The Diamond Age

Normally I am not a fan of the Cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. I find it pretentious and overly cryptic, not to mention gloomy. While Neal Stephenson's "Diamond Age" does tend to these qualities, the fun and immersion in the world he's created compensates for any faults of the genre. Compared to Neuromancer, for example, the prose is very clear and, although violent and quite dystopic, the book is still a rousing adventure and a fun read.

Young Nell's home life is awful. Her mother rotates through a continuous parade of abusive (emotionally, physically, and occasionally sexually) boyfriends. She survives off the largess of her older brother Harv, who is in a street gang and sells stolen goods to get things he and Nell need. Her only real friends are her 4 stuffed animals: Purple, Peter Rabbit, Dinosaur, and Duck. One day Harv returns home with a special present for Nell, obtained when he mugged a high-ranking engineer: an interactive book called "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer." As Nell finds out, the book is actually a sophisticated computer that teaches her a variety of lessons: how to read, some rudimentary judo, the proper way to act and speak in polite company, and most importantly, how to think for herself.

The rest of the characters are linked to Nell in some way. There is the actress who supplies the dialogue for the primer, the judge and constable that catch Harv, the engineer and his family, and a shady mobster-like figure named Dr. X (so named because he can't stand the way the English mispronounce his Chinese name). The action takes place in a future world that is severely fragmented into "phyles," where people are grouped by life philosophy rather than nationality. The engineer belongs to the Victorians, who live as Reserved British Gentlemen (and Ladies) of 1890. One of the Vicky Lords commissioned the "Primer" for his granddaughter, as a way to prevent her from becoming a spoiled overpriveleged brat. In the hands of the street urchin, Nell, it becomes a life saver instead, and Nell becomes much greater a person than anyone could have expected.

The novel is not an easy read. It is deliberately vague in places, and ends in a Michael Crichton-esque fashion (it basically just peters out without resolution). However, it is obvious that Stephenson has no intention of creating a realistic future - cyperpunk is all about the images and mood. In this area, the book is a triumph. You become fully immersed in the world, and take for granted the scientific wonders and the bizarre lives of the exotic phyles, because the writing is assured and brisk. Certainly a worthy winner of the Hugo award for best sci fi book.

The writing style of this book is quite interesting. The reader is kept somewhat distant. This helps not to get confused by the many changing perspectives. The story is astonishingly creative. Not unusual for science fiction I suppose. Unique even for that, in my opinion. And an ambiguous ending. Very thought provoking.

I was very pleased to see an author improve through time and work. Zodiac was fun (not too deep but fun), while Snowcrash was fine (fun again, but not too deep). Diamond Age is a leap and a homage to the Victorian school of science fiction as exemplified by Gibson and Sterling's _the Analytical Machine_ and other works.
Stephenson handles female characters well and that is something to be proud of in a genre that has not been favourable towards complex female portrayals.
I am further pleased that Stephenson has not fallen into the sequel trap but continued to explore other areas. I am one of those readers who always years to visit again worlds and locations e.g., Earthclan/Uplift saga but understand the need to step away (that is life).
I would definitely take this book with me travelling and would definitely read it again. A fine work and good contribution to the field.

This novel is one of the most outstandingly original works of science fiction that I have had the good fortune to read. Stephenson's futurescape, while not entirely believable (what Sci Fi future can make that claim, anyway?) is fresh and richly described.
Most enjoyable about this book is Stephenson's stark contrast of his setting - a completely technologically dependent future - with the predominant cultures he presents. His depiction of the struggles and compromises between this future and the antiquated Victorian (newly revived) and Mandarin (staunchly preserved) cultures is, to my mind, the highlight of the book.
Like many of the other reviewers, my interest in Science Fiction was revived by The Diamond Age. The strains of fantasy in the form of the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer as well as the characteristic feature technology (nanotech) appealed to my Inner Geek while the sociological and philosophical aspects spoke to the Intellectual Adult Reader in me.
The Diamond Age is highly engaging thought-fuel. I recommend it to anyone who loves or once loved Science Fiction.

Stephenson is one of those rare, extremely original authors whose work always repays periodic rereading. I first read this epic when it first appeared nearly a decade ago, and I'm sure I'll read it again in another decade. The time is a century or so in the future, when the relative plenty provided by ubiquitous and extremely cheap nanotechnology has brought an end to the Age of Nation-States, which have been replaced by tribal societies based on ethnicity or religion or synthetic affiliations. John Percival Hackworth ("Percival" as in the Grail Quest, "Hackworth" as in a worthy hacker) is an engineering near-genius of the neo-Victorian "phyle" of Atlantis, situated on artificially created land just off the Chinese coast. Lord Finkle-McGraw has engaged him to produce an interactive learning system (to greatly understate the Primer's functions) for his seven-year-old granddaughter, Elizabeth. Hackworth also has a young daughter, Fiona, for whom he would do anything, so he endeavors to also make an illegal copy of the Primer for her. Things go awry, of course, and the stolen copy ends up in the hands of Nell (as in "Little Nell," a melodrama heroine), who is a deprived cast-off loved only by her semi-shady brother, Harv. And that's where the book *really* starts, with Nell delving into the world of make-believe (but not really), learning over the next ten years of her life to be not only a Victorian lady but the queen of a new tribe -- which is also created (sort of) by the actions of Hackworth's Primer. But that's only a single plot line in this complicated but never confusing epic of technological imperialism, ancient Chinese destiny, personal fulfillment, and the pending arrival of a post-nanotech world society. Stephenson's characters, as always, are a combination of archetype and off-the-wall originality. His understanding and social application of cutting-edge technology will fascinate you. His descriptive powers will hold your attention and his mastery of the language will excite your admiration. A damn fine piece of work.

The Diamond Age was a good read. As with all of Neal Stephenson's work, it was chock full of memorable prose and interesting characters.

An example sentence that struck me:

"Grandfather loved to tell stories of criminals, how they tried to excuse their own crimes by pleading that they were economically disadvantaged or infected with the disease of substance abuse, and how the Lone Eagles - many of whom had overcome poverty or addiction themselves - had dispatched them with firing squads and left them posted around the edge of their territory as NO TRESPASSING signs that even the illiterate could read."

This novel is filled with interesting ideas about nanotech. It's not a novel for children unless they are ready to digest orgy and rape scenes. The idea of phyles and the Victorian and Confucian societies are both highly interesting. Some parts of the novel moved slowly, but the novel's climax was a definite page turner and I thought Neal wrapped up many of the ideas nicely.

As another reviewer pointed out, though, Neal introduces some interesting characters and then they are never heard from again, which left me slightly disappointed.

Overall, a worthy read. Spend a few hours of your life with this book.

This is probably Stephenson's weakest novel easily, which really isn't saying much when this suffers from the same problems as his other books(clunky writing,story meanders too frequently to be engaging) but still worth a read for the person who enjoys all aspects of Stephenson's style equally. Don't expect Snow Crash or his more straightforward early novel style either(haven't read Cryptomonicon yet)

We have this strong female character(Nell) that we all want to root for because of the terrible situation she's born into, in addition to the fairy-tale side-plot most of us who have nostalgic memories of childhood stories will most likely either relate to. We also have this engineer character Hackworth that people will care less about who nevertheless has some interesting stories involving the nanotech subplot (which took a backseat to the main characters' exploits I might add)He definitely changes after his stay with the secret society of the Drummers, who've got this horrro movie-type ritual I won't spoil by describing.

This is where we come to a weak spot. There are places like the Source Victoria chapter where it becomes difficult to picture fully just what Stephenson is describing, tech-wise, for the non tech-adept like myself who nevertheless find such details interesting. Again, he's got a tendency toward this, but it was less evident in Snow Crash. You think that writing such long sentences would allow him to find room for perspective, but no such luck.

Also, Stephenson's introduces Judge Fang as an important character early on, then writes as if he's passed out of existence. The same kind of thing happens with Harv. It seems at first like he might be in a rehab of sorts, but the book explicitly states he has asthma. Clarify?

Overall, I think this novel would have benefited from faster pacing, with perhaps a detailed reason how events in China affect events abroad. It's not impossible to do while throwing in techno-babble at the same time, IMO.

My only complaint regarding this book is that it begs to be continued, prompting me to beg of Neal Stephenson the same. It's a flaw of most of his works (his earlier ones escaped this, I presume, due to the discipline enforced by a good editor,) but is pretty much the only flaw to be found in this excellent tale of morals and manners and, oh yeah, science fiction of a nanotechnological bent. I found the book an easy read as the pace never flagged, even when he jumps years and distances, and while the ending is abrupt, it leaves the heroine at a good place from which to go forth (into a sequel, I hope.) I enjoyed, most of all, how Stephenson works so many different moral angles into the book. The heroes are flawed, the bad guys aren't beyond redemption: the characterization elevates The Diamond Age beyond the standard (science-fiction) novel by putting the human motivations first, and the clever plot and whiz-bang technology second.

This novel, like Snow Crash, is a work of science fiction only in the sense that it takes place some time in the future and features technology that is currently plausible but that probably won't exist in the near future. Like many of the better "science fiction" writers, Stephenson uses the genre as an effective medium for social critique and allegory.

Stephenson's greatest attribute, though, is his strong character development and thematic plots. Each of his three best books -- The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Cryptonomicon -- builds its plot around very painstakingly researched historical phenomena. The thematic elements of this novel, which generally revolve around Victorian culture and Confucian philosophy, are more diffuse than those exhibited in Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, and I think that the Diamond Age suffers for it.

However, what he lacks in historical themes, Stephenson makes up for in his strong character development and serendipitous plot twists. Ultimately, Stephenson has developed a cast of characters that you can get attached to, and a compelling story that ties itself up in a neat little bow at the end.

I had the privilege of hear Dr. Eric Drexler speak at the MIT Media Lab about the time this book was published. One of my professors in college got me hooked on the idea of nanotechnnology. It's promise and perils.
This is one of the books I consider to have greatly influenced me. Now, 14 years later, I look back and reflect at this novel. In college and among a few other people I shared my limited understanding of nanotechnology. Most people I spoke to thought I was somewhat insane. Now nanotechnology is not only a "buzzworld", but short of creating the assembler, is being taken out of the world of the theoretical into practical use. It is a permanent feature in my personal library and I recommend this book to just about anyone.

I go back and forth with whether I liked this book or whether I liked this book a lot. With the exception of Stephenson's endings, I tend to find his werks very strong overall; these are compelling reads with digestible but thought-provoking questions and scenarios and some rather scintillating characters that are one part Jungian archetype and two parts original. Diamond Age shares those qualities with the rest of his body of work and yet somehow seems a bit... deficient?

It's clear that Diamond Age is the successor to the Snow Crash world, each critical variable accelerated along every axis. And that's where its strengths emerge; it's a bit more of a long-form treatment of the subject matter, takes a more delicate approach (e.g., Nell's story), and goes unafraid into some areas where you felt he might have tip-toed in some previous werk. But at the same time, when you put this one down, the classic Stephensonian termination shock gets a bit hyperbolic. There's a lot of slack-jawed: "But... What next?"

I eagerly paid full price for this book upon the recommendation of the one person whose opinion I respect in the whole wide world -- my brother. I'm sorry to say he let me down.

This book does have several things going for it. First, its storyline either consciously or inadvertently mimics that of Lewis Padgett's classic "Mimsy Were the Borogoves," which is one of the finest sci-fi short stories ever written. Also, the future world it envisions is internally consistent, logical and interesting.

The most important character, Nell, is fully developed. Some other reviewers have critiqued the characters as two-dimensional, and to a certain extent they're correct, but the principle character was written confidently and well. The book also avoids most of the faux-60s self-affected hippie language/lifestyle and bewildering stream-of-consciousness rambling that unfortunately identifies its particular sub-genre, notwithstanding the first couple of chapters.

But...the book doesn't really go anywhere or say anything clearly. That's its main failure. The author has something to say about ethnicity and culture, and he says it, but his message is curiously muddled (if humanity is to break down by ethnicity, as opposed to territoriality, then why are the Fists so intent on reclaiming the historical territory of China?). Is the author merely attempting to fast-forward the Boxer Rebellion by 150 years? An interesting concept, but one that seems curiously disconnected to the other events in the book. The Fists don't even show up for real until the last 50 pages.

Is Stephenson attempting to discuss the relationship of culture and technology? Another interesting concept, but while he states that theme clearly in several places throughout the book (e.g., Finkle-McGraw's observations on the Rodney King riots), he seems to be implying that the McGuffin of the Seed technology, which supposedly will vault the Han Chinese ahead of other ethnicities, can be essentially imported from the West (i.e., from Hackworth and the Drummers/CryptNet). How is that different from the quotidian status quo?

The only level that this book "worked" on for me was that of self-actualization. That's the same reason I loved "Mimsy Were the Borogoves." But that theme is somewhat lost in the rest of the book.

Being a Neal Stephenson fan, I prefer a hard copy to have and to hold. On a recent trip to L.A. though [I live in Reno NV] I decided to give a Neal Stephenson audiobook a shot.

Boy oh boy this was a good one. Twists and turns and Stephenson's signature in-depth plot development, along with narrator Jennifer Wiltsie's fabulous vocal voicings in a plethora of charactors. Wonderful story, with a steampunk vibe.

The novel takes you into a world like and unlike our own, linking in the end what seemed like disparate stories converging into one.

I found myself finding excuses to hop in the car and run errands.

This book is in part about the struggle of the lower class wanted their children to become something more then what the world said they could be. The world has changed, and your social class determines your place in the world, and where in the world your children will be.
This book starts out with a scientist who works for the upper class. He invents a book called the Illustrated primmer, and its function is to help educate the daughter of the man he works for. But he wants to steal a copy for his child, so she can become something more. The book is stolen and an abused young girl gets it, and we follow what happens to her and the other characters that are linked to her and the book's creation.
This book is excellent, and shows how a simple event and the idea that you can be more then what others say you where born to be.

I got pretty tired of the Cyberpunk thing when I finished reading Bruce Sterling. Anything else, including (and especially) Gibson tended to get so into the idea that the story was lost, the people were lost, and the book turned into show-and-tell for the author. Stephenson doesn't make that mistake. His view of the future is at once nauseating (trailor trash spreading around the world) to thought provoking (the neo-Confucian judicial system used in Shanghai). The show-and-tell stuff is uniformly fascinating, well thought out, and logical.

It's a weird world Stephenson predicts, but a likely one. The future we'll experience is likely to be even weirder than he predicts, but it would be less believable if it were written down.

Many people complain about Neal Stephenson's lack of a "good ending." Personally, I think he ends his books exactly where they SHOULD end...not every question needs to be answered...it's those left UNanswered that keep us awake at night...
The story of "The Diamond Age" follows Nell, a young girl in Shanghai who has come upon an electronic "book." It is more like a laptop computer, but through it's pictures and words, Nell begins to learn about the world around her...eventually, the book drives her to leave the poverty in which she lives, and so she flees with her brother...
After reading "Snow Crash," I felt I deserved to give this book a try...I was blown away. Stephenson makes us actually feel for his characters (particularly Nell) through so-called "little victories," which is hard to find these days in sci-fi. This format has been used to great success in many popular movies (for instance, the Shawshank Redemption...lots of "little victories" made us feel for the guy, and so we cheered even harder when he achieves ultimate victory...), and it works equally well in this novel.
Many people also complain about how Stephenson gets bogged down with technical details about programming, etc,. in this book. I don't think so. These details serve to prove a POINT! As complex as Nell's quests become (in her electronic primer), each of them is no match for Nell's mind (well, some may challenge her more than others, but still...)...JUST LIKE THE BOOK. As complex as the machine may be, it is still not a valid substitute for a living breathing person acting as a parent and mentor. Slowly, even Nell begins to realize this, and so sets on a quest to find a "mother." This also makes sense in one of the subplots, involving a child-smuggling operation...Several thousand children have been smuggled out of poverty, and they too are raised with a book like Nell's...but chaos ensues...
I think Stephenson does an effective job of tying up the loose ends...I will admit the jump in the middle of the book to the "Drummers" is an unnecessary plot element (that whole chapter is extremely dark and gothic), but the rest of the plot elements I agree with. Those left open or unanswered didn't leave me flustered, but thinking...what if?

