The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

Stephenson's best

Everyone always raves about Snow Crash and leaves Diamond Age out to dry. Here's my 2 cents... If you want a fast paced, Hollywood movie type of book then Snow Crash is for you. If you're looking for a science fiction work that takes a crack at examining the possible consequences of upcoming technologies, give DA a whirl. Both books are a good read, but DA is the one that sticks in my mind. BTW, if you're looking to match your taste to mine, I thought Cryptonomicon was only so-so.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Perfect starter for a new Nook user =;^)

The first book I read, Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, was excellent because the plot revolves around a little girl in a world filled with nanotechnology who gets a ‘smart book’ – a very Victorian titled "Young Lady’s Primer" – which guides her through this increasingly complex world to find her destiny ... that seemed very like the Nook itself, so the fit was perfect.

Amazing cyber punk

This book rivals snow crash, neuromancer, etc. I'm extremely impressed by the hard sci fi and strong gripping narative. Worth it!

So good

it makes you want your mommy.

Steam punk? Stunning!

I had been told that this was a steam punk novel, which I would not call it. I believe that it was lumped into the steam punk category because of the neo victorian society that some of the characters belong to. Though the technology in the book does does not blesh with my concept of steam punk it is amazing. The amount of detail and thought put into the nanotechnology in this book goes far beyond any other book I've read.

The bottom line is this book might have the coolest nano-tech ever, the world is truly interesting and unique and I found the characters to be comic, tragic and endearing.

Do read this book, I cant imagine you being disappointed.

This Book is Mind Blowing...

I was recommended the book by a professor and therefore tried to put off reading it for as long as I could. Unable to procrastinate any longer, I began to read the book and could not put it down. I found it fascinating how technology was used in the book. Stephenson's modern world was very original. I particularly loved the way Stephenson used media in the book and how some of his ideas of technology can be seen as beginning to form in our times. I also found it very interesting the way the plots were intertwined. By the end of the book, I found myself wanting more, not because the ending disappointed me but because I couldn't get enough of it. The only problem I had with Stephenson's book was the way POV kept switching from one plotline to the other. I would have preferred that he chose to stick to one character to follow and or that he spent more time in a given POV before switching to the next. I've bought a few of Stephenson's other books and I look forward to reading them.

Great Writer

Neal Stephenson is one of the best writers out there today. Diamond Age is a wonderful book.

Excellent Nanotech Fiction

Fans of Stephenson's earlier novel SNOW CRASH will not be disappointed by this high-tech yet gritty read set in an oddly Victorian future. Readers of WILLIAM GIBSON, VERNOR VINGE, and newcomer JOHN ROBERT MARLOW will find much to like in this well-told tale by a modern master. (For a completely different take on nanotech set loose upon an unprepared world in our very near future, see Marlow's new novel NANO--another 5-star book with a great review from B&N.)

Innovative ideas

Stephenson is one of the two or three really creative fiction minds these days. The story is excellent.

