WWW: Wonder

By: Robert J. Sawyer

Narrated by: Jessica Almasy, Marc Vietor, Oliver Wyman, Anthony Haden Salerno, Robert J. Sawyer - introduction

Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

"A writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation" (New York Times) concludes his mindbending trilogy.

Webmind - the vast consciousness that spontaneously emerged from the infrastructure of the World Wide Web - has proven its worth to humanity by aiding in everything from curing cancer to easing international tensions. But the brass at the Pentagon see Webmind as a threat that needs to be eliminated. Caitlin Decter - the once-blind 16-year-old math genius who discovered, and bonded with, Webmind - wants desperately to protect her friend. And if she doesn't act, everything - Webmind included - may come crashing down.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction written and read by author Robert J. Sawyer.

Listen to the rest of the WWW Trilogy.

©2011 Robert J. Sawyer (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Sawyer shows mastery in his ability to move between complex scientific concepts and genuine and realistic characters....Wonder...is fast-paced and immediately engaging." (The Globe and Mail)

"The shining star of this near-perfect production is Jessica Almasy as the sweet teenager who introduces WebMind to the world. Her equal is Marc Vietor, the voice selected by the machine because of his brilliant work reading audiobooks. (Good inside joke there.) This story, the audiobook equivalent of a page-turner, challenges the listener to pick a side: human or machine. The answer is surprising." (Audiofile)

Being about being while engaging in the world

The series definitely makes the listener think. The author has the protagonist's math Professor named Heidegger for a reason. I had no problem with how the author steps through the creation of the self-aware entity into its understanding of its being about being, and is engagement in the world as an other. Heidegger (the real philosopher) if anything is nothing but a refutation of Descartes and his 'cogito ergo sum'. I'm not bothered at all by the author taking two entirely different approaches to the question of our own existence and self awareness (Heidegger v Descartes). This little novel provokes as a good science fiction should always.

I particularly enjoyed Caitlin's father, Malcolm. The author presents the character in a realistic fashion as someone who is on the Asperger Spectrum. It was a clever way to use him as a reflection to how some humans as well as an AI might see the world differently than neuro-typicals do.

The author gives voice to atheist and pretty much just assumes a progressive political world view. There was one theme that the author really pressed throughout the book, and that is you don't have to become like your enemy in order to defeat your enemy (either when fighting a bully or when fighting those who want to destroy you because your different).

Good Story but,,,,,,

I like the story but the readers don't always do a good job. The good guys in the story are way too simple.

You people are getting Jamaican accents wrong. The Jamaican accent as read sounds like a person from Trinidad. As a Jamaican I find it a little irritating.

Otherwise a good story

this is an excellent trilogy

I really like this book. It's well written and has really good 'heart'. Robert Sawyer is a wonderful author. I recommend everything that he has written. Specifically 'Calculating God' , 'the Quintagleo Ascension', 'Rollback', 'the Neanderthal Parallax', and 'Factoring Humanity'. All excellent.

Only two flaws imo. Sawyer seems obsessed with suicide in this series. It's a little tough to take but it's usual for him to get preachy in his books. It's just something you have to either submit to or fast forward through.

As far as technical, some chapter's decimals were so low it was difficult to have to keep toggling the volume.

How far would you go to survive?

Would you kill? The last chapter of the WWW shows how far an AI must go to stay alive. The world has changed but some don't feel for the better. The final book does a nice job at tiring everything together and making every character have a true connection to the the bigger story.

Fantastic!

Yes, it is Science Fiction but there are some great messages for the human race. The series, and especially this book, causes me to think more and more about what could be accomplished if we, all sides, looked at issues from different perspectives.

A book for scientists

What made the experience of listening to WWW: Wonder the most enjoyable?

The voice acting was superb and the discussions the characters have on the nature and evolution of consciousness are enlightening.

Enjoyable

Now that Webmind is public knowledge and communicating with others besides Caitlin, it feels like she was an unnecessary in this book. In fact, if she had been removed, it really wouldn't have effected the plot.

My second observation is that the author is clearly terrible at writing romance. There isn't much, but the small amount that's there detracts from the story. I think Sawyer needed a reason to introduce another character in book two, and giving Caitlin a boyfriend was the first thing he thought of.

Finally, the ending seems a lot more anti-climatic than the rest of the book implies. There are people in the book who envision a situation like in the Matrix when they think about Webmind. Without much fanfare though, they suddenly change their minds.

Despite the above complaints though, this was an enjoyable read. The ideas of sight, consciousness... and really just the whole science fiction aspect counterbalance the fact that Caitlin is your typical teenager with all the annoyances that come with that.

A brief word on the narrators: Marc Vietor is the voice of Webmind and Jessica Almasy is mainly the voice of Caitlin. Specifically about Veitor... well, there is no other way to say it... he is Webmind.

A fitting conclusion to a great series

I was initially hesitant to read the WWW series based on the synopsis, which seemed like a bit of a departure for Sawyer. I've read everything else he has produced and am pleased to say that the series, and Wonder specifically, are very much in line with his other works, and in fact, are towards the top of the pile. The WWW series isn't as in depth technically, but it makes up for it with its sociological explorations, which are as startling and revelatory as ever.

Another hesitation I had was around the use of multiple Audible narrators, which can be jarring if done poorly. I'm pleased to say that it was handled flawlessly in the WWW series. Each scene uses a single narrator fir the most part, as the scenes are naturally told from a single narrator's perspective, so there were very few transitions between narrators in a given scene.

All in all, Wonder is a satisfying conclusion to a wonderful series.

Great Series!

I just finished listening to Wonder having previously listened to Wake and Watch. I thoroughly enjoyed each book. These books are not only good story-telling, but the best audio productions I have ever heard. The readers were perfect for each part they played and totally believable. Jessica Almasy in particular nailed the part of Caitlin. Thank you to everyone involved!

Brilliant!

This is a great End for the trilogy. It keeps the rythm of the other two books, and doesn't disapoint the followers.