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George #4

George and the Unbreakable Code

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George and Annie are off on another cosmic adventure to figure out why strange things are happening on Earth in the fourth book of the George’s Secret Key series from Stephen and Lucy Hawking.

George and his best friend Annie haven’t had any space adventures for a while and they’re missing the excitement. But not for long, because seriously strange things have started happening.

Banks are handing out free money, supermarkets aren’t able to charge for their products so people are getting free food, and aircrafts are refusing to fly. It looks like the world’s biggest and best computers have all been hacked. And no one knows why…

It’s up to George and Annie to travel further into space than ever before in order to find out what—or who—is behind it.

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2016

67 people are currently reading
865 people want to read

About the author

Lucy Hawking

26 books182 followers
Lucy Hawking is a novelist who has also written several children's books in collaboration with her father, physicist Stephen W. Hawking.

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114 (13%)
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27 (3%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Iryna Khomchuk.
462 reviews79 followers
April 29, 2019
Навіть не знаю, в кого було більше радості від нової зустірчі з Джорджем — у сина чи в мене. Й не лише від того що ми долучилися до чергових пригод хлопця та його подружки Енні, а й тому що з книг цієї серії (а це вже четверта частина!) дізнаєшся про стільки дивовижних наукових речей, пояснених доступною мовою, аж дух перехоплює!

"Джордж і незламний код" не стала винятком. Тут також багато чого розповідається про космос, однак більше уваги приділено комп’ютерам. Коли з’явилася перша обчислювальна машина, хто її винайшов, за якими принципами вона працює, що таке код і які його види використовуються нині, що таке квантовий комп’ютер і чи існує він узагалі, що станеться, коли хтось зможе зламати всі комп’ютери у світі, як на Землі зародилося життя й що таке еволюція — купа цікавезних запитань, чи не так? І на всі читач знаходить відповіді. А ще переживає карколомні пригоди двох друзів, котрі вкотре... рятують світ. Ні ну а що: сучсним дітлахам усе може бути до снаги. Особисто я у своєму синові не сумніваюся))) Як і в тому, що наступні книги з цієї серії (а їх наразі ще дві вийшли українською мовою) також прочитаємо.
Profile Image for Mary.
1,866 reviews18 followers
July 19, 2017
It's as if there are two completely different books - one for third-graders and one for middle-schoolers. The people that can understand the nonfiction sections will find the fiction ridiculous. And the people that enjoy the fiction will be stymied by the nonfiction.
Profile Image for Vityska.
492 reviews83 followers
April 20, 2018
Уявіть собі, що банкомати, авіакаси, термінали в супермаркетах і всі-всі електронні пристрої геть збожеволіли. Уявіть, що хтось зумів хакнути абсолютно всі комп’ютерні мережі на світі. Уявість світ, в якому нема не те що Інтернету, а й навіть електрики. А містом бігають банди мародерів і неідентифіковані роботи Звучить моторошно, чи не так? А Джордж із Енні, як завжди, беруться в цьому розібратися. При цьому вони не можуть покластися на допомогу батьків, які з різних причин застрягли в різних місцях, мусять вдавати перед Космосом, що готують шкільний проект для Енні про походження життя, і небезпека для них — більш ніж реальна, а допомогу отримати нема звідки.

Звісно, закінчиться усе щасливо, але історія примусить героїв (та й читачів) добряче понервувати. Крім того, у ній з’являться нові яскраві персонажі — як-от сестрички-близнючки Джоржджа чи андроїд Еббот. І звісно, не обійдеться від чергового божевільного генія — до речі, нового. А ще друзі традиційно гулятимуть у космосі — ловитимуть сніжинки на Енцеладі, втікатимуть від погоні на Місяці і побувають на нелегальній космічній станції.

Про враження. Незламний код — це ключова тема книжки. Про що ж ідеться? Про супер-пароль, який не зможуть зламати найкрутіші хакери? Про унікальний «код життя» — людську ДНК? Чи про щось третє — про те, що тримає людей укупі, навіть коли все іде шкереберть?

