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WWW #2
Watch
Webmind is an emerging consciousness that has befriended Caitlin Decter and grown eager to learn about her world. But Webmind has also come to the attention of WATCH - the secret government agency that monitors the Internet for any threat to the United States - and they're fully aware of Caitlin's involvement in its awakening. WATCH is convinced that Webmind represents a risk to national security and wants it purged from cyberspace. But Caitlin believes in Webmind's capacity for compassion - and she will do anything and everything necessary to protect her friend.
BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Robert J. Sawyer.
©2010 Robert J. Sawyer; (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Robert J. Sawyer.
©2010 Robert J. Sawyer; (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
Audiobook
First published April 6, 2010
66 people are currently reading
1655 people want to read
About the author
Robert J. Sawyer
223 books2,454 followersRobert J. Sawyer is one of Canada's best known and most successful science fiction writers. He is the only Canadian (and one of only 7 writers in the world) to have won all three of the top international awards for science fiction: the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, the 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and the 2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Mindscan.
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 382 reviews
February 7, 2014
“Catlin” tap tap tap “Catlin Decter?”
“Yes?”
“Is this Catlin Decter?”
“Yes.”
“Hi Catlin, this is Stephanie. I just read the second book in the WWW. Series and I had to see if I could make contact with you trough your implant under your left eye that enables you to see the real world and the web. I hoped I could work my way in and, what do you know, I did it. May I ask you a few questions?”
“Yes.”
“I liked the concept of this book, the series is unique and, overall, I enjoyed the book but there was one thing that bugged the hell out of me, and that was the ridiculous overuse of the word ‘yes’. Seriously, at some point I doubted was even reading a science fiction book and thought I’d stumbled onto some weird erotica with all the ‘yes, yes, YESes’ going on. I couldn’t really follow the story after a while because every time I heard the word ‘yes’ I felt a rage boiling inside me.”
“Yes??”
“I know the author is Canadian and the book was set in Toronto. Is the use of the word ‘yes’ as question common in place of “what?” “Pardon me?” “Excuse me?”
“Yes, at least I think so.”
“Oh that’s right, you are supposed to be an American, from Austin Texas. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“But if you are a Texan wouldn't you use “Ma’am?” “Sir?” “I beg your pardon?” and stuff like that?”
“Well, yes…..yes that would make sense.”
“Stop it Catlin.”
“Stop what Stephanie?”
“Stop with all the god damn yeses!! I have a self destruct code that I can send to your implant at anytime. Try saying yes one more time!! Go on.”
“Uh…..no I don't think so.”
4 stars for the story, one point knocked off for the ‘yeses’ that drove me insane.
“Yes?”
“Is this Catlin Decter?”
“Yes.”
“Hi Catlin, this is Stephanie. I just read the second book in the WWW. Series and I had to see if I could make contact with you trough your implant under your left eye that enables you to see the real world and the web. I hoped I could work my way in and, what do you know, I did it. May I ask you a few questions?”
“Yes.”
“I liked the concept of this book, the series is unique and, overall, I enjoyed the book but there was one thing that bugged the hell out of me, and that was the ridiculous overuse of the word ‘yes’. Seriously, at some point I doubted was even reading a science fiction book and thought I’d stumbled onto some weird erotica with all the ‘yes, yes, YESes’ going on. I couldn’t really follow the story after a while because every time I heard the word ‘yes’ I felt a rage boiling inside me.”
“Yes??”
“I know the author is Canadian and the book was set in Toronto. Is the use of the word ‘yes’ as question common in place of “what?” “Pardon me?” “Excuse me?”
“Yes, at least I think so.”
“Oh that’s right, you are supposed to be an American, from Austin Texas. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“But if you are a Texan wouldn't you use “Ma’am?” “Sir?” “I beg your pardon?” and stuff like that?”
“Well, yes…..yes that would make sense.”
“Stop it Catlin.”
“Stop what Stephanie?”
“Stop with all the god damn yeses!! I have a self destruct code that I can send to your implant at anytime. Try saying yes one more time!! Go on.”
“Uh…..no I don't think so.”
4 stars for the story, one point knocked off for the ‘yeses’ that drove me insane.
May 4, 2020
Having only read the first two of this trilogy that is, obviously, a single-story, I'm forced to write a review that reads more like an update rather than an all-out "This is Great".
That being said...
This is great!
Why?
If I went by a certain set of standards that was commonplace ten or fifteen years ago, I would have been reading this novel and saying... hey! This is on par or better than almost ALL the SF out there. It has all the huge scope, the excellent science, the pure speculation of what a modern-day singularity might become with our current technology. It has emergent an emergent AI, with full explanations, in the World Wide Web. It has heart, social and Game Theory, great storytelling, and a hugely updated nod and a literal nod to Wargames.
And above all, it's GOOD. Effortless storytelling, easygoing pace, enjoyable characters, and analmost corny plug for Canadians.
So what happened? Robert J. Sawyer has written something easily as good if not better than his prior Hugo noms and wins in the early 2000s. I actually ENJOY this on more levels than his other trilogy.
Hell, I started crying once or twice. And the whole damn thing is OPTIMISTIC and HOPEFUL.
Awards aside, this is very good SF. I think it should be a staple of all you fanboy-and-fangirl's diets. And this is especially true if you have noticed an ongoing trend in SF in general that seems to be having a conversation with itself. As in... every generation builds on what the prior generations have created. The same is true for SF as in everything. But in this case, Sawyer is self-consciously bridging several huge gaps between all the classics and the modern sensibilities.
I can do nothing but applaud.
That being said...
This is great!
Why?
If I went by a certain set of standards that was commonplace ten or fifteen years ago, I would have been reading this novel and saying... hey! This is on par or better than almost ALL the SF out there. It has all the huge scope, the excellent science, the pure speculation of what a modern-day singularity might become with our current technology. It has emergent an emergent AI, with full explanations, in the World Wide Web. It has heart, social and Game Theory, great storytelling, and a hugely updated nod and a literal nod to Wargames.
And above all, it's GOOD. Effortless storytelling, easygoing pace, enjoyable characters, and an
So what happened? Robert J. Sawyer has written something easily as good if not better than his prior Hugo noms and wins in the early 2000s. I actually ENJOY this on more levels than his other trilogy.
Hell, I started crying once or twice. And the whole damn thing is OPTIMISTIC and HOPEFUL.
Awards aside, this is very good SF. I think it should be a staple of all you fanboy-and-fangirl's diets. And this is especially true if you have noticed an ongoing trend in SF in general that seems to be having a conversation with itself. As in... every generation builds on what the prior generations have created. The same is true for SF as in everything. But in this case, Sawyer is self-consciously bridging several huge gaps between all the classics and the modern sensibilities.
I can do nothing but applaud.
July 25, 2022
After my spectacularly inept review of book one I was hesitant to say much about this one. Here I go anyway, hopefully with some more meaningful commentary. I'm truly invested in the characters now and even though I thought that some plot decisions were questionable I am pleased with the way it has all come together so far.
The writing ebbs and flows for me, sometimes I'm leaning towards 5 stars for ideas and interesting developments, other times I'm drooping down near 3 stars for plain language and awkward scenes. The story has a more energetic plot overall involving covert ops; intelligence agencies around the world have begun to notice the existence of Webmind and it's no challenge to guess how those types of folks will respond. This puts Caitlin and her posse on the defensive and makes for a good tense bit of storytelling, especially the ending which had all the heart racing elements of a good thriller.
Having previously established Webmind's existence, this book explores more about exactly how Webmind came to be and we follow his learning and decision-making processes. Note that I didn't lazily refer to Webmind as a he, the gender is chosen in the story. I think this series would have been written just a few years too early to have noticed that the fact Caitlin chooses Webmind's gender is a little distasteful, but I reiterate with sincerity that I don't think there was any disrespect intended by the author. After all, Webmind got to choose his name and since I am reading in 2022 I fully expected Webmind to get the option of gender also.
One of my favourite parts of the series so far has been the opportunity to think about things from a blind person's perspective. I need more of this type of thing in my life. Anyway, regarding seeing her classmates for the first time, Caitlin's mum says to her: “Did people look like you expected them to?” - and I really like the internal monologue that followed:
"Even after all these years, her mom still didn’t really get it. It wasn’t as though Caitlin had had dim, or blurry, or black-and-white, or simplified mental pictures of people prior to this; she’d had no pictures of them."
I liked book one but this was much better. I don't usually get too frustrated when a series is obviously a series - I mean when the first books leave lots of loose ends which we know will have to be resolved later - it doesn't bother me because I'm usually late to any bandwagon and therefore typically able to read the complete series in succession without having to wait for the next release. But fair warning to those who don't like that, book one has a lot going on that won't begin to flower until book two and then book two leaves you feeling like things have really only just begun to take shape. With that said, my expectations for book three are probably now unreasonably high.
Among other details which I had failed to accurately describe in my review of book one, was that the talking, painting Chimp was actually a Bonobo/Chimpanzee hybrid born out of an accident at a zoo. This became a very fascinating element in the way Sawyer applied it and the way that Webmind himself exploited it.
