. on 10-22-15
By: Daniel H. Wilson, and others
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METAtropolis
- By: Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Michael Hogan, Scott Brick, Kandyse McClure, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Armed camps of eco-survivalists battle purveyors of technology in this exclusive, original production featuring five sci-fi masters and five all-star narrators.
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Not a wasted credit
- By james on 10-27-08
By: Jay Lake, and others
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Nexus
- Nexus, Book 1
- By: Ramez Naam
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the near future, the nano-drug Nexus can link mind to mind. There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it. When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage, with far more at stake than anyone realizes.
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This guy might be great one day
- By Daniel on 05-14-14
By: Ramez Naam
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Code Breakers: Prequel
- By: Colin F. Barnes
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 2 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rogue hackers Petal and Gabriel are low on food and water. Their reputation precedes them and they are no longer able to hustle the crime community for supplies. With survival becoming harder, they’re left with no other choice but to accept a risky job from a dangerous individual. The two will have to negotiate with the Tinker - a woman whose reputation for psychotic behaviour is known across the nuclear-blasted Abandoned Lands; infiltrate a town overrun with killers; and recover a cache of exceptionally rare information.
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Good action and plot - terrible world building
- By J. S. Bowers on 12-08-18
By: Colin F. Barnes
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Children of the Deterrent
- Halfhero, Book 1
- By: Ian W. Sainsbury
- Narrated by: Sam Phillips, Jaimi Barbakoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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The new novel by the author of the best-selling The World Walker series. 'My name is Daniel Harbin, and I'm a child of The Deterrent.' What if a superhuman turned out not to be so super...or even human? Britain's superhero, The Deterrent, was unveiled to the world in 1979 and disappeared two years later. The truth about his origins has never been revealed. The rumours about his children - those that survived - and their mysterious abilities have never been confirmed. Until now....
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Everything Backstory Until Last Few Chapters
- By Sailfish on 06-30-20
By: Ian W. Sainsbury
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Camouflage
- By: Joe Haldeman
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
The artifact is found seven miles below the surface of the sea and beneath 40 more feet of sand. The Navy's efforts to raise a wrecked submarine uncover it - and set in motion a scientific race to retrieve it, to discover just what it is and where it came from. Denser than any substance known to man, it has broken every drill bit they've tried on it and will not budge an inch. It resists every effort to breach it - or communicate with it.
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Loved it!
- By Nathan Caroland on 09-21-08
By: Joe Haldeman
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Immortality
- By: Kevin Bohacz
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 26 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Without warning, something has gone terribly awry. In the remote and unnoticed places of the world, small pockets of death begin occurring. As the initially isolated extinctions spread, the world's eyes focus on this unimaginable horror and chaos. Out of the ecological imbalance, something new and extraordinary is evolving and surviving to fill the voids left by these extinctions. Evolution is operating in ways no one could have expected, and environmental damage may be the catalyst.
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Good End of World Thriller
- By John S on 11-04-14
By: Kevin Bohacz
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Necropolis
- By: Michael Dempsey
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
NYPD detective Paul Donner and his wife Elise were killed in a hold-up gone wrong. Fifty years later, Donner is back: revived courtesy of the Shift. Supposedly the unintended side-effect of a botched biological terrorist attack and carried by a ubiquitous retrovirus, the Shift jump-starts dead DNA and throws the life cycle into reverse, so reborns like Donner must cope with the fact that they are not only slowly youthing toward a new childhood, but have become New York's most hated minority.
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'Necropolis' Rocked My World
- By HEIDI on 01-19-12
By: Michael Dempsey
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The Punch Escrow
- By: Tal M. Klein
- Narrated by: Matthew Mercer
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Joel Byram is an everyday 22nd century guy. He spends his days training artificial-intelligence engines to act more human, jamming out to 1980s new wave - an extremely obscure genre - and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. Joel is pretty much an everyday guy with everyday problems - until he's accidentally duplicated while teleporting. Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves.
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Great Premise, terrible execution
- By Perfect Tommy on 09-25-17
By: Tal M. Klein
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Altered Carbon
- By: Richard K. Morgan
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the 25th century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person's consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or "sleeve") making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.
