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Upon frequent recommendations via HN, I found a copy in a second hand shop whilst on holiday in Perth. Once I'm done with Permutation City (by Greg Egan - who, conincidentally is from WA) Accelerando is top of the reading list.
Huge fan of Greg Egan. Schild's Ladder was formative for me when I was growing up.
Do please note that Stross is quite well known not to a fan of the idea of the Singularity, and that his book should not be taken as a manual for the future, and rather as a cautionary tale and fantastically creative techno future
> Some of you might assume that, as the author of books like "Singularity Sky" and "Accelerando", I attribute this to an impending technological singularity, to our development of self-improving artificial intelligence and mind uploading and the whole wish-list of transhumanist aspirations promoted by the likes of Ray Kurzweil. Unfortunately this isn't the case. I think transhumanism is a warmed-over Christian heresy…
Be aware that this novel is a cautionary tale, not some kind of technological utopia.
And for a contrarian take, I co-wrote another novel with Cory Doctorow, "The Rapture of the Nerds", which is also a free download here:
https://craphound.com/rotn/download/
(I'm currently working on another singularity-themed SF novel, this time a far future space opera, but there's no ETA to publication—it won't be ready for print before 2024 at the earliest.)
Structurally, the book is a mess. But it is a narrative disaster much like Snow Crash , in which it doesn't matter because you're so busy trying to integrate all the mind candy you don't notice until a re-read. I feel like there are other science fiction books like this - overstuffed with lovely things to think about, from an author who is either inexperienced or doesn't care about the craft side. (In this case, Char…
Greg Egan is fascinating. His storytelling and characters feel oddly flat and sterile to me, but he's the only sci-fi author in 25 years of adulthood that regularly makes me think "I'm not quite smart enough to be reading this," and that's pretty impressive.
/me: waves Be aware that this novel is a cautionary tale, not some kind of technological utopia. And for a contrarian take, I co-wrote another novel with Cory Doctorow, "The Rapture of the Nerds", which is also a free download here: https://craphound.com/rotn/download/ (I'm currently working on another singularity-themed SF novel, this time a far future space opera, but there's no ETA to publication—it won't be ready…
If you liked Accelerando (and I sure did!), you may also like Stross's Palimpsest and Glasshouse [1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest_(novella) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasshouse_(novel) The rougher The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams is also worth trying: http://localroger.com/prime-intellect/ Also A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, and Ken MacLeod's Fall Revolution series. The l…
/me: waves Be aware that this novel is a cautionary tale, not some kind of technological utopia. And for a contrarian take, I co-wrote another novel with Cory Doctorow, "The Rapture of the Nerds", which is also a free download here: https://craphound.com/rotn/download/ (I'm currently working on another singularity-themed SF novel, this time a far future space opera, but there's no ETA to publication—it won't be ready…
Aineko really deserves its own spin off book series. :D Something overarching/spanning multiple books would be even better, maybe like neal stephenson's Enoch Root?
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I've read almost all of his books and short stories. Quarantine, Permutation City, and Diaspora are my faves. Go find Egan and get a picture of him. There doesn't seem to be any on the Internet, which is pretty strange.
Is Greg Egan even his name? Does anybody have met him IRL? edit: also his short stories are excellent.
This book was THE ONE that made me realize, far FAR later in life than my peers, (my early 30s) that reading fiction -- that horrible chore you were forced to do in high school -- can be fun. You never forget your first time. A close and long time friend* kept pushing it on me, saying gibberish like "intelligent space lobsters!!" while I rolled my eyes at him. Finally, I gave in and agreed to read a few chapters. I e…
I know you aren't serious but just in case there is someone thinking that they have run out of mindblowing reading: you couldn't read more than a fraction of the 'best of the best' in a whole life time.
Try Peter Watts.
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Strongly recommend reading A Deepness In The Sky before reading A Fire Upon the Deep . They're both good books but ADITS is phenomenal and much more similar to Accelerando , whereas AFUTD is less "hard sci-fi" and more "fantasy".
I'd absolutely disagree. If you read ADITS before AFUTD, you'll miss out on one of the major themes of ADITS - that you, the reader knows what's going on, and that the characters don't. That you know how it ends (well, ish), that you know the secrets they don't. That tension - maintained over such a large book - is what makes it so good!