The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (Bantam Spectra Book)

by Neal Stephenson

book data

6,295 ratings, 4.14 average rating, 549 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		39%
4		39%
3		16%
2		3%
1		0%

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published

May 2nd 2000 (first published 1995) by Spectra

binding

Paperback, 512 pages

literary awards

Hugo Award for Best Novel (1996), Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1996)

isbn

0553380966 (isbn13: 9780553380965)

description

In Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson took science fiction to dazzling new levels. Now, in The Diamond Age, he delivers another stunning tale. Set in twenty-...more

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02/06/08

Chris rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy

Read in September, 2006

I get the feeling that Stephenson's writing process goes something like this:

Hey, I found a really cool idea here. I wonder what I can do about it....

He then writes about 200 pages of really awesome, meticulous world-building, with innovative ideas about, in the case of this book, the possibly uses of nanotechnology and its eventual social ramifications, and then goes, Oh, damn, I'm writing a story, and high-tails it to the end of the book, leaving the reader a little win...more I get the feeling that Stephenson's writing process goes something like this:

Hey, I found a really cool idea here. I wonder what I can do about it....

He then writes about 200 pages of really awesome, meticulous world-building, with innovative ideas about, in the case of this book, the possibly uses of nanotechnology and its eventual social ramifications, and then goes, Oh, damn, I'm writing a story, and high-tails it to the end of the book, leaving the reader a little wind-blown and confused. It happened in Snow Crash, where he was playing with the origins of language and the fundamental functioning of the human mind. It happened in Cryptonomicon, where he dove into the murky waters of cryptography and brought up brilliant gems, and it happened here, too.

The Diamond Age is, fundamentally, about what would happen, or what might happen, if we really got nanotechnology working properly. How would society adapt if, suddenly, government became obsolete? With the Feed and the Matter Compilers able to create anything out of nothing, the entire economic and political underpinnings of the planet came undone, and people banded together into phyles. Like-minded individuals bonded with each other through shared values and morality, united only by a commonly upheld treaty which, in turn, rested on the new economy that nanotechnology allowed.

Within one of the phyles, the Neo-Victorians, one of the more highly-placed Lords realized what was wrong with the world. The problem wasn't the corruption of values of which the old always accuse the young - indeed it was that those values were passed on too well. Children did not elect to join their phyles, they were indoctrinated into them from birth, which made them, well, boring.

And so Lord Finkle-McGraw commissioned a great work - The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer to guide his granddaughter to a more interesting life. And had that been all that happened, the story would have been short. But two other copes of the Primer were made - one for the daughter of the book's designer, and another that fell into the hands of Nell, a young girl born into poverty and otherwise destined to lead a life of misery and sorrow.

The Primer is a smart book, fully interactive, able to teach reading, science, history and martial arts, among other things. And what it teaches little Nell is how to be great.

All of this is quite awesome - there's a great hunt for the Primer, plans within plans and all that. And then, suddenly, a new plot about a technology to supplant the Feed and some kind of Chinese revolution and the whole book runs off the rails.

I know a lot of people love Neal Stephenson, and I can understand why. He's an incomparably imaginative man, who is able to find ways to express ideas that some of us couldn't even imagine. He's an heir to the world of that William Gibson and his contemporaries pioneered. He creates captivating worlds and characters and problems without simple solutions.

He just keeps bollixing up the endings. Seriously, it's like a whole different story kicks in around page 250. I'm willing to read more of his works, though, in the hope that he's getting his act together....(less)

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02/13/08

Miss Michael rated it:

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Miss Michael by: James

Stephenson is undoubtedly a good writer. I feel as though that's a trite thing to say, but I'm not talking about the overall story, I'm talking about the way each sentence is crafted. Also, I felt the need to read the book with a dictionary next to me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I suppose. As far as the overall story, there's a lot to like, plenty of varied characters, several story lines that are more closely woven than one might originally think, and plenty of action. There's a kind ...more

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12/29/07

Vassilissa rated it:

(review of isbn 014027037X)

bookshelves: sff

Read in December, 2007

I gulped down the 500 pages in four days, and it was not an easy read. I admit ruefully that Stephenson's vocabulary is better than mine. I feel like this book demands analysis, and I don't know enough to provide it. All I could do is count heads and make remarks about the colour and gender and fate of each major character. Which, OK, is worth doing, but it's 3:42am and I've been reading since about 8pm, so forgive me if I don't open it up again just now.

