The Diamond Age

Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

Hardcover, 455 pages

English language

Published Nov. 11, 1995 by Bantam Books.

ISBN:
978-0-553-09609-5
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
314194775
Goodreads:
1056946

View on OpenLibrary

View on Inventaire

(275 reviews)

The story of an engineer who creates a device to raise a girl capable of thinking for herself reveals what happens when a young girl of the poor underclass obtains the device.

30 editions

reviewed The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (A Bantam spectra book)

My favorite Neal Stephenson book

This is still my favorite Neal Stephenson book, notwithstanding his tendency to characterize Asians like alien species (paging Mr. Spock). Also one of his more bizarre stories. In a way, it's a sequel to Snow Crash. The characters are more developed and emotionally gripping, and there are more layers of technology. I still dream of working on the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer.

reviewed The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (A Bantam spectra book)

Review of 'The Diamond Age' on 'Goodreads'

I tap out of nine out of every ten works of science fiction I start, the four main reasons being i) horrendous prose ii) huge amounts of expository dialogue iii) excessive padding and iv) Hollywood nonsense.

I do think this is a shame because in my experience pretty well all of them have been doing /something/ interesting, have some philosophical or scientific slant on a particular issue or idea, or even just a cool imaginary world; sadly only a few writing in this genre can convey anything in a way that even begins to break out of very received methods of representation or narration.

This novel was not completely free of any of these flaws, and for the first half I was very much being carried along on the strength of its world-building (terrible phrase), the exact contours of which I'm not in a position to outline here but suffice …

reviewed The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (A Bantam spectra book)

Simultaneously better and worse than Snow Crash

I have to say, this was a fun read. And like the author's book Snow Crash from 3 years prior, it features a young girl protagonist, nation-state world-building, a sometimes awkward treatment of Asia, and sections of excessive violence.

In some ways, the book aged a lot better than Snow Crash. The world has made VR a thing which means a lot of the computer-related predictions from Snow Crash feel laughable, but we're nowhere near the level of nanotechnology in A Diamond Age. Snow Crash is a book of the 90s. The Diamond Age feels good even today.

Where this book let me down, however, was in how the plot was woven together. There are a lot of interesting characters that never get the attention they should. I don't demand that all plot threads get tied up in a nice neat bow (I think Anathem even went a bit too …

reviewed The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (A Bantam spectra book)

Review of 'The Diamond Age' on 'Goodreads'

Stephenson is one of my favorite sci-fi authors. I loved Snow Crash, Anathem, and Cryptonomicon. I had less of a taste for the Baroque Cycle books (although I've been meaning to give them a re-read), but The Diamond Age is easily my favorite of his novels so far.

If Snow Crash was Stephenson's breakthrough into hardcore science fiction, The Diamond Age is really a beautiful midpoint between it and Cryptonomicon. Where Snow Crash was imaginative and fun to read if relatively simple, and Cryptonomicon was brilliant despite being the beginning of his sometimes tediously verbose and tangent-prone stage, The Diamond Age is just the right balance of complexity, sweeping scope, mind-bending technology and interesting characters.

It's actually sort of shocking to me that this book was published in 1995. Stephenson's ideas about technology still feel fresh 23 years later. From the "matter compilers" being echoed (poorly) …

reviewed The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (A Bantam spectra book)

Review of 'The Diamond Age' on 'Goodreads'

On second read street 20 years It was good but definitely convoluted. I could see his desire to really expand his worlds and get into the details of massive political upheaval. But it wasn't nearly as finally tuned yet as it becomes in his later books. Entertaining but definitely a few storylines that sort of got lost in the shuffle and others that seemed to pop up out of nowhere and all of a sudden take over the entire book