I don't really do these, but this one deserves a *Trigger Warning*. There is a pretty gross online suicide scene which features some of that shit we've all heard about but would rather pretend doesn't exist, online users egging on the person to "do it already" and "quit pretending" etc... and to me it was kind of more horrific than anything I've ever seen in horror. It's not very long and does add to the story but be prepared for it to be uncomfortable.
Webmind watches that terrible event and tries to ask Caitlin how to understand it, which leads to Caitlin making a pretty dumb decision. You can probably guess it but I don't want to spoil it by specifying it. Something that could lead to the absolutely classic AI conundrum but which doesn't go all the way down that path in this book and I'm hoping that Sawyer manages to keep it from hitting that cliché in the final book.
Well, that's all I have to say about that. Onwards to book three, SCIFI Readers.
The writing ebbs and flows for me, sometimes I'm leaning towards 5 stars for ideas and interesting developments, other times I'm drooping down near 3 stars for plain language and awkward scenes. The story has a more energetic plot overall involving covert ops; intelligence agencies around the world have begun to notice the existence of Webmind and it's no challenge to guess how those types of folks will respond. This puts Caitlin and her posse on the defensive and makes for a good tense bit of storytelling, especially the ending which had all the heart racing elements of a good thriller.
Having previously established Webmind's existence, this book explores more about exactly how Webmind came to be and we follow his learning and decision-making processes. Note that I didn't lazily refer to Webmind as a he, the gender is chosen in the story. I think this series would have been written just a few years too early to have noticed that the fact Caitlin chooses Webmind's gender is a little distasteful, but I reiterate with sincerity that I don't think there was any disrespect intended by the author. After all, Webmind got to choose his name and since I am reading in 2022 I fully expected Webmind to get the option of gender also.
One of my favourite parts of the series so far has been the opportunity to think about things from a blind person's perspective. I need more of this type of thing in my life. Anyway, regarding seeing her classmates for the first time, Caitlin's mum says to her: “Did people look like you expected them to?” - and I really like the internal monologue that followed:
"Even after all these years, her mom still didn’t really get it. It wasn’t as though Caitlin had had dim, or blurry, or black-and-white, or simplified mental pictures of people prior to this; she’d had no pictures of them."
I liked book one but this was much better. I don't usually get too frustrated when a series is obviously a series - I mean when the first books leave lots of loose ends which we know will have to be resolved later - it doesn't bother me because I'm usually late to any bandwagon and therefore typically able to read the complete series in succession without having to wait for the next release. But fair warning to those who don't like that, book one has a lot going on that won't begin to flower until book two and then book two leaves you feeling like things have really only just begun to take shape. With that said, my expectations for book three are probably now unreasonably high.
Among other details which I had failed to accurately describe in my review of book one, was that the talking, painting Chimp was actually a Bonobo/Chimpanzee hybrid born out of an accident at a zoo. This became a very fascinating element in the way Sawyer applied it and the way that Webmind himself exploited it.
I don't really do these, but this one deserves a *Trigger Warning*. There is a pretty gross online suicide scene which features some of that shit we've all heard about but would rather pretend doesn't exist, online users egging on the person to "do it already" and "quit pretending" etc... and to me it was kind of more horrific than anything I've ever seen in horror. It's not very long and does add to the story but be prepared for it to be uncomfortable.
Webmind watches that terrible event and tries to ask Caitlin how to understand it, which leads to Caitlin making a pretty dumb decision. You can probably guess it but I don't want to spoil it by specifying it. Something that could lead to the absolutely classic AI conundrum but which doesn't go all the way down that path in this book and I'm hoping that Sawyer manages to keep it from hitting that cliché in the final book.
Well, that's all I have to say about that. Onwards to book three, SCIFI Readers.
April 29, 2017
The eponymous title is not an imperative addressed at the reader, but an acronym of an NSA division: the Web Activity Threat Containment Headquarters. Vigilant watchfulness of all web activity is the reality in this book, written in 2010 (three years before Edward Snowden's disclosures), portrays.
This is the second book in Sawyer's trilogy. Although Sawyer gives a recap of the events that took place in the first book, a sense of attachment to the characters would be lost by not reading these books in order. This is particularly important because the balance has shifted here to plot advancement over science. The result is a book that felt much more like a young adult genre book. It's a problem enhanced by Sawyer's failure (not for lack of trying) to develop the character of Caitlin's father Malcolm Decter, a brilliant theoretical physicist with Asperger's syndrome.
Book One ended with fifteen year old Caitlin receiving an implant that corrects the faulty decoding in the optic centers of her brain. Blind since birth, she is now connecting emotional sensations to abstractions like color and beauty. Thanks to the implant, Caitlin is able to view and communicate with an emergent entity which she calls Webmind. She has shared knowledge of its existence with her parents, the two Dr. Decters, and with Dr. Kuroda in Japan. After recovering from their shock, they agree to keep Webmind a secret in order to protect it. Dr. Kuroda creates programming for Webmind to decode visual as well as textual information. This advance allows Sawyer to draw on film allusions from “War Games,” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Director's Cut).
Part of the charm of the story is the depiction of Webmind's uneven learning curve. Driven by an almost insatiable curiosity, it works on password cracking methods in its spare milliseconds, interrogates Caitlin's mother about her first marriage, and solves a serious multitasking dilemma. As Webmind's information base expands, he (yes, Caitlin has decided to assign it a gender) becomes more articulate. The disjointed outcries of Book One become questions and observations couched at first in archaic syntax and later, jokey colloquialisms. Of course, like every fictional AI before him, Webmind wrestles with the directive of “Do Good.”
Sawyer draws material from evolutionary algorithms, non-zero sum gaming theory, and evolutionary biology. However, I found the material less integrated into the narrative than in the first book. Possibly this was because I have no familiarity with the literature in these areas, particularly on the question of the evolutionary value of consciousness, which it never even occurred to me to ask.
Instead, I allowed myself to be caught up in the plot. WATCH of course discovers the existence of Webmind, and is bent on destroying him — a threat to national security, they claim. Agents from Canadian Intelligence are dispatched to coerce the Decters into disclosing how that might be accomplished. The scene in which they interrogate Caitlin is one of the most appealing sections of the book. They spin a seemingly benign cover story. They only want to help Webmind. Listening, Webmind messages Caitlin: “He's lying.” It's a satisfying moment. The agents have all along been underestimating Caitlin, thinking of her as a gullible “kid.” It also represents the small victory of individuals pitted against powerful government agencies.
A second plot strand carried forward in this book is that of Hobo, the bonobo-chimp hybrid who has been taught sign language. Hobo has started to exhibit aggressive chimp-like behaviors just at the time his stay at the California institute where he has been raised is being challenged by the zoo where he was born.
One of the disappointments I had with this book was the failure to expand on the bird-flu crisis in China and the fate of “Sinanthropus.” It's another loose end that Sawyer uses to entice us into reading the third book of the trilogy.
This is the second book in Sawyer's trilogy. Although Sawyer gives a recap of the events that took place in the first book, a sense of attachment to the characters would be lost by not reading these books in order. This is particularly important because the balance has shifted here to plot advancement over science. The result is a book that felt much more like a young adult genre book. It's a problem enhanced by Sawyer's failure (not for lack of trying) to develop the character of Caitlin's father Malcolm Decter, a brilliant theoretical physicist with Asperger's syndrome.
Book One ended with fifteen year old Caitlin receiving an implant that corrects the faulty decoding in the optic centers of her brain. Blind since birth, she is now connecting emotional sensations to abstractions like color and beauty. Thanks to the implant, Caitlin is able to view and communicate with an emergent entity which she calls Webmind. She has shared knowledge of its existence with her parents, the two Dr. Decters, and with Dr. Kuroda in Japan. After recovering from their shock, they agree to keep Webmind a secret in order to protect it. Dr. Kuroda creates programming for Webmind to decode visual as well as textual information. This advance allows Sawyer to draw on film allusions from “War Games,” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Director's Cut).
Part of the charm of the story is the depiction of Webmind's uneven learning curve. Driven by an almost insatiable curiosity, it works on password cracking methods in its spare milliseconds, interrogates Caitlin's mother about her first marriage, and solves a serious multitasking dilemma. As Webmind's information base expands, he (yes, Caitlin has decided to assign it a gender) becomes more articulate. The disjointed outcries of Book One become questions and observations couched at first in archaic syntax and later, jokey colloquialisms. Of course, like every fictional AI before him, Webmind wrestles with the directive of “Do Good.”
Sawyer draws material from evolutionary algorithms, non-zero sum gaming theory, and evolutionary biology. However, I found the material less integrated into the narrative than in the first book. Possibly this was because I have no familiarity with the literature in these areas, particularly on the question of the evolutionary value of consciousness, which it never even occurred to me to ask.
Instead, I allowed myself to be caught up in the plot. WATCH of course discovers the existence of Webmind, and is bent on destroying him — a threat to national security, they claim. Agents from Canadian Intelligence are dispatched to coerce the Decters into disclosing how that might be accomplished. The scene in which they interrogate Caitlin is one of the most appealing sections of the book. They spin a seemingly benign cover story. They only want to help Webmind. Listening, Webmind messages Caitlin: “He's lying.” It's a satisfying moment. The agents have all along been underestimating Caitlin, thinking of her as a gullible “kid.” It also represents the small victory of individuals pitted against powerful government agencies.
A second plot strand carried forward in this book is that of Hobo, the bonobo-chimp hybrid who has been taught sign language. Hobo has started to exhibit aggressive chimp-like behaviors just at the time his stay at the California institute where he has been raised is being challenged by the zoo where he was born.
One of the disappointments I had with this book was the failure to expand on the bird-flu crisis in China and the fate of “Sinanthropus.” It's another loose end that Sawyer uses to entice us into reading the third book of the trilogy.
February 22, 2023
3.5 Stars
I enjoyed this middle book in the WWW Trilogy. I don't think the plot progression was quite as interesting but I enjoyed the character development. I particularly appreciated that the representation in the book was expanded to add more nauce to the neurodivergent and differently abled characters. There were some strange tangents in the narrative and a focus on relationships that slightly pulled back my enjoyment. Regardless I'm excited to finish up this trilogy with the last book, Wonder.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
I enjoyed this middle book in the WWW Trilogy. I don't think the plot progression was quite as interesting but I enjoyed the character development. I particularly appreciated that the representation in the book was expanded to add more nauce to the neurodivergent and differently abled characters. There were some strange tangents in the narrative and a focus on relationships that slightly pulled back my enjoyment. Regardless I'm excited to finish up this trilogy with the last book, Wonder.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
April 23, 2010
I liked it better than the first book in most respects. It didn't have that magical feeling of discovery, both for Caitlin learning to see and for Webmind becoming, but it also didn't have as many annoying tics and rants. Caitlin didn't feel quite as much a real kid in this, she's just too much of a genius, too well-read and understanding, and her new friend Matt was worse because we didn't know him well enough for it to make sense. But Caitlin did feel real and immediate as a person; it's ironic that my favorite character by this middle-aged man is a teenaged girl, but that's imagination for you, he did a good job.
As for the US government response to Webmind, although extreme, the reasoning was presented with fairness. Also, it's nice as a citizen to imagine that their fast response time in noticing the situation is accurate. I was surprised to see the Canadian authorities shown as being so heavyhanded.
I was also surprised and a bit disappointed to see the naïveté portrayed by Caitlin's family and their friend the Japanese doctor when it came to predicting and preparing for the world's reaction to Webmind. They never thought to try to encrypt their communications?!? Or thought about what night happen to them or Caitlin if it all came out, or to prepare Webmind to protect himself? They're portrayed as geniuses, they read extensively, and watch movies, yet the idea that they didn't even think to try to protect themselves or Webmind? It just seemed really unlikely.
Sawyer loves to use his books as a platform for his political positions, which I can't blame him for, but it often comes at the expense of the story when these little rants interrupt the flow of the work. He held it down to one major topic this time and at least made it a topic extremely relevant to one of the characters. Even when I agree with him, as I did about this topic, I just wish he'd leave it out or work it in better. A (gay) scientist having a argument about the right to marry with a colleague didn't support the plot of her work with Hobo, the chimpanzee/bonobo who speaks ALS and paints representational art. It was sort of tied in at the end, but that tie in could have been done in a way that was much more appropriate and convincing once I saw the overall argument of the book about consciousness and game theory.
What else? There were still lots of pop culture references, but most felt relevant and appropriate instead of overwhelming and pandering. It was actually funny when he mentioned the Fast Forward TV show.
So what did I really like about it, other than how real Caitlin felt? I like the science and philosophy discussions (even if 16 year-olds having a lot of them seemed a bit silly). I like the idea that Big Brother was written a very long time ago and in a very different world, but has somehow becoming an operating assumption and that things have changed so much that we need new ideas about possibilities and probabilities. And I liked the idea that maybe happiness is the inevitable outcome for our world instead if apocalypse, if some of the ideas about consciousness and game theory as presented are correct. Overall the idea of Webmind still seems much to simplistic, but it's a good thought process to follow and think about, and an enjoyable story.
As for the US government response to Webmind, although extreme, the reasoning was presented with fairness. Also, it's nice as a citizen to imagine that their fast response time in noticing the situation is accurate. I was surprised to see the Canadian authorities shown as being so heavyhanded.
I was also surprised and a bit disappointed to see the naïveté portrayed by Caitlin's family and their friend the Japanese doctor when it came to predicting and preparing for the world's reaction to Webmind. They never thought to try to encrypt their communications?!? Or thought about what night happen to them or Caitlin if it all came out, or to prepare Webmind to protect himself? They're portrayed as geniuses, they read extensively, and watch movies, yet the idea that they didn't even think to try to protect themselves or Webmind? It just seemed really unlikely.
Sawyer loves to use his books as a platform for his political positions, which I can't blame him for, but it often comes at the expense of the story when these little rants interrupt the flow of the work. He held it down to one major topic this time and at least made it a topic extremely relevant to one of the characters. Even when I agree with him, as I did about this topic, I just wish he'd leave it out or work it in better. A (gay) scientist having a argument about the right to marry with a colleague didn't support the plot of her work with Hobo, the chimpanzee/bonobo who speaks ALS and paints representational art. It was sort of tied in at the end, but that tie in could have been done in a way that was much more appropriate and convincing once I saw the overall argument of the book about consciousness and game theory.
What else? There were still lots of pop culture references, but most felt relevant and appropriate instead of overwhelming and pandering. It was actually funny when he mentioned the Fast Forward TV show.
So what did I really like about it, other than how real Caitlin felt? I like the science and philosophy discussions (even if 16 year-olds having a lot of them seemed a bit silly). I like the idea that Big Brother was written a very long time ago and in a very different world, but has somehow becoming an operating assumption and that things have changed so much that we need new ideas about possibilities and probabilities. And I liked the idea that maybe happiness is the inevitable outcome for our world instead if apocalypse, if some of the ideas about consciousness and game theory as presented are correct. Overall the idea of Webmind still seems much to simplistic, but it's a good thought process to follow and think about, and an enjoyable story.
July 7, 2010
I was relatively lukewarm towards WWW:Wake, the first volume in this projected trilogy, but Sawyer's upped his game with this one. Like its predecessor, WWW:Watch shows signs of having been written very quickly, but in this case the narrative rush works to draw the reader in quickly, too.
I'd recommend reading the first book before diving into this one; you'll want to be familiar with developments to date, even though I think it'd be fairly easy to pick up on what's going on, even coming in cold. The cast of characters is largely unchanged from the first book; the focus remains on sixteen-year-old Caitlin Decter and her relationship with the fast-growing Webmind. Caitlin is a good protagonist, and a realistically imperfect human being. Sawyer doesn't shy away from depicting Caitlin as an adolescent, with adolescent concerns about sex and schoolwork. However, he also uses Caitlin as a channel for some of his own opinions from time to time, which can be a little jarring.
Sawyer seems to be something like the Steven Spielberg of sf authors... talented but often visibly manipulative. He hit a lot of the right buttons for me this time, though. There were several times, in fact, when Sawyer's renditions of various "good parts" from sf films like WarGames and Star Trek: The Motion Picture actually made me tear up a bit. Not to mention what happens when Webmind and Hobo meet...
But at least they're happy tears. WWW:Watch is a defiantly hopeful book, in a way that reminds me of what sf used to be like, back in the Golden Age (when I was twelve). The book makes some solid scientific as well as fictional arguments in favor of the value of consciousness, of evolution, and of cooperation. The sequel still has some of the kitchen-sink aspects of its predecessor, a preference for infodumps to which I objected, but they work a lot better for me this time. So in spite of feeling manipulated, and even though the prose was a little breathless... I have to admit that I really liked this book.
I'd recommend reading the first book before diving into this one; you'll want to be familiar with developments to date, even though I think it'd be fairly easy to pick up on what's going on, even coming in cold. The cast of characters is largely unchanged from the first book; the focus remains on sixteen-year-old Caitlin Decter and her relationship with the fast-growing Webmind. Caitlin is a good protagonist, and a realistically imperfect human being. Sawyer doesn't shy away from depicting Caitlin as an adolescent, with adolescent concerns about sex and schoolwork. However, he also uses Caitlin as a channel for some of his own opinions from time to time, which can be a little jarring.
Sawyer seems to be something like the Steven Spielberg of sf authors... talented but often visibly manipulative. He hit a lot of the right buttons for me this time, though. There were several times, in fact, when Sawyer's renditions of various "good parts" from sf films like WarGames and Star Trek: The Motion Picture actually made me tear up a bit. Not to mention what happens when Webmind and Hobo meet...
