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Lost in Transmission Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Lost in Transmission




Bantam, March 2004, 6.99, 384 pp.
ISBN 0553584472

In the twenty-sixth century earth time, mankind has achieved immortality through the fax and duplicating clones that can be used at a moment's notice. In such a society the children have no hope of making a mark because what can they do that their older and wiser parents can't? Some young rebels turn to piracy, revolution and other acts of violence that upsets the status quo. These rebels are caught and their punishment is to take the OSS Newhope to a world light years away and colonize it for a thousand years.
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The former rebels make it to planet P2 and at first it looks like they will have the freedom to pursue their dreams. However, the planet is short on tracer metals needed to keep people healthy and young. As the technology wears out, there is nothing to replace it and for the first time these immortals know what final death is. One brave former revolutionary conceives of a plan to rescue some of the population but it is history that will judge whether he is a hero or a pirate.

In LOST IN TRANSMISSION readers will find that immortality leads to stagnation and a need for the status quo, a situation that drives the second generation of immortals into rebellion so they can break free of the social constraints. The irony is that when they “grow up” in tens of centuries they are much like their parents except for a few “old” revolutionaries who are not content with their situation and intend to change it (sounds like the love children of the sixties). Will McCarthy has written a fascinating book about a future the audience hopes will never come true.

Harriet Klausner

The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner



Chapter Analysis of Lost in Transmission

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Plot & Themes

Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence 10%planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 40%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 40%Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places 10% Tone of book    -   suspenseful (sophisticated fear) FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?    -   science fiction story Explore/1st contact/ enviro story    -   Yes Explore:    -   colonizing/homesteading another planet Tech./$$$/Info hunt    -   Yes Stealing/recovering/destroying    -   cloning technology Is this an adult or child's book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character

Identity:    -   Male Profession/status:    -   politician/elected ruler Age:    -   long lived adults

Setting

A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body:    -   humans in a contemporary society Planet outside solar system?    -   Yes

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   no torture/death scientific jargon? (SF only)    -   none/very little science jargon needed How much dialogue?    -   significantly more dialog than descript

Books with storylines, themes & endings like Lost in Transmission

Will McCarthy Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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