Vernor Vinge - Across Realtime 1 - The Peace War (2) PDF
Preview Vernor Vinge - Across Realtime 1 - The Peace War (2)
Vernor Vinge Editorial Reviews Inside Flap Copy After the World Ends Fifty years before, the "Peace Authority" took control of governments worldwide with a radically different weapon, the "bobbler," which encased its targets within an impenetrable force field, rendering resistance impotent. After the decimation caused by severe plagues, civilization fell into a semifeudal state, and all high technology was banned. But Paul Naismith, inventor of the bobbler, has never given up hope, and having hidden from the usurpers for decades, he is finally ready to lead the tinker underground against the evil he helped to create. The odds against them seem impossibly long. Nothing has been able to defeat the Peace Authority's bobbler. Until now . . . "Combines the tautness of a political thriller with strong characterizations. A suspenseful story." - Library Journal "Conveys the excitement of a conceptual breakthrough as well as the gap between theory and actuality." - Publishers Weekly "A fascinating scientific concept worked into a colorful, carefully thought-out future." -- Locus The Peace War Three-time Hugo Award winner Vernor Vinge "Unpredictable in its exciting plot twists yet totally logical in retrospect . . . the kind of suspenseful adventure novel that is a joy to read." --Reason --This text refers to the Paperback edition. Customer Reviews riveted, February 15, 2003 Reviewe r I'm a new reader of this author and I have to say this book kept me going through the pages. The plot is well designed and the imagination involved is amazing. Vinge reminds me strangely of Orson Scott Card in that his characters aren't necessarily well-developed in their personalities but they are sufficient to move a well-crafted story to its purpose. I really liked the book and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun read. the war to end all wars is a perfect concept, January 30, 2003 Reviewer : I love this book it has been inspirational to my life and V Vinge is of the caliber of orson scott card and the other great scifi writers of this new era! I know you will like it. the multiplicity of concepts presented is deep and wide, cyperpunk combined with mono directional time travel and high tech AI, bio weapons and tinkers, The Peace War is truly a masterpiece. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. Amazing Hard SF., November 6, 2001 Reviewer : This book reminds me of "The Ringworld Engineers" in that it is one of the only science fiction stories that I've read that really tries to make its imaginary world function in a believable way. Vinge holds a doctorate in computer science, and it really shows. There is a certain undeniable logic and elegance to his ideas. This book is the first introduction of Vinge's idea of the Singularity (google for it, it's worth it). --This text refers to the Paperback edition. An epic struggle for freedom, April 15, 2000 Reviewer : Using its superior weapon, the Peace Authority grabbed control of the world. During the brief struggle an unknown nation released deadly biological agents. Billions died, and the Peace Authority stepped in to pick up the pieces. In many places civilisation was left to revert to feudalism. So now its fifty years later and the world has had fifty years without a war. The Authority preserves the peace by stamping out all high energy physics research, they do not permit any biological experimentation and all large-scale weapons of war are forbidden. But everything has its price. Peace has been achieved at the cost of crushing of the human spirit and the stagnation of human potential. The Authority also tries to suppress innovation by siphoning off the young intellectual cream to its stronghold, the former Livermore University campus. There they are trained to work for and think like the Peace Authority. The organisation's power is derived from the possession of the ultimate weapon. The invincible, impenetrable force fields known as the 'Bobble'. Any transgressors are immediately enclosed in this spherical force field and are trapped for all eternity dying slowly from asphyxiation in an airless tomb. Unbeknown to the Authority, small groups have been working together on low energy, high tech research. The fruits of this research take the form of intelligent weapons, untraceable communications and computing power many orders of magnitude above anything the Peace Authority possesses. These groups known as the Tinkers also have as their ally Paul Hoehler the genius that invented the Bobble and unwittingly unleashed the Peace Authority on the world. Paul has been trying to for fifty years to undo this harm, but time is running out for Paul. He is now old and frail, he needs to find an apprentice to assume his mantle, but genius is a rare commodity and the Peace Authority is finally closing in on him. This is a beautifully written novel detailing an ' David and Goliath' struggle between the Peace Authority and the Tinkers. It is also a graphic lesson in why totalitarianism doesn't work, no matter how good the intentions of the rulers (the road to Hell is paved with such good intentions!). There is no such thing as a good dictatorship. While I was reading this story I couldn't help but note the many amusing parallels between the Tinker's struggle with the Authority and the Linux OS developers battle against a certain popular software company. Like the Tinkers the Linux community are innovative, adaptable, fast moving and technically advanced. Like the Authority the popular software company is a ponderous leviathan that is slow to react and frankly has trouble innovating. Who will win the struggle? Read this excellent book and decide for yourself. This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. Copyright © 1991 by Vernor Vinge All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form. A Baen Books Original Copyright Data: The two novels and novella that compose Across Realtime are copyright as follows: The Peace War 1984 by Vernor Vinge; “The Ungoverned,” © 1985 by Vernor Vinge (first published in Far Frontiers, Fall 1985); Marooned in Realtime © 1986 by Vernor Vinge Baen Publishing Enterprises P.O. Box 1403 Riverdale, NY 10471 ISBN: 0-671-72098-8 Cover art by David Mattingly First Printing, December 1991 Printed in the United States of America Distributed by Simon & Schuster 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 To my parents, Clarence L. Vinge and Ada Grace Vinge, with Love. Acknowledgments: In writing The Peace War, I am grateful to: Chuck Glines and Bil Townsend of the US Forest Service for talking to me about Los Padres National Forest; Jim Concannon and Concannon Winery of Livermore, California, for their hospitality and a very interesting tour of the Concannon Winery; Lea Braff, Jim Frenkel, Mike Gannis, Sharon Jarvis, and Joan D. Vinge for all their help and ideas. Especially in connection with “The Ungoverned,” I want to thank David Friedman for writing The Machinery of Freedom, Guide to a Radical Capitalism. (Me second edition is available from Open Court Publishing Company.) In writing Marooned in Realtime, I am grateful to: Mike Gannis for many super ideas; Sara Baase, John Carroll, Howard Davidson, Jim Frenkel, Dipak Gupta, Jay Hill, Sharon Jarvis, and Joan D. Vinge for all their help and suggestions. Other people have created zoologies and/or geographies of the far future. Though they are different from what is described in Marooned in Realtime, they are wonderfully interesting: Dougal Dixon, After Man, St. Martins Press, 1981. Christopher Scotese and Alfred Ziegler, as described in “The Shape of Tomorrow,” by Dennis Overbye, Discover, November, 1982, pp. 20-25. Contents Acknowledgments: Flashback - ONE TWO THREE Flashforward - FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT Flashforward - NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN Flashforward - FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN NINETEEN TWENTY TWENTY-ONE TWENTY-TWO TWENTY-THREE TWENTY-FOUR TWENTY FIVE TWENTY-SIX TWENTY-SEVEN TWENTY-EIGHT TWENTY-NINE THIRTY THIRTY-ONE THIRTY-TWO THIRTY-THREE THIRTY-FOUR THIRTY-FIVE THIRTY-SIX THIRTY-SEVEN THIRTY-EIGHT THIRTY-NINE FORTY FORTY-ONE FORTY-TWO
The list of books you might like