avatar for jhauge

rated it

avatar for twhiston

rated it

avatar for QuietCat

rated it

avatar for LuisVilla

rated it

avatar for BeachReader

rated it

avatar for dfings

rated it

avatar for gtco

rated it

avatar for settingshadow

rated it

avatar for cygnoir

rated it

avatar for nekokat

rated it

avatar for loppear

rated it

avatar for lucasrizoli

rated it

avatar for finity

rated it

avatar for finity

rated it

avatar for jaczad

rated it

avatar for amanda

rated it

avatar for quirk

rated it

avatar for clayoat

rated it

avatar for chris_st

rated it

avatar for agd

rated it

avatar for agd

rated it

avatar for cubeofwood

rated it

avatar for whami

rated it

avatar for cthulhu

rated it

avatar for DavidAmes

rated it

avatar for Jules

rated it

avatar for Trentie

rated it

avatar for kevolek

rated it

avatar for MaddestMax

rated it

avatar for jhelwig

rated it

avatar for wombat

rated it

avatar for sir_diesalot

rated it

avatar for masyukun

rated it

avatar for Yogthos

rated it

avatar for evermorian

rated it

avatar for mttktz

rated it

avatar for jhauge

rated it

avatar for jfinkhaeuser

rated it

avatar for Jarmer

rated it

avatar for unsquare

rated it

avatar for jumpinggrendel

rated it

avatar for jwynia

rated it

avatar for LuisVilla

rated it

avatar for lijadora

rated it

avatar for pearlbear

rated it

avatar for jelmervdl

rated it

avatar for Azuaron

rated it

avatar for larcher

rated it

avatar for Chigaze

rated it

avatar for smcleod

rated it

avatar for whitmad

rated it

avatar for jbeimler

rated it

avatar for Stonebender

rated it

avatar for timhutton

rated it

avatar for joeyh

rated it

avatar for kfieldho

rated it

avatar for Stratski

rated it

avatar for mrkvm

rated it

avatar for awboonstra

rated it

avatar for ajkerrigan

rated it

avatar for drb

rated it

avatar for CaptainCornflake

rated it

avatar for SeaFury

rated it

avatar for osiris

rated it

avatar for Antolius

rated it

avatar for teo

rated it

avatar for 73pctGeek

rated it

avatar for AnotherFrancis

rated it

avatar for tartley

rated it

avatar for mattlehrer

rated it

avatar for chrismaler

rated it

avatar for babamatmat

rated it

avatar for yallah110

rated it

avatar for eoghain

rated it

avatar for Konrad

rated it

avatar for jparise

rated it

avatar for theo_the_artist1

rated it

avatar for eramirez

rated it

avatar for Shard

rated it

avatar for RobinMarx

rated it

avatar for xianny

rated it

avatar for LindseyB

rated it

avatar for Ivia

rated it

avatar for tremain

rated it

avatar for wzhkevin

rated it

avatar for bondolo

rated it

avatar for FraserAlister

rated it

avatar for flashy_dragon

rated it

avatar for itgrrl

rated it

avatar for niclindh

rated it

avatar for 13sparrows

rated it

avatar for zumbador

rated it

avatar for DuncanWatson

rated it

avatar for ncrav

rated it

avatar for fer

rated it

avatar for treyhunner

rated it

avatar for tauriner

rated it

avatar for Allenshull

rated it

avatar for SeanMcTex

rated it

avatar for AndySoc1al

rated it

avatar for danielmark_n_3d

rated it

avatar for gadabyte

rated it

avatar for timchi

rated it

avatar for scienced@books.theunseen.city

rated it

avatar for unwiredben

rated it

avatar for TimmyMac

rated it

avatar for slowline

rated it

avatar for rufzerg666

rated it

avatar for davidrperry

rated it

avatar for OrangutansLibrary

rated it

avatar for Manzabar

rated it

avatar for cogmer

rated it

avatar for chemicalprophet

rated it

avatar for dx

rated it

avatar for n-gons

rated it

avatar for mellifera

rated it

avatar for m4cb3th

rated it

avatar for greystar

rated it

avatar for aimeekgunther

rated it

avatar for jazz

rated it

avatar for rahulgopinath

rated it

avatar for nclack

rated it

avatar for freiheit

rated it

avatar for jimfl

rated it

avatar for Rand

rated it

avatar for Hiro.protagonist

rated it