Окрім цікавих, але суто наукових чи технічних питань (наприклад, історії комп’ютерів), «Джордж і незламний код» апелює до проблем, які є загальнолюдськими. Книга спонукає задуматися про те, як воно може бути, коли звичні нам речі вийдуть з ладу, а уклад життя суттєво зміниться. Також Стівен Гокінг і його донька вкотре порушують проблему виникнення життя, зокрема, міркують над тим, чи воно стало наслідком закономірних, а чи випадкових процесів. А ще звертають увагу на внутрішню дилему Джорджа, який почувається чужим зі своїми батьками-веганами й еко-активістами і волів би жити якщо вже й не з геніальним вченим Еріком, то принаймні з комп’ютерами (бо з ними все простіше). І дуже цікаво, що і чому він вибере, коли йому випаде така нагода.

Загалом у мене склалося враження, що «Джордж і незламний код» — книжка дещо складніша, ніж попередні — але у хорошому сенсі.

Profile Image for Книжни Криле.
3,456 reviews201 followers
October 7, 2017
Колкото и да не ни се иска, случва се заради недостатъчен интерес от страна на читателите някоя книжна поредица да не бъде издадена докрай. Много се боях, че такава съдба може да е застигнала дори и уникалната серия за Джордж на Луси и Стивън Хокинг. Към тези мрачни мисли ме насочваше факта, че сайта на издателство „Сиела” показва, че първите три книги от серията са издадени още през 2012 година, а от четвъртата (издадена на английски през 2014) у нас все още няма и следа. Наистина трудно ми беше да повярвам, че детските книги на бележития учен и неговата дъщеря не са успели да добият необходимата популярност. Та в тях има буквално ВСИЧКО което можете да пожелаете от качествената детска литература! Симпатични герои, интриги и екшън, и не на последно място – вплетен в сюжета образователен елемент. Колко често се случва ум от капацитета на Стивън Хокинг да пише книги за деца, поднасяйки науката като истинско приключение? Вече обмислях дали да не купя останалата част от серията на английски... И тогава изневиделица от „Сиела” ни зарадваха с „Джордж и неразбиваемия код”! Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":

https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...
Profile Image for Mihaela Chiriac.
63 reviews
February 20, 2021
Best book in the serie so far. I love mathematics and I see this book as an ode to mathematics, describing us when it started, how and the important role of it in our quest to understand the laws of our Universe and our evolution. I meet here Stephen Hawking's view about evolution, that we shouldn't look only on genetic inheritance, but to external inheritance as well, by the amount of information transmited from generation to generation, through books and digital space. Ideea which we find also in his book Brief Answers to the Big Questions and which I find extraordinary.
Profile Image for Crista.
1,105 reviews1 follower
September 20, 2022
A really good book, younger readers will love it. The authors explain the science mentioned in a chapter which would be great for the younger reader. I was a bit too old for the book.
14 reviews1 follower
September 15, 2014
George and the Unbreakable Code is about science. Kids who love science and readers who’d love to read about make-believe, but informative, adventures around science. The illustrations add fun and interest to the text, totally supporting the story. One of the unique things about this book would be the pages of factual information on different science topics, inserted in between the story at relevant pages. If in the story, a robot android is introduced, you’d find a few pages of factual data of interested related to androids. You’d also find computers, algorithms, Jupiter and Saturn and their moons, our Earth’s moon, stars, Boltzmann brains and 3D printing. Although initially I thought it’d perhaps be breaking the flow of the story, but I guess it did the opposite. Not only was it informative, but also presented in an easy to understand language, which, for a young reader, might help develop a keen interest in science.

I mean, it speaks of topics we hear about, but hardly bother to know in detail. Knowledge is important. It is capable of making one develop an interest in something, and even though my field of education and work is far from science, it was a pleasure to read it. You might skip the details about computers and algorithms, but I’d highly recommend reading the last chapter titled ‘life in the universe’ by Stephen. It talks about how life, and we, were actually formed. ^_^

Apart from being interesting, the book is fun to read. I especially loved the dialogues between George and Annie, with Annie being the one I totally love. She’s smart, brave, proud of her high IQ and yet, incredibly sweet. These kids are not scared of mad scientists, for they have enough interest in science and computers to know what they might be up to, and in the process, crack what would be otherwise, unbreakable codes. The story for me seemed to fall flat in between, but the second half of the book and facts in between make up for it. The writing style is simple, yet fun, even quirky to some extent.

Read more here
7 reviews
March 20, 2015
George and the Unbreakable Code is one of the most interesting books written by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking I have read. This is because of its mixture of fiction and non-fiction information. The book is about this madman named I Alioth Merak (2 stars from the big dipper) who built a quantum computer, and tried kidnapping Eric Bellis (Professor in Physics/Science and Annie’s Dad, who was George’s best friend) to help him with Quantum Error Detection (QED).

IAM used his quantum computer and hacked everything in the world, supermarkets, banks, dams, et cetera. He claimed that by doing so, he was giving the poor things as shown when he said he released the water in the desert and created a flood for the people in the desert to drink. As Annie found out later, all he wanted was power.

His name is used for different things like, I AM, IAM and I Alioth Merak. IAM lived in a cloaked spaceship that had a quantum computer and many, many robots evil robots and one nice robot called Brian. IAM is actually a control freak, even though he said he would be a savior et cetera.

In conclusion, George and Annie used Old Cosmos (a large version of New Cosmos [incidentally, a battery powered smaller version of the original Cosmos supercomputer able to transport a person through space and time] that took an entire room to house and power). They could use Old Cosmos because IAM deemed Old Cosmos too out-of-date/old to do much. He was proved wrong when Old Cosmos took control of the IAM robots to restrain the creator of the robots. There, IAM was forced to wait for Eric and the police.
Profile Image for Trudy Zufelt.
112 reviews1 follower
December 30, 2016
Something mysterious has happened to the world's computers resulting in banks giving out free money, people getting free food because the supermarkets can't charge. Computer glitches resulting in free airplane tickets sounds great until the aircrafts are shut down too. Best friends and neighbors, George and Annie, set out on a cosmic space adventure to find out who is hacking computers and causing the strange events on earth.

With the help of a computer named Cosmos, Annie and George pass through a portal that will take them to space. Here they meet up with an army of space robots and a villian with a quantum computer dressed in a onesie. The seriousness of what is happening on earth is undercut by the silliness of the villain.

The budding scientist and computer wiz might love the non-fictional information dumps rampant throughout the book. However, many readers will find the information distracting from an already ho hum plot. The fiction and non-fictional information did not enhance one another as much as it should for a children's book. Best read by an older middle grade reader who loves scientific facts and has an open mind of what might happen when facts meet fiction.
My original review as it appears on my blog, Boys To Books where I gave this a 3 1/2 star review.
Profile Image for Robert.
67 reviews
November 13, 2016
All the major computers have been hacked, causing big problems all over the world. George and Annie try to get to the bottom of this, and successfully find the hacker at a space station. The hacker owned a robot army and a quantum computer for hacking. But Old Cosmos, a supercomputer, fought back. It hacked the robot army, and stopped the hacker, who happened to be brought back to the Earth by George and Annie.
I liked this book because of all the fictional items, like portals and quantum computers: a portal is a device that can transport anything to any place and time immediately; a quantum computer is a computer that uses quantum bits, which are either 0 and 1 instead of 0 or 1, making it very efficient and quick.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Gillian James.
Author 1 book1 follower
March 11, 2020
An enjoyable and entertaining story. George and his best friend Annie must save the world when all the computers start to act strangely. I preferred the character of Annie to George as she is much funnier. As well as the story the book contains lots of short factual articles on various areas of science. These are by different authors so are rather variable. Some are excellent while others are just confusing. Also these articles are clearly aimed at secondary school level whereas the novel would appeal to younger readers. My daughter is nine. She enjoyed and the story and some of the factual articles but they often referred to things she won't cover at school until she is older.
Profile Image for Alex.
124 reviews2 followers
Read
January 17, 2024
DNF @ 28%

I was excited to get into this book, but upon reading the first quarter, I realised that it's a bit too kid-like for me. I enjoyed the idea of a story that is both about people and science/technology, though. The kids have impressive interests for their age, and even though George is the only one mentioned in the title, I felt that Annie deserves equally as much credit as she seems to play a key role.

