- Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Baen Books (May 15 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 067157809X
- ISBN-13: 978-0671578091
- Product Dimensions: 17.1 x 10.5 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 132 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,647,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
Twenty years ago, "Shiva I" swept aside Earth's defenses and rained down destruction until a suicide squad boarded it and blew it to smithereens. Now "Shiva V" has entered the Solar System and there's only one way to defeat it: get inside and kill it. "An intriguing look at what the world wide web may become".--Vernor Vinge.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thought provoking,
By
This review is from: EARTHWEB (Mass Market Paperback)
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave.,
This review is from: EARTHWEB (Mass Market Paperback)
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thought-provoking,
By A Customer
This review is from: EARTHWEB (Mass Market Paperback)
I saw a mention of this book on Slashdot a week ago. When both Vernor Vinge and David Friedman recommend a book, it is a pretty safe bet that it is a good story and well thought out. I wasn't disappointed.The origin and purpose of the Shivas practically demands another novel. While I am not a big fan of series that never die, I'll be looking for that one. I hope that once again, the ideas are the best part.
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