William Gibson
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By: Spectra
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 100
Average rating: 2.5 of 5
Not Free SF Reader 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Alternate computing history.
The novel looks at what happens to politics and society if Babbage's machines became used in common situations.
Throw political intrigue and espionage into the mix, and even with all this, the novel unfortunately still manages to be boring, as it appers to really suit neither author, at all.
2.5 out of 5
Very good book 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
This book is a definite landmark book, full of good ideas, but it isn't the wonder everyone seems to think it is. Disjointed storytelling in places, a few sex scenes, a bit draggy in the middle and end, but still an interesting book.
Fear & Loathing in the 19th Century 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
I heard two cyberpunk writers concocted an alternate history based on what might have happened if Charles Babbage had gotten his proto-computers built in the 19th century. The premise was too good to pass up.
Instead, the story is mostly political and hinges on certain historical figures acting in different ways. Here's a good example: British leaders somehow have the foresight to know that the US would become a major player in the world if not kept fragmented. And how is a steam powered computer able to grant them such amazing precognition?
The answer is, it doesn't. For the most part, the Babbage Engine merely serves the purpose technology tends to serve in cyberpunk novels: to enforce a dystopian status quo for the ruling elite. What the book would have you believe is if the computer age had come a century early, then so would Orwell.
Personally, I think computer advances will undermine central government authorities in the long term, but I don't apply that opinion in trashing this book. I don't have to, since the story and characters are largely uninteresting anyway.
In the meantime, I think the world could still use a good "What If" story about the Babbage Engine. Michael Crichton, if you ever read book reviews on Amazon: Hint! Hint!
Editorial Review:
With the computer age arriving a century ahead of its time--during the Industrial Revolution--politician's daughter Sybil, explorer and paleontologist Edward, and diplomat and spy Laurence race toward a rendezvous with history. Reprint. NYT.