But at least they're happy tears. WWW:Watch is a defiantly hopeful book, in a way that reminds me of what sf used to be like, back in the Golden Age (when I was twelve). The book makes some solid scientific as well as fictional arguments in favor of the value of consciousness, of evolution, and of cooperation. The sequel still has some of the kitchen-sink aspects of its predecessor, a preference for infodumps to which I objected, but they work a lot better for me this time. So in spite of feeling manipulated, and even though the prose was a little breathless... I have to admit that I really liked this book.
July 22, 2020
I see the WWW series as a long novel broken up into three volumes rather than as a traditional trilogy. It concerns a young woman who's a genius suffering from blindness and her awkward yet Heinlein-esque family. She's cured, the internet becomes self-aware and takes over the world, she learns to deal with her friends, and society learns to deal with a superior non-human intelligence. There's some very thoughtful philosophical examination about violence and the nature and meaning of life. It's all quite well plotted, and the characters are among Sawyer's most convincing, but somehow it's not among my favorites of his work. Computers took over the world a long time ago, and while I liked many of the human characters I couldn't really identify with them. The first book, Wake, does an excellent of setting up the situation, the second, Watch, lags just a bit but explores the possible scenarios pretty well, and the final book, Wonder (perhaps the most engaging of the three), wraps it all up in a satisfying manner and ends on a pleasing and hopeful note. It's good, well-written science fiction with the speculation tending more to the softer sciences.
April 29, 2010
Robert Sawyer's second installment in his "WWW" trilogy picks up right where "Wake" left off but, thankfully, does not fall prey to middle book syndrome.
If you've not read the first installment, there will be SPOILERS ahead for it. Can't really talk about book two without giving away the end of book one.
"Wake" ended with Caitlin Decker contacting the growing intelligence emerging on the World Wide Web. The second novel explores their growing friendship and the responsibility Caitlin feels to help nurture this new entity into maturity. Caitlin debates whether or not to tell her parents about Webmind and then later helps the intelligence discover a sense of right and wrong. At one point, Webmind watches a live video cast of a suicide, which leads to the discussion. This section of the novel is one of the more compelling and chilling sections of the novel.
Meanwhile, the United States government has noticed the emergence of Webmind and is taking steps to assure it doesn't become too powerful. Sawyer also weaves in the story of the apes from the first installment and we finally get to see how this separate thread is slowly colliding with the story of Webmind.
As with the first installment, Sawyer continues to open up fascinating, thought provoking areas of science-fiction and their philosophical ramifications. But he never loses track of his characters, keeping them interesting and growing over the course of the story.
And the novel is one that passes by far too quickly, leaving me eager for the final installment next year.
If you've not read the first installment, there will be SPOILERS ahead for it. Can't really talk about book two without giving away the end of book one.
"Wake" ended with Caitlin Decker contacting the growing intelligence emerging on the World Wide Web. The second novel explores their growing friendship and the responsibility Caitlin feels to help nurture this new entity into maturity. Caitlin debates whether or not to tell her parents about Webmind and then later helps the intelligence discover a sense of right and wrong. At one point, Webmind watches a live video cast of a suicide, which leads to the discussion. This section of the novel is one of the more compelling and chilling sections of the novel.
Meanwhile, the United States government has noticed the emergence of Webmind and is taking steps to assure it doesn't become too powerful. Sawyer also weaves in the story of the apes from the first installment and we finally get to see how this separate thread is slowly colliding with the story of Webmind.
As with the first installment, Sawyer continues to open up fascinating, thought provoking areas of science-fiction and their philosophical ramifications. But he never loses track of his characters, keeping them interesting and growing over the course of the story.
And the novel is one that passes by far too quickly, leaving me eager for the final installment next year.
November 18, 2020
Stronger than the first, and smarter: Sawyer clearly listened to his critics about the pov of teens and of ppl who are blind. One can enter the series here if they must, but by the end of this one will not want to stop: too many 'loose threads.' I am loving the Sense of Wonder and What If for which I read SF and will definitely continue the trilogy and Sawyer's oeuvre.
Vernor Vinge is "vin-jee."
"Any technology that allows you to take out large numbers of your competitors changes the whole evolutionary equation.... Consciousness has survival value because it lets you override your genetic programming.... "
Vernor Vinge is "vin-jee."
"Any technology that allows you to take out large numbers of your competitors changes the whole evolutionary equation.... Consciousness has survival value because it lets you override your genetic programming.... "
April 11, 2021
Can I just say how much... HOW MUCH I resent that my review on this one never saved properly. I have finally got around to reading #1 and I would have loved my insights from when I read #2. Which, incidentally, was far more recently than 2013. GR - why hast thou forsaken me....
December 25, 2014
Quite an enjoyable book.
The concept is lightly sci-fi, without too much of the fi. Slightly cyberpunk without the punk and pleasant to read but with enough content to keep you at it for a while. The core of the story is about the relationship between two individuals; Caitlin, who was born blind but has been fitted with a newly installed retinal implant which allows her to see the world, she can also ‘see’ the data of the net. Though the book calls it the world wide web. The other individual is an artificial intelligence that has spontaneously arisen in the net, (they call it ‘emergent’) it is called webmind.
This book is mainly about those two characters and they are both quite enjoyable. Since it is character based the book can be a little slow at times. Since Caitlin is super intelligent, and webmind knows everything that is online there are a lot of diverse references to many different topics, which can be interesting.
There is a mild ‘risk’ or confrontational element to the plot as governments, predictably, are afraid of webmind and want to destroy him. The reader never has any cause for doubt or concern however. There is no actual climax to the main story arc and a lot of possible areas of exploration simply fade away. The actual ‘climax’ or conclusion of the story is about evolution and intelligence as the sixteen year old (but very, very intelligent) Caitlin lectures us, her parents and her boyfriend about what it really is. That sounds sarcastic and cynical – it is. Having a main character know it all is a risky writing tactic in my opinion. The hypotheses and opinions posited on intelligence and evolution however are interesting, especially (I imagine) if you know a bit about maths and game writing theories.
I would recommend it to sci-fi lovers, especially younger people (say under 30’s) who may not have encountered the concept too many times before. It is better suited to people who read a lot and very eclectically, or they will spend a lot of their time online googing things. I read a lot, very eclectically and I had no idea about a lot of the references woven into the story.
This was a library book that I plucked off the shelf and it was a good pick but it has lost one full star with me for being a sequel and giving no warning of this anywhere on the cover or in the description.
This is a prime hate of mine in general. Watch does not to too badly at overcoming this; it was about page 100 before I was sure that this was a sequel. I had a hunch by chapter three but it was not obnoxiously obvious. You can read the whole book without having read the sequel but it becomes annoying over time. I gather the first book described how webmind came to be, Caitlin went on an unpleasant date with Trevor and several other things that are alluded to repeatedly without much explanation. A fair proportion of the characters must have been described, introduced and developed in the first book because they can be quite two dimensional.
There is a sub-plot about a small group of primate researchers and an ape called Hobo. This sub-plot is interesting certainly, but it is also somewhat mystifying as nothing and no one is really introduced or described. The reason for it being there is also obscure, it does provide welcome relief from Caitlin, who otherwise dominates almost every page, and I think it is meant to be a major 'proof' about intelligence and evolution. The detached plot, which no links to the main plot and insufficient explanation of ... anything, just seems odd, though potentially very interesting.
I am suspecting that there will be another book about Caitlin and Webmind, but although the four or five main characters are not bad, I will not rush to read it.
The concept is lightly sci-fi, without too much of the fi. Slightly cyberpunk without the punk and pleasant to read but with enough content to keep you at it for a while. The core of the story is about the relationship between two individuals; Caitlin, who was born blind but has been fitted with a newly installed retinal implant which allows her to see the world, she can also ‘see’ the data of the net. Though the book calls it the world wide web. The other individual is an artificial intelligence that has spontaneously arisen in the net, (they call it ‘emergent’) it is called webmind.
This book is mainly about those two characters and they are both quite enjoyable. Since it is character based the book can be a little slow at times. Since Caitlin is super intelligent, and webmind knows everything that is online there are a lot of diverse references to many different topics, which can be interesting.
There is a mild ‘risk’ or confrontational element to the plot as governments, predictably, are afraid of webmind and want to destroy him. The reader never has any cause for doubt or concern however. There is no actual climax to the main story arc and a lot of possible areas of exploration simply fade away. The actual ‘climax’ or conclusion of the story is about evolution and intelligence as the sixteen year old (but very, very intelligent) Caitlin lectures us, her parents and her boyfriend about what it really is. That sounds sarcastic and cynical – it is. Having a main character know it all is a risky writing tactic in my opinion. The hypotheses and opinions posited on intelligence and evolution however are interesting, especially (I imagine) if you know a bit about maths and game writing theories.
I would recommend it to sci-fi lovers, especially younger people (say under 30’s) who may not have encountered the concept too many times before. It is better suited to people who read a lot and very eclectically, or they will spend a lot of their time online googing things. I read a lot, very eclectically and I had no idea about a lot of the references woven into the story.
