Translation Blog (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
While reading PoPCo , by Scarlett Thomas, I learnt that the word “avatar”, which refers to an Internet user's alter ego in online forums and other communities, comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “descent of a deity to the Earth in incarnate form”. According to Wikipedia, it was popularised by Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (1992): While Stephenson was not the first to apply the Sanskrit...
Nothing Tra La La? (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
Neal Stephenson's Anathem is a typically robust brick of a novel, 937 pages packed with action, maths and top facts. It was a Christmas present, though the weight of thing put me off starting it until my long flight out to Florida. At first, I thought it was running along the same lines as my great favourites A Canticle for Leibowitz and Riddley Walker : the people of a post-apocalyptic Earth struggling...
Al Fin (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
For some very interesting speculations concerning the uploading of human consciousness, development of human level machine intelligence, and the emulation of human minds in machines, check out the Singularity Summit 2009 videos that are now online. A wide variety of ideas and viewpoints will help to spur your imagination and perhaps open a few mental pathways. Al Fin has very low expectations for these...
South Bend Seven (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
Reason Magazine | Hit & Run | Matt Welch | Feds Order News Site to Cough up User Data : Well, here's some awful news ! In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day. The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based...
Kotaku (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
Let me get this out of the way: I'm not a Trekkie. I was a loyal Star Wars fan until the prequels and thereafter switched my science fiction allegiance to Neal Stephenson. So forgive me if I can't...
The Geomblog (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
Neal Stephenson is (or should be !) a familiar figure in the sci-fi/speculative fiction landscape: his Cryptonomicon is a retelling of the story of Turing, along with much modern day drama involving advanced crypto and security. His new book, Anathem , came out with much fanfare, and is a vast tale set in a place where mathematics is a pursuit conducted in monastery-like places with strong religious...
The Strategist (Free subscription) | 11/07/2009
Check out this Q&A between sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson and Slashdot readers (h/t Ubiwar). It ranges over topics like 'Beowulf' and 'Dante' writers, new publishing models, hacking tools as weapons, and the singularity... "I can never get past the structural...
dispatches from TJICistan (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
Unlike Neal Stephenson, the last sentenced of Jered’s blog posts are the best … especially when he’s taking David Foster Wallace (or, at least, his corpse) out behind the woodshed for a well deserved beating. (subject line hattip)
Stowe Boyd's (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
At the end of a series of interviews and an equally wide exploration of new thinking on the future of money, I find my thoughts line up pretty closely with those of author Neal Stephenson in a 2005 Slashdot interview:...
Super Punch (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
One of several similar ads by Ogilvy for Wilkies Martial Arts Academy. *Previously: Neal Stephenson and Edwardian martial arts . * Buy martial arts patches at eBay.
the Literary Saloon (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
The long list for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is now available: 156 authors from 46 countries, with 41 books originally written in 17 languages other than English (a decent percentage). Among the finalists are a good number (eighteen) under review at the complete review : Anathem by Neal Stephenson The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs Beyond Suspicion by Tanguy Viel Chicago by Alaa Al...
GlennLog (Free subscription) | 11/01/2009
The first time I read Neal Stephenson's Anathem , a form of sci-fi, I felt like it was tearing my brain apart slightly. Anathem takes place on a world called Arbre, and Stephenson invented words for many things to denote the difference from our own history that were close enough to be familiar and prick at my neurons, but not identical. Fraa instead of Frere (for a brother in a monastery); concent...
The World in the Satin Bag (Free subscription) | 10/28/2009
There was an enormous book sale here in Gainesville over the last few days and I thought I’d let you all know what I got (a lot of stuff, actually). Next time, in April, I don’t think I will be going quite as all out, mostly because I don’t have as much need for a lot of books anymore. I intentionally went this year trying to find things to use for my research, and now I’m only...
Book Addicts Anonymous (Free subscription) | 10/28/2009
I have been reading AK slowly but surely. The main complaint of most readers doesn't bother me. I have read several books based in Russia and know that one family member can have many different names, depending on who is talking about them/addressing them. It isn't as strange as you think, our own language has many different ways of addressing people. If you are talking to a family member you use their...
Llewtrah's Soapbox (Free subscription) | 10/27/2009
The Confusion is the second book in the Baroque cycle and follows the parallel lives of Eliza (Duchess of Qwghlm) and Jack Shaftoe. The plot, if there can be said to be one, is massively rambling and an excuse to see the development of banks and commerce. Eliza moves in learned and aristocratic circles, but finds her financial and personal fortunes affected by war in Europe. She marries for political...
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