The Diamond Age is a 21st century sociology and political science textbook in novel form. As its subtitle, "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" suggests, it contains a sub-narrative that introduces metaphors and isomorphisms for everything that young children need to understand to survive the predatory 21st century and its powerful cliques, intrusive nanotechnology, and overall lack of concern for anything that you or I might call safety or certainty. These sub-narratives, well worth the price of the book by themselves, induce the etiquette of "proper" behavior in a child effectively abandoned by her parents, teaching her all the fundamentals of human relationships, mathematics of secrecy and cryptography, social and political limits of certainty, etc.. By the time she reaches puberty she is pretty much mature as we would understand that term today. The technology and struggles for political control of it are basically just a backdrop to the real story, which is how a child might grow up with "outsourced" parenting via the 'net, and how a parent might get caught up in forces well beyond human understanding just for being a parent.
Although some find the scenario terrifying, I find it convincing and almost journalistic. Often, single paragraphs tell a whole story in themselves, e.g. the "Reformed Distributed Republic" of individuals whose only association is committing to a common web of trust - along the lines of Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and the computer Mycroft - tested from time to time by putting their lives on the line to express trust in each other in tightly-timed tests. I found this one model very compelling and it is only one of dozens and dozens more that pop up in the book.
Finally, the central contrast in views between the Confucian Dr. X, Judge Fang and the Western and compromised-Chinese society they live in, is eye-opening about how the Confucian ethics work. It opened me up to Confucius in a way that no other work had done. This book is to the 21st century what 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea was to the 20th. Some details will be wrong, but the whole vision will be vindicated as more or less where we go.
Like it or not.

Neal almost dropped down to three stars. I was thoroughly enjoying the book until the end. It builds up to highly charged climax. All the subplots and characters are drawing together and then...the book whimpers to a close. At the height of the climax there were a myriad of possibilities open to explore, but nothing happens. The entire thing deflates and ends in a couple of pages. I was extremely disappointed. I still think it is a damn good book, that's why I still give it four stars. The rest of the book is almost adequate compensation for the ending.
`Diamond Age' is a book about a book and a girl. Nell is a young girl with few prospects for the future. Her big brother mugs a man and brings her a book. Even in the diamond age where everything is possible though nanotechnology, the book is a magic book. It's magic lies in the one thing that no technology can build for you. It's secret is information. With knowledge there is nothing that can't be achieved. This is what Nell finds as she grows up with the `Young Ladies Illustrated Primer'
Within `Diamond Age' you are given not only the tale of the book, but the tales in the book. Scattered throughout are some of the stories that Nell reads as she grows up. The book is interactive and semi- intelligent. It grows and modifies its stories depending on what Nell experiences and what the book detects from it's surroundings. It is designed to teach Nell what she needs when she needs it,
But this is only the major part of the story. There is far more then just the tale of the book and Nell. The is the actor hired to play the voice of the book. Miranda doesn't remain unaffected by her contact with the book. She perceives some of what Nell goes through, through the stories that she has to read in her role of the book.
Then there is John Hackworth the man who created the book. It was a commission from an Equity Lord as a present. John could see some of the possibilities inherent in what he'd been asked to design. He made an illegal copy for his daughter. This leads him to all sorts of problems and opportunities.
On top of all this is the Alchemist who is designing the Seed. If the Seed ever becomes a reality everything that is will change.
I can't say any more than this without destroying the plot, but as you can see this is a book of surpassing complexity. Pity about the conclusion.
Neal has a breathtaking scope of imagination and can illustrate his imagination in a few words. The book embraces everything from `toner wars' between millions of nanotech machines. To veils made of miniature aerosats that hover around a persons face.
This book is worth reading just to see the breadth of imagination that is possible. It is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Except the ending which I keep lamenting.

The first hundred pages are really cool, with this delightful nano-technological focus that Stephenson builds up and explores with characteristic flair and exacting attention to detail. I don't know what if it's the intentionally Victorian styling or an overall weak story, but the rest of the book feels really rushed and just perfunctory at places. The constant time displacements just don't gel. You can't have characters just disappear for 10 years and then show up again a few pages later as if nothing important happened, not if you want us to really get invested in them. The book feels really damn complacent, especially by the end, when it seems like Stephenson is just sort of rushing for the finish line as fast as he can instead of trying to unpack everything he's come up with in the last 400 pages. Definitely not one of his stronger works, which is too bad because there is a ton of possibility with the subject matter he chooses.

The Diamond Age was one of those books which grabbed you in the moment you flipped open the cover and pulled you inside the pages. The landscape and surroundings were meticulously crafted so that they would flow throughout the story and would be detailed enough so that you could close your eyes and a picture would appear in an instant. Unlike other authors though, (Robert Jordon, cough cough) Neal Stephenson knows where to draw the line. You never felt that the scenes were cluttered or manufactured. They simply were there.

The characters were the most realistic I had seen in years. Especially Nell. This might be attributed to the fact that we followed her life from the moment she found the book, around the age of five, and followed her through until she had grown into a woman. It was wonderful to see how she grew under the guidance of the book and learned how to survive on her own.

To all of those out there who think that scifi books are for geeks, and shudder whenever they see one, even though they've never read one, I say its your loss. NS's imagination clearly showed through here. taking the time to describe all the possibilities of nanotechonology would take me an hour, and doubtless many people before me have already done so, so I won't indulge myself.

The one weakness I can see is its plotline. In the beginning, the plot moved along at the speed of thoughts passing through in a politician's brain, but to me that no burden at all, because of the sheer pleasure of just reading NS's world. I myself am okay with a slow-moving plot as long as it is moving and makes sense. It is only when that plot has flaws that I get annoyed. Somewhere in the book, probably around the point where Nell finishes her book, a gear broke down. Many others followed suit. These breakings weren't fatal to the book at all, but it would have been best to repair them.

the sudden climax made me feel as if all the momentum that had been building up just slowly trickled away. For example, Nell spends all that time learning computer programing, but then she never uses it. The Seed idea was great, but the whole thing felt like the author had all the threads in place, but then didn't know what to do. Don't get me wrong, though. The plot problem is not crippling. Most authors might not have even written a better ending. but I felt that the ending didn't hold up to the beginning; if it did, this book would have truly been phenomenol.

However, this is a great book overall. There's too many books taking up shelfspace out there whose authors have little or no talent. Even compared to other masterpieces, the Diamond Age holds its own. Despite the ending plot (of which maybe there wasn't any other way to conclude the book), it is a fabulous read. The Diamond Age is a worthy book to place alongside the other great classics.

I never read much cyberpunk before reading "The Diamond Age"; for this reason, I was somewhat leery of picking up this book, despite its many great recommendations. What a great surprise! I was really impressed by Mr. Stephenson's ability to create the world of China and Atlantis-Shanghai. The many storylines - Hackworth's search for the alchemist, Nell's growth and experiences with the primer, Miranda and Carl Hollywood, Judge Fang and Dr. X - were all engrossing. The only problem I noticed was that the story got a bit weak toward the end. Despite that, this book has turned me into a Neal Stephenson fan. I've since read all of his other books and am anxiously awaiting the next.

Generally, this book was pretty good, but with its drawbacks.
In the fashion of good science fiction, Stephenson hit on the major implications of the technology of his "age" on society. This was the part I really enjoyed. He seemed to relish in leaping into issues of importance without pulling up for a breather. This gave the book great depth and allowed for further thought, outside of the scope of the book.
Also, the book had a well-craft array of plots that all met up satisfactorily. This is what made the book difficult to put down -- each of the several plot lines was immersive and held significance (and, therefore, my attention).
However, It seemed that Stephenson might have outdone himself in building his plots, as the ending didn't quite finish the story. As the book is titled "The Diamond Age", I was certainly expecting there to be some resolution as to the diamond age, justifying its choice as title, but there was not. Also, while Stephenson's tongue-in-cheeck style of writing earned a few laughs, it earned about as many sighs. It became "snippy" or unjustifiably angry, not unlike the militant socialists who frequent my campus. This wasn't horrible, but it certainly pulled me out of the story and left me feeling as if I had been disturbed by someone else in the room -- not something an author should do, in my opinion. Lastly for my complaints, I found Stephenson to be a bit disrespectful about some of the situations in the book, in a kind of disturbing way. I would not want to meet this author in person.
Altogether, I would recommend this book to those with some free time and who are willing to overlook its shortcomings as a book by a person with some developing to do.

I've just finished reading the previous 178 reviews, and have to agree with the main themes:
1) The ending is abrupt and leaves major storylines unresolved.
2) The book is not light reading. It reminds me of the old Far Side cartoons which were hilarious to some but incomprehensible to others.
3) The peek at a possible future is excellent, especially the use of nanotechnology.
Most of the reviews speak of the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" as a book that teaches a girl how to survive on the streets and to be an independent thinker. What they don't mention, and what I think is vital, is that one of the main themes in the design of the book was "subversion". The book was meant to guide a young girl on her path to becoming a free-thinking and subversive woman. Such a person would inevitably become a force, either positive or negative, in the book's rigid society.
Having read 3 of Mr. Stephenson's books (Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, and Diamond Age), I must agree that each one has a somewhat abrupt ending -- although Diamond Age seems to be the worst. In general, Mr. Stephenson tends to leave storylines open and let the reader's imagination take over. While this is a valid literary style, it quickly gets annoying.
While Diamond Age may not have been a straight cyberpunk novel, the environment is certainly similar to what you see in William Gibson's Neuromancer. In essence, future society has broken down into "tribes" with a significant barrier dividing the upper and lower classes. The story contains quite a bit of the Oriental class (caste?) system that you see in cyberpunk, and it also adds a Victorian class system that isn't much different.
I noticed that a significant number of reviewers were upset because Diamond Age wasn't as "good" as Snow Crash. I agree. This book is NOT another Snow Crash, nor is it a Cryptonomicon, and I enjoyed both of those books more than I enjoyed this one. That is not, however, a reason to give the book a bad review.
In general, I enjoyed this book but did not keep it after I finished reading it.

Stephenson decided, in this book, to tell a sprawling story of revolution, reminding me somewhat of "A Tale of Two Cities," (and I'm sure there will be plenty of comparisons in literature classes around the globe) but to a greater extent to Victor Hugo's mamothian "Les Misérables." Like Hugo, he brings us in to the story by telling of a character's life, one who will have great impact into the action of the story despite being dead for the majority of it, both to introduce the character of the land and era and to set a tone (in Hugo's book, the darkness of the guillotine, while Stephenson emphasizes the dehumanization due to cybernetics and nanotech). In both, character is paramount, bringing the stunning changes of a world in chaos and evil into a human scale. The problem with Stephenson's work is the reverse of Hugo's: not enough scale. He tells of fantastic violence and action in a way that anyone who enjoyed "Snow Crash" will appreciate (just read the first chapter, of that book to get a sense of its intensity and humor) but also of sex and death and the changing of mythos as life becomes more disconnected from our agrarian forefathers.
In summation, this is good cyberpunk, but as literature, both incomplete and at times rushed. However, the fact that Stephenson challenged himself this way and that his imagination is successful enough to pull most of it off, even at its most ridiculous (although perhaps never as ridiculous as Snow Crash's central thesis and denouement), is a testament to his continuing growth. As Stephenson continues to mature with even more dense tomes, we will see his depth grow. This book promises more from an author with great ideas and a enough literary sense to tell a story properly.
To sum up: this is killer sci-fi.

Like _Snow Crash_, _The Diamond Age_ is populated with wonderful characters, some of whom we have the privilege to see growing up. But the book loses something once the characters have grown up, as though the training they are given in order to be smoothly assimilated into the elite of society requires instead that they somehow dominate--even subjugate--that group.
The concept at the core of the book--the Primer--is a bit reminiscent of Ender's desk in Orson Scott Card's seminal _Ender's Game_, but is handled in a fairly original way.

Though I was completely enthralled its first half, this book--much like Gibson and Sterling's _The Difference Engine_--fails to capitalize on its finest ideas.

Plenty has been said about the ending, the cool nanotech, and the philosophical lessons in the book, but one thing that struck me as a person of Chinese heritage is his knowledge and precision in his painting of the Chinese behavior, culture, and landscape. Many times Neal surprised me by reminding me of the nuiance in behavior or history that is distinctively Chinese; a few times he taught me things I never knew. The Confusian judical system, the Fists that were based on the Boxer Revolution, and even the painting of a sidewalk beggar all are painfully accurate and completely convincing. Impeccable details and research all lead to a great backdrop for this fascinating story

It is interesting to see the author's take on a future with nanotechnology, and the plot appears to have promise at the beginning. But, it becomes too convoluted and forced. What started off as an interesting premise ends in the poor execution of a storyline that starts to push the limits of my ability to suspend disbelief (particulary the story surrounding the "Drummers," where the main character is taken prisoner for years and becomes part of some kind of collective-consciousness supercomputer) and becomes quite boring as the author tries to be didactic (a large amount of space is spent in a seeming effort to educate the reader on the basic concepts of programming and that different systems can be logically equivlent, even though implemented on different hardware and with a different language -- so much time is spent on this that it is almost bizarre -- like what he really wants you to get out of this book is an understanding of a Turing Machine). The plot ends up feels very jumbled and contrived, and the ending is a disappointment.

Stephenson delivers a real masterpiece here. Hard SF fans will love the technological details and throwaways, and the meticulous care devoted to the accuracy of the nanotechnological future. Lovers of good books will love the great dialogue, the thoughtful plot, the characterizations, and the vividness with which they are all realized. It's hard to go wrong with anything written by Stephenson.
This book also rewards multiple readings. I loved the book the first time around, but didn't much care for the last couple of pages; they seemed like a letdown to me. However, I "got it" the second time I read the book. Buy it, read it, repeat. You will be glad you did.

This is one of those too-rare books that develops a futuristic technology, considers all of its potential uses, projects the effects on society, and places believable characters within the context of the new world. I also commend Stephenson for precision. A hack would have expanded the book into a trilogy, but Stephenson's restraint produces a work that is much more exciting than today's typical SF. It's also a pleasure to see how Stephenson has grown since "Snow Crash," which relied much too heavily on irony and suffered from plastic characterization. Unfortunately, the only flaw is a serious one -- the ending is a huge let-down. Nothing is resolved, and the lack of resolution is not part of the overall theme. Instead, we just get about five pages that abruptly finish three of the plotlines, and leave several others hanging. Still, the hundreds of pages of brilliance that precede the end are great reading. The book eminently deserved its Hugo award, and merits the attention of any serious SF reader.

While most sci if writers couldn't imagine the Internet and fast flow of information, Stevenson was there thirty years ago. snow rash and Diamond age date back to that era, and are easier to read than some of his more recent works. I have been a fan since I bought a copy of The Big U in 1985 or so. Enjoyed the Quicksilver series, but I just don't have the patience for Reamde.

An endearing idea, really, but I found this book's execution gnawing. This is a future in which quite a lot of information that we consider common sense has gone missing. Especially so for women, and in any case it reminds me of a Bradbury story which articulated much of this theme in an embarrassingly small amount of space compared to the first third of this book. Unfortunately, this is also the best third of the book, and Stephenson's punchy humorous bits can't rescue the book later on where it needed editing. The parallel story lines approach that he used to much effect in Cryptonomicon doesn't work as well here. Tip: if you write a book with parallel story lines, make sure they are fairly equally interesting or else people will start only caring about one of those lines and then, well, you're crippling yourself. cf- The Grapes of Wrath for a "how to do it right" tutorial.

