From the New York Times bestselling author of Little Brother, a major novel of the booms, busts, and further booms in store for Am... read full description
reviews
May 28, 2010
Nicole
rated it: 
I hesitate to mark this book as 'read', but I did read over half of it. I usually don't stop in the middle of books, but this book was an exception. I didn't just dislike it - it made me actively angry.
It's not the concepts or politics that made me angry - I'm familiar with Doctorow's agenda, and I agree with most of it. I'm a lefty, I'm interested in technology and decentralized/local production of goods and services, I think activism can be important, and I think copyright is broke More...
It's not the concepts or politics that made me angry - I'm familiar with Doctorow's agenda, and I agree with most of it. I'm a lefty, I'm interested in technology and decentralized/local production of goods and services, I think activism can be important, and I think copyright is broke More...
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Aug 25, 2010
Kemper
rated it: 
I’ve always wished that I had the engineering knack so I could invent something like a robot that does laundry or flying cars or something cool like that. Hell, I’d be tickled if I could figure out something fun like dropping Mentos into Diet Coke. After reading this book, I’m kind of glad to be technically challenged because it seems like there’d be a dark side to being that kind of guy.
This realistic sci-fi story takes place in the near future where economic woes have left corpor More...
This realistic sci-fi story takes place in the near future where economic woes have left corpor More...
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Apr 22, 2010
Ben
rated it: 
At first, I was a little annoyed with feeling like I was just reading BoingBoing in novel version. All the usual suspects show up: DIY everything, creative economic models, subcultures, nonsense legal actions, open source, 3d printing, Disney, online meeting/consensus tools, revision control systems, police brutality, urban decay, and of course citizen-journalism.
But then a whole plot appears and it's compelling. The book doesn't quit bringing new ideas and twists and I really like h More...
But then a whole plot appears and it's compelling. The book doesn't quit bringing new ideas and twists and I really like h More...
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Jan 19, 2012
Ruby
rated it:
This is a book people will either love or be "meh" about. The best I can do for a review is tell people what to expect. So if you're okay with the following, then the book may be for you..
The book has a non-traditional story arc. The narrative doesn't go where you think it's going to go at any point in time, and resists attempts to categorise it. Some people may feel it that it meanders, or that it doesn't have a point. I am okay with this.
All of the characters More...
The book has a non-traditional story arc. The narrative doesn't go where you think it's going to go at any point in time, and resists attempts to categorise it. Some people may feel it that it meanders, or that it doesn't have a point. I am okay with this.
All of the characters More...
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Oct 14, 2010
GillyP
rated it: 
I tried very hard to like this book. I loved the pretext and I really wanted to like it, but it’s so hard going, nothing much seems to happen and it’s much, much too long.
Focussing on a very near, wholly believable future, the story kicks off brilliantly, the characters start out interesting but then - nothing. The characters quickly merge and become indistinguishable, so that you have to work rather too hard to keep up with who’s doing what, where and why. What story there is is so More...
Focussing on a very near, wholly believable future, the story kicks off brilliantly, the characters start out interesting but then - nothing. The characters quickly merge and become indistinguishable, so that you have to work rather too hard to keep up with who’s doing what, where and why. What story there is is so More...
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(4 people liked it)
Apr 04, 2011
Ben
rated it:
Economics is weird. The economy is a social system. Once upon a time, it was based somewhat in reality, with gold standards and natural resources forming a large part of this anchor. At present, it has transformed into a mostly speculative beast, the taming of which is the goal of any number of hedge fund managers, stock market analysts, and economics professors with cushy degrees from Ivy League or wannabe-Ivy League schools. To make matters worse, the economy is based on the behaviour of p
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(1 person liked it)
Dec 29, 2010
This is sort of a strange book. It was hard to figure out whether this book was about people or about technology or about business or about creativity or (as is most likely) an amalgamation of all four. The story takes a few jumps: at the beginning it seems to set itself up as one thing and then shifts gears rather dramatically into another direction.
Cory Doctorow also continues his fascination and love/hate relationship with Disney. The only other book of his I've read, Down and Ou More...
