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Makers: A Novel Paperback – May 22, 2018

by Cory Doctorow (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 280 ratings
Goodreads Choice Award nominee
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From Cory Doctorow, the New York Times bestselling author of Little Brother, the repackaged trade paperback of Makers, a novel of the booms, busts, and further booms in store for America―now with a new cover!

Perry and Lester invent things―seashell robots that make toast, Boogie Woogie Elmo dolls that drive cars. They also invent entirely new economic systems, like the "New Work," a New Deal for the technological era. Barefoot bankers cross the nation, microinvesting in high-tech communal mini-startups like Perry and Lester's. Together, they transform the country, and Andrea Fleeks, a journo-turned-blogger, is there to document it.

Then it slides into collapse. The New Work bust puts the dot.combomb to shame. Perry and Lester build a network of interactive rides in abandoned Wal-Marts across the land. As their rides, which commemorate the New Work's glory days, gain in popularity, a rogue Disney executive grows jealous, and convinces the police that Perry and Lester's 3D printers are being used to run off AK-47s.

Hordes of goths descend on the shantytown built by the New Workers, joining the cult. Lawsuits multiply as venture capitalists take on a new investment strategy: backing litigation against companies like Disney. Lester and Perry's friendship falls to pieces when Lester gets the ‘fatkins' treatment, turning him into a sybaritic gigolo.

Then things get really interesting.

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  1. Print length
    560 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    May 22, 2018
  4. Dimensions
    5.39 x 1.64 x 8.32 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1250196434
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1250196439
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“I know many science fiction writers engaged in the cyber-world, but Cory Doctorow is a native. We should all hope and trust that our culture has the guts and moxie to follow this guy. He's got a lot to tell us.” ―Bruce Sterling

“A rousing tale of techno-geek rebellion--as necessary and dangerous as file sharing, free speech, and bottled water on a plane.” ―Scott Westerfeld on Little Brother

“A terrific read.... It claims a place in the tradition of polemical science-fiction novels like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 (with a dash of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington).” ―The New York Times Book Review on Little Brother

“Enthralling.... One of the year's most important books.” ―Chicago Tribune on Little Brother

About the Author

Cory Doctorow is a regular contributor to the Guardian, Locus, and many other publications. He is a special consultant to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an MIT Media Lab Research Associate and a visiting professor of Computer Science at the Open University. His award-winning novel Little Brother and its sequel Homeland were a New York Times bestsellers. His novella collection Radicalized was a CBC Best Fiction of 2019 selection. Born and raised in Canada, he lives in Los Angeles.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor Books; Reprint edition (May 22, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 560 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250196434
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250196439
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.39 x 1.64 x 8.32 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 280 ratings

About the author

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Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow

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Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently RADICALIZED and WALKAWAY, science fiction for adults; CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; IN REAL LIFE, a graphic novel; and the picture book POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER. His latest novel is ATTACK SURFACE, a standalone adult sequel to LITTLE BROTHER. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
280 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Tomasthanes
5.0 out of 5 stars A Brave New World
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2020
Verified Purchase
It seems that people either love this book or hate this book. No middle ground.

One of the reasons that people tend to dislike Makers is that it seems to advocate a socio-communal social structure where people are basically good and if you just get the lawyers out of the way, everything will work out. However, even the author doesn't seem to believe this worldview very strongly because choices have consequences and the relationships between the best and nicest people tend to decay like a rotten tooth ("all we do is magnify each other's flaws").

I gave it 5 stars for a number of reasons.

The author wrote this book just 10 years ago (hello 2020 and COVID19) yet he pressed the fabric of the technology just a bit further into the future than where we are today. At that time, 3D printers were relatively primitive, the goop expensive and touchy, and yet he saw where he would lead. I built a kit today with a micro-controller and a servo motor; the author saw a world where these parts were so readily available, so open, and so mass-produced that you could take old toys apart, re-assemble them, re-flash the firmware and re-use the tech for entire different purposes at a scale that the original innovators never conceived.

Social media in "Makers" is even more pervasive than it is today. Heaven help us if Facebook embeds itself any further into our lives (and people willingly give up the last vestiges of their privacy without a thought). I do wish that the complex filtering and reporting in social media, as described in the book, existed today.

Credit cards have "pay patches" in the surfaces of tables in restaurants and bars. Our "tap to pay" with our phones or cards is almost there.

Disneyland, in the book, has severed itself from Walt Disney's vision and are simply a group of corporate profit centers. It's still the Happiest Place on Earth, but we accept a far lower standard for happiness. And, like Facebook, Disney (in the book) wants to extend their reach in every home in America (and beyond).

I follow the author on Twitter. He may only write several hundred words a day but they are quality words.
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Gary Griffiths
4.0 out of 5 stars A Flawed but Wild Ride
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2010
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Like a spoiled child, "Makers" careens unconstrained through a disjointed future with raw enthusiasm, passion, and naivety. Cory Doctorow's story of Lester and Perry, a couple of New Age hacker-inventors in southern Florida, alternates between brilliance and annoyance while my reactions bounced from delight to frustration. If nothing else, "Makers" is provocative, an important read with gems of wisdom buried in an overly long diatribe of clever technology, keen cultural insight and dubious economics.