I liked the additional information scattered through the book, but I felt that it fragments the storyline it's rather difficult to be understood by the target age group. The artwork was also very cute and fitting.
203 reviews3 followers
December 29, 2014
This "children's" book has plenty of adult sidebars that are fascinating. Boltzmann brains still have me very perplexed, but why not introduce the concepts to kids? All sorts of adult science, quantum computers, the halting problem - permeate this book - granted, more in the sidebars, and you can do better as an adult on wikipedia, but I thought it was fascinating.
Profile Image for Phoenix Kotsatos.
21 reviews1 follower
June 21, 2017
This book was epic. Of course all of the computers in the world break nd everyone starts going crazy, and only two kids can stop it all. This was a great sequel and for now ending to the series and I thought it was awesome. It had even more cool facts, this time about computers and robots, and this book was full of excitement.
4 reviews1 follower
December 6, 2016
I did not finish reading this book in the series before the end of school, but what I read aloud intrigued the students and we loved how the characters of George and Annie were growing up, and were dealing with the social challenges. The story plot has some good twists and turns, as did the previous books.
Profile Image for Mae.
9 reviews
August 31, 2015
george and annie have to break a code.
a big code.
there is a big quantum computer that is owned by iam.
he does alot of strange things.
he has a robot army.
1 review
September 5, 2015
not as good as the previous books of this series but gives good info about computers and codes
119 reviews
July 3, 2015
I thought this one in the series was good and creative and brings some real life modern questions regarding technology to our consideration.
6 reviews
March 18, 2018
it is really awesome book. I love this amazing series.
Profile Image for Vlad Romanenko.
33 reviews5 followers
January 15, 2020
A new rollercoaster adventure for George and Annie. A bit less about space travel but a lot of other stuff happening. Searching for origins of life and surviving global cyber attack on humanity.
Profile Image for Pi.
1,298 reviews20 followers
August 4, 2020
Bardzo się cieszę, że w moje łapki trafiła już czwarta odsłona kosmicznych przygód Georga i Annie. Lubię tę serię, a nawet więcej, niż lubię – cenię. Lecz to nie oznacza, że nie widzę jej minusów, ale o tym za chwilę.
„George i niezniszczalny KOD”, to wyjątkowo ciekawa książka, zresztą podobnie jak jej poprzedniczki. Spełnia swoje zadanie wręcz doskonale. Tym bardziej zachęcam do poznania tej serii, ponieważ może ona popchnąć dziecko w kierunku przedmiotów ścisłych: matematyki, fizyki, chemii, biologii a nawet geografii – moim skromny zdaniem, to oznacza, że może popchnąć dziecko w dobrym kierunku, w kierunku lepszej przyszłości, bo właśnie w tych dziedzinach upatruję powodzenie w życiu. Matematyka, to język uniwersalny, i chociaż zabraknie nam alfabetu, to liczby zawsze będą nas otaczać (Ile masz paluszków u dłoni? Ile warzysz? Ile jabłek zjadłeś? Ile kroków przeszedłeś?). Piękna sprawa!
Jak zawsze ogromnym plusem są ilustracje, bo Garry Parsons przyzwyczaił nas do swoje przyjemnej kreski i buzie bohaterów są miło rozpoznawalne. Oczywiście Wydawnictwo Zysk i S-ka spisało się, jak zawsze, na medal. Piękna oprawa, wszystko dopracowane i zapięta „na ostatni guzik”. Dzięki temu naprawdę możemy przenieść się w kosmos. I właśnie! Mamy również piękne fotografie, ciekawe zdjęcia i moc przydatnych informacji.
W tej części dostajemy garść wiadomości o komputerach, o tym, co one zmieniły w naszym życiu i jakby to było bez nich. Ale to nie wszystko dobro, bo jest jeszcze mój ukochany Enceladus, moim zdaniem najciekawszy obiekt w naszym Układzie Słonecznym (poza Ziemią - oczywiście). To jeden z księżyców Saturna, a jego największym urokiem jest fakt, iż posiada wodę, która w postaci ogromnych, przeogromnych fontann, wodnych wulkanów, wytryskuje z jego wnętrza. Cieszę się, że autorzy postanowili przyjrzeć się bliżej temu niezwykłemu zjawisku i wytłumaczyć co nieco dzieciom.
Lecz są też minusy… niestety. Znów jestem rozczarowana (choć to zbyt słabe słowo). Kto złamał Enigmę? No dobrze, jest zaznaczone JEDNYM ZDANIEM, a właściwie TRZEMA SŁOWAMI „najpierw w Polsce”, że POLACY!!! Lecz to jakby nieco mało, bo zaraz potem autorzy piszę o Anglikach i wspaniałym Alanie Turingu! Niestety moi kochani, bez Polaków Turinga by prawdopodobnie nie było. ENIGMĘ ZŁAMALI POLACY! Może wreszcie przestaniemy pisać historię po swojemu?!
Innym minusem (ale już nie tak ogromnym) jest fakt, iż sama akcja może się nieco dziecku nużyć. Zdecydowanie książkę powinien czytać malcowi rodzic i wtedy i duży i mały skorzysta. Tutaj naprawdę można się wiele nauczyć, ale trzeba chcieć, mieć dla dziecka czas i to chyba tyle.
Ogólnie oczywiście POLECAM tę książkę, jak i każdą z tej serii. To świetna rzecz, mądra i przydatna, a poza tym inspirująca. To też nie tylko świetna, ale i piękna rzecz – bo seria prezentuje się obłędnie na półce. Cacko!

