Accelerando

2005-09-22 23:11 ☼ post

I’ve been reading Charles Stross’ Accelerando the last couple days and really enjoying it. I originally downloaded it several months ago, but never got around to reading it for some reason. But it was in the back of my mind and yesterday after I started to experiment with reading eBooks on my recently acquired Clie it was one the first plucker format files I tried out.

Accelerando is dense with all kinds of current tech and near future extrapolations on the same. Lots of cool ideas relating to the Singularity, the web, geopolitics, AI and various other popular sf memes. It’s somewhat overwhelming to me and I actually have some understanding of most of the technical ideas and allusions. I can’t imagine too many people with a low geek quotient enjoying or getting this book, but if you read a lot of weblogs and like science fiction you’ll probably like it a lot.

On a related note the Clie PEG-SJ20 is a great little eBook reader. The backlit screen is perfect for reading in bed with the lights off. The screen isn’t big by today’s standards, but the dot pitch is nearly twice what you usually encounter and very easy on the eyes. Battery life seems really good so far as well.