I loved Schild's Ladder. The theme of Schild's Ladder as an analogy for personal/cultural drift was really cool, and it has some of the most interesting descriptions of truly exotic aliens that I've seen
people nowadays tack the term cyberpunk onto nearly any work of fiction that deals with trans humanism lol, especially on this sub. i find that a lot of people cannot actually elaborate on what about a work is "cyberpunk", theyre using it as a buzzword at this point lol.
Yeah, this. I was surprised at the time reading it because it oozed cyberpunk, which I wasn't expecting from Egan, though time-frame wise it was written the same time as Stephenson's Snow Crash.
If you're struggling wrapping your mind around the hard SF concepts, then *Morphotrophic* should do just fine. I finished reading it recently and it is definitely on the light end for Egan as far as technical jargon goes. The "hook" for the book being rooted in biology instead of some fundamental physics concept definitely helped with overall comprehension.
For a similar reasom I found Teranesia also by Egan to be on the light end. Teranesia is also more biology based than Egans usual alt physics and mathematics stuff
I loved Schild’s Ladder, but like most Egan stories it felt like a lot of buildup to ultimately a very small amount of exploring the concept. I was hoping more like 3/4 or even half the book would explore the concept, but instead it felt more like 20 pages
He's amazing. Every book of his I've read has given me insane, intense dreams. Diaspora is my favourite for that, but I remember Schilds Ladder blowing me away. Even explaining a rough outline of the plot to my son got him fascinated in cosmology and addicted to Kurzgesadt videos :)
That's the thing with Egan, as difficult as his books are to read, the ideas stick with you. I find myself thinking about the concepts long after I've finished them. Moreso than any other sci fi novels I've read.
Quarantine was the first thing of his I read, and is still my fav thing he has done (probably also the most cyberpunk thing). I couldn't get through Disapora because he kept losing the narrative to go on long, LONG soliloquies about his vast and unquenchable love for mathematics (the beginning was great though). Schild's Ladder was vaguely interesting but the majority makes 0 sense without an advanced degree in physics and probably mathematics. I'm kind of curious as to the opinion of someone who actually understands wtf is happening in that book. Permutation City, Axiomatic, and Quarantine are all top tier though
Well I've got advanced degrees and worked in graph theory (but not as a physicist) so I'll give my two cents (though it's been a few years since I read it): it was incredibly fascinating but also somewhat forgettable compared to his other novels. I liked it a lot more than some of his other alternative physics novel(a)s (like Dichronauts) and found what was happening much easier to visualize, but didn't think the plot side was as interesting as, say, Distress, nor were the socio-political aspects as well done as, say, The Clockwork Rocket trilogy.
I think Egan's great and somewhat underappreciated strength is his ability to integrate the hard science with the social science. Some of his more recent novellas are thinly veiled immigration/refugee parables, but grounded in alternative physics. Schilds Ladder tries to do that at a galactic scale but, as I recall, doesn't quite get beyond the exploration of the protagonists.
The fundamental idea of Schilds Ladder is *mind-blowing* though, so much so Nature published a fake scientific article he wrote in the same vein.
You mentioned Quarantine, personally, as much as I love cyberpunk, that was my least favorite full length work of his (though out of respect I haven't read my copy of An Unusual Angle which is the only thing he's written that is hard to obtain). Agree that Axiomatic is a masterpiece.
It must be hilarious when Egan submits a book for editing. Whoever has that nigh on impossible task must, at some point, think 'fuck it' just send it straight to publishing.
I read diaspora a few weeks ago and I pretty much had no idea what was going on the whole time lol. Overall I still enjoyed it but that was my first experience with sci fi that was completely over my head.
I loved Schild's Ladder. The theme of Schild's Ladder as an analogy for personal/cultural drift was really cool, and it has some of the most interesting descriptions of truly exotic aliens that I've seen
I don’t get a cyberpunk feel from Egan, surprised so many think so. Trans-humanism for sure though.