PS Recenzje pozostałych książek z serii dostępne na BLOGU.


7/10
Bardzo dobra! Warto!
130 reviews1 follower
June 18, 2018
George and the Unbreakable Code was actually quite good compared to the other books in the series. It was nice to read about something new and exciting. (But the fact that the new and exciting thing was a sour and salty guy in a onesie kind of took away some of the thrill.)But the last part, the part about the Unbreakable Code was such an anime cliche. THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP. What kind of code is that? The Unbreakable Code being something that Mr. Jupiter-onesie couldn’t understand because he had no friends. (Dun, dun, DUNNNN!) That’s a bit rude since IAM technically programmed friends for himself but they were turned on him by Wise ol’ Cosmos. But before that, the whole part about free money, free food, and free airline tickets wasn’t the best way to save the world. More of the best way of causing chaos in the world. Free money, hm, I wonder what’s wrong with that? Maybe someone’s college funds turned into money for the mediocre but greedy. Maybe someone’s life savings was turned into money that would never be used. Then the whole thing about free food. Okay if you literally just gave everyone money what was the point of not putting a price on the food? The one’s who really needed the food may never get it because people just raided the supermarkets. That was sad. And the whole free flight thing really didn’t make sense. What would that even do to save the world?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kate Squirrel.
166 reviews1 follower
March 8, 2022
Кібербезпека на пальцях
Перші три книги серії про пригоди Джорджа та його подруги Енні знайомили малих читачів з таємницями космосу, позаземними подорожами та загадками життя на Землі. Друзі побували на різних планетах, побачили чорну діру на власні очі і навіть змогли з неї врятуватися.

У четвертій книзі серії на сцену виходять комп'ютери - наші незамінні супутники щоденно. Сьогодні ми вже не можемо уявити собі життя без комп'ютера чи смартфона, вони роблять для нас і за нас більшість складної роботи. Але разом з тим, комп'ютери мають в собі багато небезпек. Це і кіберкрадіжки, і шахрайство, і цькування. А найстрашніше - це якщо всі комп'ютери, від яких ми залежимо, вийдуть з ладу! Світ порине в хаос, який буде майже неможливо привести до ладу швидко.