Cory Doctorow also continues his fascination and love/hate relationship with Disney. The only other book of his I've read, Down and Ou More...
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Feb 01, 2012
Angela
rated it:
Some 30 years after the Reagan revolution transformed the American economy and refocused all our resources on a wealth transfer to the richest among us, we can see that the goals of that Revolution have been nearly completed. The middle class is disappearing rapidly and well on its way to being converted into a huge mass of people who can no longer be called working class since the jobs have disappeared. Without a socialist intervention in the very near future, America can expect to end up in
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Jul 30, 2011
Laura
rated it:
MILDLY SPOILERY AND RANTY.
Doctorow’s books are, I think by design, heavy on the fictional explications of various cultural and social forces that are crashing through history; light on the characters. The role of art and design in the age of mechanical reproduction; rights in the face of the total awareness society; how the state’s monopoly on the lawful use of force works once the state is no longer the biggest bully on the block, hacking, cooperative efforts, yaddy yaddy. At least the More...
Doctorow’s books are, I think by design, heavy on the fictional explications of various cultural and social forces that are crashing through history; light on the characters. The role of art and design in the age of mechanical reproduction; rights in the face of the total awareness society; how the state’s monopoly on the lawful use of force works once the state is no longer the biggest bully on the block, hacking, cooperative efforts, yaddy yaddy. At least the More...
Mar 20, 2011
Jack
rated it:
Wow was this good. I started it Thursday night. It's Sunday. It's done.
The book is a lovely set of interlocking love stories. Of two great friends, who together make each other's best imaginings possible. Of boys and their technology. Of entrepreneurs and capitalism. Of technology and capitalism. Of art and the need to put food on the table. Of the great friends and the women they find. Some of these love stories are incredibly rich and heartwarming. Some are very bleak. All More...
The book is a lovely set of interlocking love stories. Of two great friends, who together make each other's best imaginings possible. Of boys and their technology. Of entrepreneurs and capitalism. Of technology and capitalism. Of art and the need to put food on the table. Of the great friends and the women they find. Some of these love stories are incredibly rich and heartwarming. Some are very bleak. All More...
Feb 09, 2011
Amber
rated it:
I've read from several reviewers that Cory Doctorow can see the future...and may even live there. I have come to believe that just as fervently.
This book centers on two friends, both gearheads who are genius creators, the kind of people who can look at a technology and see 10 new uses for it. We follow their stories through the all-too familiar phases of life - the dazzling promise of youth, the pressure of adulthood, and the unforeseen changes that life brings with each passing yea More...
This book centers on two friends, both gearheads who are genius creators, the kind of people who can look at a technology and see 10 new uses for it. We follow their stories through the all-too familiar phases of life - the dazzling promise of youth, the pressure of adulthood, and the unforeseen changes that life brings with each passing yea More...
Feb 06, 2011
Paul
rated it:
If you follow the Boing Boing web site, you'll be familiar with the themes expressed in Makers, Cory Doctorow's "Novel of the Whirlwind Changes to Come." If you've read Ayn Rand, you'll be familiar with Cory's writing style and pacing. If you've ever made a list of two hundred techno-geek words and thought about using them in a book, you'll be familiar with Cory Doctorow's method. I was ready to quit after one chapter, but told myself I'd plod on until Cory started to indulge his Di
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Jan 28, 2011
Clay
rated it:
Cory Doctorow’s “Makers” (Tor, $24.99, 416 pages) isn’t really a traditional science fiction or fantasy novel – it’s much more serious in intent and execution, though it is set in the near future.
Doctorow’s topic is creativity, and the human urge to make things. The central characters are a pair of tinkerers in a slightly dystopic future where the American economy has collapsed and junkyards are the repository of the remnants of the consumer culture. The pair are endlessly inventive, c More...
Doctorow’s topic is creativity, and the human urge to make things. The central characters are a pair of tinkerers in a slightly dystopic future where the American economy has collapsed and junkyards are the repository of the remnants of the consumer culture. The pair are endlessly inventive, c More...
