I’m about half way through this right now after absolutely loving permutation city. The ideas are mesmerising, though exasperating to try to wrap your mind around that many dimensions when you’re not naturally exposed to it, as I am not day to day. I work in spatial sciences so appreciate the references to arcs, meridians great circles, etc. It makes me wonder if he was actually one of my lecturers in Perth. It was really useful to see your review of the challenges and to note other resources, as well as mentioning the glossary (I had no idea there was one, but will probably be making use of it like the family trees in LOtR / Silmarillion) to get a better picture of what’s going on. Can’t wait to get stuck into the second half!
Yeah, I would of used the Glossary so much had I known it existed ha! I wouldn't be shocked if it turned out he was, I believe he lives in Perth. I need to read Permutation City, I might try to get it in before the end of the year, have you read Axiomatic? His short story collection, it's one of my faveorite short story collections ever!
This book really changed me. I try to tell people about this book whenever I can. It's so insanely interesting, and it's genuinely how I hope humanity will eventually turn out one day. But, it's also a libertarian utopia dream scenario like in some of Egan's other books. I just hope it's a plausible one with future advancements in tech and IT security. I understand ZERO of the math explanations lol. Anyone can skip over those sections and still have their worldview altered by the amazing freedom and expanded experiences the citizens have. I actually recommend listening to Diaspora so you can tune out whenever the math comes up. God what I wouldn't give to have the life of a polise citizen; to not worry about my health, have perfect memory recall, have perfect eyesight and the options to grow other senses just as acute, to modify my digital brain so I could incentivize myself towards subjects I find boring, to eat and drink whatever I want, etc. There's endless possibilities and the only thing you have to worry about is the solipsistic nightmare of everything becoming utterly subjective and meaningless haha. Egan accounts for everything in this book, even giving it a pretty damn melancholy ending.
It really does go a long way beyond the scope I was expecting to begin with! But I love far reaching gigantic scopes in my sci-fi books! Thanks so much for watching!
I’m about half way through this right now after absolutely loving permutation city. The ideas are mesmerising, though exasperating to try to wrap your mind around that many dimensions when you’re not naturally exposed to it, as I am not day to day. I work in spatial sciences so appreciate the references to arcs, meridians great circles, etc. It makes me wonder if he was actually one of my lecturers in Perth.
It was really useful to see your review of the challenges and to note other resources, as well as mentioning the glossary (I had no idea there was one, but will probably be making use of it like the family trees in LOtR / Silmarillion) to get a better picture of what’s going on. Can’t wait to get stuck into the second half!
Yeah, I would of used the Glossary so much had I known it existed ha!
I wouldn't be shocked if it turned out he was, I believe he lives in Perth.
I need to read Permutation City, I might try to get it in before the end of the year, have you read Axiomatic? His short story collection, it's one of my faveorite short story collections ever!
This book really changed me. I try to tell people about this book whenever I can. It's so insanely interesting, and it's genuinely how I hope humanity will eventually turn out one day.
But, it's also a libertarian utopia dream scenario like in some of Egan's other books. I just hope it's a plausible one with future advancements in tech and IT security.
I understand ZERO of the math explanations lol. Anyone can skip over those sections and still have their worldview altered by the amazing freedom and expanded experiences the citizens have. I actually recommend listening to Diaspora so you can tune out whenever the math comes up.
God what I wouldn't give to have the life of a polise citizen; to not worry about my health, have perfect memory recall, have perfect eyesight and the options to grow other senses just as acute, to modify my digital brain so I could incentivize myself towards subjects I find boring, to eat and drink whatever I want, etc. There's endless possibilities and the only thing you have to worry about is the solipsistic nightmare of everything becoming utterly subjective and meaningless haha. Egan accounts for everything in this book, even giving it a pretty damn melancholy ending.
Agreed, I'd love to live in a polis as well. So much time to read :D
Great review. This book sounds interesting, yet complicated at the same time. 😊
Thanks so much! It was super interesting yeah!
gonna delve into this book right now. and thanks to this cute australian guy im a bit more confident i will enjoy it
I'm sure you'll love it! Make sure to come back and reply letting me know what you thought!
Probably my favorite sci-fi book
It was so good, have you read other Egan's?
@@BenjaminsBookclub yeah, Permutation City. You can view it as a prequel to Diaspora in a way. It's great.
I enjoyed this for the most part. It went WAY out there where I was just after some VR life.
It really does go a long way beyond the scope I was expecting to begin with! But I love far reaching gigantic scopes in my sci-fi books!
Thanks so much for watching!