
We Are Satellites
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $20.25
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Bernadette Dunne
-
By:
-
Sarah Pinsker
"Taut and elegant, carefully introspected and thoughtfully explored." (The New York Times)
From Hugo award-winning author Sarah Pinsker comes a novel about one family and the technology that divides them.
Everybody's getting one.
Val and Julie just want what’s best for their kids, David and Sophie. So when teenage son David comes home one day asking for a Pilot, a new brain implant to help with school, they reluctantly agree. This is the future, after all.
Soon, Julie feels mounting pressure at work to get a Pilot to keep pace with her colleagues, leaving Val and Sophie part of the shrinking minority of people without the device.
Before long, the implications are clear for the family and society: Get a Pilot or get left behind. With government subsidies and no downside, why would anyone refuse? And how do you stop a technology once it's everywhere? Those are the questions Sophie and her anti-Pilot movement rise up to answer, even if it puts them up against the Pilot's powerful manufacturer and pits Sophie against the people she loves most.
©2021 Sarah Pinsker (P)2021 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
One of Buzzfeed’s Best Science Fiction Books of Spring
“Pinsker’s newest is a carefully crafted sci-fi web stretched over an intensely human core...issues of discrimination, ableism, transparency, and more weave together to create an intricately told cautionary tale.” (Booklist, starred review)
“It’s a fascinating novel that explores how technologies can transform family dynamics.” (Buzzfeed)
“Pinsker writes intensely human sci-fi, exploring with nuance and heart the ways technology impacts the emotional lives of her characters...it’s a deeply empathetic story of a family struggling with everyday impossibilities. We Are Satellites will drill a tiny - entirely painless - aperture in the side of your skull, snake its way inside, and rewire how you think about the lines between yourself, technology, and those we love.” (Bob Proehl, author of The Somebody People)
People who viewed this also viewed...

I think it might interest middle school kids.
Maybe Best as an YA Offering?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A lot of nothing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ok
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's told from the point of view of a "2 Moms" family with 2 teenage kids. I cared about the characters and the well constructed storyline. Fun interesting read. I wasn't sure I like the narrator but she grew on me.
Sci-fi without shoot em up battles
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliant
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
With all respect to Mr. Di Filippo, I think the book is more than his review said. It's very much a "domestic" book. The protagonists are four members of a family dealing with a technological change across a couple decades. But it's also a bit of a low-key political thriller as different forces vie to promote or suppress the new technology. And I even think this book can be compared to works of SF Grand Master Larry Niven. One of Niven's strengths is what I call Ruthless Consistency: he takes a single new idea and explores the ramifications for his characters and how it shapes their stories--and how they respond. Pinsker has Ruthless Consistency in this book, and it works.
The technology at the center of the book is called the Pilot, a simple brain implant that allows a recipient to essentially multitask, performing many mental tasks at once. This divides the family.
Son Dave wants a Pilot so he doesn't fall behind in school and in life. What he gets is so much more, both good and bad.
Mother Val is a traditionalist, worried about the effects of rampant brain surgery, but also worried about her son falling behind.
Daughter Sophie is an epileptic and thus ineligible to receive a Pilot. She's used to being odd, so at first she doesn't care; but soon she comes to resent a world where people are judged by their Pilot (or lack thereof).
Mother Julie is a fad-conscious gadget freak with a demanding job, where her Congressman boss becomes a strong supporter of Pilots. She feels pressured to get one, but afraid of upsetting Val.
The story starts with the early years of Pilots, when David is a teen; and it follows a decade or more in the family as they face the changes in society--and in their home.
The result is a very satisfying book. It IS domestic, in a sense. There's only one big action scene, while most of the drama is family conflict and worries. That makes it stand out as a smaller, more personal story.
Exceeded my expectations
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This could be reality soon...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Pinsker attempts to relate the confusing and sometimes counterintuitive role of advancing technology in terms of the impact on society. While much of commentary is reasonable, the pace of uptake was a bit too rapid for a device that would require FDA approval. In particular, the jump to children was far too rapid than would occur for the very reasons that are highlighted: the impact on a brain still growing is likely to be different from a fully developed brain. It’s hard to imagine this effect would not have been observed in animals and necessitated a slow, cautious approach to children. It’s also hard to believe that other relevant entities, like neuroscientists would have not discovered many of the issues that arose from simple observation. Bad behavior by the company seems to have also gone unnoticed (for example, the non-function of the light should have been recognized by any serious, technically adept user. Overall, as an example of likely societal responses to new technology, this is a good scenario.
The narration is well done with solid character distinction. Pacing is smooth, but a tad slow.
Brain implant promoting disparities
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An interesting premise
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.