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Jan 25, 2011
Billpilgrim
rated it:
This story takes place only a few years in the future, but a lot has changed. The economy is still in the tank. After Kodak and Duracell merge, the chief executive decides to invest money in new technology, funding inventors who make things using existing parts for components, in creative ways. This gets the name, New Work. He hires a technology reporter to write the story, Suzanne Church, promising her full access. She finds the most talented of the inventors in Florida, Perry and Lester, and t
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Dec 20, 2010
Jeff
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 22, 2010
Steven
rated it:
Cory Doctorow's Makers is a book full of ideas and possibility, which makes up for a somewhat predictable plot and flattened characters.
I read this book after I had read Doctorow's Little Brother; the two have very strong similarities in plot structure. It's a serviceable - if a bit transparent - structure, but the girders and siding are definitely showing after reading both of these books.
This isn't surprising - both books are idea books. Where Little Brother is conce More...
I read this book after I had read Doctorow's Little Brother; the two have very strong similarities in plot structure. It's a serviceable - if a bit transparent - structure, but the girders and siding are definitely showing after reading both of these books.
This isn't surprising - both books are idea books. Where Little Brother is conce More...
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Aug 09, 2010
Katy
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 26, 2010
Kersplebedeb
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 25, 2010
Tracy
rated it:
First I want to say that I don't think this book should be labeled as teen - none of the characters are teens nor do I think the situations presented would appeal to teens. The technology - real and imagined - would probably be the only draw for teens.
That being said, I loved Part I and had the book continued in the same manner, I would have given it a higher rating. Part I introduces Perry, Lester, Suzanne, Kettlewell and Tjan, the driving force behind the concept of New Work, wh More...
That being said, I loved Part I and had the book continued in the same manner, I would have given it a higher rating. Part I introduces Perry, Lester, Suzanne, Kettlewell and Tjan, the driving force behind the concept of New Work, wh More...
Mar 24, 2010
Alice
rated it:
This is a book full of BIG IDEAS - and if you're the type of geeky tech-obsessed person who loves BIG IDEAS about the future of tech, business, litigation, fitness, etc., you'll enjoy the truly speculative fiction element of this book. I enjoy that sort of stuff just fine, but I already read a million blogs and New Yorker articles about it, and when I read fiction I want to read FICTION. Doctorow is a terrible fiction writer; as much as I love his blog and his ideas (and he's an amazing person t
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(1 person liked it)
Feb 10, 2010
Chill
rated it:
Cory friggin Doctorow. I don't know what to make of this guy. I really want to give this book both a 0 and a 5. He is full of fascinating ideas. This book is fascinating. He shows the implications of technology, really doable tech, but with huge consequences in society. What happens as three d printers get better and making more stuff. When the distance between design and the product gets shorter and easier. What will people do? What will corporations do when anyone can do what they do?
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Jan 26, 2010
Doctorow's novel tries to imagine the near future as impacted by inexpensive 3D printers just as much as we have in our time been impacted by the Internet.
The book follows two natural inventors who glom onto 3D technology, inspire a collective project that spans the globe, and find themselves doing litigious battle with Disney.
In brief: new tech + hive mind vs. corporations.
This formula has become something of a theme for Doctorow. But as Nick Lowe once sang, " More...
The book follows two natural inventors who glom onto 3D technology, inspire a collective project that spans the globe, and find themselves doing litigious battle with Disney.
In brief: new tech + hive mind vs. corporations.
This formula has become something of a theme for Doctorow. But as Nick Lowe once sang, " More...
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Sep 17, 2011
Rob
rated it:
If you love Doctorow, you'll definitely love this one. It's got a strong political message, an intriguing view of the near future with an emphasis on economics and social change, and a "geeks rule" mentality. If you like a character-centered novel, or if you've struggled with Doctorow before, you might want to stay clear.
I chose to upgrade the star-count because I think Doctorow is doing what speculative fiction is intended to do--looking into the future and playing what-if More...
I chose to upgrade the star-count because I think Doctorow is doing what speculative fiction is intended to do--looking into the future and playing what-if More...
