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

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Product Details
Price
$20.00  $18.60
Publisher
Spectra Books
Publish Date
Pages
512
Dimensions
5.1 X 8.38 X 1.08 inches | 0.84 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780553380965

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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.
Reviews
"[Stephenson] has gotten even better. The Diamond Age Envisions the next century as brilliantly as snow crash did the day after tomorrow."--Newsweek

"[Stephenson is] the hottest science fiction writer in America. . . . Snow Crash is without question the biggest SF novel of the 1990s. Neal's SF novel, The Diamond Age, promises more of the same. Together, they represent a new era in science fiction. People who plow through these mind-bogglers will walk around slack-jawed for days and reemerge with a radically redefined sense of reality."--Details

"Neal Stephenson is the Quentin Tarantino of postcyberpunk science fiction. . . . Having figured out how to entertain the hell out of a mass audience, Stephenson has likewise upped the form's ante with rambunctious glee."--Village Voice

"Snow Crash drew its manic energy from the cyberpunkish conceit that anything is possible in virtual reality; in The Diamond Age the wonders of cyberspace pale before the even more dazzling powers of nanotechnology."--New York Times Book Review

"Diamond Age establishes Neal Stephenson as a powerful voice for the cyber age. . . . At once whimsical, satirical, and cautionary."--USA Today

"Stephenson's world-building skills are extraordinary. . . . The Diamond Age should cement Stephenson's reputation as one of the brightest and wittiest young authors of American science fiction."--San Diego Union-Tribune