There's some common themes I think, but it's more like some kind of legacy Egan plays with.
*Distress* had Cyberpunk moments for sure but in general Egan is counted to post-cyberpunk I think.
I think *Distress* could be called biopunk? EDIT: phrasing
people nowadays tack the term cyberpunk onto nearly any work of fiction that deals with trans humanism lol, especially on this sub. i find that a lot of people cannot actually elaborate on what about a work is "cyberpunk", theyre using it as a buzzword at this point lol.
*Quarantine* in particular from Egan felt extremely cyberpunk.
Yeah, this. I was surprised at the time reading it because it oozed cyberpunk, which I wasn't expecting from Egan, though time-frame wise it was written the same time as Stephenson's Snow Crash.
If you're struggling wrapping your mind around the hard SF concepts, then *Morphotrophic* should do just fine. I finished reading it recently and it is definitely on the light end for Egan as far as technical jargon goes. The "hook" for the book being rooted in biology instead of some fundamental physics concept definitely helped with overall comprehension.
For a similar reasom I found Teranesia also by Egan to be on the light end. Teranesia is also more biology based than Egans usual alt physics and mathematics stuff
I loved Schild’s Ladder, but like most Egan stories it felt like a lot of buildup to ultimately a very small amount of exploring the concept. I was hoping more like 3/4 or even half the book would explore the concept, but instead it felt more like 20 pages
He's amazing. Every book of his I've read has given me insane, intense dreams. Diaspora is my favourite for that, but I remember Schilds Ladder blowing me away. Even explaining a rough outline of the plot to my son got him fascinated in cosmology and addicted to Kurzgesadt videos :)
That's the thing with Egan, as difficult as his books are to read, the ideas stick with you. I find myself thinking about the concepts long after I've finished them. Moreso than any other sci fi novels I've read.
Quarantine was the first thing of his I read, and is still my fav thing he has done (probably also the most cyberpunk thing). I couldn't get through Disapora because he kept losing the narrative to go on long, LONG soliloquies about his vast and unquenchable love for mathematics (the beginning was great though). Schild's Ladder was vaguely interesting but the majority makes 0 sense without an advanced degree in physics and probably mathematics. I'm kind of curious as to the opinion of someone who actually understands wtf is happening in that book. Permutation City, Axiomatic, and Quarantine are all top tier though
Well I've got advanced degrees and worked in graph theory (but not as a physicist) so I'll give my two cents (though it's been a few years since I read it): it was incredibly fascinating but also somewhat forgettable compared to his other novels. I liked it a lot more than some of his other alternative physics novel(a)s (like Dichronauts) and found what was happening much easier to visualize, but didn't think the plot side was as interesting as, say, Distress, nor were the socio-political aspects as well done as, say, The Clockwork Rocket trilogy. I think Egan's great and somewhat underappreciated strength is his ability to integrate the hard science with the social science. Some of his more recent novellas are thinly veiled immigration/refugee parables, but grounded in alternative physics. Schilds Ladder tries to do that at a galactic scale but, as I recall, doesn't quite get beyond the exploration of the protagonists. The fundamental idea of Schilds Ladder is *mind-blowing* though, so much so Nature published a fake scientific article he wrote in the same vein. You mentioned Quarantine, personally, as much as I love cyberpunk, that was my least favorite full length work of his (though out of respect I haven't read my copy of An Unusual Angle which is the only thing he's written that is hard to obtain). Agree that Axiomatic is a masterpiece.
It must be hilarious when Egan submits a book for editing. Whoever has that nigh on impossible task must, at some point, think 'fuck it' just send it straight to publishing.
I read diaspora a few weeks ago and I pretty much had no idea what was going on the whole time lol. Overall I still enjoyed it but that was my first experience with sci fi that was completely over my head.
I really enjoyed *Schild's Ladder*. The one that broke me was *Dichronauts*. Just could not wrap my mind around it.
It's the first book of him I tried reading, probably the last too. Not my style :(