MaryCatherine's Reviews > The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

I read this book several years ago, shortly after discovering the author's wonderful Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon. I then read Snow Crash--so much more mind-bending for me-- and Diamond Age--another experience untethered from reality as I know it. I enjoy reading this author very much, although his ambitious subjects and sheer volume of ideas makes a bit of a bumpy ride. He expands the imagination and his breadth of knowledge is simply phenomenal. I can't begin to describe this book, so you'll just have to try his books for yourselves. My personal favorite is the Baroque Cycle, where he plays more deftly and puckishly with history than anyone since Voltaire's Candide, or maybe Heller's Catch-22? This book has elements of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, with cyberpunk and Dickensian-style social commentary and complexity. I love this author! Recommended for polymaths who love exploring ideas.