Friday, April 22, 2005
Live From Golgotha
This was the first Gore Vidal I ever read and I decided to reread it because I don’t really think I got it this complicated little book the first time through.
The basic story is that the New Testament gospels are being erased by a time traveling computer hacker. The executives at NBC, who also have time traveling abilities, go to Saint Timothy (friend and reluctant lover of Saint Paul) and ask him to write his own gospel so the Christian story is not lost as well as host the upcoming primetime broadcast of the crucifixion (take that Mel Gibson).
On the surface it is a blasphemous blast against Christianity’s soft underbelly (imagine a lusty tap-dancing con man Paul with a penchant for buggery), but it is also, in the skillful hands of Vidal, becomes a satire of mass media and American society. Bottom line if you don’t mind having your sacred cows tickled and you like your satire savage but genteel this book just might be for you.
The basic story is that the New Testament gospels are being erased by a time traveling computer hacker. The executives at NBC, who also have time traveling abilities, go to Saint Timothy (friend and reluctant lover of Saint Paul) and ask him to write his own gospel so the Christian story is not lost as well as host the upcoming primetime broadcast of the crucifixion (take that Mel Gibson).
On the surface it is a blasphemous blast against Christianity’s soft underbelly (imagine a lusty tap-dancing con man Paul with a penchant for buggery), but it is also, in the skillful hands of Vidal, becomes a satire of mass media and American society. Bottom line if you don’t mind having your sacred cows tickled and you like your satire savage but genteel this book just might be for you.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
You should read this book.
If I had a room crammed full of publicity goons at my call I would use every trick they had up their sleeves to convince you to read it.
With the exception of some brief intense affections with Clark, Asimov, Pournel/Niven and Card, I never really read Sci-Fi...it wasn’t my thing. I missed the whole cyberpunk craze during the 90—choosing instead to read techno thrillers and other republican action operas and when I finally got around to reading the book that started the whole cyberpunk movement (Neuromancer) I wasn’t all that impressed. But I figured I would give the whole genre another go around and also thought “what the hell I loved Stephenson’s other books, I should give it a shot”. I am glad I did…what more can I say the man is an amazing writer.
The story is set in the not too distant future (as all cyber punk novels) where nanotechnology has rendered all forms of national government as irrelevant, leading to the formation of hundreds of small groups, or phyles, each with their own rules and world views. One of the main storylines follows a poor girl who inadvertently receives a highly advanced interactive book (the Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer) designed to train a child in the ways of innovative thinking and street survival. The book is designed in such a way that it adapts its teachings to her thoughts and what ever is happening to her growing and changing with her. The story also follows the maker of the primer, a neo-Victorian gentleman, as he is immersed into a crypto underworld of rival factions who are each trying to create new world order.
As always Stephenson is the master storyteller and explainer, few authors can create a new world as he can. When this book ended I wanted more. I was giggling madly with glee on the subway while finishing this book surrounded by jaded New Yorkers on their way to work and I would do it again in a heart beat.
If I had a room crammed full of publicity goons at my call I would use every trick they had up their sleeves to convince you to read it.
With the exception of some brief intense affections with Clark, Asimov, Pournel/Niven and Card, I never really read Sci-Fi...it wasn’t my thing. I missed the whole cyberpunk craze during the 90—choosing instead to read techno thrillers and other republican action operas and when I finally got around to reading the book that started the whole cyberpunk movement (Neuromancer) I wasn’t all that impressed. But I figured I would give the whole genre another go around and also thought “what the hell I loved Stephenson’s other books, I should give it a shot”. I am glad I did…what more can I say the man is an amazing writer.
The story is set in the not too distant future (as all cyber punk novels) where nanotechnology has rendered all forms of national government as irrelevant, leading to the formation of hundreds of small groups, or phyles, each with their own rules and world views. One of the main storylines follows a poor girl who inadvertently receives a highly advanced interactive book (the Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer) designed to train a child in the ways of innovative thinking and street survival. The book is designed in such a way that it adapts its teachings to her thoughts and what ever is happening to her growing and changing with her. The story also follows the maker of the primer, a neo-Victorian gentleman, as he is immersed into a crypto underworld of rival factions who are each trying to create new world order.
As always Stephenson is the master storyteller and explainer, few authors can create a new world as he can. When this book ended I wanted more. I was giggling madly with glee on the subway while finishing this book surrounded by jaded New Yorkers on their way to work and I would do it again in a heart beat.