This was a library book that I plucked off the shelf and it was a good pick but it has lost one full star with me for being a sequel and giving no warning of this anywhere on the cover or in the description.
This is a prime hate of mine in general. Watch does not to too badly at overcoming this; it was about page 100 before I was sure that this was a sequel. I had a hunch by chapter three but it was not obnoxiously obvious. You can read the whole book without having read the sequel but it becomes annoying over time. I gather the first book described how webmind came to be, Caitlin went on an unpleasant date with Trevor and several other things that are alluded to repeatedly without much explanation. A fair proportion of the characters must have been described, introduced and developed in the first book because they can be quite two dimensional.
There is a sub-plot about a small group of primate researchers and an ape called Hobo. This sub-plot is interesting certainly, but it is also somewhat mystifying as nothing and no one is really introduced or described. The reason for it being there is also obscure, it does provide welcome relief from Caitlin, who otherwise dominates almost every page, and I think it is meant to be a major 'proof' about intelligence and evolution. The detached plot, which no links to the main plot and insufficient explanation of ... anything, just seems odd, though potentially very interesting.
I am suspecting that there will be another book about Caitlin and Webmind, but although the four or five main characters are not bad, I will not rush to read it.
April 19, 2011
When I read Wake 10 months ago, my initial impressions were of a lot of disparate threads. The AI, the blindness, the chimp, the Chinese, just to name the first few that occur to me now. I gave it a 4 star rating, because I enjoyed it. I wonder now if my own defences, particularly on the blindness thing, caused me to not allow it the breathing space it deserved.
This instalment is certainly a 5 star offering. There are no fewer threads and subplots, everything's still going on and the American government are weighing in on the stage as well. But I think my main reason for catapulting this book to my highest rated standard is its education value. Webmind, the AI of the story is growing, and Caitlin, though clever, is not omnipotent. This opens up a great deal of room for exposition, and because of the computer-oriented content, I can certainly see that, as a teen, I would have learned a great deal about all sorts of things from this book.
"“It’s only because you have a limited perspective that you understand that the person facing you must be seeing something completely different from what you’re seeing as you face him," just as one example, a very neat summary of the theory of mind. There are nuggets scattered throughout - like "any evolutionist should have intuitively known that tonsils had value." The sheer quantity of topics discussed - through evolution to zero-sum situations is breathtaking in scope.
Then there are the things, not facts, but things that Sawyer clearly either believes or at least could some day. The fact that we can choose our path, that consciousness puts the breaks on instinct, for example, is one such. another is the exposition on surveillance, of particular significance here because Webmind can practically see everything.
Sawyer's bringing up material he's handled before, but somehow, in this setting and written like this, it all seems to gel so much more effectively. the Neanderthal Parallax series of books (Hominids, Humans and Hybrids) argue that having ones every move monitored is a good thing, in an alien context - but written here, the way it is, really made me stop and think about it on a more Human level. Carry that thought to religion (Calculating God), evolution (frameshift), racial diversity (Starplex) or indeed almost any other tenet of Humanity you can think of, he seems to have something to say on it.
So to sum: a brilliant continuation of the story, better than the first, I'd say; but also fascinating for the information and opinions you learn too.
This instalment is certainly a 5 star offering. There are no fewer threads and subplots, everything's still going on and the American government are weighing in on the stage as well. But I think my main reason for catapulting this book to my highest rated standard is its education value. Webmind, the AI of the story is growing, and Caitlin, though clever, is not omnipotent. This opens up a great deal of room for exposition, and because of the computer-oriented content, I can certainly see that, as a teen, I would have learned a great deal about all sorts of things from this book.
"“It’s only because you have a limited perspective that you understand that the person facing you must be seeing something completely different from what you’re seeing as you face him," just as one example, a very neat summary of the theory of mind. There are nuggets scattered throughout - like "any evolutionist should have intuitively known that tonsils had value." The sheer quantity of topics discussed - through evolution to zero-sum situations is breathtaking in scope.
Then there are the things, not facts, but things that Sawyer clearly either believes or at least could some day. The fact that we can choose our path, that consciousness puts the breaks on instinct, for example, is one such. another is the exposition on surveillance, of particular significance here because Webmind can practically see everything.
Sawyer's bringing up material he's handled before, but somehow, in this setting and written like this, it all seems to gel so much more effectively. the Neanderthal Parallax series of books (Hominids, Humans and Hybrids) argue that having ones every move monitored is a good thing, in an alien context - but written here, the way it is, really made me stop and think about it on a more Human level. Carry that thought to religion (Calculating God), evolution (frameshift), racial diversity (Starplex) or indeed almost any other tenet of Humanity you can think of, he seems to have something to say on it.
So to sum: a brilliant continuation of the story, better than the first, I'd say; but also fascinating for the information and opinions you learn too.
January 25, 2011
Part II of the WWW trilogy continues the story of Caitlin and the emergence of a consciousness within the internet. I enjoyed this book and kept wanting to read more but...[return][return]And this seems to be more true with every book Sawyer releases. There were times when this felt like a Canadian culture textbook, or a math textbook, or a physics textbook. His Canadiana becomes nauseating (and false in a lot of senses... believe it or not, but Canadians have heard of, AND READ, non-canadian authors) and while the science is fun to read, it pulls you out of the story quite a bit to do so.[return][return]I'm starting to see a mould in Sawyer's writing.[return][return]1) Come up with a really cool story idea and write a short story (his short stories are great btw).[return]2) In order to expand this into a novel, insert the following: Debates aboute God and religion, explanations of scientific topics, false stereotypes about Canada and canadians, clever puns.[return][return]At one point, he drops a reference to his show Flashforward based on the book by the same name. Seriously!!!! I've read his short story anthologies, and I really think that's where he shines. Although he writes more novels now (I understand the need to do so. Short stories don't sell), I feel like he's never become a novel writer. He's still a short story writer a heart and he uses these literary contraptions to extend the book into a novel length book.[return][return]It's unfortunate because I really DID enjoy reading this and I'm looking forward to reading the third book next year, but aside from the core story, these things really stand out for me and overshadow the great story telling ability Sawyer has.
June 18, 2010
I like the story this book tells. Unfortunately, there were several things in the book that kept me from actually enjoying the book, so I cannot give it more than 2 stars. As much as I wanted the story, I found finishing the book tedious.
In my review of WWW:Wake, the first book in this series, I compared it favorably to another book with a smart young protagonist, Little Brother. I said that in comparison, Doctorow looks like he's trying too hard to be hip.
I must now say the same thing about Sawyer. His constant current pop culture references are amusing at first, but quickly become distracting.
As the book progresses, the author's soapbox moments get longer and more tiresome. About a quarter of the way through, I thought "Yeah, we get it, Author. You think belief in God is silly, and that California's Proposition 8 is a travesty. I don't care, but at least you've gotten it out of your system, so we can continue on with the story." Unfortunately, I was giving the author too much credit.
I was also disappointed that the secondary story involving the primatologists came to nothing. In the first book, the two storylines didn't connect at all. In this book, the main storyline (the one I cared about) affects the secondary one, but the secondary one doesn't affect the main story line in any meaningful way. That entire sub-plot could have been removed. It felt like the time spent reading those portions had been wasted.
In my review of WWW:Wake, the first book in this series, I compared it favorably to another book with a smart young protagonist, Little Brother. I said that in comparison, Doctorow looks like he's trying too hard to be hip.
I must now say the same thing about Sawyer. His constant current pop culture references are amusing at first, but quickly become distracting.
As the book progresses, the author's soapbox moments get longer and more tiresome. About a quarter of the way through, I thought "Yeah, we get it, Author. You think belief in God is silly, and that California's Proposition 8 is a travesty. I don't care, but at least you've gotten it out of your system, so we can continue on with the story." Unfortunately, I was giving the author too much credit.
I was also disappointed that the secondary story involving the primatologists came to nothing. In the first book, the two storylines didn't connect at all. In this book, the main storyline (the one I cared about) affects the secondary one, but the secondary one doesn't affect the main story line in any meaningful way. That entire sub-plot could have been removed. It felt like the time spent reading those portions had been wasted.
April 21, 2010
My status updates say it all:
"Maybe a little heavy handed and corny, but I still like it."
"learning lots about Canada"
"maybe now we'll see what happens to the monkey"
"Maybe a little heavy handed and corny, but I still like it."
"learning lots about Canada"
"maybe now we'll see what happens to the monkey"
September 24, 2016
3.5
Review to follow.
Review to follow.
April 5, 2025
Noting my rating - this was really good. RTC
Side note - the reason I am kind of dithering on the review is that I am annoyed that real life didn't follow this optimistic path re. the internet. Will have to come back when I am less annoyed - see you in 2035 at the rate things are going IRL.
Side note - the reason I am kind of dithering on the review is that I am annoyed that real life didn't follow this optimistic path re. the internet. Will have to come back when I am less annoyed - see you in 2035 at the rate things are going IRL.
