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The Diamond Age
Neal Stephenson
Hugo 1996, Locus, Top 20

Great writing, incredible imagination and creativity-justifies my belief (diminished by some recent winners) that science fiction is evolving and getting better.

Captivating prose like the following sentence adds richness to the many intriguing situations and characters. "A young woman was here, standing before one of the poles with her hands clasped behind her back, which would have given her an endearingly prim appearance if she had not been stark naked and covered with constantly shifting mediatronic tattoos."

Penetrating philosophical speculations kept me thinking for weeks about contemporary comparisons. For example, the idea that in a society with few or no values, hypocricy becomes the main point of criticism. You can't be hypocritical if you don't have any values, any strong sense of right and wrong. And as a culture swings from ridgidity to lack of morals and back again, animosity toward hypocricy defines the phase and turning points in this cycle. For example, in today's culture of diminished values, movies about Jane Austen's Victorian characters suddenly became quite popular.

At heart though, this is a book about a book (compare the 1963 winner, Man in the High Castle). About an intelligent and aware book that guides the reader through the vagaries of extremely difficult external situations. A book with wisdom, compassion and grand vision.

Parental discression: though a young girl's education is a central theme and a young adolescent could probably learn a great deal, a few graphic, group sexual situations make it inappropriate for the less than mature.

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