I want a primer.

...more

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09/19/07

Dave rated it:

bookshelves: sci-fi

Read in November, 2004

First half of the book gets 4 stars; the second half gets 2 stars. Average = 3 stars.

I really liked the first half of the book. His description of technology is wonderful, and the relationship between Nell and the Primer are quite captivating. Much to my dismay, the book fell apart at the end. Characters are disposed quite expediently, conflict is introduced with little or no explanation, very illogical events occur, and then the book stops. If I could give different ratings to both...more

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07/24/08

Mike Reiring rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2007

The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is the novel that, along with Snow Crash, put Neal Stephenson on the map in the mid 90's. Stephenson has since written a string of imaginative, thought provoking books that all touch on some aspect of the nature of information and it's movement. While it's never stated, Diamond Age seems to be set about 50 - 75 years after Snow Crash.

The first part of the title is a reference to the names that anthropologists and historians use to...more The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is the novel that, along with Snow Crash, put Neal Stephenson on the map in the mid 90's. Stephenson has since written a string of imaginative, thought provoking books that all touch on some aspect of the nature of information and it's movement. While it's never stated, Diamond Age seems to be set about 50 - 75 years after Snow Crash.

The first part of the title is a reference to the names that anthropologists and historians use to describe the technological ages of humans: Stone Age, Bronze Age, etc. Some believe that we will one day have the ability to create objects and devices at the atomic level. One result of this might be the ability to synthesize carbon based objects which use the crystalline structure of diamonds. This may yield materials that might be, among other properties, extremely light and rigid. Hence, the Diamond Age.

Like the other his works, Stephenson touches on a wide variety of subjects. The future according to Stephenson includes the perfection of nanotechnology, obsolescence of nation-states, distributed consciousness, and an emphasis of culture over ethnicity.

Set in this world is the story of John Hackworth, a leading nanotech engineer, and Nell, a young girl of humble birth. Hackworth is commissioned to create the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, a futuristic book which is capable of tailoring its content to the reader's interests and abilities. Nell's life is changed dramatically when her brother gives her the primer after mugging Hackworth and stealing a copy of the Primer.

Diamond Age was not an easy book to get into initially. I read the book over the course of two months, with other reading interspersed. I never really lost interest, but it took awhile before the book really grabbed me. Stephenson writes with a focus on narrative. There is relatively little dialog, and the characters are not as fully developed as some might like. In spite of these things, the book is well worth the effort. The stories of Hackworth and Nell are compelling, and the vision of the future put forth is like nothing I've ever read. Unlike most science fiction, Diamond Age and Snow Crash contain a future world that could believably exist in our lifetime.(less)

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09/05/07

Tracey rated it:

Read in July, 2005

recommends it for: steampunk/nanotech fans

I bought a used copy of The Diamond Age : Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer in March, after having read & very much enjoyed Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash. Oddly enough, Stephenson's books seem to be summer reading for me, or at least that's how it works out.

As usual, Stephenson drops us into the middle of the story, with little explicit explanation of what's going on. John Percival Hackworth, neo-Victorian nano-engineer (makes perfect sense in the novel!) is putting the finishing...more I bought a used copy of The Diamond Age : Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer in March, after having read & very much enjoyed Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash. Oddly enough, Stephenson's books seem to be summer reading for me, or at least that's how it works out.

As usual, Stephenson drops us into the middle of the story, with little explicit explanation of what's going on. John Percival Hackworth, neo-Victorian nano-engineer (makes perfect sense in the novel!) is putting the finishing touches on the primer of the title; a wholly remarkable supercomputer designed to teach through stories *. It was commissioned by one of the Equity Lords of the region for his granddaughter; however, John decides to make a copy for his own daughter. Things get complicated when Dr. X, a grey market entrepreneur who John enlists to make the copy, decides that the book will assist in a project of his own. Along the way, the original copy ends up in the hands of Nell, a child from a dysfunctional, low class family with very little hope for the future... at least other than what the book provides. She becomes the main character of the story, with her adventures, both real & fictional providing the impetus for the plot.

