The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
Aug 2003 · Sold by Spectra
4.6star
414 reviews
Ebook
512
Pages
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About this ebook
Vividly imagined, stunningly prophetic, and epic in scope, The Diamond Age is a major novel from one of the most visionary writers of our time
Decades into our future, a stone’s throw from the ancient city of Shanghai, a brilliant nanotechnologist named John Percival Hackworth has just broken the rigorous moral code of his tribe, the powerful neo-Victorians. He's made an illicit copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device called A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer Commissioned by an eccentric duke for his grandchild, stolen for Hackworth's own daughter, the Primer’s purpose is to educate and raise a girl capable of thinking for herself. It performs its function superbly. Unfortunately for Hackworth, his smuggled copy has fallen into the wrong hands.
Young Nell and her brother Harv are thetes—members of the poor, tribeless class. Neglected by their mother, Harv looks after Nell. When he and his gang waylay a certain neo-Victorian—John Percival Hackworth—in the seamy streets of their neighborhood, Harv brings Nell something special: the Primer.
Following the discovery of his crime, Hackworth begins an odyssey of his own. Expelled from the neo-Victorian paradise, squeezed by agents of Protocol Enforcement on one side and a Mandarin underworld crime lord on the other, he searches for an elusive figure known as the Alchemist. His quest and Nell’s will ultimately lead them to another seeker whose fate is bound up with the Primer—a woman who holds the key to a vast, subversive information network that is destined to decode and reprogram the future of humanity.
Decades into our future, a stone’s throw from the ancient city of Shanghai, a brilliant nanotechnologist named John Percival Hackworth has just broken the rigorous moral code of his tribe, the powerful neo-Victorians. He's made an illicit copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device called A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer Commissioned by an eccentric duke for his grandchild, stolen for Hackworth's own daughter, the Primer’s purpose is to educate and raise a girl capable of thinking for herself. It performs its function superbly. Unfortunately for Hackworth, his smuggled copy has fallen into the wrong hands.
Young Nell and her brother Harv are thetes—members of the poor, tribeless class. Neglected by their mother, Harv looks after Nell. When he and his gang waylay a certain neo-Victorian—John Percival Hackworth—in the seamy streets of their neighborhood, Harv brings Nell something special: the Primer.
Following the discovery of his crime, Hackworth begins an odyssey of his own. Expelled from the neo-Victorian paradise, squeezed by agents of Protocol Enforcement on one side and a Mandarin underworld crime lord on the other, he searches for an elusive figure known as the Alchemist. His quest and Nell’s will ultimately lead them to another seeker whose fate is bound up with the Primer—a woman who holds the key to a vast, subversive information network that is destined to decode and reprogram the future of humanity.
Ratings and reviews
4.6
414 reviews
A Google user
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February 27, 2010
Superb science fiction. Neal Stephenson has again proved to be a visionary futurist with the world he has crafted here.
In Snow Crash, Stephenson showed us what the world would look like ten years in the future (it was published in 1990) and was largely correct. Reaching farther with The Diamond Age, Stephenson shows us what life might look like a hundred or so years from now. Again, much of the technology he foresees is only a few steps away from what we have now. Not only are his predictions plausible, but easily achievable given modern advancements in miniaturization.
Futurism aside, this book contains a marvelous tale about a little girl and the people that affect her life. Even though many of the characters never interact with one another, their individual storylines distinctly show how the decision of one character affects another character, both directly and indirectly.
Stephenson's characters also display a great deal of depth and growth throughout this tale. Given that the book spans nearly two decades, you are able to grow up with Nell and discover the world as she does. Aside from her, you get to experience the underside of this world with John Percival Hackworth, a programmer/engineer who becomes one of the most important people never heard of. Through their stories and the stories of those connected with them, we get to experience something not quite out of this world.
Ruben Ilizarbe
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January 27, 2015
Except that the book is not exactly magical but rather based on the nanotechnology that runs the world in which it exists. The same nanotechnology that allows only a single girl to ever use it. Cut away the first fourth of the book and you have a 5 starter. Aside from the captivating narrative, the greatest aspect of the book is the world in which the story is set. It's no just a world where nanotechnology reigns supreme but it's a world of broken boundaries, where the old lines of power have disappeared and everyone survives by being part of a tribe with its own rules and values. Stephenson makes a strong statement about the value of education-nurture rather than nature-and the limits of artificial intelligence in relation to that of the human mind. The story itself is a great amalgam of cyberpunk and steampunk sci-fi that would make for an amazing animated series.
6 people found this review helpful
A Google user
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February 12, 2015
A fun read about a post-cyberpunk society (possibly 80-100 years after Snowcrash in the same universe) that runs into a few problems. Characters that we follow are forgotten about for long periods of time and the central plot of the book refuses to make itself very clear. Still a thought-provoking imagery-rich read with some very memorable characters.
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Neal Stephenson issues from a clan of rootless, itinerant hardscience and engineering professors (mostly Pac-10, Big 10, and Big 8 with the occasional wild strain of Ivy). He began his higher education as a physics major, then switched to geography when it appeared that this would enable him to scam more free time on his university’s mainframe computer. When he graduated and discovered, to his perplexity, that there were no jobs for inexperienced physicist-geographers, he began to look into alternative pursuits such as working on cars, unimaginably stupid agricultural labor, and writing novels. His first novel, The Big U, was published in 1984 and vanished without a trace. His second novel, Zodiac: An Eco-Thriller, came out in 1988 and quickly developed a cult following among water-pollution-control engineers. It was also enjoyed, though rarely bought, by many radical environmentalists. Snow Crash was written in the years 1988 through 1991 as the author listened to a great deal of loud, relentless, depressing music.
Mr. Stephenson now resides in a comfortable home in the western hemisphere and spends all of his time trying to retrofit an office into its generally dark, unlevel, and asbestos-laden basement so that he can attempt to write more novels. Despite the tremendous amounts of time he devotes to writing, playing with computers, listening to speed metal, Rollerblading, and pounding nails, he is a flawless husband, parent, neighbor, and all-around human being.
Mr. Stephenson now resides in a comfortable home in the western hemisphere and spends all of his time trying to retrofit an office into its generally dark, unlevel, and asbestos-laden basement so that he can attempt to write more novels. Despite the tremendous amounts of time he devotes to writing, playing with computers, listening to speed metal, Rollerblading, and pounding nails, he is a flawless husband, parent, neighbor, and all-around human being.
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