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Permutation City (1994)

gregegan.net

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Re: Permutation City (1994)

#41

Post by mandmandam »

surprisetalk wrote: post #20
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glad to see Ubik mentioned. While far from unknown, it typically takes a back seat to other works by Dick, and IMHO it's the absolute best. It is unsettling in a way comparable, although different, to Kafka.

Agreed. Speaking of underrated works from cyberpunk authors, you may be interested in William Gibson's non-fiction essay collection Distrust That Particular Flavor . My hot take: I think Gibson's non-fiction is much stronger than his fiction. EDIT: Ooh, that collection includes Disneyland with the Death Penalty : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_with_the_Death_Pena...

> My hot take: I think Gibson's non-fiction is much stronger than his fiction.

Wow, that's spicy.

Will def check those out though.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#42

Post by [deleted] »

cdogl wrote: post #17

Egan is the only great Australian science fiction writer I’m aware of. I principally recommend Diaspora for far future post-human history with a strong focus on physics and maths, and Quarantine which is a sort of heist thriller with a unique quantum physics hook in a relatively near future Northern Australia setting where First Nations people have gained independence and positioned themselves as an Asian financial /…

[deleted]

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#43

Post by loudmax »

Greg Egan's Mastodon profile is https://mathstodon.xyz/@gregeganSF He's fairly active there and likes to post math problems.

I liked Permutation City, but Diaspora really blew me away. Every time you begin to get your mind around some radical new concept, Egan throws adds another fold that makes you reconsider everything you think you knew.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#44

Post by surprisetalk »

mandmandam wrote: post #41
surprisetalk wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Speaking of underrated works from cyberpunk authors, you may be interested in William Gibson's non-fiction essay collection Distrust That Particular Flavor . My hot take: I think Gibson's non-fiction is much stronger than his fiction. EDIT: Ooh, that collection includes Disneyland with the Death Penalty : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_with_the_Death_Pena...

> My hot take: I think Gibson's non-fiction is much stronger than his fiction. Wow, that's spicy. Will def check those out though.

Here's an even spicier take:

Although less prescient, Seveneves was a better read than Cryptonomicon.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#45

Post by mycologos »

cdogl wrote: post #17

Egan is the only great Australian science fiction writer I’m aware of. I principally recommend Diaspora for far future post-human history with a strong focus on physics and maths, and Quarantine which is a sort of heist thriller with a unique quantum physics hook in a relatively near future Northern Australia setting where First Nations people have gained independence and positioned themselves as an Asian financial /…

Diaspora is my favorite Egan book. Permutation City seems to get talked about more, but the dust theory stuff just felt implausible, and it has one of the worst sex scenes I've ever read. Maybe it's because Diaspora is less concerned with anything as abstract as consciousness and more interested in how different forms of life play out, which I find fun when it's done well.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#46

Post by adamgordonbell »

cdogl wrote: post #17

Egan is the only great Australian science fiction writer I’m aware of. I principally recommend Diaspora for far future post-human history with a strong focus on physics and maths, and Quarantine which is a sort of heist thriller with a unique quantum physics hook in a relatively near future Northern Australia setting where First Nations people have gained independence and positioned themselves as an Asian financial /…

Big Fan of Egan's short stories. I feel like they are his strongest work and maybe because they can lean more on ideas. Luminous about math grad students discovering some secrets in math is pretty great.

Wang's Carpets which became Diaspora is mind blowing.

Zendegi is an interesting novel by him I never see anyone mention. I enjoyed it and the characters are a bit more developed. It also has a Eliezer Yudkowsky stand in as the big bad guy i seem to recall. Which made me chuckle.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#47

Post by gpderetta »

cdogl wrote: post #21
k__ wrote: post #2

Pretty awesome book. Would be cool if someone could recommend sci-fi that equally good.

It’s not an easy read, but Blindsight by Peter Watts has some equally unique and compelling synthesis of scientific concepts into a big concept plot.

Blindsight is his best book, but Watts has written a lot of great stuff, I recommend all of Rifters and, for something a bit different, especially the Sunflowers cycle.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#48

Post by alexpotato »

surprisetalk wrote: post #6

My book review from last September: > Reads like a “consciousness and computers are cool” story written by an engineer. A few incredible ideas padded by weak storytelling and philosophical exposition. Probably would’ve been better as a short story. [0] https://taylor.town/books#permutation-city If you like this book, I recommend Accelerando , Piranesi , Dick's Ubik , and Ted Chiang's collections.

I read Accelerando recently and it's great.

Hard to believe that it was written in 2005 given the one scene where the main character is walking around generating multiple interlocking crypto contracts to store money for his daughter.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#49

Post by gchamonlive »

I would really like to see writers sell their work DRM free on their pages, or have an open and responsible platform that writers could use for that.

I know it is a hassle to process anything finance-related, but in my region on amazon the book is unavailable and a hard copy isn't an option for me.

It is virtually impossible for me to give money to the author for an e-reader version of the book.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#50

Post by gpderetta »

cdogl wrote: post #17

Egan is the only great Australian science fiction writer I’m aware of. I principally recommend Diaspora for far future post-human history with a strong focus on physics and maths, and Quarantine which is a sort of heist thriller with a unique quantum physics hook in a relatively near future Northern Australia setting where First Nations people have gained independence and positioned themselves as an Asian financial /…

My standards are likely lower than yours, but while agree that his characterization is not the strongest, I do like his prose and plotting.
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