The parallel stories of Nell, John and Dr. X, and the book itself (telling stories that tie nicely into the current events, at times) weave around and through one another, spanning a period of about a decade. The clave environment will look familiar to readers of Snow Crash - and the concept of the neo-Victorians is explored to a satisfying depth. Stephenson has put a great deal of thought into this environment, and it shows; however, he rarely fails to provide enough detail for new readers to catch on quickly. The technology could easily overwhelm the plot, but Stephenson manages to keep it under control throughout the threads of the story, whose pace speeds up considerably at the end, almost as if he realized he had a lot of plot points to wrap up; this seems to be a minor flaw of his work, IMHO.

Recommended to fans of more positive uses of nanotech & those intrigued by the ideas of culturally based (vs geographical) nations.

* - I'm now torn between wanting a copy of the Primer vs the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!
(less)

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07/07/07

Thermalsatsuma rated it:

Read in July, 2007

If 'Snow Crash' was the definitive cyberpunk book, then 'The Diamond Age or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer' is the last word on that particular genre. It's nominally set in the same world as the earlier book and shares some of the geo-political background. Nation states are an outdated concept, and now people are grouped into phyles by a common culture or other affiliation. Three major world views are uneasy neighbours - the neo Victorians of New Atlantis with their mannered stoicism and care...more If 'Snow Crash' was the definitive cyberpunk book, then 'The Diamond Age or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer' is the last word on that particular genre. It's nominally set in the same world as the earlier book and shares some of the geo-political background. Nation states are an outdated concept, and now people are grouped into phyles by a common culture or other affiliation. Three major world views are uneasy neighbours - the neo Victorians of New Atlantis with their mannered stoicism and carefully managed hypocrisy sit alongside the Confucianism of the Han Chinese and the Nipponese.

The plot centres around a peculiar book commissioned by Lord Alexander Chung-Sik Finkle McGraw as a present for his grand-daughter, designed and built by the nano engineer John Percival Hackworth who steals a copy of book for his own daughter, which as a result of a street robbery then falls into the hands of Nell, a young girl living in wretched circumstances in the leased territory of a future Shanghai. The book has been designed as a fully interactive education for a young lady from the age of five or six through to adolescence as a subversive alternative to the stifling conformity of the Neo Victorian system. Nell's education over the course of many years, including insights into subjects starting with self defence, history, nano engineering and finally the limits of artificial intelligence (or pseudo intelligence as Hackworth defines it) of Turing machines, has far reaching and startling consequences.

I particularly enjoyed the segments of the book told from the viewpoint of the protagonist of the Primer - Princess Nell and her companions Dinosaur, Duck, Peter Rabbit and Purple who are based on the few toys owned by the Nell of the real world. The self defence taught by Dojo the mouse and Princess Nell's slow unravelling of the relentless logic of Castle Turing are the high points.

If the book has any failings, it is the rather abrupt and rushed ending which leaves many things open and unresolved, although in retrospect the consequences of a world profoundly changed are thought provoking indeed.

(less)

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07/06/08

Ben rated it:

bookshelves: cyberpunk, fiction, hugo-award, read-2008, science-fiction

Read in September, 2008

This is a hard book to rate. I'll give it a four just based on how "cool" the book is. The world is awesome...one of the best I can think of...but it never really grabbed me. It was certainly interesting, but I had a hard time reading a lot in a sitting.

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01/16/09

J. rated it:

(review of isbn 0553573314)

Read in March, 2009

Up to about halfway through, I was in love with this book, but then Hackworth goes to the Drummers and we skip 10 years, and my thoughts are like this: if you as a writer didn't care about those 10 years enough to write about them, why do I care enough to read them? Worse, science fiction is already more concerned with the ideas than the characters, but when the writer is consciously trying to mimic the further-removed-from-reality discourses of Victorian-era writing, we wind up so distanced fro...more

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09/30/08

Nicholas Merlin Karpuk rated it:

Read in November, 2008

recommended to Nicholas by: Boing Boing
recommends it for: Almost Anyone

It's not often that I get to read science fiction where characters wear top hats. That's the sort of class that Neal Stephenson brings to the table.

