The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer [Kindle Edition]

I'm not a Sci-Fi fan but, after reading Drexler's fascinating Engines of Creation: the coming era of nanotechnology, I was curious to see what future Stephenson had imagined with this revolutionary technology. The author envisions an impressive number of interesting applications, some fairly predictable (e.g. matter compilers fed by water and air purifying stations, "smart" multimedia paper), some a lot less so (e.g. skull guns, lighter-than-air shields, nanotech-enhanced actors). But it becomes clearer and clearer that what the author is most interested in is computer science in general, and artificial intelligence in particular. Given the fact that Stephenson has also written In the beginning... was the command line, this shouldn't be such a surprise, and, far from being regrettable, it is in fact what gives the book its true dimension.

As the subtitle (A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer) suggests, this book is about a very special kind of book, for the Primer is so "intelligent" that it can adapt its fully interactive on-going didactic narrative to the needs and wishes of its owner, gradually developing his or her own ability to adapt and solve problems to the maximum. I found this to be a brilliant theme, because it depicts future technology as a means of improving the minds of people, eventually allowing them to reach their greatest potential. Stephenson appears a little narrow-minded, however, when it turns out that the Primer's tutorial only culminates with lessons on computer science and nanotechology. Although this is instrumental in bringing about the novel's partial dénouement (enough is left open-ended for a possible sequel), I would have liked to see the Primer's narrative branching out into more diversified subjects (possible examples: explaining why we breathe, or why there are seasons).

Nevertheless, the author's imagination can be quite astonishing when applied to his favorite themes, and I would argue that the bizarre society of the Drummers - which first seems incongruous and irrelevant, but gradually comes to the foreground as the plot unfolds - is Stephenson's most impressive invention/extrapolation in The Diamond Age. Just to give you some idea of what the Drummers are about without giving it all away, this secluded society uses nanotechnology to turn its members into ever-satisfied physical components of a huge computing network. You'll have to read the book in order to decide for yourself whether this is a desirable form of existence...

I said in the "title" of my review that the novel has flaws, and it does, as a number of things struck me as odd and unsuccessful in the book. Fortunately, these weak points remain minor, and The Diamond Age is still a great read for anyone interested in its themes.

Various comments for this run as 'good but not Snow Crash' 'great but flawed' 'good but not Cryptonomicon'. This book is simply superb. I thoroughly enjoyed all of his other books, but for me this is the pinnacle. A world struggling to get to grips with the differences that seperate us, uses a tribal approach to create regions for people to live their chosen lives. This politcal world is imbued with Stephenson's usual array of amazing technology, and extraordinary concepts. The most powerful of these is a book with the ability to adapts its lessons instantaneously to its reader's needs, and a little girl with power to reshape everything. I loved the (for me very real) possiblities D/A opens up, and I want one of those books!!

First and foremost, 'The Diamond Age' is a fantastic novel and a yardstick of Post-Cyberpunk fiction. The writing is superb, the characters are compelling, and the universe that Stephenson describes is a fascinating extrapolation of our own. It starts off promisingly with the cheeky demise of an archetypal Cyberpunk protagonist, setting the scene for the emotional and intellectual development of his child Nell via an interactive, nanotechnological book - the 'Primer'. The Primer acts as an electronic tutor, storyteller and protector that guides and oversees Nell's education and entry into adolescence.

The scope of the text is astounding, painting a portrait of a world where the ubiquity of nanotechnology has irreversibly altered human society from entertainment to warfare to economic worth. Stephenson's future is a world where nation states have collapsed to be replaced by 'phyles', socio-economic groups that partition cities into the differing communities and which cooperate under a global economic law. Foremost among these are the Neo-Victorians, an atavistic and economically advantaged phyle with a rigid social structure by whom the Primer is developed. After the engineer who covertly created it loses a copy, warfare begins to brew while little Nell is caught in the middle with her illicit Primer.

If the novel suffers from anything it is an overabundance of ideas that leaves the overall image somewhat muddled and susceptible to Occam's razor. The different storylines, gripping as they are, never weave together in a satisfactory conclusion and some characters seem to vanish along the way. Of all the fascinating topics covered, from Confucian justice to the importance of human interaction in childrearing, Stephenson gets rather too sidetracked with a phyle called the 'Drummers', an addition that will leave many readers alternating between scratching their heads and shaking them.

Despite its flaws and disappointingly rushed finale 'The Diamond Age' is a well-paced and highly intelligent read. There is more imagination contained in a chapter than most authors can muster in a whole book. The writing is sophisticated but never florid, the dialogue flawlessly alternating between being thought-provoking and hilarious. Stephenson must be commended for a novel of ambitious scope and astounding creativity, though it may have worked better as a series than as a single volume.