My brother feels his friend Robert J. Sawyer could win another Nebula or Hugo for his latest release, the first in a three part series: Wake, Watch, Wonder.

The WWW trilogy.

This book is accessible even to young readers. The main character is age-15.

But the issues addressed are fascinating: the infrastructure of the World Wide Web, part of the web becoming aware, primates gaining intelligence. Pandemic out of China as well as the battle between bloggers in China and their repressive government.

When I read a book and find myself saying, “Why didn’t I think of this?”, I know it’s a brilliant plot.

… Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math—and blind. Still, she can surf the net with the best of them, following its complex paths clearly in her mind. But Caitlin’s brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colors and shapes. While exploring this amazing realm, she discovers something—some other—lurking in the background. And it’s getting more and more intelligent with each passing day…

Amazon – Wake

Sawyer takes up where Michael Crichton, who died in 2008, left off. Making the cutting edge issues of real science interesting to the general public.

The main difference is that while Crichton’s books always end in catastrophe, Sawyer’s look at both the positive and negative side of new technologies.

This one is highly recommended. As are all of Sawyer’s books.