What do you think?
Rate this book
The Silicon Man
The Silicon Man has been endorsed by William Gibson as "A plausible, well-crafted narrative exploring cyberspace in a wholly new and very refreshing way".
What is the price of immortality? On the track of high-tech black-market weapons, FBI Agent James Bayley has stumbled on a top-secret project called LifeScan. A renegade team of government scientist, sponsored by an aging billionaire, has found a way to store the human mind inside a computer. Those scanned will be immortals, freed from the weaknesses of human flesh, virtual gods in a universe of their own creation. But godhood has a terrible price. To gain immortality, you must be willing to die.
What is the price of immortality? On the track of high-tech black-market weapons, FBI Agent James Bayley has stumbled on a top-secret project called LifeScan. A renegade team of government scientist, sponsored by an aging billionaire, has found a way to store the human mind inside a computer. Those scanned will be immortals, freed from the weaknesses of human flesh, virtual gods in a universe of their own creation. But godhood has a terrible price. To gain immortality, you must be willing to die.
253 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1991
4 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
About the author
Charles Platt
133 books54 followersFrom wikipedia:
Charles Platt (born in London, England, 1945) is the author of 41 fiction and nonfiction books, including science-fiction novels such as The Silicon Man and Protektor (published in paperback by Avon Books). He has also written non-fiction, particularly on the subjects of computer technology and cryonics, as well as teaching and working in these fields. Platt relocated from England to the United States in 1970 and is a naturalized U. S. citizen.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
See:
Charles Platt, born 1869
Charles Platt (born in London, England, 1945) is the author of 41 fiction and nonfiction books, including science-fiction novels such as The Silicon Man and Protektor (published in paperback by Avon Books). He has also written non-fiction, particularly on the subjects of computer technology and cryonics, as well as teaching and working in these fields. Platt relocated from England to the United States in 1970 and is a naturalized U. S. citizen.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
See:
Charles Platt, born 1869
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 15, 2023
Imagine your mind, memories and senses being uploaded to the cloud.
This is what happens to an FBI agent when he starts getting too close to the truth about what is really going on with a scientific research team.
It's a great page turner, good writing and moves along at a fast pace. Thoroughly enjoyable yarn!
This is what happens to an FBI agent when he starts getting too close to the truth about what is really going on with a scientific research team.
It's a great page turner, good writing and moves along at a fast pace. Thoroughly enjoyable yarn!
January 8, 2023
I think this is an exceptional book. It beggars belief that it was written in 1991 because it is as contemporary and as up to date as any of the brilliant tales in the futuristic TV drama series Black Mirror.
The story is set in 2030, at the centre of the plot is a team of scientists that have been working on a project for thirty years called Lifescan. Little is known of the project and outsiders are led to believe it has been an abject failure, despite billions of dollars having been invested in it over the years.
An FBI agent, bit of a maverick has an encounter with one of the scientists and stumbles on the project and begins to suggest all is not as it seems and sets about investigating it off his own initiative, without filing a report. What could go wrong? Well lots actually but I'll say no more about the story and how it unfolds.
However what I will say, is that a novel written in 1991 that describes a future set in 2030, has by it's very nature got to be somewhat prophetic. And there are a lot of things he gets wrong, but also a lot he gets right but most significantly, the very basis of the story is still feasible today and I think it is this fact that endeared me so much to it. In short, the project the scientists are working on is creating a duplicate copy of a persons brain including thoughts, memory, consciousness - the lot.
In SF terms there are a number of different types, variants and names for this type of artificial intelligence - not for this review however there is a good foreword to the book which describes these concepts in more detail although I would recommend reading the foreword after completing the book - I would say that for any novel with a foreword but particularly this one.
The story is set in 2030, at the centre of the plot is a team of scientists that have been working on a project for thirty years called Lifescan. Little is known of the project and outsiders are led to believe it has been an abject failure, despite billions of dollars having been invested in it over the years.
An FBI agent, bit of a maverick has an encounter with one of the scientists and stumbles on the project and begins to suggest all is not as it seems and sets about investigating it off his own initiative, without filing a report. What could go wrong? Well lots actually but I'll say no more about the story and how it unfolds.
However what I will say, is that a novel written in 1991 that describes a future set in 2030, has by it's very nature got to be somewhat prophetic. And there are a lot of things he gets wrong, but also a lot he gets right but most significantly, the very basis of the story is still feasible today and I think it is this fact that endeared me so much to it. In short, the project the scientists are working on is creating a duplicate copy of a persons brain including thoughts, memory, consciousness - the lot.
In SF terms there are a number of different types, variants and names for this type of artificial intelligence - not for this review however there is a good foreword to the book which describes these concepts in more detail although I would recommend reading the foreword after completing the book - I would say that for any novel with a foreword but particularly this one.
February 27, 2022
In my Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age (1988, p. 180), I wrote that "A flat denial forever and anon of AI possibilities [humanlike intelligence] in nonliving circuits amounts to ... an unbecoming protein chauvinism." What I had in mind was the dogmatism of a position that says, just because the only intelligence we know is protein-based, therefore all intelligence must be so. I went on, however, to depict the attempt at creating real intelligence in computer systems as akin to putting "Descartes before the horse," by which I meant that since intelligence is a property of life insofar as we know, we're more likely to develop artificial intelligences out of artificial living entities than from any non-living artificial components.
Charles Platt's The Silicon Man, a science fiction novel, takes up the challenge of AI from another angle. Pointing out that something (like the mind) can be copied without the copier fully understanding how the original entity works ("You mean Gottbaum and his people copied my brain without knowing how some of it works?" "Yes. By analogy, an audio recorder can copy a piece of music without understanding harmony and composition. All that matters is that the copy is accurate," p. 147), Platt explores the implications of uploading a person's mind into a central computer. Of course, the analogy is imperfect -- music, regardless of its complexity and unlike the mind, is not a self-regulating, generative system -- and our scientific capacity to do this is vastly beyond our current grasp. But the lack of ipso facto impossibility of Platt's scheme -- an impossibility that one could take refuge in only on the basis of a protein chauvinism -- makes it and the book it is in worthy of very serious philosophic contemplation.
[Read the rest of the review here https://paullevinson.blogspot.com/201... ]
Charles Platt's The Silicon Man, a science fiction novel, takes up the challenge of AI from another angle. Pointing out that something (like the mind) can be copied without the copier fully understanding how the original entity works ("You mean Gottbaum and his people copied my brain without knowing how some of it works?" "Yes. By analogy, an audio recorder can copy a piece of music without understanding harmony and composition. All that matters is that the copy is accurate," p. 147), Platt explores the implications of uploading a person's mind into a central computer. Of course, the analogy is imperfect -- music, regardless of its complexity and unlike the mind, is not a self-regulating, generative system -- and our scientific capacity to do this is vastly beyond our current grasp. But the lack of ipso facto impossibility of Platt's scheme -- an impossibility that one could take refuge in only on the basis of a protein chauvinism -- makes it and the book it is in worthy of very serious philosophic contemplation.
[Read the rest of the review here https://paullevinson.blogspot.com/201... ]
December 20, 2018
★★☆☆☆
(2 stars)
THRIFT STORE WHY: The back text seemed interesting- the cover or title sure aren’t. I suppose I was expecting something a little ‘black mirror’ esque. The back text promises a ‘deep in the future people upload their brains into machines to live on forever, but must die in the real world for this to happen’.
BACK COPY LIES (what the plot really is): In a retro style future of about 2050, an FBI agent stumbles into a secret, illegal project to copy human brains into a computer. He tries to shut it down, but is murdered and put into the machine instead. There isn’t a lot to the plot beyond this, and him dying is pretty much the only plot point.
WOULD I RECC TO READ: No. It’s generally engaging, but overall a let-down that leads to a befuddling ending.
Review:
This is a book about the future written in the early 90s, AKA exactly what I want in my cup of pulp sci-fi: there’s limited AI, you get your news every morning from News-Fax (YES! A FAX MACHINE!), cars are mostly electric, the ocean has risen and destroyed the beaches of the west coast, things are paid for in ‘disks’… there’s a steady mix of very true predictions and slightly off ones, and it’s delightful. I believe the year the book takes place in is about 2040.
This is probably the most enjoyable part of The Silicon Man. It’s written well enough, and engaging to follow- a ‘techno-thriller’ more than anything- but lacks a hearty substance. Early in the book there’s a few refreshing details, such as the loving relationship between FBI-Man and his wife, the viewpoint of Yumi, a frustrated woman with a complicated relationship with her horrible dad, and the viewpoint of an interesting woman scientist (I like seeing non-offensive women in sci-fi pulp, can you tell?). Yumi, however, leaves the narrative about halfway, and the story itself changes quite dramatically around the same point.
Look, I spoiled it up in the summary, and I’ll do it again. FBI man finds out about a secret semi-government project that has seemingly produced no results but has been running for ten years and cost billions of dollars. Looking into it, he comes too close for the small team of rogue scientists to tolerate, and they decide to use him as the first test subject for the computer simulation they are using. Yes, they ‘kill’ him, though they insist otherwise.
This drives the latter half of the book, which boils down to one plotline, and one ‘author wants to just have some fun’ line: FBI man’s wife investigating his ‘death’ (a car crash she knows was set up) and trying to figure out how to bring the people responsible to justice… and FBI man, who is in a computer now, and has to figure out how he feels about that.
Yeah, there’s not really much in the second half. Again, it’s a thriller before this, but in the latter half the scientists, and the rich guy funding it, all kill themselves to get uploaded into the machine- which can only hold seven brains at a time, despite it being the far future. The story then becomes about the wife… but she doesn’t really DO much either. She’s angry, but then is convinced that if she tries to blow the cover on what happened, her husband’s new digital life is at risk. So she does nothing.
Meanwhile, FBI man is in a computer. It’s a super realistic computer simulation, though not perfect- it has trouble with particle physics of water (who doesn’t), and can’t simulate convincing humans. He goes slightly mad in there, but gets over it. Because he was never meant to be part of this digital heaven, he’s frozen and unfrozen in time a few times- though computer time is faster than real time by a ton. At one point he wakes up and talks to Lady Scientist, and she’s like ‘it’s been 35 years in here, or a few minutes out there’. She’s rightfully super bored and wants human conversation. This heaven doesn’t seem so good after all.
However, while a lot of ideas are briefly explored- especially in terms of science and computer functionality- none of them go anywhere. The story isn’t about living in a computer, or dealing with a semi-dead, semi-alive computerized husband, or whether immortality is worth having- it’s about, er… It’s not about much in particular.
It becomes especially strange in the very last couple of chapters, when the whole world comes apart. To spoil (it’s a lot of nonsense that isn’t hinted at and happens and occurs very suddenly), the rich guy who made this computer network explains his grand plan to the FBI man as a sort of evil monologue session: (all along?) he’s been cloning his computer brain and sending it, plus the software for it to function, across the internet to infect as many computers as possible. Once there, he will live forever- not as a person, but a sort of intelligent virus with an end goal of disabling the government and ensuring ‘anarchy’. Or really, just the end of any government programs and systems, so honestly pure capitalism ie Libertarianism.
So, he does this. He clones his mind and uses it to prevent any government computers and networks from operating, but leaves everything else alone. FBI man is then put away in cold storage since rich man is done with his monologue.
Again, this is like, something introduced in one chapter near the end as a ‘mysterious plan’, and then the next chapter we learn about it, and the chapter after is the epilogue. In that, it’s 20 years in the future, and FBI wife cheerily reunites with FBI man, explaining how with the government gone the free market didn’t have to worry about regulations, and advance tech like the computer simulation he is downloaded to became common, and now even alive people can pop in and out to hang with dead relatives in a large, HD digital world. The end.
So basically, this book is… quite suddenly, a Libertarian dream: no more regulations! No more big government! No more hand outs! And the book is quite happy to have a quick paragraph of ‘yeah it was chaos for a bit when all the computers quit but we got over it and now the world is 200% better’. Well… thanks. That was a weird, jarring message to throw in there (it doesn’t help I strongly disagree with that philosophy).
What can I say about this book? I enjoyed reading it, honestly, but it’s dense, small print on small pages. I appreciate the research and visions of computers and technology that went into it, but the plot and characters feel unresolved, and the ending just left me ruffles. It’s not something I would tell a friend to read, or ever reread myself.
(2 stars)
THRIFT STORE WHY: The back text seemed interesting- the cover or title sure aren’t. I suppose I was expecting something a little ‘black mirror’ esque. The back text promises a ‘deep in the future people upload their brains into machines to live on forever, but must die in the real world for this to happen’.
BACK COPY LIES (what the plot really is): In a retro style future of about 2050, an FBI agent stumbles into a secret, illegal project to copy human brains into a computer. He tries to shut it down, but is murdered and put into the machine instead. There isn’t a lot to the plot beyond this, and him dying is pretty much the only plot point.
WOULD I RECC TO READ: No. It’s generally engaging, but overall a let-down that leads to a befuddling ending.
Review:
This is a book about the future written in the early 90s, AKA exactly what I want in my cup of pulp sci-fi: there’s limited AI, you get your news every morning from News-Fax (YES! A FAX MACHINE!), cars are mostly electric, the ocean has risen and destroyed the beaches of the west coast, things are paid for in ‘disks’… there’s a steady mix of very true predictions and slightly off ones, and it’s delightful. I believe the year the book takes place in is about 2040.
This is probably the most enjoyable part of The Silicon Man. It’s written well enough, and engaging to follow- a ‘techno-thriller’ more than anything- but lacks a hearty substance. Early in the book there’s a few refreshing details, such as the loving relationship between FBI-Man and his wife, the viewpoint of Yumi, a frustrated woman with a complicated relationship with her horrible dad, and the viewpoint of an interesting woman scientist (I like seeing non-offensive women in sci-fi pulp, can you tell?). Yumi, however, leaves the narrative about halfway, and the story itself changes quite dramatically around the same point.
Look, I spoiled it up in the summary, and I’ll do it again. FBI man finds out about a secret semi-government project that has seemingly produced no results but has been running for ten years and cost billions of dollars. Looking into it, he comes too close for the small team of rogue scientists to tolerate, and they decide to use him as the first test subject for the computer simulation they are using. Yes, they ‘kill’ him, though they insist otherwise.
This drives the latter half of the book, which boils down to one plotline, and one ‘author wants to just have some fun’ line: FBI man’s wife investigating his ‘death’ (a car crash she knows was set up) and trying to figure out how to bring the people responsible to justice… and FBI man, who is in a computer now, and has to figure out how he feels about that.
Yeah, there’s not really much in the second half. Again, it’s a thriller before this, but in the latter half the scientists, and the rich guy funding it, all kill themselves to get uploaded into the machine- which can only hold seven brains at a time, despite it being the far future. The story then becomes about the wife… but she doesn’t really DO much either. She’s angry, but then is convinced that if she tries to blow the cover on what happened, her husband’s new digital life is at risk. So she does nothing.
Meanwhile, FBI man is in a computer. It’s a super realistic computer simulation, though not perfect- it has trouble with particle physics of water (who doesn’t), and can’t simulate convincing humans. He goes slightly mad in there, but gets over it. Because he was never meant to be part of this digital heaven, he’s frozen and unfrozen in time a few times- though computer time is faster than real time by a ton. At one point he wakes up and talks to Lady Scientist, and she’s like ‘it’s been 35 years in here, or a few minutes out there’. She’s rightfully super bored and wants human conversation. This heaven doesn’t seem so good after all.
However, while a lot of ideas are briefly explored- especially in terms of science and computer functionality- none of them go anywhere. The story isn’t about living in a computer, or dealing with a semi-dead, semi-alive computerized husband, or whether immortality is worth having- it’s about, er… It’s not about much in particular.
It becomes especially strange in the very last couple of chapters, when the whole world comes apart. To spoil (it’s a lot of nonsense that isn’t hinted at and happens and occurs very suddenly), the rich guy who made this computer network explains his grand plan to the FBI man as a sort of evil monologue session: (all along?) he’s been cloning his computer brain and sending it, plus the software for it to function, across the internet to infect as many computers as possible. Once there, he will live forever- not as a person, but a sort of intelligent virus with an end goal of disabling the government and ensuring ‘anarchy’. Or really, just the end of any government programs and systems, so honestly pure capitalism ie Libertarianism.
