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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 s
by surprisetalk 3y ago
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 https://taylor.town/books#permutation-city
If you like this book, I recommend Accelerando, Piranesi, Dick's Ubik, and Ted Chiang's collections.
- gpvos 3y agoI liked the expansion of the ideas. I was bored a couple of times so it could be compressed a bit into maybe a novella half the size of the book, but a short story would have left me wanting.
- Al-Khwarizmi 3y agoGlad 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.
- surprisetalk 3y agoAgreed. 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_Penalty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_with_the_Death_Pena...
- mandmandam 3y ago> 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.
- surprisetalk 3y agoHere's an even spicier take: Although less prescient, Seveneves was a better read than Cryptonomicon.
- ianmcgowan 3y agoYou shut your mouth! :-) Actually, if you said the first 2/3 of Seveneves was a better read than Cryptonomicon, then maybe..
- jacquesm 3y agoLet's hope it is less prescient. If it isn't... global warming will be the least of our problems.
- edanm 3y agoI'll have to disagree on this one. I'm a big Phillip K. Dick fan, and have read many of his works (though it's been a while), but I found Ubik to be a slog and didn't really enjoy it. To anyone reading this - I'm not saying don't read it - it's a beloved book! I'm just saying, if you read it and don't enjoy it, keep in mind that you might be like me and enjoy his other stuff more.
- riffraff 3y agoI'm with you on this, I liked the ideas in Ubik, but I found it really hard to go through it compared to other Dick works, but of course everyone is different.
- selimthegrim 3y agoWhy Piranesi? Seems more straight up fantasy.
- surprisetalk 3y agoTo me, the main distinction between fantasy and sci-fi is world-building vs. idea-exploration. This book feels more like the deep exploration of a cool idea, which is why I'm recommending it in this context :)
- brookst 3y agoPiranesi is fantasy the way Kafka is fantasy. Which is to say, kinda, if you squint. But mostly it’s allegorical.
- alexpotato 3y agoI 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.
- gpderetta 3y agoYes, very prescient. Also the VR glasses with embedded AI and independent subagents seems almost something that you could build today.
- cstross 3y agoIt was published in 2005 -- actually I wrote the 9 novelettes that went into it from 1998-2003 (they were originally published in Asimov's SF magazine from 2002-2004 before I assembled and rewrote them to make the book).
- __MatrixMan__ 3y agoBlew my mind in the best way. Thank you. There's a line in there that feels like it could pop up in a permutation city sequel: > ... running a timing channel attack on the computational ultrastructure of spacetime itself, trying to break through to whatever's underneath... Does that idea come up anywhere else in your work? If so, I'd go read it.
- shabble 3y agoScratch Monkey may have some vague notions along those lines, if I remember rightly: https://www.antipope.org/charlie/fiction/monkey/index.html https://www.antipope.org/charlie/fiction/monkey/index.html
- alexpotato 3y agoNot going to lie, getting a comment from THE AUTHOR of a book I greatly enjoyed is now one of the highlights of my 10+ years of being on HN! I should add: every time I hear the phrase "state vector" I think of Accelerando.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 3y agoNo one reads Greg Egan for the character building or any of that other literary bullshit. This is the novel that introduces the idea that a simulation universe need not have another universe simulating it. Hell, it's the only novel that has that idea. There is more insight here than we could extract from a thousand other authors, philosophers, and thinkers. But who cares, the characters were sort of cardboard and he has the whole r/menwritingwomen thing going on.
- _yb2s 3y agoNeal Stephensons Anathem is also based on these same ideas- specifically the concepts of timeless physics, and the idea that mathematical and physical existence are identical.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 3y agoThanks. I'll put that one on my reading list. Haven't read but one of his before.
- marcellus23 3y agoAnathem is, I think, Stephenson's best book. Definitely worth checking out.
- ianmcgowan 3y ago'The Diamond Age' is my favorite, but perhaps because it's one of the rare Stephenson's that sticks the landing. Anathem is amazing, and worth reading just for the parable of the fly-worm-bat...
- marcellus23 3y agoThe Diamond Age is my next-favorite after Anathem. Both are excellent books.
- 3y ago
- caskstrength 3y ago> If you like this book, I recommend Accelerando, Piranesi, Dick's Ubik, and Ted Chiang's collections. Thanks for the recommendations. I read and liked most of the books in your list, so I'll likely also appreciate the ones I haven't. EDIT: I would also recommend Watts' Blindsight.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- brookst 3y agoBlindsight is such an underrated gem.