Makers

Starred review from September 7, 2009
In this tour de force, Doctorow (Little Brother
) uses the contradictions of two overused SF themes—the decline and fall of America and the boundless optimism of open source/hacker culture—to draw one of the most brilliant reimaginings of the near future since cyberpunk wore out its mirror shades. Perry Gibbons and Lester Banks, typical brilliant geeks in a garage, are trash-hackers who find inspiration in the growing pile of technical junk. Attracting the attention of suits and smart reporter Suzanne Church, the duo soon get involved with cheap and easy 3D printing, a cure for obesity and crowd-sourced theme parks. The result is bitingly realistic and miraculously avoids cliché or predictability. While dates and details occasionally contradict one another, Doctorow's combination of business strategy, brilliant product ideas and laugh-out-loud moments of insight will keep readers powering through this quick-moving tale.

Doctorow examines the same types of intellectual property and technology issues that he explores in his popular blog, BoingBoing. This downbeat novel recounts the odyssey of two entrepreneurs who simply want to make cool stuff who are brought down by a stagnant corporate culture that sees their innovations as threats. Bernadette Dunne narrates with vigor, focus, and compassion. But she makes a bobble at the outset that geeks will find jarring, incorrectly pronouncing the word "Linux." Despite Doctorow's emotionally involving characters and apt extrapolations of contemporary trends, one can never fully overlook the book's tone of didacticism, which is a bit tough to take for 18+ hours. A.B.G. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine