Some remarks

Neal Stephenson writes the most exciting science-fiction that I ever read. It’s not exactly science-fiction, his books are a combination of history, technology, and fiction. It’s because of that that people find it difficult to fit Stephenson’s books in a particular genre.

I’ve come to think that those distinctions on books don’t do anything but keep book reading interesting books. And Neal Stephenson’s books are interesting. They are spanning civilizations and periods. Yes, they are complex, and dense, difficult and intellectually demanding but they are good for the brain. By reading his books one understands the world she is living. Stephenson’s main subject is the history of modern society and that is part of the joy of reading his books. You learn things.

Some Remarks are a collection of essays and interviews written in the past twenty or so years. Almost all the contents have been previously published and a few are freely available online. There is a bit of fiction and a fascinating travel like piece with all sorts of historic, engineering and scientific details, about the history of undersea fiber-optic cables, titled “Mother Earth, Mother Board”. It is by far the longest piece in this collection (120 pages) and it was originally published on Wired on 1996. You can find it online here.

I see this book as an introduction to Neal Stephenson work, which is far more imaginative and interesting. As he openly announces in the introduction of Some Remarks, he “reached the stage in my life and career where it is not only possible, but advisable, to release a compilation of what are drolly referred to as my ‘shorter’ works.”