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Biased and superficial Science Fiction reviews

           
     
Rainbow's End

Copyright 2006 by Vernor Vinge

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SOJALS rating:     
one SOJALS point one SOJALS point one SOJALS point no SOJALS point no SOJALS point    Good (3/5)

I first read this on the 8th April 2007.

Robert is slowly recovering from Alzheimer's. Little by little the fog is lifting and he finds himself in a new world of pervasive IT, a new world to which he must learn to adapt.

This is a brilliant view our future world. We've seen the first invasion of IT into our everyday lives and we've almost ignored it because it's so, well, everyday*. But think: if we now have processors in our fridges and washing machines; in our watches and portable music players; in our telephones* and our printers; even in the ink cartridges for our printers; in the decorative fridge magnets and greeting cards. If the speed of IT development is increased, what do we expect in twenty more years? It's quite astounding, and worrying and exhilerating.

*I wrote this review on 25 January 2007 but failed to load it. It's quite amusing to see I referred to music players and telephones. Now of course we have phones, tablets and 3D printers. We still have Alzheimer's disease, but I think Vernor has it right - we'll fix that in a few more years and not only prevent Alzheimer's but bring back the those affected.

Loaded on the 7th March 2020.
    
Cover of Rainbow's End
Cover art by Steven Martiniere and Howard Grossman/12E Design