A occasionally uneven but mostly engaging assortment from a talented literary mind.
The author of The Baroque Cycle series and works of speculative fiction offers a miscellany of stories and essays, some of classic Stephensonian length.
In a breezy, self-deprecating introduction, Stephenson (Reamde, 2011, etc.) credits (blames?) others for the idea for this collection. The pieces range from mildly hectoring essays of advice (we should move around more) to more learned pieces about the intellectual war between Newton and Leibnitz, to fluff about the differences between “geeking out” and “vegging out.” Stephenson also includes the text of a speech at Gresham College, a revealing interview with Salon and a massively long but massively interesting piece of investigative journalism for Wired, which deals with the history, technology and logistics of the submarine cable industry. The author traveled across the world—and back in time—to explain in ways surely comprehensible to most readers how all of this started, how it works, and what it costs. Although the piece is now dated a bit (as are a number of the others here), the historical significance of his work is sizeable. Readers will emerge from that labyrinthine piece with a more comprehensive understanding of how the Internet works, how information gets from here to there and back again. Stephenson also includes some fiction, including a speculative tale about e-money and a single-sentence beginning to an otherwise-unwritten crime novel set in Middle-earth. In some of the op-ed-like pieces, the author urges more reading, defends his genre against those who disparage it, wonders why we don’t understand religious zealots, and bemoans what he views as a lack of will to pursue the sort of innovation that characterized the era of space exploration. He ends with an explanation and apology for not answering emails from his fans.
A occasionally uneven but mostly engaging assortment from a talented literary mind.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-202443-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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