The Diamond Age

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie

Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

In Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson took science fiction to dazzling new levels. Now, in The Diamond Age, he delivers another stunning tale. Set in 21st-century Shanghai, it is the story of what happens when a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin named Nell. Her life, and the entire future of humanity, is about to be decoded and reprogrammed.

©1995 Neal Stephenson (P)2001 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 1996

• Locus Award Winner, Best Novel, 1996

"The Quentin Tarantino of postcyberpunk science fiction." (The Village Voice)
"[He] is the hottest science fiction writer in America." (Details)

Intresting and good view into a the future

I not big on Sci-Fi, or Fiction in general.
This book came to notice of me because a new phase in the English Lexicon has arisen in the last decade, and this book was sighted as it Originations (By the way, Yes, it in there, No, it not the Source of it) The Book is published in 2001, which I fine really interesting as so many of the things in the future it talks about, and I remember where not yet common) bit are today trends people in the know follow, are mentioned and predicted in it.
The Book has very engaging story, Great Characters and Interesting plots, it is multithreaded.
I highly recommend it.
It will give you much to think about.

An interesting vision of a decentralized future

This book is a vision of a possible decentralized future. The book is about a future Earth where human society has become decentralized in money but not in power or education. Decentralization caused the collapse of the nation-state but central authorities based on cultural superiority still remain. Some cultures succeed in controlling more raw physical power by attracting or educating particular types of minds. The power to destroy or create by the manipulation of matter is controlled by central authorities which aggressively defend their position of authority in order to maintain order. As a result, educational content and methods are tuned by central authorities to churn out people who are likely to preserve the status quo; a major side effect is that this education tends to punish intelligent creatives. Loyal engineers of technologically powerful central authorities enjoy support in education and research but they avoid building any new technology that could be considered subversive. Intelligent creatives that become engineer-hackers who do not self-censor are therefore more likely to create powerful new technology had they the means but lack the material resources that central authorities could give them. This book contains a story where one central authority gives resources to one engineer-hacker with the explicit mandate to create an easily-copied education computer that teaches subversiveness as well as technological competency. The resulting story explores issues around the decentralization of power (what happens as it becomes easier and easier for individuals to cheaply and quickly make any tool or weapon) and the decentralization of education (the titular Young Lady's Illustrated Primer).

too meandering

seemed more like a bunch of disconnected stories. i feel like i was not privy to the key that would have unlocked the beauty of the story.

Had to listen again!

The story starts a little slow and the humor is understated so please stick with it - it is well worth your time - a very good story and Jennifer brings it to life so well!

Thought Provoking

Politics, economy, social science, and technology converge in this entertaining story of human evolution. Rich and interesting characters coupled with a thought provoking story makes for an entertaining book.

One of Stephenson's best.

Set in the world of snowcrash but with a tone far more serious, this cyberpunk novel presents an interesting take on a nanotech future.

a classic

A well performed rendition of a classic, though there are some flaws in the recording in a few areas.

Absolutely loved it!

Wonderful book, I couldn't stop listening. I highly recommend it if you enjoy characters and world creation.

Great story and performance, but audio quality?

I really enjoyed the story and performance. I listened during my commute and it was a pleasure to pass the time.

I was regretting the purchase initially however, because the audio quality seemed really low for some reason. I don't know if it is just me or what, but it sounded like an old low-quality .mp3 recording. It's the first time I've run into this since joining a few months ago.

I'll listen to samples more closely next time before making a purchase. Like I said, I enjoyed the story, but the low-bitrate-sounding recording was off-putting.

Masterpiece

This book is Neal Stephenson at his finest. An absolute must-read for anyone interested in cyberpunk theme sci-fi novels.