WWW: Wonder

By: Robert J. Sawyer

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

Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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

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

Listen to the rest of the WWW Trilogy.

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

Critic reviews

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

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

Good Guy AI

Fun series that presents a lot of good ideas. It's nice to have a story about a Artificial Intellegence that is not evil. Story is a bit Utopianish but still lots of fun. Readers are also great. Usually I hate multiple readers but it works for this series. This is not a good stand alone book. Start with the first in the series.

Very Enjoyable

An odd combination this 16 year old blind girl and her first crush crossed with the philosophical and incredibly intelligent Webmind. I think I would have chosen a more mature human central figure but it works out just fine. There is plenty of material here to inspire thought. An interesting take on artificial intelligence. This one was a lot of fun.

excellent continuation of the story

first the praise: I enjoyed the series. An interesting imaginary tale. Good writing, good characters, different social political ideas.
This critical part does not change my mind about how I enjoyed the series but does warrant commenting
First, Robert Sawyer always says you can read his series books as a stand alone novel. This is not at all the case with this series, especially this 3rd book. I actually prefer to not have a full recap of the previous books in the series, so for me it was better to have it not be continuously recapped.
Second, the sociopolitical message that Robert Sawyer makes obvious in his books is an interesting take on life. I do not agree with him on many things but I am not insulted by ideas. Since I form my own ideas and opinions he is free to write books stating his world view and I can buy and read or not. It is entertaining but if you are easily offended then I would advise that you spend your credits elsewhere.

Freaking AWESOME - as www's Kaitlin would say!

I don't even know how to express my own personal "WONDER" in relation to my experience listening to these books. All three of them are fantastic. I want a WebMind! I want him for me and for "us". This author is a genius. The way his mind works is unimaginable to me. His messages, his politics, his humanity, his creativity, his complexity and his talent are beyond compare. The story is wonderful. I absolutely love the narrators on this book. Kaitlin’s narrator is sooooooooo talented! I have read Mr. Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax (NP) series and Calculating God (CG). They are great stories also. I knew I'd like NP, and after I finished those three books, I was pretty sure I'd like CG but I wasn't sure at all I'd like the WWW series. I'm just not technically inclined and the topic as described was a little bit intimidating. BOY WAS I WRONG. It's just such a great story. I hope the Chinese government reads it.
Now, my hardest decision is which one of Robert Sawyer's books to download next. :-)
PS - I think it is so smart for him to include references to Audible in WWW. What a great plug for a great service!

Worth the waiting

I enjoyed Wake and Watch and keenly anticipated Wonder to the point that I waited a month before I picked it up. Although I found the re-cap at the beginning a bit tiresome, this is a small criticism, because as soon as we returned to the broken Chinese hacker, I was back on track and the storyline was humming.

As far as storylines go, this was a brave one. It's bound to offend someone. For one thing, I can't see it being highly recommended in some countries, but I guess that is one of the author's points.

I enjoyed the Caitlin Dexter character more, although I think it's still hard for dinosaurs like me to really relate to her. Barb' was easier for me to get a handle on. I also thought the autism angle an interesting one, although not quite the match for the clinical definition, I'm told by someone who reads DSM4 for fun. Again, the Hobo character had a great ability to provoke a mental segue (for me at least) to "2001" and "Planet of the Apes".

As with the previous two instalments, I thought the vocal performances were very good. The Mark Vietor double take was particularly amusing. Jessica Almasy is outstanding.

Although I feel this was pitched at a younger audience (20's to 30's), it was still entertaining and had an Asimovic "Foundation" like optimism. It was well worth the waiting and rewarded the reader of all three books.

Prepare for reality

Web mind. If you really want, you don't actually have to read the first two books… But I still recommend them.

If Only

If only an entity such as Web Mind really existed.

I've followed the story of Web Mind through three books, and have thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

Sawyer is a great story teller, but the performance of the narrators of the audio books have enhanced the story exponentially. Bravo to one and all!

Wow! We can only hope.

A great read! (Listen) The trilogy, WWW Wake, Watch, and Wonder touched deeply held beliefs and thought provoking hopefulness. For sure, we can only hope. Can we find salvation through peace. Will we following a "moral arrow" regardless of the source. 😏

such an amazing book.

wake started slow and interesting. Watch was full of new things and understanding of webmind. And Wonder, was the best thing, full of twists and great things happening in it. The given ending is great, and a bit sad at the same time. But this ending makes you think what happened afterwards.

its such an amazing trilogy, and i wish if there could be such a biography for Webmind :) i really want to know what happens in the world with webmind in the future.... very interesting.

highly recommended. :)

Interesting story but terrible writing

There's absolutely no subtlety at all in this book. The dialogue is a study in how people NEVER talk to one another. It could have been way shorter, but the author puts in all sorts of mundane and unimportant details (like what the characters are having for breakfast). The premise IS interesting though, and the narrators are good--using several different people to narrate is much better than having one person fake a bunch of gender/accents.