Comment Re:Good read, if you can get through it. (Score 1) 314
1) Please excuse my presumption regarding your having read the book based on your review.
No problem at all.
2) Maybe not "technomancy" per se but maybe "period piece technomancy".
It does have that wide-eyed geekly flair. It's way too early to be called steampunk. Candlepunk, maybe.
I liked that he was able to branch out away from just technology to more fundamental subjects.
I agree; I'd much rather see SF writers stretch themselves than churn out the same old thing with less and less original thought [coughWebercough].
I did think it odd that, despite the breadth of subjects Stephenson weaves into Quicksilver, he avoids the arts except where they impinge on architecture. When Jack and Eliza are in Amsterdam, Rembrandt and Vermeer are still cooling in their graves; and in Germany and Italy, Pachelbel and Corelli are writing music for the ages; but that doesn't color the story at all. I'm curious as to whether that will continue to be the case in the sequels.
No problem at all.
2) Maybe not "technomancy" per se but maybe "period piece technomancy".
It does have that wide-eyed geekly flair. It's way too early to be called steampunk. Candlepunk, maybe.
I liked that he was able to branch out away from just technology to more fundamental subjects.
I agree; I'd much rather see SF writers stretch themselves than churn out the same old thing with less and less original thought [coughWebercough].
I did think it odd that, despite the breadth of subjects Stephenson weaves into Quicksilver, he avoids the arts except where they impinge on architecture. When Jack and Eliza are in Amsterdam, Rembrandt and Vermeer are still cooling in their graves; and in Germany and Italy, Pachelbel and Corelli are writing music for the ages; but that doesn't color the story at all. I'm curious as to whether that will continue to be the case in the sequels.
