All copies of this title, including those transferred to portable devices and other media, must be deleted/destroyed at the end of the lending period.
Description
In this chilling novel, Anderson imagines a society dominated by the feed--a next-generation Internet/television hybrid that is directly hardwired into the brain. Teen narrator Titus never questions his world, in which parents select their babies' attributes in the conceptionarium, corporations dominate the information stream, and kids learn to employ the feed more efficiently in School. But everything changes when he and his pals travel to the moon for spring break. There Titus meets home-schooled Violet, who thinks for herself, searches out news and asserts that "Everything we've grown up with is all streamlining our personalities so we're easier to sell to." "Chats" flow privately from mind to mind; Titus flies an "upcar"; and, after Titus and his friends develop lesions, banner ads and sit-coms dub the lesions the newest hot trend. Titus proves a believably flawed hero, and ultimately the novel's greatest strength lies in his denial of and uncomfortable awakening to the truth.
Enter a chilling, twisted future in which one's every thought and movement is directed and regulated by the "feed," a computer chip implanted in the brain. This dystopia is seen through the eyes of teenagers: some who embrace the feed and revel in its unbridled consumerism, and one who rails against society's rampant ignorance and banality. David Aaron Baker's superb use of inflection renders the teen voices realistic, from their vapid musings to profane outbursts that substitute for conversation. The ensemble cast, representing the cacophony of the feed, resembles the worst of today's inane commercials. This brilliant production for older teen listeners enhances Anderson's portrait of a world gone sour, in which even the adults have forgotten how to use language, and everything is dying, including the kids. S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, Winner of 2004 ALA/ YALSA Recording, 2004 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