avatar for correlr

rated it

avatar for weston

rated it

avatar for skrud

rated it

avatar for LiminalFlares

rated it

avatar for DejahEntendu

rated it

avatar for waconner

rated it

avatar for carlbrown

rated it

avatar for blackbrokkoli

rated it

avatar for majormunky

rated it

avatar for waterbear

rated it

avatar for Brandan

rated it

avatar for SilenceisGolden

rated it

avatar for fatalicus

rated it

avatar for snigor

rated it

avatar for Gretrascis

rated it

avatar for rankle

rated it

avatar for Shepy

rated it

avatar for karlhungus

rated it

avatar for alexmorse

rated it

avatar for nwale

rated it

avatar for tsukikage

rated it

avatar for peter_hall

rated it

avatar for chaos_angel

rated it

avatar for Psvensson

rated it

avatar for jhaase

rated it

avatar for rlittleton

rated it

avatar for WorzelFG

rated it

avatar for nosmo

rated it

avatar for WaferBiscuits

rated it

avatar for fskilroy

rated it

avatar for brzy

rated it

avatar for TheMajorFromBajor

rated it

avatar for seago

rated it

avatar for grahams

rated it

avatar for cargide

rated it

avatar for termie

rated it

avatar for Andykz

rated it

avatar for sellout

rated it

avatar for clifhall

rated it

avatar for recri

rated it

avatar for fluxmind

rated it

avatar for genex

rated it

avatar for ward

rated it

avatar for WBucclan

rated it

avatar for technodad

rated it

avatar for Iamgmm

rated it

avatar for inti

rated it

avatar for flatlined

rated it

avatar for flatlined

rated it

avatar for PineappleButtonUp

rated it

avatar for rinze

rated it

avatar for agessaman

rated it

avatar for barryfujii

rated it

avatar for PinGZ

rated it

avatar for lorenking

rated it

avatar for janson

rated it

avatar for jbaty

rated it

avatar for flip

rated it

avatar for madklowns

rated it

avatar for patatita

rated it

avatar for stevegio

rated it

avatar for jamid

rated it

avatar for elim_case

rated it

avatar for mbybee

rated it

avatar for mastar2323

rated it

avatar for torin

rated it

avatar for Lunartech

rated it

avatar for forvrin

rated it

avatar for kmc

rated it

avatar for MIsForAwesome

rated it

avatar for acdha

rated it

avatar for Geekess

rated it

avatar for flagranterror

rated it

avatar for stombeur

rated it

avatar for iceman

rated it

avatar for donpdonp

rated it

avatar for darabos

rated it

avatar for noisenerd

rated it

avatar for fear025

rated it

avatar for smyth

rated it

avatar for yo.ian.g

rated it

avatar for danielsteel

rated it

avatar for fluxgenerator

rated it

avatar for gregputzel

rated it

avatar for mad_frisbeterian

rated it

avatar for Mantrack

rated it

avatar for lsimoneau

rated it

avatar for jnyrose

rated it

avatar for potherca

rated it

avatar for joergr

rated it

avatar for mothlight

rated it

avatar for kosure

rated it

No rating
avatar for anneke

rated it

avatar for chuckdee

rated it

avatar for hadaly

rated it

avatar for daddy32

rated it

avatar for jdrion

rated it

avatar for NonSolar

rated it

avatar for Kattas

rated it

avatar for mrtn

rated it

avatar for chezkitch

rated it

avatar for crb

rated it

avatar for WINTERMARY

rated it

avatar for Scordatura

rated it

avatar for tamcymru

rated it

avatar for eoghann

rated it

avatar for borup

rated it

avatar for btuftin

rated it

avatar for froderik

rated it

avatar for papadar

rated it

avatar for zkrisher

rated it

avatar for klugerama

rated it

avatar for xylogx

rated it

avatar for xylogx

rated it

avatar for robd

rated it

avatar for bpepple

rated it

avatar for gwenwindflower

rated it

avatar for FredJohansen@books.theunseen.city

rated it

avatar for pruwyben

rated it

avatar for thechao

rated it

avatar for clayoat

rated it

avatar for favilo

rated it

avatar for ChrisIkin

rated it

avatar for Keeh

rated it

avatar for Moorlock

rated it

avatar for rosssi

rated it

avatar for bokaltoft

rated it