≡ [PDF] Free Permutation City Greg Egan 9780061054815 Books

Permutation City Greg Egan 9780061054815 Books

Download As PDF : Permutation City Greg Egan 9780061054815 Books

Permutation City Greg Egan 9780061054815 Books

Just reading the back flap of this book doesn't even really begin to describe the depth of the concepts presented in this story. While the material subjects in Permutation City are firmly planted in sci-fi, it also puts concepts such as what it means to "be" human both objectively and subjectively at the forefront. Whether you are an ardent fan of computer science, biology, physics, or even philosophy, this book will elicit some kind of respect from you for its depth in those regards. This book does lean heavily into both hard science and fiction, but quite honestly it takes the concepts so far that that distinctions between the two are trivial.

What this book ISN'T is a flashy science fiction romp with action and adrenaline for just for the sake of excitement. What we DO have is a deeply thought provoking series of events and perspectives that challenge how evolving technology can redefine or completely do away with our current concepts of humanity.

My only real cons are that Greg goes to such lengths to explain and take you to each of his thought points and conclusions, that the actual "story" is relatively light. Now, if you enjoy staying in those thoughts and sort of letting them gestate, this won't be much of a problem. If however, these thoughts don't resonate with you, you might find yourself waiting for the next "thing" to happen.

Sort of on the other end of that, I felt that the conclusion of the book was a bit hasty. When considering the effort that went into making sure that the reader has bought and understood the rules of the world, the end felt a tad rushed and unearned. It's not to say that it's bad by any means, it just felt as if SOMETHING that fit a more typical sci fi ending had to happen just for the sake of it, rather than the story logically leading there.

The fact that this book was written in 1994 blew my mind, as many of the technologies mentioned seem like logical progressions of things that have only become common in the past 10 or so years, so the foresight alone is incredible. All in all this book is a must read for any hard science fiction fan. While not perfect, enough love and attention clearly went into it to add it to your collection


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Permutation City Greg Egan 9780061054815 Books Reviews

Other reviewers are pinning this as "very hard" sci-fi, but it feels a lot more like an exploration of philosophy of mind. The book is well written, with a pretty straightforward style. The explanations of hardware (real or simulated) are a little hand-wavey, However, this doesn't detract from the book because the real story is the "software" the simulated minds running on said hardware. The author uses the experiences of these characters to explore and share ideas about being a mind. Eg Does it matter how or where the pattern that is "you" is computed? What are you if you can change your emotions, memories and capabilities at will? How do beings with these capabilities relate and interact with each other? If having a set of fairly interesting characters explore these questions is remotely interesting to you, then pick up this book.
Very well written, speculative/philosophical sci-fi. I don't feel like writing a long review, but all of Greg Egan's works will make you think. Some people find Egan's books to be hard reads, and indeed the author has even suggested that people take notes when reading some of his works. This is probably the best book he's written IMHO. The premise of this is mind-blowing, and without offering spoilers, this is an entirely new twist on first-contact with a sentient species, (among many other concepts) and Egan writes so well about virtual reality, you end up hoping that if we ever achieve this level of VR, that his works will be used as a guidebook to implementation. It's also an exploration of what consciousness may mean. Some say Egan doesn't develop his characters very well. And I somewhat agree. But he uses his characters more to help illustrate the ideas in his books than to be the primary focus.

It helps to have a technical background and basic understanding of computer science IMHO to fully appreciate this book. You also probably won't get a full appreciation for all of the ideas without rereading it a couple of times.
Greg Egan is an important writer in the tradition of Azimov, Verne and Wells. Like them, he explores the feasable technologigies of his era and expands their scope and implications for individuals and civilization. Permutation City addresses immortatality, cloning and the utility of life in unique ways and in depth. Simly using the terms science fiction, ethical exploration or fantasy-allegory to catagorize this book and his output in general is both difficult and misleading. "Hard SF" for the fans of "hard SF" is accurate but unfortunately may dissuade too mayny potential readers, just as calling ""Gone with the Wind" historical fiction is silly at best.Try this novel or sone of his short stories and decide You may become addicted to him.
This book and this author are one of my most frequent recommendations to my friends, especially millenial (I am a geezer). But not to all Enjoying technologyand both knowing and enjoying learning about scientific concepts is critical. High school physics or computer science and reading about current events in the science pages of, say, The New York Times is enough. So too, if you enjoyed reading Carl Sagan's or Stephen Hawking's popular books then you are in the potential audience.
I wanted to like this book. I gave it a chance. The concepts are interesting, and the setup was fine in the first half, then it fell flat. I actually quit reading around 3/4 of the way through because I suddenly realized I did not care one whit about any of the characters, and did not care if they lived or died, or at least I did not care enough to slog through more of the metaphysical musings of the author (how many times do we have to go back and examine "what makes a person a person" from yet another vantage point?). It's very rare for me to not finish a book, so this was a rare dud from a decent author.
Just reading the back flap of this book doesn't even really begin to describe the depth of the concepts presented in this story. While the material subjects in Permutation City are firmly planted in sci-fi, it also puts concepts such as what it means to "be" human both objectively and subjectively at the forefront. Whether you are an ardent fan of computer science, biology, physics, or even philosophy, this book will elicit some kind of respect from you for its depth in those regards. This book does lean heavily into both hard science and fiction, but quite honestly it takes the concepts so far that that distinctions between the two are trivial.

What this book ISN'T is a flashy science fiction romp with action and adrenaline for just for the sake of excitement. What we DO have is a deeply thought provoking series of events and perspectives that challenge how evolving technology can redefine or completely do away with our current concepts of humanity.

My only real cons are that Greg goes to such lengths to explain and take you to each of his thought points and conclusions, that the actual "story" is relatively light. Now, if you enjoy staying in those thoughts and sort of letting them gestate, this won't be much of a problem. If however, these thoughts don't resonate with you, you might find yourself waiting for the next "thing" to happen.

Sort of on the other end of that, I felt that the conclusion of the book was a bit hasty. When considering the effort that went into making sure that the reader has bought and understood the rules of the world, the end felt a tad rushed and unearned. It's not to say that it's bad by any means, it just felt as if SOMETHING that fit a more typical sci fi ending had to happen just for the sake of it, rather than the story logically leading there.

The fact that this book was written in 1994 blew my mind, as many of the technologies mentioned seem like logical progressions of things that have only become common in the past 10 or so years, so the foresight alone is incredible. All in all this book is a must read for any hard science fiction fan. While not perfect, enough love and attention clearly went into it to add it to your collection