June 24, 2012
Much better than the first one. Okay the characters are still lame, and Caitlan's erstwhile romance made me roll my eyes, a lot. Give the author some credit, at least something was going on during one of the information dumps of this book, but I'm not sure a steamy first make-out session between teenagers is really the way I would have gone. Who has an initial romantic encounter while nattering on about web theory? On the other hand, Webmind, the AI presence, has introduced himself to the world and it is REALLY interesting. It has a biblical feel, and the line between God and a presence who wants to help humanity, can access anything stored on the web, and converse with billions of people at once becomes very, very fine. Only this God talks back and grants requests. It brings up a whole host of other questions: I was reminded very much of Orson Scott Card, both the "Jane" presence of the Ender books, and the more interesting conundrum in The Worthing Saga where a planet of superhuman people are tasked with making sure the rest of the galaxy experiences no pain, no suffering, no sickness and wants for nothing. The sad truth is that pain forces us to grow. And without it there is only stagnation and banality. So does humanity really need a God who actually answers prayers? And what will happen if we get one? That is the question that is posed in this book and will hopefully be answered more fully in the conclusion.
September 27, 2013
28/07 - This was even better than Wake! Watch wasn't quite as chock-a-block with techno-speak because the technology (Caitlin's eyePod, WebMind's appearance etc) had already been set up, so Sawyer didn't have to overload the reader with background information on how it all worked. This left more time for the story to happen, to progress. Webmind's voice was a little irritating to begin with because after reading everything the Gutenberg Project had digitalised he had a slightly skewed idea of the way people talk in current times, but as he continued to learn that resolved itself. The front cover had a quote from Publisher's Weekly "wildly thought provoking" and I absolutely agree. I don't understand the internet well enough to say whether any of this is possible, but I hope it is. So, if there's a WebMind-like - WebMind-like in that it's completely benign and not going to turn into Skynet or plug us all into the Matrix so it can have the planet to itself and its progeny (or whatever you call robots made by robots) - entity out there watching us from the internet please find a suitable Caitlin substitute (someone who isn't going to inform the relevant authorities out of fear of what it may one day be capable of) and make contact. I look forward to hearing from you.
October 12, 2011
Now that Webmind has begun to interact with the rest of the world, and Caitlin is discovering what it means to be a sighted teenager, they are both discovering that there are many things out there of which they should be wary. The government begins watching them, aware that Webmind could have significant influence and power, with great repercussions if he chose to abuse that power. I liked this even better than the first book, preferring the focus on the social ramifications of Caitlin’s vision technology and Webmind. I also really enjoyed the political intrigue and the romantic interaction between Caitlin and her socially awkward boyfriend. This was Mr. Sawyer at his best, typical with his writing once he is well-entrenched in the middle of one of his strong stories.
June 12, 2018
This was an interesting book and a good continuation of the first on in the series. I thought it was not quite as full of interesting concepts as the first one however. In this one Webmind continues to evolve and to find it's purpose. Also US intelligence agencies become aware of it and try to plot it's demise. It's kind of hard to do. I like some of the things that Webmind got up to, like eliminate spam. As I spend a fair amount of time reviewing the junk that comes in on that, stopping spam globally would be a worth while thing I suspect for an AI to do. Also could we please stop junk phone calls? I'd vote for that. It's too bad this type of AI has not yet emerged. Maybe it will. I'm on to the third volume.
July 4, 2023
Continuing directly from “WAKE” we follow the story of the emerging consciousness on the web and the girl who brought it into maturity.
It’s still fun and interesting, but just like weir’s “Artemis” there often is a discord when middle aged men tries to write 1. Person narratives for teenage girls, especially when there’s a love interest involved.
Just like “Wake”, the ending is glorious and quite touching and I’m already started on the last novel in the series
It’s still fun and interesting, but just like weir’s “Artemis” there often is a discord when middle aged men tries to write 1. Person narratives for teenage girls, especially when there’s a love interest involved.
Just like “Wake”, the ending is glorious and quite touching and I’m already started on the last novel in the series
October 12, 2022
This was better than the first in the series; apparently the author realised about adjustments to gaining sight being something that would take some time, and I feel that being taken into Account seriously improved the book. I also found the evolutionary concepts of consciousness fascinating, and I’m glad we are getting to explore those more as a series progresses.
December 21, 2018
I just reviewed book 1 belatedly, now doing book 2, gonna start with my book 1 review (more of a series overview so far) and add to it.
I absolutely love this series! For the last year or three, I've struggled to find books to read that I could do better than plod through, bored, but the WWW series is that rarest of beasts for me: a series I fly through in short order. I read this book a week ago, and I've already sailed through book 2 and am about to embark on book 3, pausing for the day only so I don't stay up too late again.
This series is perfect for me, because I get so tired of the Same Old Boring White Guy sci-fi. This series centers around a blind teenage math whiz girl named Caitlin who gets vision for the first time in her life via an implant in her eye, but a series of learning-curve moments along the way mean it doesn't work at first, showing her instead a visualization of the world wide web. At the same time, we follow the awakening of an emergent AI (eventually named Webmind) as it struggles through the pre-lingual stages of consciousness in a world it doesn't understand. Its stumblings eventually lead it to Caitlin, where it's able to see the world through her eyes once the flaws in the programming of the implant are corrected (but she retains the "websight" when the implant is in a different mode). It reaches out to her, and once she realizes what it is, plays Anne Sullivan to its Hellen Keller by teaching it language and so many other things.
I think by far my favorite parts of this book and its sequels is how well Sawyer narrates the points of view for Webmind and Caitlin. With Caitlin, he does an amazing job of painting a vivid picture in our mind of what life as a blind person is like for her, and even once she's seeing again, her experiences while she was blind inform her present and help to illustrate not only many things that sighted people might not realize about blind people, but also gives us a greater appreciation for sight via the unique experience of seeing it through the eyes of someone who is seeing for the first time in her life. All without being preachy, without talking down to the readers, or the like; it, like Webmind's emergence, is fascinating and beautiful and really puts you in that perspective. (I especially love this because I'm a writer myself, and the book I'm currently working on has a blind character in it, so it doubles as research for me!)
As to Webmind, Sawyer portrays it -- rather, *him* -- with equal beauty and finesse, avoiding lots of the old and tired cliches and tropes about AI's. It's not like the things are normally in sci-fi; this thing has a full range of emotions, especially a sense of wonder and joy. It takes time to figure things out, too - it doesn't just wake up one day completely self-aware and knowing everything; it's a learning curve. It's like we see it going through the entire evolutionary process of intelligence at a pace measured in weeks or months instead of millions of years, but from its point of view (which we're seeing), it's a slow process. A process that is frequently frustrating to it. Even once it learns language -- even in the second book -- it still runs into things that confuse it, and makes mistakes.
I also love this book because of its diversity! Blind main character, even if she doesn't stay that way, and her years of previous blindness don't just magically evaporate when she gets her sight. Nay, she struggles to learn about and adjust to this whole new world of vision right along with Webmind, and her unique perspective helps drive along the plot in ways that include insights she's able to give to other characters. But she's human, with her own flaws and foibles. (So is Webmind!)
But the diversity goes well beyond that. Her best friend is a Muslim girl who wears a hijab, the doctor who helps give her her sight is an obese Japanese scientist, much of what starts Webmind's initial forays into consciousness is events in China with Chinese characters that are very three-dimensional despite most of them only being in the first book, another scientist she comes into contact with is an Israeli woman, Caitlin's father is a scientist on the autism spectrum, and her mother has a doctorate in Economics but put her career aside to care for Caitlin (with plans to resume that career as soon as she can). Also, in the side plot about Hobo the chimp, one of the primatologists who cares for Hobo is in an interracial lesbian relationship with a black woman who is also a scientist (in another field).
Caitlin's father being autistic is also handled really well (and I say this as an expert on the subject, since I'm autistic myself). There were clues all through the book, but they were subtle clues, clues that could have been attributed to issues with having a blind daughter. Caitlin herself thinks so, too, until her mother explains the truth. I didn't figure it out myself until then, either, that's how caught up in her point of view I got. I'm glad to know he wasn't just being a jerk (albeit a mild one) about having a blind daughter.
So yeah, it has everything I love, in no particular order: 1. Well-rounded characters who are diverse ethnically, by their sexuality, by their neuro-status, by religion, by level of ability or disability, and by gender. 2. A well-written, interesting, non-cliche AI that is human in the ways that count but isn't just a mechanized caricature of a human; a machine intelligence with a full range of emotions and empathy and its own unique point of view. 3. Governments being the bad guy, but in a realistic way and not in a cartoonish or overdone way. 4. Puns! And other funny moments ranging from "hee hee" to gut-bustingly hilarious. 5. Realistic conflict. 6. Well-done romantic relationships without the romance dominating the story or making me want to skip ahead. 7. Fascinating ideas about consciousness, math, science, and other stuff, ideas that really make me think, along with cool facts about computers and the Internet that I didn't know before. 8. The author making it a point to counter several tropes about AI's without being ham-fisted about it. 9. The science and math stuff is easy to understand even to a math dunce like me, and fits organically into the story. 10. A great balance of drama, character relationships (not just romantic), cool ideas, and humor. 11. It's optimistic, and there just isn't enough optimistic sci-fi in the sci-fi world today, so that's refreshing.
