{"product_id":"speak-9780062391209","title":"Speak","description":"\u003cp\u003eA thoughtful, poignant novel that explores the creation of Artificial Intelligence--illuminating the very human need for communication, connection, and understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a narrative that spans geography and time, from the Atlantic Ocean in the seventeenth century, to a correctional institute in Texas in the near future, and told from the perspectives of five very different characters, \u003cem\u003eSpeak\u003c\/em\u003e considers what it means to be human, and what it means to be less than fully alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA young Puritan woman travels to the New World with her unwanted new husband. Alan Turing, the renowned mathematician and code breaker, writes letters to his best friend's mother. A Jewish refugee and professor of computer science struggles to reconnect with his increasingly detached wife. An isolated and traumatized young girl exchanges messages with an intelligent software program. A former Silicon Valley Wunderkind is imprisoned for creating illegal lifelike dolls.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach of these characters is attempting to communicate across gaps--to estranged spouses, lost friends, future readers, or a computer program that may or may not understand them. In dazzling and electrifying prose, Louisa Hall explores how the chasm between computer and human--shrinking rapidly with today's technological advances--echoes the gaps that exist between ordinary people. Though each speaks from a distinct place and moment in time, all five characters share the need to express themselves while simultaneously wondering if they will ever be heard, or understood.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHall, Louisa:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eLouisa Hall grew up in Philadelphia. She is the author of the novels \u003cem\u003eSpeak \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eThe Carriage House\u003c\/em\u003e, and her poems have been published in \u003cem\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSouthwest Review\u003c\/em\u003e, and other journals. She is a professor at the University of Iowa, and the Western Writer in Residence at Montana State University.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ecco Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50662100107538,"sku":"9780062391209","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e81a1060-e1fd-4ddb-b22e-4895972ee9cb.jpg?v=1733512468","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/speak-9780062391209","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}