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Summary: Action Thriller Shows How Future Web Integrates Knowledge
Review: The action and characters-you-care-about keep you turning those pages, but each page also makes you think.Against a foreground of gripping Sci-Fi save-the-world action adventure, Stiegler shows how a future web, enhanced by cryptographic markets, makes possible cooperative efforts at a scale breathtaking by current standards. We see how the Earthweb, by being a superconductor for both bits and prices, enables knowledge dispersed across humanity to be quickly integrated into useful results. A hopeful look at where all this web technology may go. As a programmer, I felt "I want to build this future!". I hope we do.
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Summary: Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave.
Review: The future never looked so clear....This story brings a lot of pioneering elements just now starting to show up in society and the world wide web together into a plot that seems very plausible. The palmtops that everyone seems to have in their possession are reminiscent of the PALM PILOT handhelds and their clones...The ATMs of today are replaced by these palmtops with e-cash being the norm in transactions. No greenbacks around in this scenario...Sky Cars rule transportation while land cars are antiques to be collected. The Windows OS is hinted at being gone, but the future's OS name is unknown, no endorsements here... Upwards of two billion people are supposedly avid 'net users with sports bars replaced by web-cast bars...This is brought about in haste by an alien attack that comes in five year cycles. The aliens known as the SHIVA, are just robots in a ship-(who sends them to attack Earth is unknown). The fifth attack is underway so its been twenty five years since the first one. The people of earth, and I mean literally billions of people, team up to fight the SHIVA through strategy sessions on internet sites that try to come up with the most plausible defensive/offensive moves for the navy seals of the future known as Angels to use. I like the fact that past events are hinted at as to what may have happened in our very near future, which doesn't seem good. With our near future being in past tense though, the story presents a future where society becomes reliant on individuals that use computer/information technology and less reliant on government. In fact, the reliant government in essence has recruited the whole world into the role of gamblers that try to put money on the strategies that will best work in defense of earth. People can suggest a way to fight and others will either improve on it and/or place money on it. They put their money where their mouth is so to speak... If you're a 'Net Addict then this book is impossible to put down. If not, then EARTHWEB is a very good book to read over the course of a week.
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Summary: I *really* want to meet the title character!
Review: These days, it takes an extraordinary book to pull me away from my computer, but this one did it and with margin to spare. It offers fascinating ideas, and a clear, thoughtful vision of what a mature Internet might be like. Along the way, I got to meet some wonderful people and grew to care about them, just in time to be pushed into one of the most thrilling and suspensful action adventures ever written. By the time I reached the final assault on SHIVA, I was hooked, and absolutely refused to go anywhere until I had finished. At every twist and turn, I just had to find out what happened next, and watched with awe and pride the Earthweb becoming humanity's greatest defense. I understand from other comments on Amazon that this is the first book in a trilogy. Wonderful! Bring them on!
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Summary: People-oriented military sci-fi, and a parrot!
Review: This is the first book of a new trilogy. Although it starts a bit slowly--it has to, to set the scene--by the time you get to Chapter 4 you can't put it down! It's about a group of people (most of whom never meet each other)who unite using the World Wide Web to devise strategies to defeat a starship trying to destroy Earth. It takes all kinds of people and skills to accomplish this aim, and this book has them. Earthweb is different from Mr. Stiegler's earlier works, which were more oriented towards the process than the people. The treatment of his characters made Earthweb more interesting to me (although I enjoyed David's Sling, Valentina and The Gentle Seduction) but for his loyal fans who have been waiting ten years for a new novel in his old style, don't despair--the innovative ideas and interesting uses of technology are still there! The book has many funny as well as tense moments. A great read! I can't wait for the second book in this trilogy!
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Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: This novel revolves around recurrent, regular attacks on Earth by an advanced, mechanical civilization. The aliens send destroyer ships periodically and the people of Earth desperately seek new ways to defeat them. The aliens improve their approach with each attack to counter earlier Earth strategies. The characters harness the WWW to devise strategies that go beyond the abilities of any single individual. The story is flat, the plot is dull, and characters are two-dimentional. Numerous obvious plot holes exist. For instance, detailed tactical commands are beamed from Earth to assault platoons that breach the alien ship. Split second reflexes are needed to defeat the aliens, along with innovative tactics. With the delay required for the Web consensus to develop and the transmission delays between earth and the alien ships, the commandos would be fried. If you have some free time, try a "Star Trek" re-run rather than this book.
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Summary: Not very belieable "realistic" web story
Review: This novel revolves around recurrent, regular attacks on Earth by an advanced, mechanical civilization. The aliens send destroyer ships periodically and the people of Earth desperately seek new ways to defeat them. The aliens improve their approach with each attack to counter earlier Earth strategies. The characters harness the WWW to devise strategies that go beyond the abilities of any single individual. The story is flat, the plot is dull, and characters are two-dimentional. Numerous obvious plot holes exist. For instance, detailed tactical commands are beamed from Earth to assault platoons that breach the alien ship. Split second reflexes are needed to defeat the aliens, along with innovative tactics. With the delay required for the Web consensus to develop and the transmission delays between earth and the alien ships, the commandos would be fried. If you have some free time, try a "Star Trek" re-run rather than this book.
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Summary: Thought provoking
Review: This story encourages the reader to think about the potential of unusual institutions and technologies, while providing an entertaining story.
Some of the assumptions about what technologies will be available when are contrived to make the story work, and some of the dialogue seems a bit unrealistic, but if I focus on the book's more unusual features I can forget about these flaws.
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