In conclusion, if this sounds at all interesting to you, I highly recommend you read it as soon as you can. I had this book on my Amazon wishlist for years before I decided to look for it as an ebook from the library to read it, and my only regret about this book series is not doing that sooner! Scratch that. My only two regrets are that, and the fact there's only three books in this series!
(PS = It was written around 2009-ish, so some of the computer/Internet stuff is a little dated. Wolfram Alpha still being called Mathematica Alpha, BlackBerrys still being popular, stuff like that. I don't think it detracts from the story at all, though.)
~Book 2 addition:
Really not a lot to say about this book that hasn't already been said. It's a deeper diving into Webmind's growth as a person. In this book, Webmind goes public about its existence in a hilarious way, helps a lot of people, and gets attacked and fights it off in such a hilarious way I laughed so hard I struggled to breathe again. :D I also liked how the Decters dealt with the government goons! While the first book took me about 5 to 7 days (I forget which exactly), this book I flew through in 2 days, and that was part of my problems sleeping during that time! :D As I said above, I'm not going on to the third book until tomorrow, so I can get some sleep; I've been up WAY too long.
Oh yeah, and to anyone who's worried about the apes in the first book: don't worry, they're well cared for. There's some drama in that arc where another zoo wants to take Hobo away, but there's a happy ending!
I absolutely love this series! For the last year or three, I've struggled to find books to read that I could do better than plod through, bored, but the WWW series is that rarest of beasts for me: a series I fly through in short order. I read this book a week ago, and I've already sailed through book 2 and am about to embark on book 3, pausing for the day only so I don't stay up too late again.
This series is perfect for me, because I get so tired of the Same Old Boring White Guy sci-fi. This series centers around a blind teenage math whiz girl named Caitlin who gets vision for the first time in her life via an implant in her eye, but a series of learning-curve moments along the way mean it doesn't work at first, showing her instead a visualization of the world wide web. At the same time, we follow the awakening of an emergent AI (eventually named Webmind) as it struggles through the pre-lingual stages of consciousness in a world it doesn't understand. Its stumblings eventually lead it to Caitlin, where it's able to see the world through her eyes once the flaws in the programming of the implant are corrected (but she retains the "websight" when the implant is in a different mode). It reaches out to her, and once she realizes what it is, plays Anne Sullivan to its Hellen Keller by teaching it language and so many other things.
I think by far my favorite parts of this book and its sequels is how well Sawyer narrates the points of view for Webmind and Caitlin. With Caitlin, he does an amazing job of painting a vivid picture in our mind of what life as a blind person is like for her, and even once she's seeing again, her experiences while she was blind inform her present and help to illustrate not only many things that sighted people might not realize about blind people, but also gives us a greater appreciation for sight via the unique experience of seeing it through the eyes of someone who is seeing for the first time in her life. All without being preachy, without talking down to the readers, or the like; it, like Webmind's emergence, is fascinating and beautiful and really puts you in that perspective. (I especially love this because I'm a writer myself, and the book I'm currently working on has a blind character in it, so it doubles as research for me!)
As to Webmind, Sawyer portrays it -- rather, *him* -- with equal beauty and finesse, avoiding lots of the old and tired cliches and tropes about AI's. It's not like the things are normally in sci-fi; this thing has a full range of emotions, especially a sense of wonder and joy. It takes time to figure things out, too - it doesn't just wake up one day completely self-aware and knowing everything; it's a learning curve. It's like we see it going through the entire evolutionary process of intelligence at a pace measured in weeks or months instead of millions of years, but from its point of view (which we're seeing), it's a slow process. A process that is frequently frustrating to it. Even once it learns language -- even in the second book -- it still runs into things that confuse it, and makes mistakes.
I also love this book because of its diversity! Blind main character, even if she doesn't stay that way, and her years of previous blindness don't just magically evaporate when she gets her sight. Nay, she struggles to learn about and adjust to this whole new world of vision right along with Webmind, and her unique perspective helps drive along the plot in ways that include insights she's able to give to other characters. But she's human, with her own flaws and foibles. (So is Webmind!)
But the diversity goes well beyond that. Her best friend is a Muslim girl who wears a hijab, the doctor who helps give her her sight is an obese Japanese scientist, much of what starts Webmind's initial forays into consciousness is events in China with Chinese characters that are very three-dimensional despite most of them only being in the first book, another scientist she comes into contact with is an Israeli woman, Caitlin's father is a scientist on the autism spectrum, and her mother has a doctorate in Economics but put her career aside to care for Caitlin (with plans to resume that career as soon as she can). Also, in the side plot about Hobo the chimp, one of the primatologists who cares for Hobo is in an interracial lesbian relationship with a black woman who is also a scientist (in another field).
Caitlin's father being autistic is also handled really well (and I say this as an expert on the subject, since I'm autistic myself). There were clues all through the book, but they were subtle clues, clues that could have been attributed to issues with having a blind daughter. Caitlin herself thinks so, too, until her mother explains the truth. I didn't figure it out myself until then, either, that's how caught up in her point of view I got. I'm glad to know he wasn't just being a jerk (albeit a mild one) about having a blind daughter.
So yeah, it has everything I love, in no particular order: 1. Well-rounded characters who are diverse ethnically, by their sexuality, by their neuro-status, by religion, by level of ability or disability, and by gender. 2. A well-written, interesting, non-cliche AI that is human in the ways that count but isn't just a mechanized caricature of a human; a machine intelligence with a full range of emotions and empathy and its own unique point of view. 3. Governments being the bad guy, but in a realistic way and not in a cartoonish or overdone way. 4. Puns! And other funny moments ranging from "hee hee" to gut-bustingly hilarious. 5. Realistic conflict. 6. Well-done romantic relationships without the romance dominating the story or making me want to skip ahead. 7. Fascinating ideas about consciousness, math, science, and other stuff, ideas that really make me think, along with cool facts about computers and the Internet that I didn't know before. 8. The author making it a point to counter several tropes about AI's without being ham-fisted about it. 9. The science and math stuff is easy to understand even to a math dunce like me, and fits organically into the story. 10. A great balance of drama, character relationships (not just romantic), cool ideas, and humor. 11. It's optimistic, and there just isn't enough optimistic sci-fi in the sci-fi world today, so that's refreshing.
In conclusion, if this sounds at all interesting to you, I highly recommend you read it as soon as you can. I had this book on my Amazon wishlist for years before I decided to look for it as an ebook from the library to read it, and my only regret about this book series is not doing that sooner! Scratch that. My only two regrets are that, and the fact there's only three books in this series!
(PS = It was written around 2009-ish, so some of the computer/Internet stuff is a little dated. Wolfram Alpha still being called Mathematica Alpha, BlackBerrys still being popular, stuff like that. I don't think it detracts from the story at all, though.)
~Book 2 addition:
Really not a lot to say about this book that hasn't already been said. It's a deeper diving into Webmind's growth as a person. In this book, Webmind goes public about its existence in a hilarious way, helps a lot of people, and gets attacked and fights it off in such a hilarious way I laughed so hard I struggled to breathe again. :D I also liked how the Decters dealt with the government goons! While the first book took me about 5 to 7 days (I forget which exactly), this book I flew through in 2 days, and that was part of my problems sleeping during that time! :D As I said above, I'm not going on to the third book until tomorrow, so I can get some sleep; I've been up WAY too long.
Oh yeah, and to anyone who's worried about the apes in the first book: don't worry, they're well cared for. There's some drama in that arc where another zoo wants to take Hobo away, but there's a happy ending!
July 5, 2013
I listened to this on a long drive to a friend's house. Audible had put it on the 2-for-1 credit sale, where they had offered several second-book-in-a-series books. I read the first book of this trilogy three years ago when it was nominated for a Hugo Award.
In the first book of this series, Caitlin has gained sight for the first time, and ends up also being able to see the world wide web from her implant. Not too long after, she starts communicating with WebMind, an unknown consciousness brought up from the web itself. This book starts with her communicating more with [him], telling her parents, and the worldwide internet security people learning about it.
It is interesting to read a book about internet security in light of recent events. Robert J. Sawyer actually uses Caitlin and WebMind to make the argument that surveillance isn't bad, in fact people do less illegal activity when they know they're being watched. So that was an interesting conclusion, and that idea combined with the multiple narrating voices made the ending very creepy. I'm not sure he meant it to be, but I definitely found it to be. 1984 isn't true! Surveillance makes society better! What.....
The author's info-dumps are a little silly. We learn a lot about evolution during a makeout session. I don't like it when a main character knows everything, is wiser than everyone, or can figure out anything on her own. It actually makes the book less exciting to have everything laid out for the reader that way. Her parents are so supportive! She can outsmart the NSA! Yeah.
