Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Rainbows End
Book Review: A glimpse into a possible future
Summary: 4 Stars
Vernor Vinge is one of my favorite Science Fiction authors. He popularized the term singularity. My only complaint is he is not very prolific. I wish he would write more.
Rainbow's End is set in 2025, down in San Diego where Vernor lives. The story revolves around an elderly man who goes back to high school to learn how to use the advance technology. Robert Gu had been a famous poet. He had Alzheimers, which gets cured. He has missed all the changes in technology. We are introduced to much of the technology through Robert's experience.
The plot rotates around secret spy stuff. A company has contracted with the university to copy all of the books in the library up into the internet. The process will destroy the books. Several people are opposed to this. Robert gets caught up in the intrigue.
Vernor extrapolates current trends in technology and paints a world rich with possibilities. It will be interesting to see in 2025 how close his predictions came to reality.
If you enjoy Science Fiction, give Rainbow's End a read. I think you'll enjoy it.
Book Review: An entertaining extrapolation of virtual reality
Summary: 4 Stars
The setting is 2025 where wearable computers, with virtual reality contact lenses, pervasive networking, and multi-level shared virtual reality overlays on physical reality are commonplace. When you walk through a public space you can see it raw (boring!), with a minimal level of added signage from the VR, or with one of a wide range of choices of entertaining overlays.
To introduce us to this new world, Vinge uses the plot device of a cured Alzheimer's patient. He is returning from many years of dementia, so he must learn all about the brave new world from scratch. He also gets to interact with various other out-of-it seniors. Alas, neither he nor they are very sympathetic characters.
The main plot is about a complex mixed physical and virtual raid on a San Diego genomics plant. The main organizer is a member of Indian intelligence trying to cover his own tracks. But he unwisely hires a mysterious figure, known as Rabbit, to act as his local agent, and all does not go according to plan...
Well written, with many entertaining and thoughtful ideas. But this is no "Darkness in the Sky".
Book Review: An interesting view of the not-too-distant future
Summary: 3 Stars
Historically, I've been quite the fan of Vernor Vinge, especially his earlier works, so when I heard that Rainbow's End was released, it immediately made it to the front of my to-read list. The book is set in the near future, in a world where augmented reality and ubiquitous connectivity is as much a part of day-to-day life as the telephone is today. The plot is a complex, perhaps convoluted story that's described well enough in other reviews that I won't bother going into it here.
Vinge does a great job of putting us in this world, and exploring the effect it has on the people in it - its nuances, that 'haves' and 'have nots', risks, and so forth. But I think the book was mostly about the world it was set in, with the plot line being almost an afterthought.
Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed the book, and recommend it. But don't worry too much if you think you're having a hard time tracking all the details of the story - that's not what its really about.
Book Review: Cyber to the nth degree
Summary: 5 Stars
An unusual look at pushing the cyber society to the limit.Book Review: First Vinge
Summary: 4 Stars
I read a lot of Science Fiction but this is my first Vinge. Was led to him after he was mentioned in the context of his advocacy of the concept of a technology Singularity.
The novel was very good "Hard Sci Fi" with plausible yet fanciful extrapolation into a near future world. This is hard to do without "inventing" new science but Vinge does it well. The novel describes well what a world of increasingly smart objects might look and feel like and how ordinary people might deal with such a world. Very entertaining.