У цій книзі розповідається як про основи безпеки в мережі, так і про те, як влаштовані комп'ютери, Інтернет та навіть звідки і як може таки з'явитися Штучний Інтелект! Джордж та Енні стають свідками комп'ютерного колапсу у рідному Фоксбриджі (і не тільки) і вирішують, що мають знайти причину такої катастрофи. Водночас щось дивне відбувається на темному боці Місяця і з цим неодмінно треба розібратися. У друзів є вірний суперкомп'ютер Космос, проте і він стає ненадійним... Як завжди, багато пригод і не менше цікавої та корисної інформації для дітей та навіть дорослих!
107 reviews1 follower
June 20, 2018
This book was a lot better than the previous ones that were made. They added a onesie to the freaking book series. YES! Anyways the villain was the one in the onesie. Like bruh what was that.
George and Annie see a weird ship in the air and take a picture. nobody takes them seriously though.
They go to the center of the town because of a commotion. The ATMs around the world have started to shoot money out. All the devices have started to fail. Cosmos is acting strangely also. Eric's family have been sent a robot copy of Eric. Cosmos acts strangely while sending them to space. George and Annie see 2 robots on the moon that try to attack them. The world is going into chaos as most people start to take what they want. Then Annie and George use old Cosmos to track the robot Eric which tey sent to space. They meet the person who is starting the chaos in the world. They come back to earth with the person who caused the chaos. Old Cosmos takes control of all the bad robots though helping George and Annie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
79 reviews
August 15, 2024
3.75 o 4 o 4.25 Me ha gustado bastante y la historia ha sido mejor que la de los libros anteriores pero los datos científicos me han gustado menos porque la mayoría eran sobre los ordenadores que es un tema que me interesa pero no me gusta mucho y además algunos se me han hecho un poco complicados. Aún así me ha gustado volver a leer una historia con solo George y Annie y que se descubran más cosas de ambos


También me ha encantado el personaje de Ebot y de la vieja Cosmos porque echaba de menos a la cosmos de los primeros libros. También me ha encantado Beryl


Lo que me ha dado pena es que Eric aparece muy poco en este libro y que hablen de toda la familia de Annie pero que al final no llevemos a conocerla. Otra cosa que me da rabia es que se olvidan completamente de Freddy


Pero bueno la historia me ha parecido interesante y un poco menos para niños y me gusta como van creciendo george y Annie
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
25 reviews
December 13, 2021
Every computer in the world seemed to be malfunctioning, banks spilling out money, aircrafts refusing to fly. All the world's biggest and most powerful computers were being hacked with a quantum computer, and it looks like it has something to do with IAM, a crazy scientist named Alioth Merak living with robots in space. George and Annie got help from the old Cosmos, boarding the spaceship and saved planet Earth once more.

I feel that this book teaches kids about science while also doing it in a story/fiction way. It grabs the reader's attention rather than just shoving facts into their brains.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested into science fiction. I think the story line is way too cringe/kiddy for me (I'm already in Grade 6), but the facts and stuff about science are cool. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone bigger than 10 years old.

My Favorite 3 quotes to describe this book:
"Enigma Machine - one of the ones used in the second world war to encode messages"
"it's the code of friendship"
"you can't decrypt it because it makes no sense to you"
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296 reviews6 followers
April 25, 2023
This entry really starts to blur the line between kids' books and adult fare... on the one hand, it's encouraging children to start thinking about Boltzmann brains (and at one point directly asking the reader to consider whether he or she is actually a Boltzmann brain with spontaneously-generated memories imagining that it's a real person who's lived an entire life up to that point) - and on the other, a lot of the fictional stuff is explained away a little bit shallowly. In particular, I feel like it sort of glosses over the long-term (and short-term) repercussions of the whole world going crazy, and every currency in every nation being devalued. . . . Maybe there will be an update on this situation in the next book?
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