For the most part, the audio production by Audible Frontiers was well done. The woman narrating Caitlin was great, but seemed to use accents on a whim (Caitlin and her mother are from Texas but their accents only show up every once in a while), and the two American characters' sections had such low volume that I had to keep adjusting in my car. I don't want to be thinking about production as I listen to a story, and I had to. The other misstep was having the author introduce the story.. usually a good idea, but RJS was a bit pompous about how his 2nd books of trilogies are always the best, and how LUCKY I was going to be to hear this, which might be his BEST BOOK EVER. I almost turned it off right then!
In the first book of this series, Caitlin has gained sight for the first time, and ends up also being able to see the world wide web from her implant. Not too long after, she starts communicating with WebMind, an unknown consciousness brought up from the web itself. This book starts with her communicating more with [him], telling her parents, and the worldwide internet security people learning about it.
It is interesting to read a book about internet security in light of recent events. Robert J. Sawyer actually uses Caitlin and WebMind to make the argument that surveillance isn't bad, in fact people do less illegal activity when they know they're being watched. So that was an interesting conclusion, and that idea combined with the multiple narrating voices made the ending very creepy. I'm not sure he meant it to be, but I definitely found it to be. 1984 isn't true! Surveillance makes society better! What.....
The author's info-dumps are a little silly. We learn a lot about evolution during a makeout session. I don't like it when a main character knows everything, is wiser than everyone, or can figure out anything on her own. It actually makes the book less exciting to have everything laid out for the reader that way. Her parents are so supportive! She can outsmart the NSA! Yeah.
For the most part, the audio production by Audible Frontiers was well done. The woman narrating Caitlin was great, but seemed to use accents on a whim (Caitlin and her mother are from Texas but their accents only show up every once in a while), and the two American characters' sections had such low volume that I had to keep adjusting in my car. I don't want to be thinking about production as I listen to a story, and I had to. The other misstep was having the author introduce the story.. usually a good idea, but RJS was a bit pompous about how his 2nd books of trilogies are always the best, and how LUCKY I was going to be to hear this, which might be his BEST BOOK EVER. I almost turned it off right then!
December 11, 2013
It is not often that you find science fiction with a positive outlook on artificial intelligence. I think that is one of the main reasons that WWW:Watch intrigues me so much. The author does make a legitimately good case for an AI like Webmind, which is something that I naturally feel inclined to fear. Sawyer explains through the protagonist, Caitlin, why being constantly monitored on the internet is not such a bad thing for society. Being such a fan of monitoring, one might get the impression that he is secretly a marketing whiz for the NSA (or CSE(?) since he is Canandian), except that he draws an important line between the good that being watched over by an AI does and how scary that same thing is when done by humans. Webmind does not just demonstrate his usefulness when interacting with humans, but with Hobo as well. I was glad to finally see where the two story arcs intersected, and I'm hoping that Hobo's story is not completely lost in the third book despite the fact that it came to a fairly tidy close. Either way, I look forward to reading more about Caitlin. Caitlin is a refreshing main character, being a very intelligent, funny, teenage girl; however, Sawyer often uses her as a way to spout his thoughts and opinions. That is what authors are expected to do, and most of the time it does not bother me since it is what moves the story forward. There are times, though, where it seems like Sawyer presents some view point through Caitlin or another character, and he uses the other characters to tell himself how much of a genius he is. For example, Caitlin, will think of a novel view on something, like Dawkin's selfish genes, and the other characters will eventually tell her how smart and amazing she is. Not only does this grind on me a little during the story, it also makes me think that Sawyer might be just a tiny bit full of himself. For the most part, the dialogue is done very well and is interesting as well as necessary to move the story forward, there are just a few points that stick out as the author trying to present a new view in a way that no one will debate(to be fair, this could just be something that bothers me personally, rather than a fault everyone will find). Even with these lectures, WWW: Watch is still well worth reading and I look forward to reading the final book in the trilogy.
March 14, 2012
Caitlin Decter once was blind, but now can see – thanks to a special implant developed by Dr. Kuroda, a Japanese scientist (called the Eyepod). An unexpected side-effect of the device also enables Caitlin to see webspace (Websight), and in the previous book she discovered an artificial intelligence was coming into consciousness in the backdrop of the World Wide Web. She feeds the entity information and it, “he” as she comes to think of him, becomes more complicated, sophisticated, and intelligent. Watch starts off with Caitlin coming clean to her parents about what she’s been up to with the AI, whom she calls “Webmind.” Her parents have some concerns, but quickly come on board with their own efforts to communicate with and help teach the emergent AI. Unfortunately, Webmind’s presence is also discovered by several government entities, who are determined to wipe it out before it can evolve any further. Webmind must out himself to the world at large and prove that he’s a force of good (and not evil).
Watch continues to be immersive and fascinating. I did take issue with the dressing down Caitlin gives Webmind for not preventing a teen’s suicide (he just watches, not knowing what to think) – first, he doesn’t really understand (at that time) what’s going on, and second he’s not human (even though he’s manifested through some fluke of human technology/engineering). I’m having trouble with the idea that Webmind owes humanity something for his existence and that he should be this online vigilante, protecting our species from ourselves (although, he does eliminate SPAM to show that his intentions are benevolent – not bad!). I wonder if Webmind will ever come to that conclusion himself, or if learning from humans will somehow humanize him. New developments with Hobo the sign-using bonobo/chimpanzee (who is secretly communicating with Webmind) are also interesting. Looking forward to the last installment!
Watch continues to be immersive and fascinating. I did take issue with the dressing down Caitlin gives Webmind for not preventing a teen’s suicide (he just watches, not knowing what to think) – first, he doesn’t really understand (at that time) what’s going on, and second he’s not human (even though he’s manifested through some fluke of human technology/engineering). I’m having trouble with the idea that Webmind owes humanity something for his existence and that he should be this online vigilante, protecting our species from ourselves (although, he does eliminate SPAM to show that his intentions are benevolent – not bad!). I wonder if Webmind will ever come to that conclusion himself, or if learning from humans will somehow humanize him. New developments with Hobo the sign-using bonobo/chimpanzee (who is secretly communicating with Webmind) are also interesting. Looking forward to the last installment!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2011
3.5 stars
There are some parts that are better in the second installment than Wake, and other parts that are worse. I think the plot is overall better: the involvement of the governments which try to shut down Webmind is realistic and fetching. I wish there was more hammering in that direction.
Unfortunately, and this is the main issue I have with this novel, Webmind, who was a striking character in Wake, is sort of bland in in this book. His strive to evolve and self-discover is almost gone. Also, at times the story losses focus and turns into a compendium of physics/math/etc or into endless arguments on every hot topic to the detriment of character development. I'm not arguing for eliminating those sections; however, they don't seem fully integrated in the plot.
This being said, the one debate that has a very solid base in the story is the one about religion. There is a subtle parallel, which I liked a lot, between god and Webmind, a god-like character brooding between two options: inaction and exertion toward making a world better.
The main idea is fascinating and I'm looking forward to the conclusion of the trilogy.
There are some parts that are better in the second installment than Wake, and other parts that are worse. I think the plot is overall better: the involvement of the governments which try to shut down Webmind is realistic and fetching. I wish there was more hammering in that direction.
Unfortunately, and this is the main issue I have with this novel, Webmind, who was a striking character in Wake, is sort of bland in in this book. His strive to evolve and self-discover is almost gone. Also, at times the story losses focus and turns into a compendium of physics/math/etc or into endless arguments on every hot topic to the detriment of character development. I'm not arguing for eliminating those sections; however, they don't seem fully integrated in the plot.
This being said, the one debate that has a very solid base in the story is the one about religion. There is a subtle parallel, which I liked a lot, between god and Webmind, a god-like character brooding between two options: inaction and exertion toward making a world better.
The main idea is fascinating and I'm looking forward to the conclusion of the trilogy.
December 18, 2013
In WWW: Watch Sawyer continues his narrative essay on the very under represented sci-fi concept of a benevolent AI. The story of Caitlin and Webmind continues and finally interconnects with Hobo (I hope the Hobo portion of the story isn't finished though). I'm looking forward to finding out how Webmind develops in the third book and whether "he" survives. I'm going to leave any more grand observations until I read the finial volume, but I'd like to note one of my favorite moments from the book:
Also I was intrigued to learn the reason that Canadian McDonald's and Wendy's have Maple Leaves instead of apostrophe's is because there are no apostrophes in French and Quebec has a bit of a silly insistence that including apostrophes on signs should be illegal. Okay I explained that weirdly, but anyway I've visited Canada regularly all my life ad just thought it was something pretty that Canadians liked to do to their signs. It was interesting to learn there is a real reason behind it.
Also I was intrigued to learn the reason that Canadian McDonald's and Wendy's have Maple Leaves instead of apostrophe's is because there are no apostrophes in French and Quebec has a bit of a silly insistence that including apostrophes on signs should be illegal. Okay I explained that weirdly, but anyway I've visited Canada regularly all my life ad just thought it was something pretty that Canadians liked to do to their signs. It was interesting to learn there is a real reason behind it.
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