Comments on: This May Be the Most Technologically Accurate Novel Ever Written http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/ News and reviews from the world of gadgets, gear, apps and the web Tue, 29 Nov 2011 02:09:32 +0000 hourly 1 By: cjalexander http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/comment-page-1/#comment-407 Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:02:21 +0000 http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/?p=903#comment-407 That’s David Louis Edelman, sorry.

]]> By: cjalexander http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/comment-page-1/#comment-406 Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:01:27 +0000 http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/?p=903#comment-406 Lev, thanks for the recommendation; I’ll be checking Daemon out. From the description you gave, you may also enjoy David Lous Edelman’s “Infoquake.” The writing itself is average, but Edelman puts his business / web developer background to great use in constructing a far-future world’s plot (and economic system) that’s much more believably immersive than a lot of the hand-waving typically seen in the genre.

An unrelated, minor dissent: I agree that Bruce Sterling can write beautifully, but I vastly prefer his non-fiction to his novels. Maybe the two or three Sterling novels I read were bad examples, but his plot and especially his characters were so variously silly, wooden, or contrived that I found myself repeatedly asking “are you serious?” Just my $0.02.

And Neal Stephenson is a god! :)

]]> By: johnny6n4 http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/comment-page-1/#comment-400 Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:55:49 +0000 http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/?p=903#comment-400 I’ve read the book and loved it! FWIW, it’s nothing like the technobabble that you see in most scifi books and shows. To me, this book reads more like an action-detective-mystery thriller with a techno edge that raises a lot of moral questions. Yes, technology is defined in the book but doesn’t dwell on it….but what is really eery is that most of the technical details ( if not all) are based on existing technology. My wife hates sci-fi and technically oriented books but just could’t seem to put this book down. She wouldn’t read it when I suggested it (and actually rolled her eyes) but after a friend of hers read it she picked it up and was pleasantly surprised. I hope the movie people don’t wreck the story.

]]> By: Cliff http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/comment-page-1/#comment-363 Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:37:44 +0000 http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/?p=903#comment-363 masurix – I agree with you, and I’m a dude. A dude that takes a nap when people start talking about iPhones.

]]> By: alexandriacarpetone http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/comment-page-1/#comment-356 Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:52:56 +0000 http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/?p=903#comment-356 Dang I loved this post! True, I’m a geek.
bloggit

]]> By: Dave http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/comment-page-1/#comment-349 Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:50:40 +0000 http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/?p=903#comment-349 I don’t know if I’d read the book, but it does bug me when Hollywood tries to use techno-babble (“Oh no, the hacker is downloading the hard drive! Quick, flush the BIOS and defrag the front-side bus! My god, what’s he doing to that cache???”).
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It’s fun to think about what James Bond would be now if McGoohan had taken the part. But alas, he’s no longer a number. He’s a free man.

]]> By: Lev Grossman http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/comment-page-1/#comment-347 Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:12:32 +0000 http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/?p=903#comment-347 KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

]]> By: Church http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/comment-page-1/#comment-345 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:47:46 +0000 http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/?p=903#comment-345 Also, Riccardo “KHAAAAAAAAN” Montalban died, too.

]]> By: masurix http://techland.time.com/2009/01/14/this-may-be-the-most-technologically-accurate-novel-ever-written/comment-page-1/#comment-344 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:24:09 +0000 http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/?p=903#comment-344 Call me crazy, but that sounds like a turnoff to me. While I am one of those IT folks, I don’t necessarily need the ins and outs of every technological piece of a story to be true and accurate. I could bust out my product manuals for that. When technology moves the story, it’s fine, but when you take a break for the author to show you just how IT-savvy he is, it’s a yawn-fest. That’s why I never made it through most of the early hard sci-fi or the spy novels – I simply find that it detracts from the story when they get too into the nuts and bolts of any subject. (Also, I’m a girl. Maybe that makes a difference?)

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