Just discovered Neal Stephenson. Where the heck have I been? This book starts out looking like a typical cyberpunk story, but he pulls that rug out from under you very quickly. He pulls a lot of rugs out by the end of it, nothing goes quite like you'd expect. Like Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash, a lot of this takes place in some form of cyberspace, and again he makes it his own and you want to go explore with him. And you want to know his people, good and bad.

There is humor that hits you broadside in his writing, although it isn't a comedic book by any means.

My one even sort of negative comment is about the ending, which is abrupt. I understand it is a common complaint, and I see that he has addressed it on his web site by saying something like, "They end the way I want them to." Got to give the guy credit for that.

In any case, I highly recommend this book.

I love this book - I received it from a reddit book exchange, and recommend it to others who love sci fi. Don't let the "young lady's primer" part of the title fool you - this is a badass book. Fantastic writing, unique and creative world, really cool tech ideas, a plot with tension... I loved reading this.

I picked up "The Diamond Age" with a glee so intense that it borders on embarassing. Like most of the other reviewers, I loved "Snow Crash." I assumed... no, I HOPED that I'd love "The Diamond Age" as much, but unfortunately that didn't happen. It started off promising, with an interesting concept, likable characters, and that unparalleled Stephenson sense of style. But those qualities didn't gel into a cohesive story for me, and I have to admit that it was disappointing.
The story itself is intriguing. The main focus is on Nell, a little girl in possession of an interactive Primer that not only teaches her but also nurtures her in the absence of parents or loved ones. But really, it's an ensemble tale (it's no accident that a reviewer compares Stephenson to Quentin Tarantino, who creates incredibly complex ensemble films). It's also about Miranda, who provides the nurturing quality in the Primer. It's about Elizabeth, who has a Primer of her own. It's about Harv, Nell's brother. It's about the society they live in. Ultimately, this is where the book falls short of the high standards set in "Snow Crash."
After all, "Snow Crash" has a similar format, a number of subplots all converging in the end to reach a final, stunning (perhaps too stunning) conclusion. What's the difference between them? I cared about all of the subplots in "Snow Crash" and all of the characters in them. I was as wrapped up in them as I was in Hiro Protagonist, the focal point of the book. I didn't feel the same way with "Diamond Age." I cared about Nell, yes, but the other characters were secondary to her. I really didn't care about what happened to them. Unfortunately, we spend a lot of time learning about them; they're central to the plot. They end up acting as plot devices to get the story where it needs to be rather than fully developed characters that we can sink our teeth into.
Do I recommend that you read this book? I can't say that I hated it. I was interested enough to get to the end, but I finished the last page with a feeling of disappointment. The best thing it did for me is made me understand why "Snow Crash" is so terrific. If you're a Stephenson fan, I'd say go for it. If you've never read him before, start with "Snow Crash."

This book made me realize the benefits of education. Nell is no one, she is poor, crude, and is really going nowhere. However once her brother Harvey steals the Primer from Hackworth, he gives it to Nell and her journey begins. The book starts by teaching her the basics. She cannot read, so it reads to her. It teaches her defensive tactics so she can keep the book. It teaches her what exactly is sexual abuse, so that she stays healthy. This is only the beginning, though. As she gets older, the lessons become less about "reading, writing, and arithmetic", and more philosophical, moral, and ethical. She learns about people and why they leave, and how that can be better in the end. She learns about trust, and how important it is to trust the right people.
Two other little girls have their own copies of the Primer, and it gives them lessons that are tailored to them. To Fiona, Hackworth's daughter, it teaches her magical stories and new realms of thought. It develops her imagination, because that is what she is interested in developing. In the end, she becomes an actress. For Elizabeth, a granddaughter of a prominent man, the book creates a world where she is the ruler. She learns about the idea of loyalty and obedience. She later joins another group, an information cult called the CryptNet.
There is another difference in their education. Elizabeth was taught by hundreds of different people. She became disillusioned by what she learned, and went off to find another group. Mainly her father, who is a strict Victorian in principle, but who has the soul of a dreamer, taught Fiona. In the Primer, he was only the dreamer so Fiona became a dreamer. And this translated to acting for her. One woman, an actor named Miranda, taught Nell. Early on, Miranda realized that she was raising someone's child, and she took it seriously. She gave up a lot of things to be there for Nell. Because of this, Nell grew up the most intelligent of the three. She grew up and took her place in history, which was to destroy existing society and change the world.
I have really enjoyed this book. I read it the first time when I was in high school, and I loved it. I just reread it for this review, and I still love it for different reasons. I like the message that education, while incredibly valuable, will only take a person so far. After that, their cunning, morals, and ideas must take them the right way. Elizabeth reminded me of children who are raised by schools and universities. They are taught by lots of different people who don't really know them. Those types of students become disillusioned and rebel. Fiona shows what happens when there is no balance; she was taught only fantasy and so she immersed herself in it. Nell had balance; her individual story had an overall fairy-tale theme, but it was filled with martial arts, logic games, and moral/ethical lessons. She also had a mother figure, someone who cared for her, at least intellectually. I liked the idea of all the different societies trying to exist. I can see after all the moral corruption, a group of people going back to the Victorian ways. In someways, it is like Reagan's economic world with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. However, in the end of the book, the idea of the future with the Seed (a way of making everything organically), of a society that can take care of themselves, that can go back to farming ways. This idea of a future is the best I have ever heard of. I can only hope that one day it comes true.

The ideas and technology in this book are fascinating. The characters are, for the most part, engaging. I found myself enjoying parts of the novel greatly. But the way characters seemed to just drift out of importance was frustrating. When I finished reading, I nearly threw the book across the room. It seems that he wanted the book to be under 400 pages, so when he reached the bottom of page 399, he just stopped writing. I ended up feeling like he didn't care about the story or the characters. I really enjoyed the ideas presented, but the author's cavalier attitude towards storytelling left a bad taste in my mouth.

Is The Diamond Age a glimpse of a powerful, unique future? Is it a treatise on the limits of technology? Stephenson emerges as the force I hoped he would become, in this strong follow-up to Snow Crash. The story follows Nell, an impoverished thete, and her brother as they struggle to deal with a hierarchical, paternalistic society ruled by "Vickys," new Victorians, the controllers of the Feed: the nanotech hardline that all future technology is based on. Stephenson succeeds because his effort is comprehensible: "Dirty air and dirty water came in and pooled in tanks. Next to each tank was another tank containing slightly cleaner air or cleaner water...all the action took place in the walls separating the tanks, which were not really walls but nearly infinite grids of submicroscopic wheels, ever-rotating and many-spoked. Each spoke grabbed a nitrogen or water molecule on the dirty side and released it after spinning around to the clean side...in the end, all of them were funneled into a bundle of molecular conveyor belts known as the Feed". Stephenson expertly introduces us to his future-tech through the eyes of Nell, our female protagonist. Her brother Harv explains how an MC (matter compiler) works and mugs a nanotech engineer who is carrying a copy of the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer intended for his daughter. Harv recovers it for Nell and then the story really takes off, as we see Nell blossom into a respectable young Vicky, attending a girl's finishing school and completing adventures in the lands of the Primer. The vastness of the book makes the world more credible, as we hear of the foundations of phyles (tribes) of the new society, the extent of the new technologies and the problems in China, a real specter many of us must face in our lifetimes. The combination of scifi, mythology and history makes this an appealing romp through a future still consistent with our present.

"The Diamond Age" presents some fascinating and not outlandish future tech visions. Mixed with outstanding insight into political, sociological, moral and educational concepts that caught me by surprise, halfway through the book, I thought I had stumbled onto GREATNESS. Unfortunately, starting with the undersea drummers society, the interlacing arc of ideas began to go off course and Neal or his editor seemed to push the self-destruct button and wrapped it up in a hurry.

"A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" will be on the futures 'Wish List' of every parent who reads this book.

Stephenson's prose is a blast to read, and his stories are always entertaining. His ideas about nanotechnology are great, but one wishes he could flesh out his worlds a little more. On the surface the ideas are exciting, but the plotline seems to stop short at the end, as if he was up against a deadline and needed to wrap the whole thing up. He could have made the characters so much deeper, the plot so much more complete. I give it four stars because Stephenson's ideas are so interesting, but you wish he had made the book a hundred pages longer just to finish what he starts.

This was not an easy read for me. At times I did not know what was happening or "where I was". But then, just when confusion was turning to frustration, the author would provide explanations. This happened several times through out the book and I found my self saying out loud and often, " oh - so that's what's going on."
The fact that The Diamond Age was not easy to read did not in any way take away from the pleasure of reading it. The author, at times, is just so very descriptive that it feels as though your brain needs to fight to keep up with all the details to allow even a momentary glimpse of what the author intends for you to see. But then, what a fantastic vision he presents.
If you want a light book that you can breeze through in a few hours, this is not for you. If you want a book that you will remember for years to come, read The Diamond Age.

An outstanding piece of work. The diamond age is one of those special near-future sci-fi books that will be remembered. What makes it special is the complete originality and visionary images Stephenson presents. The story unwinds with alarming depth and texture, beautifully written with an artistic edge. The story concepts are new and may take a little getting used to; but once comfortable with Stephenson's writing style, the reader will be taken on a truely imaginative journey. Readers looking for a cheap cyberpunk thrill will be dissapointed. The diamond age is much deeper.

An absorbing and witty futuristic thriller, "The Diamond Age" casts a unique light on class structure. John Hackworth is a brilliant nanoengineer whose masterwork, a hypertext called "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer," falls into the hands of Nell, a resourceful young girl who finds her life forever changed. Stephenson conjures up a fascinating cast of characters, giving readers an intimate portrait of a world living on the razor's edge of tomorrow's technology. "The Diamond Age" is a kaleidoscopic, visionary work of steadily escalating strangeness.

An excellently written book...but the ending was clearly the work of some overzealous editor who truncated Stephenson's story in some misguided attempt to keep the number of pages down.

I applaud the excellent and engaging characters with which Stephenson builds his story, and the vivid and accurate society he builds for them. With 20 pages left, I was completely enthralled and dying to find out how the author was going to wrap up the numerous of fillaments of the plot. With five pages left, I realized that the story would not be resolved, and was quite disappointed.

In the novel, "the Diamond Age," Neal Stephenson sets his story in the same futuristic, compartmented society as in "Snow Crash." However, "Diamond Age" takes place several years later when nanotechnology is the power that defines the world.
The central storyline revolves around Nell, an abused little girl who comes into the possession of a Primer. The Primer is an interactive book, created to bond with the first little girl it encounters, and to educate that girl into adulthood. As you read the story, you learn about all of the diverse characters who have had contact with the Primer or who want the technology behind it - from Nell and her brother, to the inventor Hackworth and his daughter, to the Chinese government.
I loved reading about the education of Nell through the Primer. The mirror of Nell's real experiences with Princess Nell in the Primer was excellent! Stephenson also did a great job including the martial arts and Asian culture into his story, as he did in "Snow Crash." However, I felt that the parts of the novel that didn't directly involve Nell were not as well connected or as engaging as Nell's interactions were. Also, the end of the book was weak and forgettable.
Overall, I wasn't as willing or able to suspend by disbelief as I was with "Snow Crash." My recommendation is to read the book once because Nell's education is so excellent, but don't expect too much from the rest of the story.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson is a fascinating edition to the cyberpunk genre. Stephenson uses the same style that brought him so much acclaim for his earlier work, Snowcrash. Although The Diamond Age doesn't quite live up to the expectations after reading Snowcrash, it certainly comes close. The Diamond Age is a typical Stephenson book in that he uses an extreme view of what one future might be like in order to demonstrate for modern day society the evils that it could fall into. Stephenson does this with his usual style of using many interweaving characters, an extreme futuristic society, and of course his sardonic sense of humor. The world in which The Diamond Age takes place is a world where you can do pretty much everything. Almost everything is made using nanotechnology, using small machines to build something or to build something from the atoms up. Engineers in this book actually construct things by assembling them on the atomic level. They are then actually made in the Matter Compiler. Everything from clothes, food, and buildings to chopsticks is made in this fashion. This is the world that Nell, the main character, grows up in. She is raised without any education until her brother gives her The Primer. The Primer is an incredably powerful book that adapts itself to Nell and teaches her everything from reading to self-defense. The Primer also have virtual reality (or ractive ability as it is called in this world) so that the user can experience what's going on. In short The Diamond Age is a book that will be enjoyed by people who like an alternate glimpse into what the future may hold. The many characters and plot twists are sure to catch and hold the attention of most readers. With this work Stephenson has shown that the success and brilliance he portrayed in Snowcrash was not luck but a habit.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Arthur C. Clarke said something to that effect: the technology of one culture that's advanced enough seems like magic to some seperate culture that's not as far advanced (it's a paraphrase, not a quote). I'm sorry to say, that's what all that nano-technology seemed like. It was far enough away from my real world so that the characters might as well have been using magic wands.
But I got to know the people and that's the saving grace. Fascinating folks, Mr. Stephenson's personel roster of characters. And regardless of the machinations of how they got into and out of their several and shared messes, the problems that they faced are time honored (questions of the greater good versus personal volition, and so on).
And it's pleasantly unsettling to realize that the Maltese-Falcon-Holy-Grail-gadget-contraption of all the characters' convergent paths in Mr. Stephensons' technotopia, ...was a book. To harken back to his wonderful previous novel _Snow Crash_, he proposes therein that an adept practitioner could compose a series of phonemes that would 'fuss' (imagine a different choice of words, ...but 'fuss' will do, for this discussion) with someone's mind. Imagine, for the sake of this novel, a way to codify such phonemes, store the data in archival volumes that could be passed on to others over distance and time, so that generation after generation of peoples could have their minds 'fussed' with, ...and you have (all of the nano-computerized window dressing aside) a book. Everything from _Winnie The Pooh_ through _Das Kapital_ takes on even more ominous proportions than they started with, since they and their like have been 'fussing' with our minds (at our own request) for ages and ages now.

In this case, I mean Neil Stephenson's mind! :^) When I read this book for the first time, I was stuck. I couldn't put it down, but it irritated me in so many little ways that I had a major dilemma. It was not all sweetness and light. It was not a romping adventure in CyberSpace, as some editors and critics would like you to think. It was a very provocative conduit for a lot of thinking, and for that I am very grateful to Neil Stephenson. This book is about the power of the mind, and the power of attachments. It is definitely worth the read. Buy it

Having read Stephenson's first novel, "Snow Crash", I looked forward to this one a great deal - and by and large, I wasn't disappointed. The places (Chinese coastal areas, Seattle, London, and a good bit of virtual places) are well-described - particularly the areas found in the Primer (a central plot element, essentially a hyper-wired children's book). The author's envisioning of nanotechnology and how it might affect our lives as it becomes pervasive are both well-detailed and somewhat frightening (particularly in this post-Anthrax climate). If I had a criticism of this novel, it would be that the territory Stephenson maps out is just a bit too grandiose to really be addressed completely. While Nell's adventures in the Primer are well-detailed, some of the real-world events surrounding Hackworth and (especially) the theater troupes and Hackworth's family are almost as compelling, yet glossed over. While every novel is bound to have its incidental characters, I found myself wanting more information about some of those 'sidebar' events.

THE DIAMOND AGE was Neal Stephenson's second major novel, and may be seen as a bridge between his zany SNOW CRASH and the ambitious CRYPTONOMICON and related books. While in SNOW CRASH he imagined a near-future where the nation-state has collapsed and much is centered in virtual communities on the Internet, THE DIAMOND AGE imagines a world about a century later where nanotechnology has come of age.

THE DIAMOND AGE, admits the author, is set in the same universe as SNOW CRASH. The nation-state is still dead, but the franchaise corporations which succeeded it have been succeeded in turn by phyles, or groups of people linked by shared allegiance to a specific culture, regardless of whatever nationality or race they may have originally been born in. In a tribe of Neo-Victorians living off the coast of China, the nanotechnological engineer John Percival Hackworth is commissioned to build a special book, the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, which with a combination of nanotechnological paper and advanced AI will raise a nobleman's girl with strong thinking skills and leadership. Hackworth, in an act of rebellion, makes a second copy for his own daughter, but this falls into the hands of Nell, a girl without a phyle growing up in a very broken home. THE DIAMOND AGE is essentially the story of Nell's journey to womanhood while the society around her disintegrates in a second-coming of the Boxer Rebellion.

