The Diamond Age; Or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is an older book from Neal Stephenson, in the same vein as Snow Crash. Whether or not this narrative takes place in the same, or merely a similar universe, isn't really important to the story.* It does seem to take place slightly further in the future. Technology (read: internet) has nullified the need for centralized geopolitical governments as we know them and world is populated by claves of typically like-minded people who live how they best see fit and guard their borders--and conduct their business--via nanotechnology. It buzzes through the air like smog and courses in their bloodstream.
But
change is coming. What form that change will take and how the people
who strive for, and against that change, and how it might effect the
societies that may be impacted by it, is where the story lies. Like many
of Stephenson's stories, one of the main characters is a young woman,
who as a girl derived certain benefits from her illustrated primer.
The
story is well paced, carefully plotted, and even though the prose is
jargon rich, the human story shine through and the SciFinese falls away
into the background.
Stephenson
has written a prototypical hero story a la Joseph Campbell, and as
Campbell postulated in his book, we'll read it again and again. And
provided it's well written, we'll enjoy it every time.
