Some Remarks by Neal Stephenson

Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing by Neal Stephenson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I actually bought the issue of Wired magazine containing the longest chapter in this book: Mother Earth, Mother Board. I got rid of a big pile of Wired magazines because they were taking up space but I later regretted not trying to find and save that issue. This book contains that article and several others. The article is about laying undersea cable. To give you some idea of what it's like, if you watched and enjoyed the James Burke TV series Connections, imagine that cranked up to 11. Maybe 12.

Connections

Stephenson in his novels constantly puts in big chunks of exposition and somehow manages to do that without making you lose interest in the story. This book is like the exposition without the novel parts.

If you've never read any of his books, this is not a good one to start with.

Some reviewers have pointed out that much of this material can be read for free online. That is true. The book even reprints an interview he did for Slashdot! Having said that, Slashdot has interviewed more than a few authors, and this interview is worth putting in a bound book.



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