While the book started off quite enjoyably, the latter two-thirds of the book drag terribly. The author also tends to let the narrative slip into long back story while events currently unfolding are sketchily narrated. This is not a genre known for producing great literature, but I feel that Stephenson could have tried a bit harder to write solid prose and a captivating narration. As far as the ideas of the work go, some of the nanotechnological developments are interesting and quite plausible, but I found that for a society with such godlike power, it seemed far too close to our own, a sign of the author's lack of imagination.

If you have never read any of his work before, I'd recommend getting ahold of SNOW CRASH, which never fails to excite. Leave THE DIAMOND AGE and his subsequent works unless you are burning with curiosity.

Obviously The Diamond Age is one of those idiot titles forced on Stevenson by the publisher. "You will never sell a book called A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. So think of something else quick" . The Diamond thing was a very minor concept and certainly not title fodder. But whatever. A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a WONDERFUL book perhaps not as good as Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon but still great. If I hadn't read NS at all I would advise Snowcrash first then EVERYTHING else he has ever written. But DO read it ALL. He is good.

The Diamond Age is what I would call techno science fiction. It took a bit to get into the story but then I was hooked. The primary story (at least for me) was the coming of age of a girl, who survives a threat-filled world to emerge as a leader. Credit for her survival goes to a book! But not just any book. This book, designed to help one girl to growup strong and self-sufficient, bonds with its first reader. It knows when the girl is in danger -- immediate or chronic -- and helps her figure out how to survive. The book changes its techniques as the girl ages, finally leaving the decisions solely to her.

The story takes place in a future world but all the problems of the current world are there in some form -- greed, violence, politics, class struggle. But so also are people who make a difference.

I've read and enjoyed most of Neal Stephenson's books, including The Big U. This is my favorite. As the father of a daughter, this book really struck home. My wife and I have often thought about what would allow her to grow up to be the best person possible. Neal Stephenson has a daughter and has done some soul searching in this direction as well. Diamond Age is a book that will stay with you far after you read it; I read it over a year ago and I continue to reflect upon some of the ideas it introduced. I recommend that you read it.

This is a great book. Anybody who's looking into writing interactive narrative should read it. It gives interactivity something to shoot for.
Like all the Stephenson books I've read the narrative ticks along. Multiple protagonists run along their converging plot lines beautifully. The stories are engaging, the characters are identifiable and Stephenson continues to twist away from the predictable at just the right moment.
The trouble with Stephenson (and he's done it in all the books I've read to date - Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash) is that he doesn't follow up his brilliant content with strong conclusions. His books just fade away.
Neal, baby, we love you. Your research, your vision, your imagination and your scope are fantastic. There's nothing better than sitting in a comfortable chair with a great mug of espresso and one of your books. But what about the ends? Don't be Starbucks, Neal. Do the extra work.

I first read The Diamond Age before it was released, as my sister worked in a bookstore and provided me with an advance reader's copy (as she had done with Snow Crash before). I couldn't wait - I loved Snow Crash. I had also thought Zodiac was pretty cool, and was looking for the same irreverent and footloose style. After the first fifty pages, I put it down.
I went back to it a week later, and finished it in a day and a half. I couldn't put it down once I got used to the fact that an author is allowed to change his writing style without asking permission from his fan base. I thought the ending was a wee bit abrupt, but considering how well the rest of the work carried me through the weekend, I wasn't displeased.
I found it again in a crate of books, buried during three moves and having been in storage while I lived in California. Since reading it previously, I had married, fathered a child, and watched her grow to the same age Nell is at the beginning of the book. Needless to say, my empathy for her character, and therefore all the characters in the book, shot through the roof. The complexity and richness of the work as a piece of scifi remained as before but it's emotional scope was, for me, enormously broadened. I was moved. Lots.
I will always think that YT's appearance in the book is cool as hell.

Clearly, Stephenson is a wizard. He uses language with flair and facility; his plots engross instantly, progressions never fail to entrance, his imagination never disappoints.

So allow the slightest criticism: this book strays into the purple in ways that he manages to avoid in other works. Metaphors are at times flowery and then some, and some sections have the slightest crumb of flabbiness.

I've heard the flaws make the diamond.

So, make this a 4.9 out of 5. None of this is to say that this book is to be missed--it is wonderfully entertaining, and beautifully written, another melange of the ruminations of one of the masters of the modern age.

I saw Neal Stepheson on ZDTV talking about his newest book. Then I went to look at reviews of his books. Snow Crash looked interesting, so I purchased it. I read it in 2 weeks on my honeymoon. It was the best book I have ever read.
Then, with enthusiasm I purchased Diamond Age. I started reading it and the first chapter I felt back in the atmosphere of Snow Crash. The next chapters following that faded quickly and I was disapointed.
If I had read this first, I would have liked it much better, but I was spoiled. It was a good book, but far from a second Snow Crash.

This is my favorite book by Neal Stephenson. I've read it perhaps five or six times over the years. At the time it was written, it was the best extrapolation of nano-technological development and the social ramifications it will have. It is also a fast paced adventure with wonderfully lovable and complicated heroine. In comparison to Ender's Game which I also love, this book has more interesting technology and a heroine with more complex psychology but a less driving pace.

More and more, I have been listening to unabridged Audiobooks rather than only reading because it allows me to multitask (house cleaning, driving, simple video games) and still fit quality reading time into my day. I am more familiar with this book in audiobook form, but wow! It takes a special book to really 'take me to a different time or place.' Because this book does switch back and forth between real time, information about current society in general, and vignettes that are from the interactive book, "The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer," perhaps it was an advantage that I listened to this book first because the sections are very clearly differentiated. I think those that felt the details were a bit much in this book would enjoy it in audio form.

Parents, even if you are lucky enough to have child that is an advanced reader, don't let the title fool you. It does contain some graphic language, violence and even some violent and non-monogamous sexuality. It's not the main focus of the book and it isn't gratuitous. I'd love to see mature teenage girls (14/15+ as a guess, but only you know your own children and what they are ready for) read this because of the female in the hero role that includes her ability to defend herself and showcases her intelligence even at an extremely young age.

This review will not contain spoilers, so I will be trying my hardest to come up with ways of explaining my opinions without giving anything away that wouldn't be in the information in the book discription. There is so much more to this book than pure Science Fiction, but if one wants to read a books where the author has a higher percentage of technobable to actual story and character, there are plenty of authors that can serve that need (or even an equal percentage of tech plus character, so I don't sound like I'm putting down every book that isn't character driven). Even though this isn't a new book, television science fiction is focusing more on story and character rather than just technology driven stories (i.e. Firefly/Serenity and the new Battlestar Galactica). There seems to be a swing towards Sci Fi that is focused on great drama and character that happen to live in a more advanced age. In this case, the older the main character gets, the greater role the future based nano-technology understanding comes into play.

Most are familiar with the phrase, "Always Leave them Wanting More." Never have those words rang more true to me. Yes, the book has a logical ending, but I can't remember wanting to know "and then what?" more than when this book ended. The main character's story-lines come to a logical stopping point, but I'm want to know more! I'm so curious about the society, it's groupings and if the divisions cause more world wide tension leading to more catastrophic events, or are understandings reached. The creation of certain technology was slowed, but not stopped, What about that future? I'm also interested in the future of a certain large group of people that were rescued early on in the book. What happens to them in this version of the world? Nell meets one of her goals towards the end of the book; I'd like to know if it leads to some sort of relationship.

I guess I'm saying that other than "The Empire Strikes Back," I can't think of a story that cries out more for a sequel (or even just a short story or an epilogue of a few additional chapters (printed in a new edition) than this one.

It the author, publishers or any of the people involved in the audiobook read this, thank you for a wonderful 18 hours (the length of the unabridged audiobook) and a much shorter but still wonderful time reading this in an actual printed book!

I just have to say to anyone who hasn't read this yet that it is GREAT !
Buy it NOW ! Read it NOW !
To the reviewer that gave it a 3 and said
"Nano What ?"
You really missed out on a great book by not continuing to read the book ... it gets REALLY interesting. Come to think of it, what are you doing reviewing a book when you haven't read the whole thing ?
Anyway, This is a wonderful book, I would recommend it to anybody. The beginning is a bit slow, but once you get into it you'll love it.

Classically, there are several types of science fiction worlds, one of which is based on a single or several technological trends extrapolated to their logical conclusion. The Diamond Age is one of the best contemporary examples of this type, as Stephenson creates an extensive sociopolitical and technological landscape based on Humankind's mastery of nanotechnology.
The advantage of this type of science fiction, as Stephenson clearly shows, is that human nature can be explored in a context different from our own, providing the reader with greater insight into people, just as other great authors of the past have done.

The Diamond Age is another great, thought-provoking and exquisitely written book by the author of Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson. Stephenson has an incredible way with words and pleasantly surprised me with some of those that aren't used nearly often enough. (I've only ever seen the words callipygious, quiescently, and redolent on my daily word calendar.) Stephenson is also incredible at changing the tone of his writing between the story and a story within the story. The Diamond Age revolves mostly around the story of a young girl, Nell, and her book that is an incredible feat of technology, the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. It is an interactive book that teaches everything from reading to social skills to self-defense. The stories of the Primer remind me of the fairytales I loved reading as a child and Stephenson writes them as if they were just interactive versions of Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Stephenson sets up the story of Nell by telling the stories of all of the people that end up affecting her life, directly and indirectly. These stories point out some amazing truths about society and people. In the book, Stephenson discusses the importance of every kind of education, experiencing life and good old book learning. He examines class distinction and social mobility, the good and bad consequences of nanotechnology, and the aspects of true intelligence.
Overall, the beginning of this book was probably the best first half of a book that I've ever read, a true page-turner with a great plot and great character development. Unfortunately, the end did not live up to the beginning. Still, it ranks up there with some of the best books I've ever read.

I bought this book after reading "Snow Crash", which I thought was a really good book. It was with this expectations that I started reading "The Diamond Age." I loved the way he built upon the girl Nell, and how the story unfolded. Until around the middle of the book, when it gave me the impression that I was reading two or three different books at the same time. I was very disappointed by this (not to mention the ending). Buy this book if you like to change the channel in your TV every 5 seconds, but don't buy it if you like a good, solid story from start to end.

The Diamond Age, or aptly named, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer was great. It combined Stephenson's interesting characters with another unexpected plot just like his book Snow Crash. The tone that the book started with definitely led me way off track. Just like in Snow Crash, the ending and real meat of the plot is nothing like what the beginning of the book suggests.
Without giving too much away, the book revolves initially on the life of a young girl (named Nell) and how it changes through the intervention of a Princess's `magic' book. However this initial plot is only one of three interwoven plots which also include: an aristocratic nanoengeneer's plight, and an actress, or "ractress" as they're known in Stephenson's world. And of course, Stephenson handles all of these stories with an expert's hand. The book has all the makings for an excellent sci-fi/cyberpunk book: psychological theories, nanotechnology, unique view of future TV, and all sorts of theorized neo-nations. The book almost requires a second reading to get the full effect of all its subtle humor and irony.
For whatever reason you read the book I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It only has one downfall. Towards the middle of the book, it slows down a little. It shifts roles from rapidly progressing through Nell's early life to her middle and early teen years. Out of the two books I've read by Stephenson (Snow Crash and Diamond Age) I would rank Snow Crash just above Diamond Age, just because the book kept flowing at the same rate throughout the plotline. However that matters little because they're both tremendous books.

Stephenson writes great stuff and this is no exception. This is very similar to world of snowcrash and in the style of snowcrash and the present tense of cryptinomicon. Pretty soon, hollywood is going to discover that Stephenson's works will be the same screen gold that Philip K Dick is, so read it before the blockbuster.

Similar to snowcrash, the world as we know it is over. Nanotech reigns supreme. Nation states are less defined by geography than ideology. As one man tries to secure a future in an uncertain world for his daughter, a chance robbery changes the course of the world. The way the structure and writing change with the plot subtly pulls you in and reinforces the message. A great story line and well written. You wont be disappointed.

This book starts with complex descriptions and techno babble, but don't get frustrated. It is key to the story that you somewhat understand how it works. The story is very compelling and you find yourself cheering on the characters. My one and only complaint is that the book does not end, it just stops. You are reading along and the end of the action takes place and so does the book. There is no wrap up or were are they now summaries. It is a very good book regardless and highly recommended.

I can't think of many sci-fi novels that even rival this story. It is gripping, fascinating and utterly inspiring. Without a doubt one of the best books I've had the pleasure to read, purely because of the thought and imagination within it.

I simply cannot understand the reviews of people here who didn't find it utterly mind-blowing. Maybe it was too subtle for some to grasp the subtext, which is every bit as provoking as the plot. Our society is tribal with a thin veneer of civility and no amount of technological advancement can change our grubby nature.

Yes, the ending leaves you wanting more, but I sympathize with Stephenson... I'm not sure how you could end such a tale that left people feeling satisfied that didn't seem obvious and trite.

Highly, highly, recommended.

This book was definitely a good read. The story was entertaining and like Snow Crash, the world that it took place in was as interesting as the plot itself. I honestly couldn't tell you if the future shown in this book is a utopia or a dystopia. Stephenson makes unique predictions on the future of technology, focusing on its impact on the everyday lives of normal people. Unfortunately, like Snow Crash the ending was weak. It left the reader unclear exactly where everything stood and in some cases what was going on.

Stephenson does not do endings(well)...Period.
Its important to know this before picking up his books. The only book with an ending that didn't completely [disappoint me] was Zodiac. (Cryptonomicon almosts makes that short list, but not quite). Snow Crash probably had the worst ending of any Stephenson book, but it makes up for it with a story and prose that can only be described as incredible. Diamond Age doesn't quite get that far. Its convoluted, which isn't entirely a bad thing, but unlike SC it drags. It reminded me entirely too much of a Bruce Sterling book (not a compliment). Stephenson's fast paced witty prose is few and far between, the characters are passable, but there definitely are no Hiro's or YT's in here. I guess everyone can't be good all the time. Needless to say though, even bad Stephenson is better than about 90% of the SCi-FI out there and about 98% of the stuff that wants to call itself Cyberpunk.
Rumor has it he's working on another book, something a little more Snow Crash-esque after the thoroughly enjoyable (but entirely too 'present day', Cryptonomicon). I'll sit back and wait for it and read Zodiac again in the meantime.

... and I don't give that review flippantly. Well written, intriguing characters, and absorbing plot. But what really distinguished this book for me was the underlying speculative ideas about deconstructing and re-building cultures. If you enjoy science fiction that relates more to culture and society than hard technology (e.g. Heinlein versus Niven), than I expect you'll be smitten with this book. But even if you're a hardcore techie, there's plenty of speculation on the future of nano-technology to keep your interest. Fantastic!

I read this book maybe 5 years ago, and it has stuck with me. What hooked me were two things:

One was the elite education delivered by an interactive book that fell into the wrong hands. As I recollect, those were the hands of a "prole" girl. The book taught her to think critically instead of damping her curiosity as "appropriate" for her social class. Reminds me of Hillary Clinton's perspicacious comments about how the underclass, janitors, say, are socialized not to expect human social interaction.

The other was the discussion of memes. Others had mentioned that term, but this book brought it to life.

The writing is sublime, the premise intriguing, but in the long run this novel just doesn't deliever. Nell, the heroine, is wonderfully drawn but then, for reasons known only to the author, squanders all her years with the Primer for a job in a brothel. And what's with the little girls army? That just struck me as improbable and silly. I also didn't understand the Drummers or what Miranda is doing with them at the end. The endless indepth nanotech discussion and descriptions will delight anyone who is interested in this subject but it makes for boring reading if you're not.