So, he does this. He clones his mind and uses it to prevent any government computers and networks from operating, but leaves everything else alone. FBI man is then put away in cold storage since rich man is done with his monologue.
Again, this is like, something introduced in one chapter near the end as a ‘mysterious plan’, and then the next chapter we learn about it, and the chapter after is the epilogue. In that, it’s 20 years in the future, and FBI wife cheerily reunites with FBI man, explaining how with the government gone the free market didn’t have to worry about regulations, and advance tech like the computer simulation he is downloaded to became common, and now even alive people can pop in and out to hang with dead relatives in a large, HD digital world. The end.
So basically, this book is… quite suddenly, a Libertarian dream: no more regulations! No more big government! No more hand outs! And the book is quite happy to have a quick paragraph of ‘yeah it was chaos for a bit when all the computers quit but we got over it and now the world is 200% better’. Well… thanks. That was a weird, jarring message to throw in there (it doesn’t help I strongly disagree with that philosophy).
What can I say about this book? I enjoyed reading it, honestly, but it’s dense, small print on small pages. I appreciate the research and visions of computers and technology that went into it, but the plot and characters feel unresolved, and the ending just left me ruffles. It’s not something I would tell a friend to read, or ever reread myself.
April 21, 2010
This is one of those novels about the wonders of cyberspace. Published in 1991 it's set in 2030, in a near future that has become stagnant and has taken limits to the future for granted. Enter James Bayley, FBI agent who stumbles onto a top secret project called Lifescan: an attempt to create a cyber-immortality--a silicon man. The novel plays very much like a technothriller by Michael Crichton or Dean Koontz, only taking place in the future rather than in a contemporary setting. It's well-written and flowing with appealing, or at least distinctive, if not particularly complex, characterizations.
I grabbed three novels by Platt because I saw him listed as a Prometheus Award nominee--for Free World and Silicon Man. The first I tried, Twilight of the City, I found lacking--in fact didn't even finish that one. I did complete the next, Planet of the Voles. I found the ideas in that one more interesting, but found the ending less than satisfying. I rated both those books two to two and a half stars. Silicon Man is by far the most enjoyable, not a keeper perhaps or greatly memorable, but entertaining. In fact, I really like what Platt did with the antagonist--he's not a simple villain as it first appears--nor does he wind up misunderstood or redeemed; it's more complicated than that. The Silicon Man is published decades later than the two others I read so it might be Platt got better over the years and his later novels worth seeking out.
I grabbed three novels by Platt because I saw him listed as a Prometheus Award nominee--for Free World and Silicon Man. The first I tried, Twilight of the City, I found lacking--in fact didn't even finish that one. I did complete the next, Planet of the Voles. I found the ideas in that one more interesting, but found the ending less than satisfying. I rated both those books two to two and a half stars. Silicon Man is by far the most enjoyable, not a keeper perhaps or greatly memorable, but entertaining. In fact, I really like what Platt did with the antagonist--he's not a simple villain as it first appears--nor does he wind up misunderstood or redeemed; it's more complicated than that. The Silicon Man is published decades later than the two others I read so it might be Platt got better over the years and his later novels worth seeking out.
May 31, 2016
An influential story feeling out the dream of being able to download a human intelligence into a computer where provided no one in the real world pulls the plug one could become immortal.
I would have liked to see the story continue to investigate the consequences of such technology on society. Platt hints at economic chaos and the end of the big corporate system but I think this is just wishful thinking and his ideas are very sketchy. He also fails to tackle the question of where this leaves the human urge to procreate.
However, human beings are not known for their need to get to grips with deep existential reality and generally just get on with the day to day stuff adapting very quickly to whatever comes along so from that point of view the Silicon Man in the story is very human indeed.
I would have liked to see the story continue to investigate the consequences of such technology on society. Platt hints at economic chaos and the end of the big corporate system but I think this is just wishful thinking and his ideas are very sketchy. He also fails to tackle the question of where this leaves the human urge to procreate.
However, human beings are not known for their need to get to grips with deep existential reality and generally just get on with the day to day stuff adapting very quickly to whatever comes along so from that point of view the Silicon Man in the story is very human indeed.
