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Kiln People [Mass Market Paperback]

David Brin
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 9.99
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Book Description

Jan 20 2003 Kiln Books (Book 1)
In a perilous future, disposable duplicate bodies fulfill every citizen's legal and illicit whim. Life as a 24-hour "ditto" is cheap, as Albert Morris knows. A brash investigator with a knack for trouble, he's sent plenty of clay duplicates into deadly peril, then "inloaded" memories from copies that were shot, crushed, drowned . . . all part of a day's work.

But when Morris tackles a ring of crooks making bootleg copies of a famous actress, he trips into a secret so explosive it incites open warfare on the streets of Dittotown.
 
Kiln People is a 2003 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.

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From Amazon

Just about everyone's had a day when they've wished it were possible to send an alternate self to take care of unpleasant or tedious errands while the real self takes it easy. In Kiln People, David Brin's sci-fi-meets-noir novel, this wish has come true. In Brin's imagined future, folks are able to make inexpensive, disposable clay copies of themselves. These golems or "dittos" live for a single day to serve their creator, who can then choose whether or not to "inload" the memories of the ditto's brief life. But private investigator Albert Morris gets more than he, or his "ditective" copies, bargain for when he signs on to help solve the mysterious disappearance of Universal Kilns' co-founder Yasil Maharal--the father of dittotech.

Brin successfully interweaves plot lines as numerous as our hero's ditectives and doggedly sticks to the rules of his created dittotech while Morris's "realflesh" and clay manifestations slowly unravel the dangerous secret behind Maharal's disappearance. As Brin juggles his multiple protagonists and antagonists, he urges the reader to question notions of memory, individualism, and technology, and to answer the schizoid question "which 'you' is 'you?'" Brin's enjoyment is evident as he plays with his terracotta creations' existential angst and simultaneously deconstructs the familiar streetwise detective meme--complete with a multilayered ending. Overall, Kiln People is a fun read, with a good balance of hard science fiction and pop sensibility. --Jeremy Pugh --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling novelist Brin (Startide Rising; The Postman; etc.) restricts the action to planet Earth, but still allows his imagination to roam the cosmos in this ambitious SF/mystery hybrid whose grasp occasionally exceeds its reach. Thanks to the new technology of imprinting, people in a near-future America can copy their personalities into animated clay bodies (called "dittos" or "golems"), which last a single day. Albert Morris, private investigator, is his own sidekick as he attempts to uncover the murderer of a prominent imprinting research scientist, capture a criminal mastermind specializing in ditto the major ditto manufacturer and pinning the blame on several Alberts. Brin deftly explores the issues of identity, privacy and work in a world where everyone is supported with a living wage and has ready access to duplication technology. The book features the author's usual style, with a lighter touch and punnish humor abounding amid the hard SF speculation. The duplication of the "ditective" makes for a challenging twist on the standard private eye narrative, allowing Morris to simultaneously lead the reader through three separate (and interacting) plot lines. The hardboiled framework and the humor mix a bit uneasily, as does the social background of a libertarian/socialist U.S.A. The book's major fault lies in the diffusion of most of the tension as expendable dittos replace vulnerable humans for much of the action. Still, the work is brightened by Brin's trademark hardheaded optimism.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
It's hard to stay cordial while fighting for your life, even when your life doesn't amount to much. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Best sci-fi I've read in a year April 25 2005
Format:Hardcover
Kiln People is a page turner. I've brought this book because it was 80%of and the front page looked good. It was a good choice finaly. I'ts about clones of yourself being made of clay and having limited duration (about 24 hours). They are made for doing the tasks you don't want to do or don't have time to do. When de day is finished, they return to their original to download their memory. It's the only way for a clone to get (continuity of living). In this case, the hero is a detective who's clones disapears and don't comes back for download while doing missions for many rich peoples related between themselves. There's a plot involving the ingenior of the clay people and etc. I highly recommend this book to sci-fi fans.
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5.0 out of 5 stars <insert clever title> Jun 9 2004
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I don't usually write reviews, but this book deserves some support.
I liked the entire concept, along with the twists and turns that came along with it.
Loved the ending.

Read it.

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By Sheena
Format:Mass Market Paperback
WEDNESDAY MORNING'S POINT OF VIEW

In a meeting with the boss, while my rig sits at home reading this book which is about ME! But thems the breaks, dittos don't complain, there's no time really, when you only live for one day.

This meeting is really getting on my nerves, i feel an bearable urge to go to the park. I think I WILL go to the park. Oops, i'm out in the park- oh! does this mean I am a frankie? Sigh!
Meanwhile my rig is still reading this book- which i really should get my hands on. But only if I can read the whole thing in one day. If only life extension for dittos was being developed... but there are ethical reasons for that.

Might as well go see some people. Oh dear, someone is trying to kill us. But I am only a dit.

Woah, this is getting really strange. All the rules don't apply. I'm confused, this really shouldn't happen to a dit. Am I a hero? Who's the hero? Who is God? Where is God?

Ah- should have stayed home and read this book instead!

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Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Brin at his best and his worst
I found "Kiln People" to a great example of both David Brin's best and worst qualities as a writer. Read more
Published on Feb 17 2004
3.0 out of 5 stars A variation on cloning, fun detective story
The basic premise is a technology is developed which allows humans to make copies of our mind/soul, and these clay copies are able to do most everything we'd normally do, thus... Read more
Published on Jan 23 2004 by Henry Cate III
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Science Fiction Book of the Year Hands Down.
A great read. A very different, thought-provoking, action packed, suspenseful novel with a first rate hero. Read more
Published on Nov 2 2003 by JGarpo@aol.com
2.0 out of 5 stars Gumby Soul is metaphysics not science
A clay fiber that can act like a muscle isn't possible
by today's science and probably not by tomorrow's either. Read more
Published on Nov 1 2003 by R. Bagula
3.0 out of 5 stars Some cool ideas, but it just runs off the rails at the end
Kiln People is set several decades in the future. The key technological innovation presented in the book is "golemtech" -- it has become possible to imprint a person's... Read more
Published on Oct 20 2003 by Richard R. Horton
3.0 out of 5 stars Starts Great, Ends Awfully
Cloning is one of the classic themes of science fiction, raising all kinds of philosophical interesting questions about consciousness, ethics, morality, and the nature of reality... Read more
Published on Sep 12 2003 by A. Ross
2.0 out of 5 stars Too long, overly complex, and way too slow.
When I first started this book, I found it very interesting. The world that Brin creates where anyone can make copies of themselves to be in more than one place at a time, or to... Read more
Published on Sep 2 2003 by John Howard
4.0 out of 5 stars Two-Thirds Entertaining, One third questionable blather.
A brilliant exploration of both the practicality and morality of instant cloning. How would such clones be treated? How would society change? Read more
Published on July 17 2003 by A Friendly Shopper
4.0 out of 5 stars A Fast-Paced Adventure about a Classic "What-If"
What if you could make a copy of your consciousness in the morning, "download" it into a synthetic body and then "upload" the duplicate's consciousness at the... Read more
Published on Jun 18 2003 by Eric P. Neff
3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Idea, Oblique and Disjointed Execution
This book starts with the most wonderful concept of disposable affordable extra bodies that work for you and in fact even inhabit separate communities dedicated to their... Read more
Published on May 21 2003 by Jim Molnar
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