This book generated many ideas, and left me with much to think about.

However I found the end very unsatisfactory, with none of the ideas brought to a satisfactory conclusion, all of the themes left undeveloped, and with the sense that the author had written himself into a dead end.

The virtualisation of culture seems to me to be a real step that history will take: the ambiguity of the relationship between culture and land almost certainly a battle that will be fought out.

The book is played out against this backdrop, and the heroine appeared for most of the book to hold the authors endgame in this regard: he sacrificed this at the very end for a search for family and identity.

These two things are not unrelated, but the former should have held precedence, and was left unresolved.

I don't even consider myself to be a fan of sceince fiction but one of my friends said that I'd really like this book and he was right on. It's is only supposed to be set about 50 years in the future. What I really like about it is that it shows how Nanotech. is going to effect our society. The character of Nell was really a revelation. She learned to how to adapt to all sorts of adversity and she thrived. This guy really harpoons the nuclear family as a social unit. The ideal of philes is cool. But having an electronic mother to connect you to the universe is even cooler. I hope that future is exactly as good as Stephenson's vision of it in this book is.

I know it's been four years, a Hugo, and enough reviews to fill a book twice as long as the work in question, but I felt I had to pay my respects to a true monument in science fiction literature--in literature, period. If you only ever read one science fiction book, toss a coin between "Ender's Game" and "The Diamond Age." This book changed the way I look at things. Not only is the technology well-researched, but it's also described with style and beauty, just like in "Snow Crash," but in a wholly different era. Whereas "Snow Crash" was so memorable because of the present-tense narrative and dead-pan, gritty serio-satire, "The Diamond Age" is distinguished by being a futuristic story written to parody Victorian style (read the book to find out why). The author explores core concepts of the effects of culture and society on the individual. In a world with technology that would seem like magic today, where machines literally permeate almost everything, the human spirit is still the driving force of all things the world over. Read this book; get it from the store, from a used bookstore, from a new bookstore, from a library, from a friend, it doesn't matter. Just read it at least once!

See also Wildcard (Wildspace (cyberpunk) Book 1) for Stephenson's successor - a GREAT book. Diamond Age is a fantastic work, reinventing sff in a certain sense. It's called nanopunk and it's different from cyberpunk in that it doesn't go for the dark. Humanity is not on a collision course with an awful planet where we eat processed rice protein under a chemical rain with corporate overlords crushing us down. It's a totally different, lighter view of the future from a master of sci-fi.thanks, Neal - a big fan.

For people who think they might, based on what they've read or heard, enjoy Neal Stephenson's work, I recommend starting with this one. It's the most accessible and in some ways fully realized of his novels. While Snow Crash was his first truly successful novel (previous works, The Big U and Zodiac, were still climbing up the learning curve), I think this one is smarter and more engaging.
It's rare that a book in this genre successfully blends fascinating, dynamic characterization with warm, compelling and clever writing, as well as vivid ideas that span from the typical sci-fi "new-technology-and-what-we-do-with-it" to more philosophical ideas about culture and identity, education, and self-realization. This is one of the few.

If you're already a Stephenson fan, you won't be disappointed. This is a brilliant hero's journey filled with extraordinary imagery and vibrant characters. Not quite as elegantly written as his later books (like Quiksilver for example) but still hugely enjoyable. Given when it was penned, Stephenson almost seems to have written our current tech reality into existence! Recommended.

While Snow Crash, Stephenson's previous book, was based around virtual reality, The Diamond Age is based around nanotechnology and how society would change as nanotech became more and more widely available. This book shows that besides being an engaging and humourous cyberpunk writer, Stephenson is also an excellent Victorian novelist.
The only real problem I have with this book is that it fell apart slightly towards the end, as did Snow Crash.

I am not going to be long winded or reveal the high points and plot, I just want to say Neal Stephenson did it again, not a sequel to Snow Crash but the same insane vain of wonderful, future world Sci-Fi. The basic tone of the book speaks volume of today socio-political environment and a very possible outcome. The plot and charters wind and copulate like few authors can manage. I enjoyed the way some of the side thoughts and charters were left as a statement unto them selves and not overly exploited or beat to pulp. This book will leave you thinking in a better vein and remembering bits and pieces for a time to come.

The plot is complex but not convoluted. The twists and turns are unexpected, but understandable, and whenever you figure something out, there's another mystery to pursue. Most of all, I love that character arcs are woven together with both short and long term changes and developments. Everything that seems unimportant comes together as the story develops. The characters are realistic and constantly changing and reacting to the plot in ways that suit their personalities. Not every development is good for them, but it all feels real. And each of these characters is so unique and three dimensional that the moment they leave a scene, you wonder where they've gone.

This story is part Matrix, part Pygmalion, part Dungeons and Dragons, and all excellent.

The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson is a story about a young girl named Nell who gets a magic book that her older brother stole for her. Through this book, Nell gets an education completely different from what is offered in the futuristic society of Shanghai. It teaches her the alphabet, self defense, and even how to escape from her mother's abusive boyfriends. It consoles her through her losses, it teaches her critical thinking skills, and overall shapes her into a unique and beautiful person.
Throughout it all, the reader gets an interesting glimpse of what the future could hold. Biological warfare is no longer a threat here. A major key to understanding the plot of the book is understanding the importance of a single atom, also known as nanotechnology. Through these particles, scientists and doctors send critical information that is used to kill, injure, torture, or even protect people by injecting these particles into their bloodstream. This is part of the way the different social phyles fight each other. The nanotechnology is also used to create objects. At one point in the story, Nell and her brother Harv are cold so they go to the M.C., the matter compiler, to make a blanket. This device makes originality very rare here, and some people pay exceptional amounts of money for it.
The book, overall, is good, but does have a bit of a drawn out ending. I would recommend this book to the serious reader who enjoys technology and interesting advancements in it.

Stephenson has wrought something new for the twenty-first century.
Comparisons to William Gibson are hardly apt. Since "Neuromancer" Gibson has grown into something of a prose stylist, emphasizing sly characterization rather more than technological prophecy.
Stephenson has emerged as the idea man of the modern science fiction. One greets "The Diamond Age" with something of the amazement that must have greeted "Foundation" or "Stranger in a Strange Land" (or even "The World of Null-A"). Should Stephenson continue to write science fiction, then he could become the pre-eminent figure in the field.

The book covers so much ground in such detail, it made my head swim. This was even after reading _Cryptonomicon_. There is so much detail and so richly textured, it deserved to have been at least a trilogy. Like others, I was disappointed with the ending. It felt as though the author was exhausted from the exertion and finally just stopped.

The first part of the book is captivating, neat ideas, great plot, lots of twists. Then, right after the disenchanted mouse army, it seems like the author just got tired and wanted to finish the whole thing already. From then on, I felt like someone who had stayed too late at the author's party, I was still hungry and could have used a few more drinks, but Neal was yawning, had turned the music off and was starting to sweep up.

The concepts in the book were great - from the nanotechnology to the Primer. However, it took me a good 100 pages or so to get into it. Stephenson introduces characters in the beginning of the book that don't really serve any purpose but to introduce other characters later, and these initial characters are pretty much never mentioned at all once they're out of the picture. The middle of the book was great, but then I started to lose interest at the end! I think it may have gotten just too wacky for me in the last 50-70 pages.

I loved this book. I have it in audiobook form and I'm listening to it on my commute (again) and hoping for traffic jams so I can listen longer.
It has wonderful characters and the most amazing ideas. I loved Snow Crash, too, but this book was more insightful, if less adventurous. It's in my Top 20. Along with the Dune series and everything by William Gibson.

One of the greatest things about Neal's books is that they arent a series where you have to wait for another book, to finish the stories. This is also the worst thing about them becase when you are done with one of his books you want to consume more of the incredible near future worlds that he creates. And you want to see where the characters progress after the books. I guess great fiction always leaves you wanting more of the authors writing. It is no surprise that three of his books are ranked so highly in sales.

The first half was great, after a shaky start. I almost gave up on The Diamond Age after about 50 pages, because everything was so densely technological and impersonal. However, I stuck with it, and after a while became totally absorbed. I wanted to know how things would turn out for everyone - I cared about what happened to almost every single character. Some of them I rooted for, and I hoped others would get what they deserved, but either way I was drawn in to the story and felt that the characters were complex, interesting people. Rather than a straightforward story with a specific goal, The Diamond Age is more of a character study - we see part of Nell's life, which does not follow a linear, prefabricated plot. Since I enjoy involving characters, I didn't see a problem with this.
However, things decayed rapidly when the book reached the half-way point, and the unnecessary and monstrously tacky underwater sex cult appeared. As much as I was tempted to abandon the book at that point, I slogged through the second half because I still wanted to see how things turned out for characters for whom I had high hopes.
In the end, I wished that I had given up in the middle. The ending doesn't resolve much of anything that I cared about, and didn't seem like a sensible place to stop. My initial reaction was, "Where are the last 50 pages?" I felt cheated and betrayed. I'd been drawn in by an emotional and fascinating story, only to be fed garbage at the end.
Since I liked almost all of Snow Crash and Zodiac, I was surprised and disappointed by what happened to The Diamond Age. What's worse, I have serious reservations about reading Cryptonomicon, or any subsequent books by Neal Stephenson. I'll have to read a lot of reviews ahead of time, I suppose.
In the end, I have to recommend Snow Crash or Zodiac instead. Maybe you'll love this book - a lot of other people here certainly did. For me, though, this was a big disappointment.

I think this is Neil Stephenson's best work. I read this book 10 or so years ago and thought it was good. I re-read this book as a parent and not think it's amazing. The plot is not simple, but it is a book filled with good ideas, and interesting people.

I forced myself to read to the end of the book because of the good critic the book has. The end of the novel was the "Best part" in the sense that the pain of reading had finnaly come to an end.
Then I started "Snow Crash" (god knows why) and I couldn get past the 4th chapter: "a super hacker that does pizza deliveries and if he doesnt reach the destination in X minutes he get killed?...And the mafia rules the pizza biz?". I HAD to stop reading, I felt stupid...
Neil Stephenson is the worst writer in have ever read in my life. I am cleary stating all this because these reviews can really be misleading. I have to admit that he has some brilliant ideas like the nanotech world, but save me all the rest of the story.
To the ones that didn't like this book I recomend them to take a look at "Hyperion" or "RAMA" (for hard sci-fi) and "The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" (for fun sci-fi) and the good old Neuromancer and secuels (for cyberpunk csi-fi).

This is my first taste of Stephenson and I was pleasantly surprised. The book is very imaginative and the author is obviously extremely creative. His writing skills are suberb and he really succeeds in drawing the reader into this fascinating story.
The story is very funny, interesting and even exciting in parts. It's a real page-turner and I could hardly put it down. The only flaw is the techno-babble (although sometimes he is making fun of technology by using excessive techno babble) which I tended to skip over.
All in all highly recommended for all those interested in sci-fi, be it hardcore or not.

This is his best book, no question. It is probably the most interesting science fiction world I've ever seen a story set in, and the details are rich AND relevant. It makes me want to live there. I find the ending a little rushed, and wish he would have spent more time and detail building up to it...but if anything, that needs to be taken as a compliment as it means that I just wanted to spend more time in this story.

I am a big fan of Neal Stephenson, and I think this is an excellent example of his work. It isn't a fast-paced thriller (I read it over the course of a month because I was really busy), but it is still an excellent book. It takes place in a future world here on earth in an intriguing society where, instead of countries, there are societies that you can apply to join, spread out across the world instead of in just one spot. It is the story of a piece of interactive technology -- a book that responds to the reader and the reader's surroundings -- that was created for the granddaughter of a rich tycoon. It is the story of what happens when this book (A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer) falls into the hands of a girl in a poverty-stricken, abusive family. An amazing story, and very thought-provoking. If you liked Snow Crash, you'll love The Diamond Age.

I liked snow crash a lot and reamde too. This book tries to put too many concepts into a shorter novel.

I really enjoyed the fresh sci-fi concepts. Unfortunately the pacing and narritave seemed to try and combine a coming of age/coming to power story with a political intrigue story. In a smallish novel all this content ended up leaving little room for the characters to develop or get interesting

I read the author's _Snow Crash_ and although it was tons 'o' fun, full of galloping action and gee-whiz hardware, the characters were two-dimensional and rudimentary. Diamond Age doesn't fall prey to this weakness that seems to be endemic among hardware-type sci-fi. The characters of Nell, Miranda, Hackworth and the inscrutable Dr. X are compelling, and rather than being mere avatars of good and evil, each character is a complex blend of motivations and passions. The speculative fiction, dealing in this case with nanotechnology, is very well thought out. There is much less of the satirical feel I got out of Snow Crash. By the way, the only reason I didn't give this a 10 is because I'm now reading The Sparrow, and THAT is a 10!

I came to this book after Cryptonomicon which I enjoyed, in fact read it over just a few days as i couldn't put it down. This depite some slow passages, lapses and absurd coincidences in plot, and a certain shallowness. It is however engaging and pulls you in. Diamond Age shares the same qualities and flaws as well as a ridiculously slapdash ending. THe flaws in fact are much more pronounced. The treatment of nanotech is glitzy and shallow, the MTV vision of nanotech. Additionally if you're the kind of reader who can't stand laughable illogic in the story and setting this book is perhaps not for you. However if you can look beyond the occassionally stunted tress the view of the forest is worth it. The ending is both too neat and incomplete and in thus unsastifying, though I must say the mental pictures it inspires are vivid, epic and incredible. This book would make wonderful anime. My advice read it, option the rights.

I put this book down after about 50 pages and did not pick it up again. After reading the triumphant "Snowcrash" I had high hopes for this next novel, only to feel robbed of the money I spent on it. Slow moving with poor character development, I didn't care what happened to anyone in the story, nor did I want to find out what happened in the end, much less the very next paragraph. All of the parts I read, reminded me of the boring bits of "Snowcrash" without the prospect of excitment or gripping story telling. I can't even recommend buying this book used, if you must read it, then borrow and assure your friend, that it will be returned, and the last pages will still never have been read.

A great cyberpunk fairy tale. Neal Stephenson is the twisted love child of Frances Hodgson Burnett and William Gibson. In the future, due to advances in nano-technology it is possible to grow just about anything out of constituent atoms. Humanity's basic needs are thus pretty much cared for, but there are still privileged sections of society and not so privileged sections. Someone in one of the privileged sections decides that his children were brought up a bit too mundanely and so commissions a "Young Girl's Primer" for his granddaughter. This interactive, artificially intelligent book falls into the hands of a little girl from a not so privileged section of society and stuff happens. It's cool. Read it.

A very good book, it does not replace China Miéville as unchallenged master of steampunk (see Perdido Street Station and The Scar). It is a necessary portion of the Stephenson corpus, but as a work unto itself will not have profound and lasting influence on the genre of speculative fiction. It will, however, exert a great influence on those books dealing specifically with nanotechnology. We said of Snow Crash "it will affect every book about cyberspace for the next generation." We can just as boldly state that The Diamond Age will affect every book about nanotechnology-at least for the large majority of the coming generation. If our review seems overly harsh, it not for lack of affection for a very fine book, but rather expectations that were overly high coming on the heels of Snow Crash.

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS:

Stephenson's acute sense of what we call "Divine Laughter" has not slackened an atom. For fans of Stephenson's earlier work, Diamond is not to be missed and the exhilaration, hilarity, and messianic insight into the human condition are all evident here. Furthermore, MIT students or graduates who are fascinated by machines and nanotechnology will be stupefied-or at least as happy as a pile of geeks suddenly granted Tom Cruise magnetism at a Playboy mansion filled with nubile women versed in Star Trek lore. It will even be impressive for that peculiar redneck geek who watches the Discovery Channel and Comedy Central for pearls like Junkyard Wars and Battlebots. Oddly, parents should read Diamond. At its heart, it is a book about parenting and much better than any parenting books written by pediatricians or PhD's granted from tiny island nations.