I entered into "The Diamond Age" with very few preconceptions. The story had been described on Boing Boing, and it intrigued me enough to pick it up. The idea of a girl being raised by a high tech book was a pretty nifty pitch, especially for someone raised on Inspector Gadget cartoons and a love of computers.

The thi...more

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09/21/08

Kevin rated it:

Read in April, 2009

The Diamond Age is an interesting, mostly thought provoking book, with a fairly creative vision of the future. At the same time it has some serious flaws, especially in the second half of the book, which somewhat derails a lot of ideas that Neal Stephenson sets up. It is by no means a short book, being close to 500 pages, and it has taken me several months of off and on reading to complete it.

There are definitely some good parts to it, including interesting multi-dimensional charac...more The Diamond Age is an interesting, mostly thought provoking book, with a fairly creative vision of the future. At the same time it has some serious flaws, especially in the second half of the book, which somewhat derails a lot of ideas that Neal Stephenson sets up. It is by no means a short book, being close to 500 pages, and it has taken me several months of off and on reading to complete it.

There are definitely some good parts to it, including interesting multi-dimensional characters, a look at how societies might form in a technology-immersed future, and most interestingly, the growth and development of the main character, Nell. I didn't quite buy into all of it, especially his views on how societies would be organized, but I give him credit for such an ambitious and detailed vision. Had the book focused on the characters more (especially Nell), it could have been an excellent book.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest problem is that the book buckles under the weight of its own ideas. One of the major premises of the book is the idea of a future with nanotechnology, where almost anything is possible. Nanotechnology is pervasive, creating a futuristic world with lots of imaginative ideas. At the time it was written (1995) I am sure the future Stephenson envisioned was incredibly novel. However he relies on the "wow" of nanotechnology too strongly, especially towards the later half of the book, where he constantly barrages the reader with the idea that nanotechnology can create impossibly light, strong, and complex structures. There also seems to be a lot of contradictions; nanotechnology, powerful and prevalent enough to create buildings hundreds of stories high, is at the same time unable to provide citizens with enough defense to stop a few people with bamboo sticks and crude explosives. Despite the incredibly advanced technology available, much of the action in the book is devoted to people engaged in hand-to-hand combat, either unarmed or with swords. While I understand his attempts to contrast the future's technology with societies grounded firmly in the past (specifically the Neo-Victorians), this made little sense.

Stephenson has similar problems of over-doing a cool idea throughout the book. In the beginning it was Bud and his body tech, such as his skull gun. In the middle, the primer's stories (an interactive storybook meant to teach the reader) weigh the book down. In the end, it's a futuristic Boxer Rebellion, Turing machines, human computers called Drummers, and some oddly thrown together new technology ideas. (Actually, all of this is about 80% of the last 200 pages.) The book is littered with tons of interesting ideas ranging from subversion being healthy for society to the necessity of human interaction in a world dominated by technology. But these take a major back seat to decidedly less interesting ideas.

Overall I liked the book, although the incredibly abrupt ending was off-putting. While I don't expect every loose end to be tied up, I don't think it's appropriate to have almost every plot advancement and reveal happen only in the last 100 pages or so. This flaw aside, the characters themselves are endearing, and take you for an imaginative ride through the future that leaves you constantly wanting to know what's around the next corner.(less)

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07/28/08

Manzoid rated it:

This book is pleasantly dense with interesting ideas about what the future holds. The title refers to the progression of material-driven stages of human progress -- the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, etc. In "the Diamond Age", matter compilers can easily create diamonds out of raw carbon. Basic foodstuffs and many other material wants can be satisfied by these matter compilers. This has created a world in which no one need starve. However there are still tremendous disparities between rich...more

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07/25/08

Toby rated it:

Read in August, 2008

In "The Diamond Age" Stephenson both treads some of the same terrain as his previous novel, "Snow Crash" and foreshadows material from his followup "Cryptonomicon." Nanotechnology, culture, cryptography, subversion, and nature-vs-nurture feature as strong thematic elements in this book.

As "postcyberpunk," The Diamond Age posits a world in which the "franchulates" from Snow Crash evolve to their logical conclusion as full-fledged world...more

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07/19/08

Sean rated it:

bookshelves: sci-fi

Read in September, 2008

I read this the first time when I was a young, impressionable, repressed, closeted Mormon boy. (Oh, god, so many of my reviews seem to start this way.) Stephenson's vision of a future shocked and titillated me, and years later I still found it returning to haunt me. Yet I don't think I ever truly understood the story, and certainly not the ending.