While we're never told exactly when this all starts, it is sometime in the near distant future - probably the late 20-teens. Things aren't a whole lot different than today - pretty much a linear projection of where cheap microprocessors will lead - from a "Boogie Woogie Elmo" that mimics dance moves and responds to voice commands to virtually ubiquitous robots performing a wide range of specialized tasks. Venture capitalist Landon Kattlewell has engineered the merger of Kodak and Duracell, reshaping the resulting "Kodacell" into a loose network of inventors and hackers, spawning the "New Work" micro-economy that looks a lot more like Bangalore than Boston. The Internet merges with the physical world through 3D "printers" - fantasy devices that can create in mass virtually any device who's component plans and parts can be digitized. On one hand, virtually every shopping mall and Walmart are boarded up, and shanty towns sprawl through suburbia, yet Disney World flourishes, still drawing massive crowds with streams of disposable income. San Jose Mercury News reporter Suzanne Church is assigned as an embedded reporter with the loveable tinkerers Perry and Lester, chronicling this upside-down brave new world. But after losing new job as the old media collapses along with the old economy, she remains on the story, gathering a huge following on her blog which ends up generating more than enough advertising income to keep her afloat and independent. Lester and Perry's genius leads to a bizarre "ride" built in an abandoned WalMart, drawing not only huge crowds but also Disney's unwanted attention. But like all bubbles, "New Work" collapses, Disney takes the gloves off, and the relationship between Perry, Lester, and Suzanne frays.

Doctorow is no fan of big business and big bureaucracy, and "Makers" is at its core a story of the triumph of the little guy. But, fiction not withstanding, his thesis is flawed, cutting huge corners in economic theory to arrive at the micro-economy utopia he has created. Doctorow falls back on tired themes of exploitation of the masses by evil corporations, while suggesting that life would be hunky dory for all if wealth (and technology) was simply redistributed to all. Not surprisingly, the author leans on misinformed parallels to FDR's "New Deal" - like it was "Roosevelt's public-investment plan that spent America free of the Depression" (it was World War II - not government spending - that set the economy back on an even keel.) But flaws not withstanding, "Makers" is a powerful novel, a poignant, passionate and rambling epic of the future, the future of technology, and of love and relationships. It's worth taking the ride.
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F. Van Der Merwe
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2014
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This story really gripped me. It presents a possible future that is believable and relevant, grappled with social issues, painted slum living in a way that rang true. I found myself living the story with the characters, hoping with them, fearing for them. In short, one of the best books i have read in some time.
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Lexie
5.0 out of 5 stars Sheer freaking genius.
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2015
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I've been on a Doctorow kick since discovering Little Brother, and this was the third full-length book I've read by him. I can't say enough about this book. It's almost 600 pages long, and I devoured it in two-and-a-half days. Couldn't put it down. Loved everything about it, everything! Beautifully written, and the characters are all so good, even when they were bad. :) I developed a particular soft spot for Death Waits.

That ending, though. It was exactly right and perfect, true to the characters, and so very sad.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Book
Reviewed in Canada on April 3, 2019
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Cory Doctorow is an excellent writer. He writes about modern culture, technology interesting characters - all in a compelling well told story. It's current, slightly futuristic, science fictiony. Highly enjoyable, highly recommended.
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The Mark Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Defo' my flavour (tinkerer, thinker, maker and dreamer)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2012
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To me this is a book about principals and relationships, in particular friendship and the challenges there in. taking place within and bridging the disparate realms of the "Maker Movement" and multinational Corporate-ville, set in a very near future and highly plausible world, tech' speaking (IMHO).
If you're not remotely techcentric I wouldn't bother as it would read as gibberish.
I am sure this book will be seen as a prophetic vision in a couple of years time when we all have our domestic 3D printers churning out bits of "tchotchke" to sate our need for instant and momentary delectation.
The book is long and detailed and there are a few continuity flaws and some repetition . . . . .

THAT SAID! In the end (which is pretty pedestrian with no whistles, bells or explosions!)I was left with a tear in my eye, balling the book around in my hands looking for the little world of "Makers" and wanting more. So vivid was the story in my mind that I feel I'd recognise the characters were I to pass them on the street and I'm desperate to see what's so good about the "ride".

Very involving and thought provoking and I'm very glad I found it, not perfect but great for the right reader, therefore it's 5 stars.

Keep on "MAKING" ;)

Regards, Mark
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George
3.0 out of 5 stars Interessante Idee, aber etwas langatmig erzählt
Reviewed in Germany on January 6, 2011
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Nachdem ich 'Little Brother' gelesen hatte, welches mir sehr gut gefiel, stürzte ich mich als nächstes auf 'Makers'. Die Story beginnt sehr originell, zieht sich anschliessend aber zunehmend in die Länge. Auch vermisse ich eine echte Botschaft oder Meinung, vielmehr fühlte ich mich als zunehmend gelangweilter Beobachter welcher die Handlungen und vor allem Entscheidungen der Charaktere vielfach nicht nachvollziehen kann.

Wer also Lust hat "was wäre wenn" mit der aktuellen Technologie zu spielen, wird einige originelle Ideen hier finden. Wer etwas kritisches oder gar gesellschaftlich aktuelles erwartet ist bei 'Little Brother' oder 'For the Win' wesentlich besser aufgehoben.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars After the Revolution
Reviewed in Canada on June 1, 2018
Verified Purchase
Imaginative and detailed description of a post-3D printing world. Wonder what is going to happen to all those abandoned shopping malls? Here's one answer. The sex scenes were a bit perfunctory, but, all in all, very thought provoking.
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G. Rozzo
4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and fun book about the millennials makers
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 31, 2016
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Engaging and fun book about the millennials makers: the new craftsmen and craftswomen of a dystopian, and nonetheless possibly very near, future. Enjoy!
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