WHY YOU SHOULD PASS:

For an introduction to Stephenson, begin with Snow Crash. In the end, it is a better and more relevant book. Most readers of discriminating taste will eventually move on to Diamond but it is best to start with Snow Crash. Turbo-feminists-that hardcore breed that seem incapable of enjoying those various facets of life existing outside of their political agenda like, say, common sense-will have many complaints about Diamond. They will be too blind to see that in many senses it is a celebration of the importance of women-but there is no talking to these creatures. People who hate children should not read this book. Adults who have never enjoyed a moment of Dr Seuss or any other children's book in their adult life should also avoid.

(...)

The author does a good job of creating an intriguing technological world that is both interesting an unique. The books starts by introducing various characters, all of which have potential to be fully developed and interesting. The technological descriptions and the structure of society were strong points of the story. Overall, I mostly enjoyed the first part of the book and had high hopes for what was to come.

The second part of the book quickly tanked all expectations from the get-go. The Drummers society was cheesy and creepy and detracted from the story that had been built thus far. But it only got worse. The more of the second part that I read the less I seemed to care about any individual character and the less cohesive the story seemed. It got to the point that almost gave up on the book entirely. It's not in me to leave a book unfinished once I've started it, but if ever a book deserved to be left unread, this one did.

There are so many unanswered questions about various characters (mainly motivations for why the did what they did), that it really detracts from the book. And most books should have an ending of sorts, but apparently Neal Stephenson felt it was optional in this case as he left it out. But with seeing what he did with the second half of the book, perhaps it's for the best.

I don't say this lightly, but this is probably my least favorite Sci-Fi book of all time. I'm stunned that it's rated as highly as it is.

If Nineteen Eighty Four told the story of the 20th century, The Diamond Age tells the story of the 21st. For many of us, unfortunately, the story was written and published before its time, making it difficult to grasp the depth of its message. It's only after returning to it three to four times, and later reading it randomly and piecemeal, that I can now say I fully realize what the story is about. It is not about nanotechnology.

In the late 21st century, decades after the events of Snow Crash depicting the collapse of the sovereignty of the United States, the Anglo-American elite has reformed its society under a corporate monarchy, and lives in enormous gated communities, claves, where they hide away women and children while the men commute into the wasteland of sovereignty to engage in commerce with other societies. This commercial system is known as the Common Economic Protocol, a system of multilateral law that preserves the peace amongst the migrating societies and tribes of the world.

Nanotechnology is the source of the Victorians' wealth, but it is also what makes possible the existence of a large, dangerous underclass of tribe-less "thetes" who survive on free handouts and the occasional criminal act. Nanotechnology has reduced the cost of commodities to nothing, and in so doing has completely eliminated material poverty. However, and this is the fundamental point of the story, spiritual, cultural and social poverty still exists.

Our heroine Nell is born a thete, having the curse of a morally unscrupulous single mother. By her good fortune she is bonded with a secret project aimed at educating the next generation of Victorian leadership, the primer. As the story progresses, the primer teaches her to become a bona fide warlord, and the finale so many decry as unresolved is nothing less glorious and world-shattering than her ascent through blood and fire as the queen of an entirely new synthetic nation, while the last remaining sovereign nation-state, China, collapses into anarchy. With the collapse of China, the transformation from the Westphalian world of sovereign states to the Common Economic Protocol world of anarcho-capitalism is completed, and a centuries-long chapter of human history is closed.

Stephenson's principal subject throughout the story is security, from protecting little thete girls from bullies or her own parents, to the peculiar threats posed by nanotech terrorism and the necessary counter-measures, and the ultimate threat, a drug-like, slave-like assimilation by a blissful human hive mind. Tribeless men are defenseless against such a monster, but any society with sufficient organization can protect its members from it. The question remains, why should someone come to your aid? In a world of shattered nations, ethnicity and culture count for a lot, but Stephenson also explores tribes who share common professions, guilds of sorts, and a Reformed Distributed Republic which relies on a life-threatening trust building exercise (the equivalent of falling backwards into someone's arms with the risk of death should they not perform their role) as a substitute for more fundamental bonds. Cultural greatness ultimately matters most, and when software and the material world have merged, this means the future leaders need a thorough education in computer science as much as they need to know mathematics.

It is a strange world, a frightening world, but in many ways a more beautiful one and a freer one. I expect we will soon be living in it.

It is really fun to see a work like this, a steam-punk, psycological examination. I found a number of the themes insightful to our daily lives, and enjoyed this exploration of humanity, culture, and economics, wrapped in a fun and interesting plot, a delight. Definitely a re-reader.

An inventive potential future. Stephenson takes the idea of nanotechnology and extrapolates a variety of ramifications. He also has an interesting critique of society, his thesis being that today's western technological culture is socially similar to the Regency and Georgian culture in Britain; this leads to neo-Victorians in the novel just as Victorian England was (he asserts) a backlash against the (im)morality of the decades before Victoria came the the throne.
The book makes compelling reading and drew me along verynicely indeed. The explanations of the technological background fit reasonably well into the narrative. Some of his flights of nanotechnological fancy are probably a bit too fanciful to be actually achievable, but that doesn't detract from a good story. In the end the biggest problem with the book is that it doesn't end in anything like a satisfying way. Far too many things are left hanging. Too much is left at stake.

In summary: yes!, buy this book, but don't besurprised if the end leaves you wondering: "but what about..."

This is exactly the kind of book that all sci-fi books should be like. It's got everything you could ask for - stunningly envisaged futuristic technology (far beyond the usual Star Trek or Blade Runner cliches), a huge cast of well-developed characters which lend the book a strong human element, beautiful imagery with a distinctly dark streak, a labyrinthine plot and, above all, lavish doses of originality. This book is a classic of the genre, well up to the level of "Dune" in my opinion.This is one of the very few books I've read which I can recommend to anyone without any qualms. An unfortunately neglected classic.

This book is NOT another "Snow Crash", so if that's what you're looking for, you didn't come to the right place. Although "The Diamond Age" contains elements of the same type of flashy, cooler-than-thou techno-glitz that made the other book so much fun to read (as long as you DIDN'T take it seriously), this Neil Stephenson masterpiece demands respectibility. It demands that the reader think.
More than a book about technology, it is a book about culture, and the effect of bringing ancient culture into the future. It is about information and learning and a push into tomorrow's tomorrow. It examines how we will cope with technology when it is so advanced, we only know it is there when it tells us so.
In typical Stephenson fashion, the plot is engaging and vital, with exuberant creativity and a scope as large as all imagination. A book with powerful characters, sharp imagery, beautiful prose, and unparalleled vision, "The Diamond Age" is not just an SF novel; it is a Novel--in the truest and most enjoyable sense of the word.
CAUTION: thinking required

Actually 3.5 stars.

If you're looking for a vividly crafted world, this is the story for you. If you're looking for characters you can connect with, that will stay with you for a long time, this isn't that read. For me, the world-building makes it worthwhile. It's fantastic & possibly that is part of the reason the characters felt rather flat. Stephenson is truly gifted at giving sense of place & surroundings. It was it's own character, for me & I truly didn't want to leave.

There are quite a few parts that feel slow & drag a bit but again, I think it's the characters & a feeling that you're just putting in time with them to get through it all. The ending felt a bit abrupt & left me wanting an epilogue. I suppose I just wasn't quite ready to leave this world behind. I think that's pretty good, all things considered.

What I enjoyed most about reading this book is that I actually cared about the people in the book, from the heroine (Nell) down to periphial characters (Harv). The characters were well rounded and fleshed out, without being stereotypical and predictable. But I have to agree, the ending left me wanting. It reminds me of Stephen King's drawback: building and building to a suspenseful conclusion, only to fall flat.

It's not a traditional scifi book - it leans towards the steampumk side of scifi - but nevertheless is an excellent novel. I had no idea if the book would be good when I originally purchased it (as an audiobook, actually...I need to get the hardcopy version now!) but am extremely glad I picked it out. The focus of the book is less on the technology and science part of "scifi" and more on the characters, their development, and the lesson the main character Nell learns.

bad news: same lame confusing non-ending as usual.
good news: this is a very fun book. If you wonder how the world will handle nanotech, or ever think about it, or wonder how technology will infiltrate culture this is a great bit of futuristic daydream. It's well worth the read, much as Cryptonomicon was, despite NS not being able to write a decent ending.

This is a really good cyberpunk novel, set in the near future (but not incredibly near). I'm still reading _Snow Crash_, so I won't even attempt to compare the two as so many others have done. Stephenson has a firm view of the future, and has done an excellent and thorough job of thinking out the implications of nanotechnology. He's also got some interesting and at times subtle things to say about where we are headed as a civilization in regard to education, fragmentation, entertainment, and a hundred other areas. You won't agree with everything he thinks -- but you'll find yourself at least rethinking your ideas, in addition to just having a good time being completely immersed in a world strikingly similar, and yet substantially different, from our own.

This book is truly a diamond novel of a diamond age. It's beautiful and entrancing, but don't look too far beyond the surface. Like the omnipresent sheets of synthetic diamond used in Stephenson's world, this novel gives the impression of strength with astonishing actual fragility. For a sheet of diamond would be an absurdly brittle thing. Enjoy the book, but don't think too hard about it.

While Snow Crash was a literate version of a graphic novel with its kinetic energy and outrageous humor, The Diamond Age is told with a mature voice. But don't think it is stuffy - it is still filled with action and inventiveness. Nano-technology now forms the technological backdrop to a human storyline that features a Dickensian waif (the young lady of the subtitle). One SF novel that I know I'll read and enjoy again.

This and Snowcrash in my opinion are his best books. I have read both of them a few times and continue to find things that I have missed. Stephenson's writing style is more at home in the not-quite reality in this and Snowcrash. Cryptonomicon is good but these are much better. If you like cyberpunk or nanotech-oriented scifi then this is a great book to read.

Especially when compared to Stephensen's "Snow Crash" that lead me to this book. Though thought provoking and, once again, full of interesting ideas and building a neat reality, The Diamond Age never really did it for me. In fact, I believe my bookmark still sits 36 pages from the end. My not is more related to ADD than the book's quality; for those who can tolerate a slightly slower pace, you should find the story and ideas quite entertaining. Taking place in a harsh and advanced future, The Diamond Age tells the story of a yound, female, "have-not", who has, through coincidence, some to own an incredible tool to lead the child's development.

This is the second novel I read by this author (the first one is Snow Crash). Just as I expected I find it filled with wonderful and original world building, some interesting insights on history, culture and philosophy (in this case Chinese Confucianism, Victorian Britain and debates on the philosophical issues of AI), and is a well written story while not treating itself too seriously. Also in my opinion its characterization is even better than SC. It has some nice insights on education and the evolution of values in a society, as well as the social impact of technology, in the end it reminds us that after all it is love and compassion that can really change our lives and make us human.

One of my top ten list to push onto others to read.
Very interesting ideas, well described in a very good story.
The end is too abrupt for me compared to the rest of the book. In my mind I imagine the publisher calling and demanding a book NOW or return the advance.

I first read "Snow Crash" around a year ago, and couldn't put it down. I've since read it several times more. I then decided to read "The Diamond Age" and, as "Snow Crash", it has transformed my life. The technology is not unbelievable (although it should never be totally within view!), and the characters are amazingly written. Nell is one of the best characters I've ever read, and Stephenson got me to really care about her. My only criticisms are about the ending (another 100 or so pages would have helped!), and that sometimes it was difficult working out how much time had passed. But still, "The Diamond Age" was compulsive reading, and I will be reading it again very soon.

...and now I understand why one might want to evoke this book in naming an edifice. Fantastic. Neo-Victorian (or post neo-Victorian in this case) sci-if is great. Who knew?

It's basically a book about a girl who gets a magic book and becomes a badass. If you like well constructed worlds sprinkled with Nanotechnology, staid British etiquette, and far eastern gangsters then you will like this book. You may like it even if you don't like any of those things.

Like William Gibson meets Greg Bear, this fantastical look at the future of nanotechnology and its comprehensive integration into the human gestalt is fascinating. The start was slow for me because the direction of the narrative was unclear, but eventually the disparate storylines converged into a Drummer-calibre climax.

Nano-plot is a pretty apt description. And it is executed flawlessly in this sloppily written slice of futurama.
The setup is great.
The setting is imaginative and well crafted.
The problem is that there is not much of a story here. Consequently the author must not really feel compelled to conclude it.
For example: Stephenson spends the first 40 pages developing a bit character that is abruptly killed off, but he has no qualms about concluding the whole book in about 5 pages...in the middle of some battle no less.
Read the first few chapters - you'll get all of the good techie stuff without the time commitment necessary for the big let- down, er ending.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson was one of the most insightful an original books I've read in a long time. After a brief absence from the world of science fiction, I picked this book up, almost entirely because of my love for his earlier novel, Snow Crash. In Snow Crash, Stephenson gave us a view of a future not all that far away. The technology of the Diamond Age takes us into the very distant future.
On the Earth of the Diamond Age, mankind has developed and perfected the concept of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is based around the concept of using microscopic computers to allow people to literally make anything possible. Often times, the tricky part of designing an object is making it heavier than air so it won't float away. Matter compilers can create any object with the proper program, and a pair of wooden chopsticks has flashing advertisements running up and down their sides. As backlash to this technological heaven, the elite members of society borrow their culture from the British during the Victorian era. These Victorians -or Vicky's, as some derogatorily refer to them- place value in items that are hand made, and pay exorbitant amounts of money for such items.
This novel varies from many typical science fiction novels, in that its focus is not on the technology or the rich, but rather on a single girl from a dysfunctional family in one of the poorest parts of the world. Nell, comes across one of three copies of the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, a book of sorts intended to educate a young girl. This book, while itself not a technological marvel, displays a true ingenuity in its content, as any good book. Through the use of this book, Nell is taught the lessons that one misses in school, the lessons that truly allow one to become successful in life. Through the characters and the primer, the reader gets many insights on what makes a person special.
Reading through other people's reviews of this novel, I see that I am not unanimously supported in my opinion of this novel. Many people cited its length and lengthy description as the book's downfalls. I can understand these comments, although in all honesty, to eliminate the details would eliminate any science fiction this book had and reduce it to merely a trashy sci-fi pulp novel. Clearly, Stephensons' goal is to accomplish far more than a simple adventure. In my eyes at least, the best of science fiction is to envision brave new worlds and use the different setting to critique our own society. Those who want a book they don't have to think about, will not enjoy this book. For them, there are summer movies and Dean Koontz.
One person felt the characters were dull and two-dimensional, which I found to be an entirely bogus comment. Each character is full of his or her own quirks and agendas. From the exceptionally rich Victorian technology tycoon to the Neil's thug-like yet compassionate older brother, the characters all manage to be completely original and completely realistic. Most importantly, each character inspires a bit of emotion in the reader. One is disgusted with Neil's mother and sympathetic for Nell. So, while some readers found the characters to be a fault, I found them to help draw the readers into the novel and provide the reader a familiar point so they don't get lost in the futuristic world. After all, unlike technology and trends, people for the most part do not change.
In his first novel, Snow Crash, Stephenson proved that he is perfectly capable of crafting an exciting adventure story. However, Snow Crash had nowhere near the insight or vision that he achieves in the Diamond Age. In the Diamond Age, Stephenson holds nothing back, and refuses to dumb down his book to make it an easy read. It is definitely difficult for anyone not into pure science fiction. However, anyone who makes it through the book, will find an entirely elaborate world and many insights to our own world, ranging from critiques of modern education to the depressing lack of subversiveness in our culture. Those that enjoy the true science fiction genre, will find this book to be nothing short of brilliant.

Typical Stephenson strengths: ideas. Lots of them. Great ones. They come at you like bullets.
Typical Stephenson weaknesses: plot, as in "lack of." The story stops (not "ends," "stops") two-thirds of the way through the book. It's less coherent than _Snow Crash_, Stephenson's (outstanding) previous book.
How this book works for you depends on how you feel about that tradeoff.