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Altered Carbon
- By Jake Williams on 09-22-07
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Accelerando
- By: Charles Stross
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Singularity. It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.
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Hardest of hard SF...
- By DLee on 11-24-14
By: Charles Stross
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The God Wave
- A Novel
- By: Patrick Hemstreet
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For decades scientists have speculated about the untapped potential of the human brain. Now, neuroscientist Chuck Brenton has made an astonishing breakthrough. He has discovered the key - the crucial combination of practice and conditioning - to access the incredible power dormant in 90 percent of our brains. Applying his methods to test subjects, he has stimulated abilities that elevate brain function to seemingly godlike levels.
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it lost its way at the end, but I liked it
- By Leo on 09-25-16
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2113
- Stories Inspired by the Music of Rush
- By: John McFetridge - editor, Kevin J. Anderson - editor
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The music of Rush, one of the most successful bands in music history, is filled with fantastic stories, evocative images, thought-provoking futures and pasts. In this anthology, notable, best-selling, and award-winning writers each chose a Rush song as the spark for a new story, drawing inspiration from the visionary trio Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart.
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I'm a RUSH fan, but ...no..not this book
- By NBP on 07-15-17
By: John McFetridge - editor, and others
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Bluescreen
- A Mirador Novel
- By: Dan Wells
- Narrated by: Roxanne Hernandez
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From Dan Wells, author of the New York Times best-selling Partials Sequence, comes the first book in a new sci-fi-noir series. Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors, as long as you have the right connections. That connection is a djinni - a smart device implanted right in a person's head. In a world where virtually everyone is online 24 hours a day, this connection is like oxygen - and a world like that presents plenty of opportunities for someone who knows how to manipulate it.
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not bad, but difficult narrator
- By Dennis Bingham on 05-02-16
By: Dan Wells
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Metrophage
- By: Richard Kadrey
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Welcome to Los Angeles - where anger, hunger and disease run rampant. Jonny is a black-market dealer in drugs that heal the body and cool the mind. All he cares about is his own survival. Until a strange new plague turns L.A. into a city of death, and Jonny is forced to put everything on the line to find the cure... if it can be found on Earth.
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This is how Cyberpunk should be done!
- By Cliff on 09-09-13
By: Richard Kadrey
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Libriomancer
- Magic ex Libris, Book 1
- By: Jim C. Hines
- Narrated by: David DeVries
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped.
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A reasonable start
- By Simon on 04-08-13
By: Jim C. Hines
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In its 4.5 billion–year history, life on Earth has been almost erased at least half a dozen times: shattered by asteroid impacts, entombed in ice, smothered by methane, and torn apart by unfathomably powerful megavolcanoes. And we know that another global disaster is eventually headed our way. Can we survive it? How?
As a species, Homo sapiens is at a crossroads. Study of our planet’s turbulent past suggests that we are overdue for a catastrophic disaster, whether caused by nature or by human interference.
It’s a frightening prospect, as each of the Earth’s past major disasters—from meteor strikes to bombardment by cosmic radiation—resulted in a mass extinction, where more than 75 percent of the planet’s species died out. But in Scatter, Adapt, and Remember, Annalee Newitz, science journalist and editor of the science Web site io9.com explains that although global disaster is all but inevitable, our chances of long-term species survival are better than ever. Life on Earth has come close to annihilation—humans have, more than once, narrowly avoided extinction just
during the last million years—but every single time a few creatures survived, evolving to adapt to the harshest of conditions.
This brilliantly speculative work of popular science focuses on humanity’s long history of dodging the bullet, as well as on new threats that we may face in years to come. Most important, it explores how scientific breakthroughs today will help us avoid disasters tomorrow. From simulating tsunamis to studying central Turkey’s ancient underground cities; from cultivating cyanobacteria for “living cities” to designing space elevators to make space colonies cost-effective; from using math to stop pandemics to studying the remarkable survival strategies of gray whales, scientists and researchers the world over are discovering the keys to long-term resilience and learning how humans can choose life over death.
Newitz’s remarkable and fascinating journey through the science of mass extinctions is a powerful argument about human ingenuity and our ability to change. In a world populated by doomsday preppers and media commentators obsessively forecasting our demise, Scatter, Adapt, and Remember is a compelling voice of hope. It leads us away from apocalyptic thinking into a future where we live to build a better world—on this planet and perhaps on others. Readers of this book will be equipped scientifically, intellectually, and emotionally to face whatever the future holds.
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Daemon
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When the obituary of legendary computer game architect Matthew Sobol appears online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events that begins to unravel our interconnected world. This daemon reads news headlines, recruits human followers, and orders assassinations. With Sobol’s secrets buried with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed, it’s up to Detective Peter Sebeck to stop a self-replicating virtual killer before it achieves its ultimate purpose - one that goes far beyond anything Sebeck could have imagined.
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Possibly The Best Techno-thriller Ever
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A Cyberpunk Saga: Box Set, Books 1-3
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Orphaned and alone, Moss is happy to have found a place in the world. But his humdrum working routines take a terrifying turn when a mysterious woman breaks into his apartment and hands him a data chip from his dead parents. Suddenly hearing messages revealing his benevolent employer has a far darker side, he braves the dangerous megacity streets in search of the truth. Surrounded by outcasts and criminals and running on instinct, Moss stumbles onto a rebel group intent on exposing their corrupt oppressors.
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Good value, fun story, a few gripes.
- By David on 09-26-22
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Altered Carbon
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In the 25th century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person's consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or "sleeve") making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.
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Altered Carbon
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Gnomon
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In the world of Gnomon, citizens are constantly observed and democracy has reached a pinnacle of "transparency". Every action is seen, every word is recorded, and the System has access to its citizens' thoughts and memories - all in the name of providing the safest society in history. When suspected dissident Diana Hunter dies in government custody, it marks the first time a citizen has been killed during an interrogation. The System doesn't make mistakes, but something isn't right about the circumstances surrounding Hunter's death.
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Excellent, challenging, not a “beach read”
- By Mark Hancock on 12-09-18
By: Nick Harkaway
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The Diamond Age
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Neal Stephenson, "the hottest science fiction writer in America", takes science fiction to dazzling new levels. The Diamond Age is a stunning tale; set in 21st-century Shanghai, it is the story of what happens what a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin named Nell. Her life, and the entire future of humanity, is about to be decoded and reprogrammed.
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The rock could use a bit more polishing
- By Tango on 05-19-13
By: Neal Stephenson
What listeners say about Autonomous
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Michael G Kurilla
- 10-15-17
Drug lord Robin Hood with robotic romance
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz starts with a simple premise, a woman with a drug manufacturing capability who produces counterfeit expensive drugs to support her passion for making other life-saving drugs for poor people. At the same time, law enforcement partners, one who happens to be a robot are tracking Ms Robin Hood who has reverse engineered a new drug that happens to have some serious side effects such as killing people.
The main story is set a bit over 100 years into the future with occasional flashbacks about 25 years earlier. The main sci-fi elements amount to sophisticated drug development and manufacturing capabilities as well as advanced robots. Unfortunately, the basic premise of intellectual property, i.e. patents as the source of the problems of the day is a bit overdone and suggest someone with little background in this area. If the world were as described, then somehow in the intervening years, patents were changed to have infinite lifetimes and somehow, the world has allowed itself to fall under a single set of patent laws.
Law enforcement is also a bit loose with official investigators murdering any and all witnesses they question and staging suicide scenes. Also, pharma companies don't need to worry about bad drugs as "rich" people who can afford their drug can also afford medical care, but why they wouldn't just sue the pants off big pharma seems ignored. Also, if a single woman in a submarine can manufacture enough drugs to save small, poor countries from health care disasters, it begs the question why poor countries can't establish their own manufacturing facilities in submarines. Another bizarre aspect to this society is that at some point, intelligent robots were emancipated or could be become "autonomous", but at the same time, in some wired way it made sense that if robots could be autonomous, then humans could also become indentured as slaves to be bought and sold. This creates situations where humans are bought and sold for cheap labor, while robots can earn PhDs. Lastly, a lack of inside knowledge on the drug development process produces a situation where the mechanism of action of a dangerous drug is studied, an antidote is fashioned, tested on one mouse, and then the formula uploaded for doctors in hospitals to use in only five days.
