The Diamond Age
by Neal Stephenson | Science Fiction & Fantasy | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0553573314 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0553573314 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
Actually I think I read this, but cannot remember for sure, so putting it on the TBR shelf to check it out further when I have more time.
Never have found time for this, but did find it on someone's wishlist and they have a birthday ... it might be a few days late for the birthday but I mailed it October 21, 2010~ Happy birthday! Enjoy!
Thank you for the surprise RABCK! I look forward to reading and passing along! :)
"Decades into our future, a stone's throw from the ancient city of Shanghai, a brilliant nanotechnologist named John Percival Hackworth has just broken the rigorous moral code of his tribe, the powerful neoVictorians. He's made an illicit copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device called 'A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer,' commissioned by an eccentric duke for his grandchild, stolen for Hackworth's own daughter, the Primer's purpose is to educate and raise a girl capable of thinking for herself. It performs its function superbly.
Unfortunately for Hackworth, his smuggled copy has fallen into the wrong hands. Young Nell and her brother Harv are thetes--members of the poor, tribeless class. Neglected by their mother, Harv looks after Nell. When he and his gang waylay a certain neo-Victorian--John Percival Hackworth-- in the seamy streets of their neighborhood, Harv brings Nell something special: the Primer. Following the discovery of his crime, Hackworth begins an odyssey of his own. Expelled from the neo-Victorian paradise, squeezed by agents of Protocol Enforcement on one side and a Mandarin underworld crime lord on the other, he searches for an elusive figure known as the Alchemist. His quest and Nell's will ultimately lead them to another seeker whose fate is bound up with the Primer-- a woman who holds the key to a vast, subversive information network that is destined to decode and reprogram the future of humanity.
Vividly imagined, stunningly prophetic, and epic in scope, The Diamond Age is a major novel from one of the most visionary writers of our time."
Overall I enjoyed this book, but found my head reeling with the amount of detail that Stephenson puts into his books. I also found the subtle descriptions of some technology a bit confusing and had to re-read some parts to understand what exactly he was trying to describe (e.g., reactive is a type of actor). I came across this book on China Mieville's list of 50 Fantasy and Science Fiction books that all socialists should read. I agree that it is a great book that describes a class based dystopia and how one character overcomes the unbalanced system.
I am going to pass this book along to BooksnBeer.
Unfortunately for Hackworth, his smuggled copy has fallen into the wrong hands. Young Nell and her brother Harv are thetes--members of the poor, tribeless class. Neglected by their mother, Harv looks after Nell. When he and his gang waylay a certain neo-Victorian--John Percival Hackworth-- in the seamy streets of their neighborhood, Harv brings Nell something special: the Primer. Following the discovery of his crime, Hackworth begins an odyssey of his own. Expelled from the neo-Victorian paradise, squeezed by agents of Protocol Enforcement on one side and a Mandarin underworld crime lord on the other, he searches for an elusive figure known as the Alchemist. His quest and Nell's will ultimately lead them to another seeker whose fate is bound up with the Primer-- a woman who holds the key to a vast, subversive information network that is destined to decode and reprogram the future of humanity.
Vividly imagined, stunningly prophetic, and epic in scope, The Diamond Age is a major novel from one of the most visionary writers of our time."
Overall I enjoyed this book, but found my head reeling with the amount of detail that Stephenson puts into his books. I also found the subtle descriptions of some technology a bit confusing and had to re-read some parts to understand what exactly he was trying to describe (e.g., reactive is a type of actor). I came across this book on China Mieville's list of 50 Fantasy and Science Fiction books that all socialists should read. I agree that it is a great book that describes a class based dystopia and how one character overcomes the unbalanced system.
I am going to pass this book along to BooksnBeer.
