His latest book - proper science-fiction again. I've just read it, and it strikes me as somewhat better than anything he has done so far, which makes it very good indeed.
ISBN 978-1-84354-916-1
lists the intellectual background. I've read a couple of the books he referred to, and knew that that the list was going to include a reference to Roger Penrose, though the basis of the book is rather more solid than that would suggest.
-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen
snipped-for-privacy@ieee.org wrote in news:3b549f23-631d-4499-8284-dcbe6b76eebc@
8g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
I haven't read a SF book in years. I tend to prefer hard SF, ro at least, "Speculative Fiction" a' la' Ellison, but so much has seemed to be mreo about wizares and witches and so on, I supposed it's what's called "fantasy". I wouldn't even necessarily mind decent magic-realism. But how many times can "Lord of the Rings" be rehashed... ((I also don't like Michner-esque writing; even my sister can convey the sense of a place in only a paragraph or two, no need to beat it to death...))
So I'm not at all familiar with Stephenson. What would you call his work, how would you classify it...? It'd be nice to relax with soem decent fiction now and then. ((Currently readign Cramer's "Mad Money" ;) ))
Thanks!,
- Kris
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It varies. His web-site lists the books he has written on his own
His early stuff could be read as conventional novles, albeit with a strong science and computing background.
"The Big U" seems to be his first published novel, and is interesting enough, but not particulalry well written or constructed. "Zodiac" is quite a bit better.
"The Snow Crash" is actually pretty good. It is definitely science fiction, but set in the present - to an extent which makes it look slightly dated now.
"The Diamond Age" is equally defintely science fiction, but set in an alternative present, where Babbage's difference engine took off in Victorian England, and was subsequently speeded up and minaturised in the same way that real world electronic computers have been.
"Cryptominium" starts in the late 1930's and features Allan Turing and the rest of the Enigma codebreakers, as well as their American equivalents who cracked the Japanese naval code, tied into a more or less contemporary code-breaking story.
"The Baroque Cycle" covers Newton's life span, and incorporates him and pretty much everybody he ever met or corresponded with. I read it a few years after I'd read Jonathon Israel's "The Radical Enlightenment"" which is centred on Spinoza and his influence across Europe, and Stephenson captures and make accessible a lot of the intellectual ferment going on across Europe at the time. It also reads very well.
As far as I can see Stephenson is an avid and intelligent reader, with a real knack for working out plots and inventing characters that allow him to dramatise ideas that he has found fascinating.
-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen
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Wow just found my copy, time for a re-read.
Ta from spain
martin
snipped-for-privacy@ieee.org wrote in news:1b28ac6a-d25a-49e8-a64e- snipped-for-privacy@l77g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
[snipped]OK, thanks for the info. Might be a interesting and relaxing read ;)
Made his name with excellent hard SF. Then having established himself with fans his emphasis shifted in later novels. They're still hard SF but the characters are deeper, more developed, which appeals to mature readers. As you're reading this newsgroup you might particularly like "Cryptonomicon" which is about some computer nerds who get involved in some international finance shenanigans in the present day (big money always attracts parasites), the deadpan descriptions of the geeks' personaes is so close to the reality of some engineers you will know you will find it hilarious. But his masterpiece is generally agreed to be the System of the World trilogy (starts with a thick book called Quicksilver). Although it's set around 1700 I gave it a go as I liked his other work so much. It mainly revolves round 3 characters from very different backgrounds as they try to just get along in the rapidly changing world of the time. I must admit I skipped a bit of the first couple of chapters, not being too interested in the constructional details of boats, only to kick myself when the 3rd and final book came out 2 years later as the author had planted some vital clues in that first section I'd skipped. VERY tightly plotted trilogy, NO loose ends, loads of interesting Stuff about how modern economics began, what Barbary pirates did to their captives, what ****ards the various rulers of the time were. An amazing blend of fictional characters woven between real events / characters.
-- Nemo
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