201–210 of 224 posts
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Took me two reads to realize that the magical word people didn't understand, described as "reflected sound of underground spirits", was economics. That moment of realization; d'oh!
Hah, yea, same here. He almost explains it in the book, but not quite.
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I've not read 'Hard Drive', but I've re-read 'Gates' by Manes and Andrews, and can recommend it.
Well, ditto. I can recommend 'Hard Drive' just by its sheer writing/research quality. Apparently the book came out of a series of articles in "The Seattle Times", back when newspapers employed quality writers/researchers. It gave me a) a whole new understanding of the computer hardware/ecosystem I grew up with b) a re-newed insight into why Gates was a horrible, horrible monopolist who held back software development…
The Diamond Age Even more than Star Trek, this novel caused me to think about a post-scarcity world. If we could have anything and everything, what should we do with it? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age
>If we could have anything and everything, what should we do with it? Really? I always thought of The Diamond Age as being about class conflict and social hierarchy in a partially post-scarcity world.
I'm currently reading Neuromancer again. Still doesn't feel dated.
Feels the opposite too me. It shows it's been written in the 80's. Would "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." make sense to young people nowadays?
Still a good story though.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seveneves One of the few books, that when I'm finished, I just want to turn it over a start again. Covers a wide range of important and relevant topics in technology, biology/genetics, ethics. My only problem is it is too short! Could easily have been a triology like the Baroque Cycle (another favorite) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle
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Consider Phlebas is one of the few books I have read more than once. The Culture series is unparalleled. Surface Detail is probably my pick for #1, as Consider Phlebas isn't really set within the Culture proper, so stands in its own category in a sense.
Maybe you can advise me. I read Consider Phlebas, and I didn't like it at all. I rarely like war fiction. Is Phlebas typical of the whole Culture series, or are the other books a different kind of story? Thank you.
I consider Excession to be the best of the lot.