|
This is "the Word"—one man's word, certainly—about the art (and artifice) of the state of our computer-centric existence. And considering that the "one man" is Neal Stephenson, "the hacker Hemingway" (Newsweek)—acclaimed novelist, pragmatist, seer, nerd-friendly philosopher, and nationally bestselling author of groundbreaking literary works (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, ect.)—the word is well worth hearing. Mostly well-reasoned examination and partial rant, Stephenson's In the Beginning...Was the Command Line is a thoughtful, irreverent, hilarious treatise on the cyber-culture past and present; on operating system tyrannies and downloaded popular revelations; on the Internet, Disney World, Big Bangs, not to mention the meaning of life itself. A decade after novelist William Gibson coined the term “virtual reality,” Neal Stephenson burst onto the science fiction scene with Snow Crash, his own manic take on the interface between man and machine. More recently, the cyberpunk visionary has turned his sights away from the future of technology, and toward the question of how and why it arose the way it did.More About the Author Tags: the beginningwas the command line |
Free list