As well as akin to some of the Old Masters of Science Fiction/High-Tech, like Asimov or Clarke. He already has an impressive body of works: "Cryptonomicon", "Zodiac", "Snow Crash", "Quicksiver", etc. The various high-tech attributes, such as taking place in a far-flung future society that is "Victorian" in nature and the use of a super-computer built by nanotechnology (the "primer book") all rank him with the Old School of Science Fiction/High-Tech. I, personally, have added this book (and his others) to my collection: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "the Foundation series", "I, Robot", "Starship Troopers", "Childhood's End", "Neuromancer", "Virtual Light", "Mona Lisa Overdrive", "Count Zero", "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter" and so on. Try to get them all, if you can, but definitely get "The Diamond Age"!

One of my absolute favourite books-- an amazing futuristic world with enough grounding in reality that it doesn't even feel like sci-fi. Really, it reads more like fantasy.

Make sure you make it past the first part, it gets infinitely better once you get to the bit with Nell.

If you like this book you should also check out the graphic novel dresdencodak.com which also has a strong/smart female protagonist in a futuristic world. It's also amazing and I love it!

SNOW CRASH was the first Stephenson book I read and I loved it. DIAMOND AGE is even better. It is complex and richly detailed yet fast paced and difficult to put down. Obviously having sharpened his prose skills, Stephenson builds a fascinating future set in a tumultuous "New Shanghai" where nanotechnology permeates every aspect of life and a rigid class system is about to be overturned. He takes you through the lives and times of a number of interesting characters and brings them together in a surprising, grandiose ending. In short, if you like William Gibson, you'll like this. His discussion of nanotech actually outclasses Gibson's attempts in IDORU. If you liked SNOW CRASH you'll like this one even better.

A lot of people read SF primarily for the ideas, and I'd argue there is no better fiction for that purpose. Add at least two stars to this review if you are an 'ideas' reader, because Stephenson has more ideas than the next five successful SF writers combined.
For me, though, the lack of suspense, the lack of absorbing characters, and the lack of story momentum led me to abandon this book after I had dutifully slogged through more than half of it.
Maybe it picks up dramatically near the end, but frankly, at this point, I just felt my reading time would be better spent elsewhere.
It would be interesting to see Neal Stephenson team up with a strongly character-based SF luminary for a collaboration.

The book starts off looking at Bud's live; within several pages however Bud is gone. Perhaps Bud is there merely to give us a taste of Stephenson's world, a feeling of how changeable and out of control his children's lives are, but I found his disappearance frustrating. Nell's story is the central story, her use of the Primmer and its effects on others was compelling to read. Other characters seemed a bit confused and out of place or perhaps I just didn't find them very interesting and thus didn't invest the time into close reading when the focus shifted to one of them. There are many things left unexplained in the story: why is the world that way? why does Nell go to work in what amounts to a brothel? what is the Primmer showing little girls?

There are a lot of interesting plot elements, but they don't form a coherent whole for the most part. The ending is kind of weak.
Then there is the fact that there is no artificial intelligence to speak of in his world, which is a necessary device for his plot (and because of that really sticks out like a sore thumb), but totally unbelievable considering the other marvels that are shown, even from a conservative point of view.
If it weren't so full of neat ideas and plain fun, I'd give it a much lower rating.
Read it while it's fresh, because as with most books based on cool science, it probably won't age very well.

This is a story about botched attempts to use molecular manufacturing to rescue humanity. The botches are inevitable since people are so fallible. Stephenson anticipates problems, brilliantly shows several Western, technical solutions that continue the economy of scarcity, and then shows a conflicting philosophy (Confucian) literally at war with the assumptions of the Western solution. I would have called it "The War between Seed and Feed" The book's pacing is marred by a long, dull, improbable, poorly-explained section about people living in caves under the ocean.

Everything (including physical objects, people, governments,and locations) in this world of post-modern tech Neal Stephenson creates has some theory behind it (as fantastic & unbelievable as it is sometimes), which makes it wonderfully believable.

This book is original. I picked this book up hoping that it would be as good a read as Snow Crash was. What I found was a jewel. I was hooked from page one and found myself totally amazed that any writer could come up with such an amazing, original work. Please read this book, you won't be disappointed.

I first read The Diamond Age about a year ago, and was struck not only by its quality as a work of science fiction, but also by Stephenson's commentary on child rearing and education. As a teacher, I found many of his ideas were closely related to the current and well-respected research on learning. The Primer employs educational techniques espoused by John Dewey, Seymour Papert, Roger Schank and many others. Approaches such as constructivism, learner-centered instruction, and storytelling are among the vast repertoire of the Primer. I highly recommend this book, not only for entertainment as a fresh and exciting work of science fiction, but also for exploring the possibilities of utilizing technology to improve the education of our children.

If you enjoy sci-fi at its best, and your not averse to thinking and reading at the same time, you owe it to yourself to read this book. Among all of its strong points, it has what I believe to be one of the best female characters ever to appear on the written page. Put simply, it's a damn good book.

This is the second time that I have read THE DIAMOND AGE and cannot help thinking: "What the heck just happened?". Maybe my understanding of the book is no deep enough, but I cannot help feeling disappointed (and confused) about the ending. I am not a casual reader (ie. I've read most "good" works of classical and contemporary SF/Fantasy), but Neal Stephenson strikes me as one of the most original modern SF writers (I know that that sounds rather ambiguous, but this is a book review not an analysis). The ending of the story (in fact, the last couple of chapters), does not seem to fit with the rest of the novel (to me it does not even vaugely make sense). This is the only thing that prevents me from giving this book a heartfelt 5 stars...
Please excuse any spelling/grammar errors. I usually hurry through reviews and thus do not pay attention thses details.

I love this book. I am reading it for the second time, this time as a book on tape. I read Stephenson's Snow Crash first and then found Diamond Age. It's story is an imaginative and somehow eerily realistic vision of the future. There's nothing that seems too far-fetched in terms of the societies or "claves" as he calls them are defined. The story is about a young girl who comes across an interactive book that saves her from a harsh and poverty stricken life. As someone who came from a less than "Beaver Cleaver" family where you hit first and ask questions later I know just how transformative and life saving books can be. The "young girl's primer" does it for Nell one of the main characters in this story. I am actually enjoying it more the second time around. Maybe it is the times we live in.

I was interested in this book primarily for the science fiction concerning nano tech. While Stephenson has some interesting ideas here and there, I found most of his applications of nano-technology to be ridiculously illogical. For instance, the nano engineers in the story construct their machines atom by atom. Do you see programmers today building each transistor of the computer to run their program? Ridiculous! Then there was the super computer that was cooled by ice atoms transmitted through a special pipe at supersonic speed. I don't even no where to begin with that one. And my last example, a gun embedded in a persons head. In a world of nano devices, there would have to be a million simpler, and more elegant ways to harm someone. Even if you did use a projectile launcher with any kind of kick, why would you embed it in your head!? Oh, one more thing, "mediatrons"? I just can't stand the silliness. If I'd gone into this book expecting a whimsical steam punk fairy tale maybe it wouldn't have annoyed me so much.

There is no need for me to add to the excellent literary reviews of this fine work by Neal Stephenson; quality to which we have become accustomed. My gripe is with Penguin who, unless there is some repetitive downloading glitch with this particular file, have permitted this book onto the virtual store shelf with an unacceptable number of spelling mistakes. The editor responsible clearly did not read the proof at all. This makes for somewhat irritating reading which a tale of this calibre does not deserve. Shame on you, Penguin!

First goes first, I enjoyed this book quite much. It has a very well developed story which is fast-paced and intriguing. It is something that goes beyond usual stories in science fiction, originality is something which I think should be quite valued these days. There are quite a few characters whose personalities have also been very well lain through their actions, thoughts, physical descriptions...
Maybe the science in this science fiction book is not that great but just don't expect nothing too realistic, let's just use our imagination to see how the future could be.
Buy if you feel like it and enjoy!

More sincere and less sophmoric than Snow Crash. I passed
it onto more girlfriend who loved it. An incorporation of a
future world view with history and fantasy and science.
The book is addicting and I wished it would have never ended.
-Michael (and Fran)

I have to admit that I am surprised by the reviews I have been reading. The Diamond Age is not just another cyberpunk book. It is not just about Nell's growth and developement through her primer, but about the basis a person needs for self-cultivation. We should look at the book as our own primer, teaching us lessons through the multiple storylines, all of which deal with moral decisions and test the characters' judgement. The ending may be abrupt, but consider the fact that it leaves you with questions about what reality is, what humans are, and what the future of society will be. Maybe it was abrupt for the purpose of letting you decide what YOUR ending is. It disturbs me that readers have become trained to look for satisfying endings that leave no room for thought.

Often, when I read a book with many threads involving different characters it's rare in the extreme to enjoy each thread equally. This is that rare book. It's science fiction bordering on fantasy but with just enough grounding in possibility. It's also a wonderful treatise on parenting. As a parent myself, I found the primer to be a well laid out discussion on the role and possibilities of parenting. Excellently written and a genuine page turner, I finished this book in less than a week.

Stephenson has created a beautiful hyper-reality tale of transformation and empowerment with Diamond age.

This story exists at the periphery of cyberpunk, yet manages to draw in readers who might normally be turned off by the technical jargon so common in the genre. The real story, one of revolution, is buried within the fast paced, strange world Stephenson creates, and is impossible to put down.

After reading Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash, I jumped right into Diamond Age with enthusiasm. Based on those two books, I felt that this author could not possible write anything short of outstanding. How wrong I was!
Diamond Age began with pathetically uninteresting characters in a future that makes me want to run off and live in the woods. I know that Stephenson likes to paint dreary pictures of the future in which technology does not solve all our problems, but it is the ridiculous cultural setting as well as the tech that ruins this book.
The book is waaaay too long, incorporating about 100 times more of the Primer than is necessary to make the story interesting. I must say that he does salvage it somewhat in the end, with an interesting finish.

This is a book about a little girl who likes to read, growing up in a magical world, with a magical friend in the form of a book. The science (nanotechnology,) is in the background.
If you know a little girl who likes to read, give this book to her (as long as she can handle the small amount of moderate sexual content.)

Just as my gramatical reference makes no sense neither does The Diamond Age. After reading Cryptonomicron, I thought I had found a new breed of sci-fi writer. Snow Crash was an interesting first step but clearly not the sophisticated production that Cryto is. Diamond Age fits no where in between either thematically or structurally. Stephenson falls back on the old sci-fi bromide that creates a future where they have superior technology but it adds nothing to the world the people live in. The characters live a less convenient life than we do yet have at their disposal technology to do away with all the ills of day to day life. Riding chevalines (horses) for God sake is but one instance of the banal existence these people subject themselves to and riding in airships (zeplins).
Maybe I don't get this genre but Asimov certainly did it better. He took today's technology and projected it into the future to show us how things could be. Stephenson throws out today to create a tomorow that's worse than the past. This isn't science fiction. Its just a disppointment. The promise of Snow Crash realized in Crypto is lost in this book.

Reviewer: Jose, from Houston, TX, USA Date: October 08, 2006

The Diamond Age is truly a one of a kind book. I purchased the audio edition and I had to listen to the first 30 minutes or so to put the story into perspective. This isn't your "typical" science fiction book and may not appeal to your average sci-fi reader, but in some respects a sort of social commentary on the society to come. He describes a world where tribe takes precedence over nationality and where nanotechnology is a feature of every day life. Is Mr. Stephenson describing the type of world we will be living in 30 years from now??

It isn't an easy read, but I guarantee once your into the story it will be difficult to put aside. I give the book four stars plus.

Simply put, the story told is fascinating, the intertwining plots delicious, and the ideas presented are intriguing. Questions on the raising and education of children, what it takes to be a strong force in culture, and hypocrisy. The only complaint I have is, as always, Stephenson's abrupt endings. Yes, all you need to know is there, and yes, you can infer what happened to the characters after the end, but it is all together unsatisfying to just have the story stop exactly where it did. Argh. Still an excellent read and I highly recommend it. :)

This author has a problem, he has more ideas than can easily fit in a normal novel, so he tries to work a compromise between flow and fit. This book projects a variety of ideas about how nanites (nanotechnology-size robots) might someday be deployed as people go on about the business of being humans and the motivations thus associated. Read this book for its cascade of ideas (and the story is decent, also).

There's no way this book can be summarised well without being an act of blasphemy. There are characters who are moral without being stuffy. There are characters who are less inclined to morality, while remaining human and personal.

Simply put, this is a great book. The storyline is excellent, and the characters are incredible. If you like cyberpunk, science fiction or fantasy, you will find something in this book to keep you interested, guaranteed.

This book is so awe-inspiringly complex, original in its conception, beautifully crafted and intelligent, it ranks in the top ten books I have ever read, even though the ending is, well, somewhat lackluster in comparison.

Don't get me wrong in the title: I strongly recommend this book. It's densely packed with great and big ideas, some of which seem to be taking hold in the present. It's simply that it never wants to end, and when it finally must, it seems to collapse into a muddle more than anything else. It is nevertheless a thrilling (if difficult) read.

Mark me down as a NeoVic.

If you are into future scenarios this one is one that I think just begins to go far enough in describing a world we might be building. Incredible, fascinating - integrates nano into a deep well connected story. Technology is not the center, but the backdrop on a story that transform you as you read. There are really so many levels to this one.. and after reading Ray Kurzweil.. it all seems entirely credible. One of the few reads in the last few year that I closed the cover after that final page and said.. " Damn that was good."

For months now I have been slogging through volumes of mediocre science fiction/fantasy, watching and waiting for that one, elusive, world class work. This is it. While the plot revealed itself slowly through the first half of this book, it remained engaging, and by the time I roared to the finish I was actively grieving the completion of the "read". "More! More!", I was screaming. This incredibly entertaining, future view of the world with competing phyles and nanotech warriors so abundent that they swirl through the air like pollen has placed this book near the very top of my all-time best books list. And for all the techno-babble and cyber-backdrop, what most carried the book forward was that Stephenson brilliantly developed the main characters. I really cared what happened to Nell, Miranda, Hackworth, etc. Their victories were my victories, their failures saddened me. Take "Snow Crash" and give it more depth, refinement, meaning, and maturity. Then you'll have this satisfying book in your hands. Tim Powers, move over, Neal Stephenson has just become my favorite author!

Through Stephenson's "Illustrated Primer" he significantly changed the way I interact with my daughter... My childhood was filled with Heinlein and his ideas of self reliance and misturst of central authority. As I grew older I lost this sense of the individual, of anything being possible. Stephenson brings those ideas back into the forefront of my life once again. Through what we teach our children we direct their future and the future of our society. Read this book for one possible use of this power!

Like many other reviewers I found the technological aspects of the story well worth the price of the book. But toward the end it feels as though Neal Stephenson has grown tired of the characters and we start losing a clear feeling for them and what they are doing. The ending is not good and more should have been explicitly written about the goal Nell was seeking and the devotion of Miranda and what she was prepared to put herself through. Overall a good read and I have bought Snow Crash.

Stephenson is an excellent writer with a good understanding of the scientific subject matter, but he buys into Penrose's anti-AI rhetoric, turning this book into a subtle polemic against the logical possibility of strong AI. I could only recommend this book if it is taken concurently with an antidote to its philosophical poison. One such antidote is Daniel C. Dennett's very clear and readable _Consciousness Explained_. Bottom line: read this book as fantasy, not science.

Good story, great read. Takes some flexibility to follow all the story lines, but the skein of the stories actually shows part of the social commentary sewn through the book. If you're looking for brain candy, just read the story: if you're looking for purpose in your books, this is a good reflection of some of the best and some of the worst motivations of mankind. It's not neat and it's not pretty and it's not complete: but like life it hangs together in a messy mass, has it's own beauty and is much more than it seems. This story can make you think and can make you re-evaluate your motivations and your place in life.