Now I think I do. In a future where synthetically assembled diamond is as ubiquitous as glass, where almost anything can be designed and cr...more

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07/04/08

Izlinda rated it:

(review of isbn 0553096095)

bookshelves: science-fiction

Read in November, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Amazon recommended this book to me during the summer. I don't remember why, perhaps because I had purchased Elizabeth Hand's Winterlong from that site. The part in the blurb that drew me, though, was about Nell finding a book, the Primer, that would send her on a quest through an enchanted land and she would come out with wisdom and knowledge. I was compelled to check this book out when I found out the AI professor had handed her class an excerpt of this book and I rather liked the excerpt wh...more

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06/07/08

Chandler rated it:

Read in June, 2008

Interesting at first, the book effectively explores how societies might react to the proliferation of nano-technology and ubiquitous access to molecular assemblers.

Yikes.

Ok, so The Diamond Age is ~500 pages of fragmented stories. Although the book begins at a comfortable pace, taking time with each individual narrative and fleshing out the events leading to Nell's story, with each turned page the narrative cohesion drops and the motivations of the characters/events becom...more

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05/14/08

Stephen rated it:

Read in June, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I absolutely adore everything Stephenson writes, and this book is no exception. As with every Stephenson book, it has its fair share of ideas: how children find their role in society; comparing Victorian, Confucian, and 20th century society; what makes a human more than a computer (a theme present in every Stephenson book). As sci-fi, it works at least 5 times better than Snow Crash, whose ideas about future society seem downright silly compared to this vision of the future. The things this book...more

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05/21/07

Aerin rated it:

bookshelves: sciencefiction

I liked this book, although not so well as Snow Crash. It takes place in a much more distant future, and I adored the world Stephenson created for this; his ideas about nanotech are fully believable (I want a molecular feed that can create anything I desire from scratch!) and his society comprised of franchise-nations is novel and very cool. I also liked the heroine; she was smart and resourceful and ultimately kicked a lot of ass.

On the other hand, the entire plot was a bit overbl...more

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08/19/07

Jonathan rated it:

bookshelves: sciencefiction

Read in May, 2006

recommended to Jonathan by: Someone on Myspace

"The Vickys have an elaborate code of morals and conduct. It grew out of the moral squalor of an earlier generation, just as the original Victorians were preceded by the Georgians and the Regency. The old guard believe in that code because they came to it the hard way. They raise their children to believe in that code – but their children believe it for entirely different reasons."

"They believe it," the Constable said, "because they have been indoctrinated...more

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03/27/08

Kerry rated it:

bookshelves: iownthis, scifi, technology

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: fans of Neuromancer

I liked the first half of this book better, when it was still just "here are a lot of new ideas!" and wasn't concerned with tying up the plot. But it was still really great.

I really, really heart Neal Stephenson. He writes the most likable characters I have ever read. Hackworth is a Waterhouse, of course, and he can't ever seem to come up with more than one kickass female per book (I barely count Miranda, since she was in the book so rarely), but still, everybody is COOL...more

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quotes from this book

"Nell did not imagine that Constable Moore wanted to get into a detailed discussion of recent events, so she changed the subject. "I think I have finally worked out what you were trying to tell me, years ago, about being intelligent," she said. The Constable brightened all at once. "Pleased to hear it." "The Vickys have an elaborate code of morals and conduct. It grew out of the moral squalor of an earlier generation, just as the original Victorians were preceded by the Georgians and the Regency. The old guard believe in that code because they came to it the hard way. They raise their children to believe in that code– but their children believe it for entirely different reasons." "They believe it," the Constable said, "because they have been indoctrinated to believe it." "Yes. Some of them never challenge it– they grow up to be smallminded people, who can tell you what they believe but not why they believe it. Others become disillusioned by the hypocrisy of the society and rebel– as did Elizabeth Finkle-McGraw." "Which path do you intend to take, Nell?" said the Constable, sounding very interested. "Conformity or rebellion?" "Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded– they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity." " More quotes...