April 30, 2018
A very well thought-out idea of the singularity. It deals nicely with both sides of the issue of being uploaded to become an AI of sorts. The greatness and power of it, along with the challenge to humanity (as a group and as a trait of being). Great sci-fi with some detective theme thrown in for good measure. The characters are interesting and all too human.
Also, it is very credible and holds well technologically, despite being written in the early 90's, before the internet, mobile phones, and AI applications became so prevalent.
Also, it is very credible and holds well technologically, despite being written in the early 90's, before the internet, mobile phones, and AI applications became so prevalent.
July 13, 2020
Overall decent novel, well paced and the technology holds up (in a broad sense, as it's never overly specific). But that ending – where Gottbaum turns the world into a libertarian wet dream – is insufferable. Gottbaum's role as the Heinlein-like angry old man who is the only one that knows what the world needs – more personal freedom and autonomy so long as he, the benign dictator, is in charge – is stupid.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2023
Another take on uploading human consciousness into a machine.
This is a 250 page book whose back cover touts that it's about uploading consciousness but the first half of the book is a tediously slow account of FBI agent James Baley investigating an unauthorized research program. If you make it through part 1, our protagonist finally gets uploaded (to get him out of the way so he won't report the researchers). The upload is done via the slice-and-dice method that leaves the original human dead and a brain-copy in the computer. It's very much like the way Cobb is uploaded in Rudy Rucker's Ware books from the previous decade.
But even after Bayley gets uploaded, nothing really interesting happens - he sets up a duplicate of his house to live in, tries making an virtual version of his wife, changes the sky and scenery a bit. It reads like a magazine article explaining what sorts of things you can do in Second Life. Eventually there's a big time gap and an abrupt ending that leaves a lot of things unexplained and a lot of characters MIA.
Readable but not recommended.
This is a 250 page book whose back cover touts that it's about uploading consciousness but the first half of the book is a tediously slow account of FBI agent James Baley investigating an unauthorized research program. If you make it through part 1, our protagonist finally gets uploaded (to get him out of the way so he won't report the researchers). The upload is done via the slice-and-dice method that leaves the original human dead and a brain-copy in the computer. It's very much like the way Cobb is uploaded in Rudy Rucker's Ware books from the previous decade.
But even after Bayley gets uploaded, nothing really interesting happens - he sets up a duplicate of his house to live in, tries making an virtual version of his wife, changes the sky and scenery a bit. It reads like a magazine article explaining what sorts of things you can do in Second Life. Eventually there's a big time gap and an abrupt ending that leaves a lot of things unexplained and a lot of characters MIA.
Readable but not recommended.
June 27, 2019
Unexpectedly good and doesn't feel dated despite 1991 publication date. Re-released by Wired as part of Cortex, science fiction that changed the world, edit by Mark Prauenfelder - will have to read the others.
AI is a reality by 2030, and a reasonable choice before long for many. How it all comes about is the story, founded in one man's dogmatic, autocratic, despotic demand for freedom from government regulation.
AI is a reality by 2030, and a reasonable choice before long for many. How it all comes about is the story, founded in one man's dogmatic, autocratic, despotic demand for freedom from government regulation.
December 10, 2019
This is a well written cyberpunk novel with a good concept, however it also delves a lot into cliches of the genre with even lines and scenes taken from more famous. But a pretty good sample in the genre.
August 2, 2017
COnsidering that the book is 26 years old, the story was great and the characters believable.
July 16, 2018
A very good work for its time, totally gripped me and I was quite desperate to finish. Very much enjoyed.
November 24, 2018
Entertaining read, with a bit of a twist at the end. Most frustrating thing about it? The number of grammatical errors.
March 4, 2020
Been done better since but we'll written and a page turner all said and done.
August 22, 2025
I read this book back in about 1999 and I enjoyed it enough to send an email to the author.
March 24, 2024
Written in 1991 with what was then cutting-edge thinking in biotech and AI, the story is set in the year 2019. The far-ranging sci-fi about transferring consciousness to a computer or AI is still a long way off, while the near-term use of technology is now quite dated, i.e. fax machines, and computer diskettes.