Having devoured with great satisfaction everything Stephenson I could get my teeth into, I think I can be classified as a true fan. Diamond Age, however, left me wondering if the master was pushed into publication prematurely here. The unanswered questions, intriguing as they are, become pure frustration when answers are not forthcoming. I hope there a sequel in the works that will fill in the gaps.

Neal Stephenson is a brilliant mind, but got a little too mixed up with Jolt (perhaps). I was reading this book, and had a jolly good time, until I got to "Part Deux", and then I said to myself, "this guy sucks. He has completely run out of new ideas, and is willing to stake his reputation for a quick buck to finish this book (which had such promise in the beginning) with such loathsome images and ideas not pertaining to anything.

They're all right. The ending stinks.
The only reason I'm commenting is that I hope it will sink in when so many of us say it. The worst ending of any quality book I know.
The incredible thing is that we all hate the ending but love the book. That really says something.
Transcendant! A brand new sci-fi sub-genre.
And hey...Neal! Drop us a line, we'd love to know...was it the deadline, the editor, or did you just get bored?

Thousands of little girls, armed only with bamboo spears and knives , are able to overcome an army of thousands of adult, Chinese revolutionaries? Many of the men are killed, but not one of the little girls is hurt? Does this seem plausible? A large group of intelligent, well educated men and women copy the culture and social structure of Victorian England? Is this reasonable? Absurdities compounding absurdities throughout the book.

Protracted , boring sections detail Nell's Fairy Tale adventures seeking magical keys in different castles. Nell's fantasy adventures are the primer's method of teaching and helping Nell to become a young woman who can think for herself and survive in a hostile world. OK , but there was too much of this for my taste.

With the possible exception of Nell, the characters lacked depth, they didn't fully come alive for me. We need to learn more about them, their backgrounds and motivations.

There were some interesting descriptions of nanotechnology, individual atoms being assembled into microscopic machines. Matter compilers essentially give people everything they need instantly. How would such technology affect our lives and culture? This was thought provoking and is the reason I gave the book two stars instead of one. There is the potential for a very good book here, but this isn't it.

Neal Stephenson's books have swept me up into their intricate and intriguing cyberpunk tales just as William Gibson, the "father" of cyberpunk, did and the way other cyberpunk writers continue to do. Aside from "Diamond Age", there's "Cryptonomicon", "Snow Crash", "Zodiac", "Neuromancer", "Virtual Light", "Prey", and "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter" just to name a few. All worty reads.

As is often the case within the science fiction genre, the novel relies too much upon the whiz-bang intricacies of a Victorian-retro future ruled by nanotechnology. Too often it veers into tangential details about this gizmo or that advancement which can be tiresome after a few hundred pages. Even worse, the conclusion of the novel features an abrupt, extreme shift in gears which seems forced, at best. However, despite all that, it retains Stephenson's manic charm, his innate ability to combine the wry and the cool into something more. There are dry spells, to be sure. Stephenson offsets them with moonlit martial arts duels, dashes of steampunk, swarm technology programs/orgies, and etc... It is a patchwork fantasy, and flawed. But it is still a great read, especially in snippets. Personally, I kept it in my bathroom for a few weeks. Worked well. Recommended for those who need some idle, interesting reading with more continutiy than the funny pages or Popular Mechanics or... yeah. Buy it and see! Or don't! }:-)

After Snow Crash, a sci-fi masterpiece, I can't tell you how genuinely excited I was when I picked-up and began to read Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I was particularly drawn to this book given that it was set in a future Shanghai, the city in which I now reside. I cannot even begin to express the disappointment I had in The Diamond Age. Although there are a lot of interesting ideas and compelling characters, almost all of the elements involving China fall very flat. It is clear that Stephenson has never lived in, or perhaps even visited China. He obviously did some interesting research on Chinese history and took some trends, particularly infanticide of baby girls, and brought those trends into the future to look at possible results. But almost all of these elements come across as extremely contrived and far-fetched. Stephenson just doesn't get China. It is also worth noting that there is not one likable Chinese character in this book.

I believe in writing about what you know. That is certainly what Stephenson did in Snow Crash, one of my favorite sci-fi books of all time. But if you want a genuine glimpse into a possible future with China at the center once more, my strong recommendation is to check out the entire Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove. As per my review of Chung Kuo: The Middle Kingdom, Wingrove obviously has real life experience in China upon which to base his brilliant science fiction.

This book isnt one you can pick up every so often. There is so much complexity to the caracters and plot that youll get lost if you dont read it diligently. But its totally worth the time. Honestly Ive likedall his books that Ive read so far.

This is one of Neil Stephenson's best books to date. I think it was a great read with so many interesting designs for how technology can push the future. Definitely something worth any sci-fi/futurism fans time.

Although I was an avid SciFi reader, I've slacked off in the past decade or so in favor of other types of fiction. I am extremely happy to find a SciFi author that can blend a very high level of technical savy with a well developed sense of language! I am captivated, and am moving on to other Stephenson works, with equal satisfaction. This is one terrific read. The only drawback was the sleep deprivation I suffered as I was compelled to finish.

This book was the most inventive and entertaining work on an alternative future that I have come across. I have been reading this genre for the last fifteen years and read the Diamond Age after recommendation from a friend. The detail that Stephenson uses in both medical and technical subjects is awe-inspiring, rivaled only by "the Hunt for Red October". Every sci-fi fan should read this book!

Granted, I am a addict of this genre, but this book speaks to so much more than tech augmentations! Truly the best book he has written. Men, never mind that it's written about a young girl; women rejoice that it is! This book has the technical detail of a perfectly imagined world and the prose of fantastic author. Not to mention a great setting - Shanghai.

This is a great book. I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. The nanotechnology is extremely cool, and the writing style is exactly what I would expect from the author of Snow Crash.
And then I got to the last page and wondered what the point was.
I still enjoyed it, I recommend it, but don't expect the ending to make any sense at all.

The ideas in this book are very interesting in terms of the interactive storybook as well as other nanotechnology references. The bad thing is, as with too many hard sci-fi stories, the characterizations are paper thin. I wound up not caring about any of the characters except the little girl but her story is poorly intertwined with the others subplots. The novel just meanders along and completely loses direction at the end. I can't honestly tell you what the point of the book was. Interesting science ideas don't mean anything in a weak plot.

Typical Neal Stephenson fare - awesome book and an ending that is beyond crap. He's done it before with Snow Crash, except this book is even better, which makes the ending even more frustrating. That doesn't change the fact that this is THE best sci-fi book I've read and one of my favorite books.
Mr. Stephenson, if you are reading this - please do something about your epilogues. Having one would be a start.

When I picked up this book, I was hoping that it wasn't as confusing and as hard to follow as William Gibson's Neuromancer. I was pleasantly engaged by the first half of the book. Wonderful world building, attention to detail, and captivating characters. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there.
After the halfway point, the book lost what little semblance of a plot it had to begin with. There seemed to be no motivation behind the characters actions. We seem to just be looking in on segments of peoples' lives with no ultimate goal in mind. At the end, there was no climax and no resolution. It was as if Mr. Stephenson couldn't figure out how to finish the book and so just stopped writing at the end of a random chapter. I finished the last page and, literally, asked myself, "What the hell was that! " I felt like Mr. Stephenson had just wasted 8 hours of my life. What a disappointment!

This was the best book I've read since Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy's first books. The Sci-Fi books are my domain, but this guy writes them like no other. His weaves the technology into everyday instances. A lot like us talking about some computer virus, except this one slices you up into fish bait. Definately not for young children... Still, the character interaction, and how he flips from person to person... I have to meet this guy. You are one of my favs Neal!

I loved Snow Crash, so it was with extreme optimism that I started in on The Diamond Age. The first third of the book was great! Then it was as if someone else took over the writing of it. Nothing made much sense, what did was contrived, annoying, and worse boring. I couldn't wait to get to the end of the book. I kept thinking "it's got to get better" but it didn't. If I could give it less than one star on this system, I would. Save your money.

That just about says it all for this, yet another fantastic sci-fi/high-tech by Stephenson, who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite sci-fi/high-tech writers like Gibson and is welcomed into the ranks of other such books as: "Foundation", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Neuromancer", "Snow Crash", "Cryptonomicon", and "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter".

Stephenson crams lots of neat tidbits of ideas in this hi-tech fantasy but fails to explore most of them and the book bogs down in a slow-to-develop and not very interesting plot. Occasional flashes of brilliance kept me turning the page hoping this book would take off but it kept getting slower and slower and I was glad when I reached the last page that I didn't have to read it anymore.

This book is one of the best I've ever read, full of good plots, high tech imagery, and a grand finale that needs to be read twice to fully understand. Some of the characters say some profound things, and you can't help but come away from this book thinking of the new ideas Neal's come up with. You won't be disappointed reading this book.

I just finished reading The Diamond Age and I'm a bit conflicted. The world laid out by Stephenson is original and compelling, especially if you're interested in the future of nanotechnology. But to be honest, I almost gave up on this book twice. At times the narrative moves slow and lacks direction. Some of the most interesting characters are exhaustively introduced only to never hear from them again (the confucian Judge and his staff for example). While I'm glad that I stuck it out and finished this rather long novel, it's unfortunate that the narrative never really caught up with the potential of Stephenson's brilliantly envisioned future.

This book is a lot of fun to read, more serious and substantial then Snow Crash, but not anywhere near as intricate and fascinating as Cryptonomicon or the Baroque Cycle.

Any stephenson fan will enjoy reading this, though. I even liked "The Big U" :P

It was a fantastic read; very intriguing ideas, plus interesting characters. The book gives a glimpse into a possible future that is fascinating and frightenening at the same time. I also recommend SNOW CRASH, also by Neal Stephenson.

I like books. I loved this concept of an evolving, sentient book that the reader could keep reading for years. The style itself is a delicacy, sophisticated but not pedant; interactions between people feel right and the description of the cultural settings of the different colonies (phyles) is brilliant. A great book!

I loved this book. The only thing that stops it from getting five stars is Neal's inability to end a book. It wasn't that I disliked the ending, it was that there wasn't one. It feels like he decided, meh I've written enough I'm done and stopped.

This book is far better than /Snow Crash/ (and yes, I liked Snow Crash). This Stephenson work is absolutely brilliant; he discusses philosophical points with subtlety and creates the coolest main character since John Varley's Cirocco Jones.

I have generally NTS's work to be of highest literary caliber, when compared to that of Bruce Sterling, for example, or that of Gibson [whose writing matured with Idoru, IMO].
He scores very high in the inventiveness category and characterization as well.

He is rapidly becoming one of my favorite sci-fi/high-tech/cyberpunk authors, along with William Gibson who practically created cyberpunk. I have added this book to my collection: "Neuromancer", "Virtual Light", "Count Zero", "Mona Lisa Overdrive", "Snow Crash", "Cryptonomicon", and "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter".

He is doing for Internet and digital media what Asimov did for Robots. Stephenson is creating the template for Cyber-media that will be followed for centuries. His insights are brilliant and (most importantly) believable, he clearly sees the future that is ahead of us.

Though Stephenson has some titillating fantasies about nanotech to share, they fail to overcome the lack of a compelling plot. Usually I can't put a good book down. This one I found hard to plod through. The story finally gelled and became somewhat interesting about 2/3 of the way through the book, but even then it never really grabbed me. It seemed as though Stephenson relied on imaginative sound bites of future tech to carry the book, while the story wandered around and really went nowhere.
Two thumbs down. I usually pass on my favorite reads to a good friend. I wouldn't waste his time on this one.

This is the 4th or 5th Stephenson book that I have read and my only regret is that I did not read this book sooner. It is very well written (a few typos that slipped past the editors though), thought provoking, and inspirational science fiction piece.

Firstly, it is not really possible for him to top Snow Crash, so I couldn't expect that. I did only find the Diamond Age to be average.

A corporate underling takes a supercomputer in the form of a book to educate his daughter to see beyond the strictures of the society that she has been raised iin. He is a nanoengineer, so some exploration of building by nanomachines is present.

The crazy nanotech stuff was very cool, but I hate books with weak endings. A weak ending makes me wonder why I wasted all of that time reading this book instead of something else. I loved Snow Crash, I was disappointed with The Diamond Age.

All that and a weak ending? This is the second Neal Stephenson book I've read, the other being Snow Crash. Both were great reads for the first 3/4's of the book, then it is as if Neal got tired and ended the book. It ended inconclusive and wanting. I wouldn't recommend.

I really like Neal's approach: he presents his stories as part of the bigger picture - they fit into my idea of the near-future, and illustrate it in a brilliantly dense and tangent-inducing way. The Diamond Age is a great book, nuff said.

As the father of two girls, this book has made me think hard about

the environment they grow up in. As usual with Stephenson's books,

it is both original, informative and thought provoking.

When I first read about this book, it sounded fascinating! I went into it with high expectations! For one thing, I was my first Neal Stephenson novel, and all of my friends who had mostly read Snow Crash, had nothing but praise for him! Sadly, as my first Stephenson book, it was also my last. As much as I've heard great things about Snow Crash, Mr. Stephenson already owes me enough time. I'm not willing to loan him any more.

This book starts off promising. Although this is obviously a dangerous, unforgiving world, it's also interesting, as are the main characters.

The stories are also interesting. You find yourself really looking forward to figuring out exactly what's going on.

THAT, however, is where things start to fall apart! Every time you find yourself wondering how a certain story arc is resolved, prepare to be disappointed!

This book feels like a hundred different stories that Mr. Stephenson has been thinking about, all of which are haphazardly mixed into a single novel, and NONE of which will ever reach its logical conclusion. If you find yourself wondering if Mr. Stephenson suffered from multiple personality disorder, mixed with a liberal sprinkling of amnesia, while writing this book, you will not be alone.

My alternate supposition was that, while Mr. Stephenson slept, gnomes where editing his story without his knowledge, removing all of the parts that answered our questions and replacing them with nonsensical additions.

Regardless, I kept pushing on, hoping that, EVENTUALLY, I would reach a real conclusion, or that I would finally find the coherent resolution I was hoping for. That, however, is when I realized that there were only two pages left! When I reached that final page, I finally came to my conclusion, that Mr. Stephenson (or the gnomes) owes me my time back!

I really liked 95% of Snow Crash and 85% of Diamond Age but his endings are terrible. Things are left unexplained and unresolved. I won't read another of his books unless he learns to write an ending.

I agree with the people who said this book started out great and went downhill. Way, way downhill. I didn't understand the majority of what happened in the second half of the book, and what I did vaguely understand, I found utterly ridiculous. I wish I could see this book through the eyes of the people who thought it was terrific!

There is a bit to be encouraged about after reading this book. This book demonstrates that you need absolutely no talent, abilities, or any skill what-so-ever in wrting to become a published author. It appears Bantam Spectra will publish any piece of trash you send them. Be warned, delete your browse history, turn off your computer, take a cold shower, go for a long walk, just do not read this book. I just hope I can prevent someone else from suffering the same fate that I did. You have been warned.

This book started out with a remarkeable amount of promise. The opening third of it is very, very good. The details and crafted naturalness of the various plot threads is better than nearly any other SF writer out there... but then something happens. it's almost as if the writer became so sure of his inate talent that he didn't care to really think out what he was writing anymore.
He began clearly writing a modified victorian novel, complete with the pedigree prologue dovetailing into the main plot, but then- bam!
By the end, the neo-victorian structure of the novel is lost in a morass of plotting that no self-respecting novelist should allow himself anywhere outside of his own journals and musings, and self-stimulating pleasure.
Stephenson is not a bright enough person (his OS book, being a prime example of mediocrity and plagiarism in thought posing as an amusing parle with a man of mind), nor a skilled-enough craftsman to get away with it- not even close.
The originality of his idea (small as it is) is lost in a book this size. He would have been better off writing this condensed to about half the size- that would have suited the neo-victorian style he attempted here much better.
A real waste of money, again. I've learned my lesson with this guy- he's just not a very good writer.