The Value of Education

This book made me realize the benefits of education. Nell is no one, she is poor, crude, and is really going nowhere. However once her brother Harvey steals the Primer from Hackworth, he gives it to Nell and her journey begins. The book starts by teaching her the basics. She cannot read, so it reads to her. It teaches her defensive tactics so she can keep the book. It teaches her what exactly is sexual abuse, so that she stays healthy. This is only the beginning, though. As she gets older, the lessons become less about 'reading, writing, and arithmetic', and more philosophical, moral, and ethical. She learns about people and why they leave, and how that can be better in the end. She learns about trust, and how important it is to trust the right people. Two other little girls have their own copies of the Primer, and it gives them lessons that are tailored to them. To Fiona, Hackworth's daughter, it teaches her magical stories and new realms of thought. It develops her imagination, because that is what she is interested in developing. In the end, she becomes an actress. For Elizabeth, a granddaughter of a prominent man, the book creates a world where she is the ruler. She learns about the idea of loyalty and obedience. She later joins another group, an information cult called the CryptNet. There is another difference in their education. Elizabeth was taught by hundreds of different people. She became disillusioned by what she learned, and went off to find another group. Mainly her father, who is a strict Victorian in principle, but who has the soul of a dreamer, taught Fiona. In the Primer, he was only the dreamer so Fiona became a dreamer. And this translated to acting for her. One woman, an actor named Miranda, taught Nell. Early on, Miranda realized that she was raising someone's child, and she took it seriously. She gave up a lot of things to be there for Nell. Because of this, Nell grew up the most intelligent of the three. She grew up and took her place in history, which was to destroy existing society and change the world. I have really enjoyed this book. I read it the first time when I was in high school, and I loved it. I just reread it for this review, and I still love it for different reasons. I like the message that education, while incredibly valuable, will only take a person so far. After that, their cunning, morals, and ideas must take them the right way. Elizabeth reminded me of children who are raised by schools and universities. They are taught by lots of different people who don't really know them. Those types of students become disillusioned and rebel. Fiona shows what happens when there is no balance; she was taught only fantasy and so she immersed herself in it. Nell had balance; her individual story had an overall fairy-tale theme, but it was filled with martial arts, logic games, and moral/ethical lessons. She also had a mother figure, someone who cared for her, at least intellectually. I liked the idea of all the different societies trying to exist. I can see after all the moral corruption, a group of people going back to the Victorian ways. Overall, this book is believable as our future, and it is a future I would not mind having.

AN INNOVATIVE SCI FI EPIC

Jennifer Wiltsie gives indelible voice to this bizarre yet totally believable tale by ace science fiction writer Neal Stephenson. A versatile actress, her credits include the HBO favorite 'The Sopranos,' and the movies Wirey Spindell and Windigo. Considered by many to be the hottest scifi writer in our country today Neal Stpehenson grabbed attention and accolades with his debut sf epic Snow Crash (1992). Readers who were held sway by his rich imagination and innovation will find much to praise about The Diamond Age. John Hackworth is a genius, a nanotechnologist who designs and executes the Primer, a computer book capable of totally educating its reader. Wanting a copy for his one daughter, Hackworth steals one. But, leave it to this challenging author, the copy is lost and winds up with Nell, not a girl of privilege for whom the Primer was originally intended. The tale picks up steam as Nell begins her unique education and readers are taken on a captivating technological journey that only Stephenson's vision could have conceived.

Pretty damn good for neocyberpunk set in a revival of the Victorian age

Any book titled The Diamond Age no doubt aspires to some kind of brilliance, and this book has it. Stephenson gives us a graceful but disturbing vision of what our society is becoming filtered through a near distant future where the Vickies, moralistic and repressive followers, of Queen Victoria II, have most of the political power. The impoverished meanwhile live through Star Trek like materializers that produce a little bit of everything, food, clothing, at extremely poor quality and durability. In this world, a semi-amnesiac and extremely repressed programmer designs 'a Primer' to educate upper-class girls, but it's more than that, and it falls into the hands of a resourceful but terrorized child. Meanwhile revolution is brewing. Fantastically absurd images and concepts. You'll be surprised at how hot nanotechnology can get.

This book was Awsome

I loved this book! Stephenson builds a fantastic world of the not so distant future with wonderful carachters. This is my favorite book and I would recomend it to anyone.

Neo-victorian Sci-Fi!

The Diamond Age is beautiful. This book may represent a new direction for science fiction as a genre. Stephenson's writing stimulates the imagination and makes the reader yearn for a nanotech future.

Ugh! What a waste of 8 hours!

When I picked up this book, I was hoping that it wasn't as confusing and as hard to follow as William Gibson's Neuromancer. I was pleasantly engaged by the first half of the book. Wonderful world building, attention to detail, and captivating characters. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. After the halfway point, the book lost what little semblance of a plot it had to begin with. There seemed to be no motivation behind the characters actions. We seem to just be looking in on segments of peoples' lives with no ultimate goal in mind. At the end, there was no climax and no resolution. It was as if Mr. Stephenson couldn't figure out how to finish the book and so just stopped writing at the end of a random chapter. I finished the last page and, literally, asked myself, 'What the hell was that! ' I felt like Mr. Stephenson had just wasted 8 hours of my life. What a disappointment!

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.