Straightforward writing style and narrative structure make this an easy read: three main character arcs in short chapters of four or five pages each, not too much that you forget what is going on in the other story line, and little by little how they converge. The last fifty pages are quite riveting, I couldn’t wait to get back to the story after being away a few hours. The part about existence in a non-corporeal state is like nothing else I’ve read, the pros and cons of being able to construct any reality on a whim, to have no physical needs, but also the boredom of eternity with not much new to discover or react to.
Unfortunately, after all this build up the ending was lame and unsatisfying:
Put in the donation box.
Straightforward writing style and narrative structure make this an easy read: three main character arcs in short chapters of four or five pages each, not too much that you forget what is going on in the other story line, and little by little how they converge. The last fifty pages are quite riveting, I couldn’t wait to get back to the story after being away a few hours. The part about existence in a non-corporeal state is like nothing else I’ve read, the pros and cons of being able to construct any reality on a whim, to have no physical needs, but also the boredom of eternity with not much new to discover or react to.
Unfortunately, after all this build up the ending was lame and unsatisfying:
Put in the donation box.
December 3, 2011
When FBI agent James Bayley decided to do a solo investigation how the scientific Life Scan project has been allowed to eat up billions of pounds of funding over 30 years while apparently being a total failure, he finds that he has bitten off more than he can chew. This is an interesting early novel about the possibilities of transferring the human mind into cyberspace and the consequences for both individuals and society. Unfortunately, once the setting moves from L.A. into cyberspace it seems to peter off as soon as it has described the first infomorph's acclimatisation to its new environment. I could have done with more conflict between the 'infomorphs', some resolution of Yumi's story, and a stronger ending.
December 28, 2014
Where did this book go? Why did it's super successful first printing go completely ignored? It's well done, intriguing sci-fi, but also... will maketh one very uncomfortable, I think. Very. In an introspective and speculative sort of way. I will disagree with almost everything I see the author saying with this book: I DON'T LIKE IT, but it was good, and it was provocative, as it should be, and as it was intended. I tip my hat to you, sir. (The end of the first chapter was still unnecessary. And, uh, weird, and just no.)
March 1, 2019
I picked this novel up at a Church thrifts store as a kid, It was a summer at my grandparents that did not have internet and reading was my escape from the monotony of watching birds (Which is fun still) and watching (and listening back when it had good music) the Weather channel (WS4000 days).
This stands on its own with "Neuromancer" and "Snow Crash", it deals with the singularity and other philosophical elements like eternal life beyond the mortal bodies and ethics of eternal life in a digital world.
This stands on its own with "Neuromancer" and "Snow Crash", it deals with the singularity and other philosophical elements like eternal life beyond the mortal bodies and ethics of eternal life in a digital world.
March 18, 2016
The concepts are reasonably interesting, and the set-up leads you to expect a tech-heavy, hard sci-fi noir. Unfortunately, the book feels dated and its delivery falls flat through 2-d stereotyped characters and unexplored threads. The ending is pitifully weak, not to mention abrupt and (to my mind) nonsensical.
I totally agree with the reviewer below who references Deus Ex as a more considered and realistic perspective on transhumanism.
I totally agree with the reviewer below who references Deus Ex as a more considered and realistic perspective on transhumanism.
February 27, 2009
"A plausible, well-crafted narritive exploring cyberspace in a wholly new and very refreshing way." - William Gibson
I am engaged and thinking about the downloading of our consciousnesses in a new light.
Also, this one is somewhat staged in the San Jose/Santa Cruz area, so neat to try to figure out where on the coast the characters are at in this post-depression and post-epidemic future.
I am engaged and thinking about the downloading of our consciousnesses in a new light.
Also, this one is somewhat staged in the San Jose/Santa Cruz area, so neat to try to figure out where on the coast the characters are at in this post-depression and post-epidemic future.
July 23, 2009
Starts off as an SF thriller exploring concepts of virtual reality and the computability of consciousness and takes that to see how an anarcho-capitalist utopia might be realised.
books-with-go-references
June 13, 2010Go reference on p.19.
July 31, 2013
I don't remember anything about this book!
June 19, 2016
Predicted some of the cool / scary things that computers today can do 25 years ago. Interesting or scary now... cool when I was a young adult.
January 20, 2010
Bored........ Reading other books instead.....
April 16, 2013
Interesting sci-fi story about the possiblity of our minds living inside computers.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews