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trisa_slyne's review
4.0
I think I liked the movie better. But I still enjoyed the book. It explained a lot of things and had a better reason for the simulator's existence than the movie did. :)
xach's review
5.0
This is a book that deserves--nay, needs--a resurgence in popular culture. Although it was the inspiration for the movie "The Thirteenth Floor," the two share about as much similarity as "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and "Blade Runner." Though for those of you who have seen the film, I offer the additional caveat that knowing the ending and getting there are two very different things. Read it anyway.
What astounded me to jaw dropping proportions about this book is that, published in 1964, it effectively predicted the rise of social networking (Facebook and the like) by decades. The major conceit of the novel is the concept that a person's personal opinions can be quantified as data and used as a commodity to orient a society's future. In the novel, Douglas Hall is the protege of Dr. Fuller, and the two of them are working on "Simulacron 3," a simulated world in which the army of pollsters that clog up their own world would be rendered irrelevant. In this simulation, billboards and adverts would take the place of pollsters, and reactions would be collected, collated, and quantified based on the stimuli provided.
And then, everything gets weird.
Told in the first person narration of Douglas Hall himself, the story constantly asks the reader to question what's real and what isn't, forcing direct confrontations with Cartesian philosophy, epistemology, and the nature of our universe. Ultimately, the narrative poses questions that are impossible to resolve even after the book is over. Thankfully, it also offers the reader some moral opinions on how to proceed in the face of these unanswerable questions. It is a novel not without hope, but not offering any definite solutions either.
While I found many aspects of some of the characters to be flat and not well developed, the farther into the story I read the less I cared about the deficiencies--without offering any spoilers, I will simply state that there are reasons for this opinion. And while the narrative mostly avoids the pitfall of explaining how fantasy technology will work, there were a couple points where the narrative delved into a very brief synopsis of the mechanics involved, which always takes me out of a story. That's a personal issue, however, and ought not dissuade any interested reader from picking up the book.
In addition to being science fiction that creates a futuristic world set in the mid-21st Century, the novel also has strong qualities that would later be labeled "Cyberpunk." Mind you, this is 1964. "City Come A-Walkin'" didn't come out until 1980, and Neuromancer was in 1984. This predates both of those novels by decades, yet retains the same timeless qualities of both, and is equally deserving of space on one's shelf.
Whether you choose to look at the narrative through a Marxist lens, a feminist one, use deconstructive theories, narratology, or reader response theories, this book will offer something to people looking to delve into the minutia of a novel as well as people just looking to enjoy a fascinating story.
So, if you're going to take my opinion on books to read and enjoy science fiction, I highly recommend putting this at or near the top of your list.
What astounded me to jaw dropping proportions about this book is that, published in 1964, it effectively predicted the rise of social networking (Facebook and the like) by decades. The major conceit of the novel is the concept that a person's personal opinions can be quantified as data and used as a commodity to orient a society's future. In the novel, Douglas Hall is the protege of Dr. Fuller, and the two of them are working on "Simulacron 3," a simulated world in which the army of pollsters that clog up their own world would be rendered irrelevant. In this simulation, billboards and adverts would take the place of pollsters, and reactions would be collected, collated, and quantified based on the stimuli provided.
And then, everything gets weird.
Told in the first person narration of Douglas Hall himself, the story constantly asks the reader to question what's real and what isn't, forcing direct confrontations with Cartesian philosophy, epistemology, and the nature of our universe. Ultimately, the narrative poses questions that are impossible to resolve even after the book is over. Thankfully, it also offers the reader some moral opinions on how to proceed in the face of these unanswerable questions. It is a novel not without hope, but not offering any definite solutions either.
While I found many aspects of some of the characters to be flat and not well developed, the farther into the story I read the less I cared about the deficiencies--without offering any spoilers, I will simply state that there are reasons for this opinion. And while the narrative mostly avoids the pitfall of explaining how fantasy technology will work, there were a couple points where the narrative delved into a very brief synopsis of the mechanics involved, which always takes me out of a story. That's a personal issue, however, and ought not dissuade any interested reader from picking up the book.
In addition to being science fiction that creates a futuristic world set in the mid-21st Century, the novel also has strong qualities that would later be labeled "Cyberpunk." Mind you, this is 1964. "City Come A-Walkin'" didn't come out until 1980, and Neuromancer was in 1984. This predates both of those novels by decades, yet retains the same timeless qualities of both, and is equally deserving of space on one's shelf.
Whether you choose to look at the narrative through a Marxist lens, a feminist one, use deconstructive theories, narratology, or reader response theories, this book will offer something to people looking to delve into the minutia of a novel as well as people just looking to enjoy a fascinating story.
So, if you're going to take my opinion on books to read and enjoy science fiction, I highly recommend putting this at or near the top of your list.
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