I think this was a really imaginative book. I'd recommend it just for the 'orphanogenesis' chapter. This book has everything, trans-humanism, wormholes, strange life, mathematics, physics. It's also got a lot of technobabble, but it's nice to know that it all probably mostly consistent and well-researched (just look at Greg Egan's website, www.gregegan.net/). Highly recommend; if you've recently read and liked the Remembrance of Earth's past series (Three body problem), I think you'll like this also.