After On cover art

After On

A Novel of Silicon Valley

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About this listen

 The definitive novel of today’s Silicon Valley, After On flash-captures our cultural and technological moment with up-to-the-instant savvy. Matters of privacy and government intrusion, post-Tinder romance, nihilistic terrorism, artificial consciousness, synthetic biology, and much more are tackled with authority and brash playfulness by New York Times bestselling author Rob Reid.

Meet Phluttr—a diabolically addictive new social network and a villainess, heroine, enemy, and/or bestie to millions. Phluttr has ingested every fact and message ever sent to, from, and about her innumerable users. Her capabilities astound her makers—and they don’t even know the tenth of it.

But what’s the purpose of this stunning creation? Is it a front for something even darker and more powerful than the NSA? A bid to create a trillion-dollar market by becoming “The UberX of Sex”? Or a reckless experiment that could spawn the digital equivalent of a middle-school mean girl with enough charisma, dirt, and cunning to bend the entire planet to her will?

Phluttr has it in her to become the greatest gossip, flirt, or matchmaker in history. Or she could cure cancer, bring back Seinfeld, then start a nuclear war. Whatever she does, it’s not up to us. But a motley band of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and engineers might be able to influence her.

After On achieves the literary singularity—fusing speculative satire and astonishing reality into a sharp-witted, ferociously believable, IMAX-wide view of our digital age.

Narrated by Sean Kenin and January LaVoy, with:
Felicia Day: NETGRRRL.COM
Patrick Rothfuss: Special Field Operative Brock Hogan
John Hodgman: Charles Henry Higgensworth III
Tom Merritt: voice of The New York Times
Jesse Cox: Whistle Blowings Blog
Leo Laporte: voice of the San Francisco Chronicle

Praise for After On

“Rob Reid’s mind is like no other known thing in the universe, and this book is a truly spectacular way to discover it.”—Chris Anderson, head of TED

“An extended philosophy seminar run by a dozen insane Cold War heads-of-station, three millennial COOs and that guy you went to college with who always had the best weed but never did his laundry.”—NPR

“An epic cyberthriller peppered with pop-culture references, metadata, and Silicon Valley in-jokes.”—Kirkus Reviews

“It’s rare to find a book that combines laugh-out-loud humor and cutting-edge science with profound philosophical speculation. This is that book.”—Analog Humorous Literature & Fiction Satire Science Fiction Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense Fiction Comedy Technology Thriller Witty Silicon Valley Computer Science
All stars
Most relevant
Fun scenes and realistic environment. The characters are diverse and interesting. Overall a story that kept my full attention. I recommend this book.

Really enjoyed this book

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Loved the story. Very well written. Ends at the right time with a heart warming twist. Characters are great. I thought the interludes would become annoying but they were all relevant. The narrators were brilliant and very engaging. Got lost in the middle as some sections are over indulged in but doesn’t let the story down. Very impressed by the way very complex concepts are explained simply and clearly so the average reader can understand them. Well worth a listen.

Great book!

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This is a very intelligent and well researched, very well woven fiction. Love it. A true must read!

One of the cleverest book I have read!

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If you could sum up After On in three words, what would they be?

Informative but fun

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No, and the narration here was wonderful. At first I thought it was a bit cheesy, but it soon comes to fit perfectly into the story and works very well for differentiating characters, timelines, and plot.

Great tour of tech, concepts, and implications

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A vista of modern and future technology, wrapped in a fast moving plot. I can't quite decide if it's dystopia or utopia...

Compelling read

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