Between the questionable ethics of making drugs for recreational abuse to support making life-saving drugs and robots struggling with gender identity issues and romantic feelings, the tale feels like an artificial world that doesn't quite make enough sense to exist. There is no attempt to offer how this transition occurred.
The narration is reasonably good, but with barely adequate character, especially gender discrimination making following conversations difficult at times.
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7 people found this helpful
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- D.A.
- 05-31-18
Lovely Out-There Scifi Exploration
This book is pretty out-there. It hits so many of the major scifi themes: personhood, identity, what it is to be human, dystopia, Corporatocracy, intellectual property/ownership. It even goes a step further and explores sexual identity/sexuality between human and non-human sentience. It reminds me of a Neal Stephenson novel if it was ghost-written by a person who was actually good at characterization. And more concise. I love Stephenson's work, and this is just as "hard" a scifi, but Newitz makes much more *real* characters.
Jennifer Ikeda does a fine job narrating, and I'm pleased with her performance.
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- Aron Wilburn
- 01-07-19
Non-synthetic, gritty Futurism at its best.
Being a huge sci-fi and cyberpunk genre fan, I was pleasantly surprised but this wasn't yet another recycled attempt at world-building. the authors knowledge of Biotech, military technology, and basic programming theory kept the story fresh without bogging down in the minutiae. You can invest yourself in the characters quickly, and easily imagine yourself in this not so distant world where everything is for sale, even your soul, but the only real winners are those with privilege. Race, human-trafficking, intellectual property, identity and free-will are just a few of the themes expertly crafted by this talented writer. I look forward to seeing more work by this author.
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- Aaron K. Clark
- 01-03-19
This should have won the Nebula Award!
This book was a nebula-award nominee for 2018. It should have won!! The characters and story and environment all add up to the most compelling debut novel in years.
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- John & Nadine
- 01-18-18
Smart, Crisp, Vivid Sci-Fi
Neal Stephenson & William Gibson recommend this book. That may be all you need to know.
I only found out after finishing it that this is Annalee Newitz's first novel - & I really hope there are more to come! A crackling, full-colour future is built before your eyes that propels a fascinating story, full of memorable characters. Jennifer Ikeda's narration is excellent, and very much immersed me in the story.
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- B. Bozeman
- 02-01-22
Annalee Newitz - Favorite new author
CYBERPUNK - check Sci-Fi - check - A trip through a near future with a great new female character taking on the corporate 'Big Pharma' and their gene enhanced and robotic enforcers. This one is great fun.
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- Elektra Hammond
- 09-18-22
Inventive and original
Remarkable. Complex. Intriguing characters. Fantastic worldbuilding. Intense look at human and non-human relationships. Highly Recommended.
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- Strephon
- 10-16-17
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture
Fast-paced and smart without losing depth or miring the listener in an inaccessible discourse of artificial intelligence, big pharma, or IT.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Thammy M.
- 07-02-18
Too romantic
The idea about biotech is interesting, however the plot is a bit cheesy, making the story a bit monotone.
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- Kate M.
- 10-16-19
Interesting but odd.
I loved a lot of the ideas and creativity in this book. It's downfall seems to me to be that it tries to do too much in a limited amount of time, and some of the narrative loses its impact as a result.
Jack was a little too one-dimensional for my taste, seeing as how she is one of the main characters. She's not nearly as interesting as Med or Threezed, and I would've liked a lot more of the story told from their perspectives.
Paladin and Elias are certainly...interesting. I will admit I had a lot of trouble with the romantic portions of this story, particularly where these two were concerned. I just can't imagine a romance between a man and a robot, regardless of "gender." The conflict that Paladin feels on whether it is "male" or "female" is academically interesting, but I just didn't buy the instant attraction/love of these two characters. Not to mention that Paladin isn't even remotely human-shaped.
All in all, I'm not sorry I read this. It has some interesting (and scary) ideas about the future, particularly with regard to Big Pharma. But the story it tries to use to carry those ideas seems to fall short, just because there is so much going on that it can't keep up. Plus the robot thing.
2.5 stars, rounded up.
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