Jul 15, 2010
Cornmaven
rated it:
This was an awesome book, except for about 3-4 pages of excruciatingly detailed sex that I felt was unnecessary and out of place. I still don't get why Doctorow had it in there; even the violent attack on one of the characters wasn't nearly as detailed, so it wasn't as if he was making some statement that society can tolerate violence but not sex. It just didn't fit.
Anyway, the writing was appropriately frenetic, as the storyline followed free thinker/inventor types living in a set More...
Anyway, the writing was appropriately frenetic, as the storyline followed free thinker/inventor types living in a set More...
Dec 12, 2009
Joel
rated it:
The first third is really fun. There is a lot of easy wordplay; the thing about many of Doctorow's books is that I want to have the things he talks about it them (HomeAware and Kitchen Gnome, not to mention fat treatments).
Given that at least part of it was written before Little Brother and they have differing themes, this could read almost as a sequel - what happens to the kids in Little Brother as they grow up and keep hacking, keep making?
Not as much character devel More...
Given that at least part of it was written before Little Brother and they have differing themes, this could read almost as a sequel - what happens to the kids in Little Brother as they grow up and keep hacking, keep making?
Not as much character devel More...
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Aug 20, 2011
Tracey
rated it:
This book did a slow burn on me in the best way. The story started out so simply, about two guys named Lester and Perry who loved to invent things like purposed robots and counting machines using abandoned junk. Set against the merger of two collapsed corporations (into a new company named Kodacell--guess what the original companies were?), the friends' work unintentionally spearheads a socioeconomic trend called the New Work. In theory, New Work would balance out the rampant increase in unemplo
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Jun 19, 2011
Will
rated it:
Reading Makers is some bizarre inversion of Pride and Prejudice where instead of examining courtship rituals and suitability for marriage, the writer is obsessed with startups and business plans.
Reading this book was like being in a coffee shop (Coffee Bar, specifically) next to a coked up newly minted MBA trying to sell his virtualized social media company to an investor over the phone based purely on the amount of buzzwords he could cram into a sentence. Except for the sex scene More...
Reading this book was like being in a coffee shop (Coffee Bar, specifically) next to a coked up newly minted MBA trying to sell his virtualized social media company to an investor over the phone based purely on the amount of buzzwords he could cram into a sentence. Except for the sex scene More...
Jun 19, 2011
Robert
rated it:
Cory Doctorow writes about the near future. All of his novels are set in a world that is still within the realms of the imaginable. It makes them not always easy to classify - they can seem a bit utopian or dystopian or too futuristic or not futuristic enough... basically, they sit in a genre and class of their own.
Makers is a novel about people who like to be creative and invent stuff. It's about a future where everyone can become a mad inventor, like the one in Chitty Chitty Bang Ban More...
Makers is a novel about people who like to be creative and invent stuff. It's about a future where everyone can become a mad inventor, like the one in Chitty Chitty Bang Ban More...
Jun 15, 2010
Benjamin
rated it:
I got suckered into reading this by the new fiction shelf at my library. It had a science fiction tag on the spine, and it was set in the near-future, so I bought it, but then it turns out that the novel is really a literary fiction work, which I generally can't handle. This one turned out to be readable, and I did finish it, so that means something. If you like literary fiction, I'd say read this, it's just not the kind of book I'd normally read on purpose. Here's the premise: two out of work e
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Jan 13, 2011
Infinite
rated it:
"The future has imploded into the present," writes Charles Cross, quoting Gareth Branwyn's Is there a Cyberpunk Movement?. Cory Doctorow's Makers is another reminder that what looks like the future is already here.
This book, set from the 20-teens and on, describes a New Work economy and its after-effects. It sounded like an interesting premise: a pair of Florida hacker/inventors work with 3-dee printers to create facsimiles of three-dimensional objects. They begin making More...
This book, set from the 20-teens and on, describes a New Work economy and its after-effects. It sounded like an interesting premise: a pair of Florida hacker/inventors work with 3-dee printers to create facsimiles of three-dimensional objects. They begin making More...
