Customer Reviews

Exploring the Matrix: Visions of the Cyber Present (Byron Preiss Book)

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4 star:		(7)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

You never know quite what to expect from a nonfiction tie-in to a
popular film or series. (I'm sure one of these days we'll see THE RELIGIOUS IMPLICATIONS OF DOCTOR WHO,
and HANNIBAL LECTER'S FAVORITE RECIPES and they'll be just as bad as
those titles suggest.) But EXPLORING THE MATRIX, edited by Karen
Haber, exceeds whatever the expectations are -- and with considerable
brio.

EXPLORING THE MATRIX offers far more than a choice of red or blue
pill. There are predictable references to William Gibson, P.K Dick,
Charles Dodgson, Jack Williamson, and Nick Bostrum; but there are
also random flashes of the unexpected: "Punk fashion has always been
protective armor. The spikes, the leather, the razors, the zippers,
they are what you put on after flower-power has choked to death on
its own vomit. It's Kevlar for the soft marshmallow core of youthful
idealism." (Bruce Sterling)..."The result of figure _without_ ground
is _Symbolism_." (Dean Motter)... "the most successful movements are
always punished by becoming clichés" (David Brin)...Joe Haldeman
muses briefly about interpreting the movie through the obscure
mythology of sf fandom (and wisely tiptoes by that sleeping dog.)

You'll find some agreement and constant contradictions: THE MATRIX is
nothing but style / THE MATRIX has spiritual depth. It has nothing to
do with cyberpunk; it has everything to do with cyberpunk. And the
essays say a surprising (and contradictory) amount about cyberpunk
itself. Most of the essays are more entertaining than weighty. It's
all well-written, formalized "sitting around the bar with very
intelligent, witty friends at a great con" stuff rather than
dissertation material. You'll find yourself wanting to continue the
discussion -- "Well, yes, but what about..." or "Oh no! I have to
disagree..."

Paul DiFillippo's essay on literary influences solidly connects
everything and everyone from the Bible, Blake, and Baum to Michael
Moorcock and Neil Gaiman. Haber considers the black joke that the
high-tech sfx movie is profoundly anti-science. Alan Dean Foster
proves that the movie's true meaning is that nerdy geeks can triumph.
Ian Watson's essay connects THE MATRIX to French social theorist Jean
Baudrillard and convincingly argues it should be seen as a superhero
movie exploiting, rather than exemplifying, cyberpunk themes. John
Shirley seems to be the only writer to recognize "the group of films
galvanized by the same furnace of fermenting realization" along with
THE MATRIX. Rick Berry writes on the ancient past of CGI and
expresses refreshing optimism about cyberspace.

The essays are accompanied by the magnificent art of Darrel Anderson
(who also supplies an essay) and Robert Zahrab (which, sadly I could
get only an impression of since I have the galley and not the
finished product) and spiffy design. A must-read for the film's fans,
EXPLORING THE MATRIX it's highly recommended reading for science
fiction buffs as well. -- Paula Guran

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This is a very interesting book, with essays written by several science fiction and cyberpunk authors, like John Shirley, Bruce Sterling, Stephen Baxter and others. Some essays are great, others are so-so, but all in all, it is definetly worth its price.

Perhaps the central idea of the Matrix, and one explored in great depth in Haber's work, is the relationship between reality and between perceptions of reality. The protagonists are battling in a Gnostic world---that is, one in which "reality" is what the participants perceive it to be (the workaday world of the early 21st century), rather than the underlying "true" reality, (a distant future in which computers grow humans in pods and harvest their biochemical energy while programming them to accept their cable-fed perceptions as "real"). Haber's contributors discuss everything from the possibility of such a world (how much energy can be harvested from human beings as opposed to the amount of energy necessary to maintain the fictitious "reality") to its desirability (if such a world were possible, wouldn't it be preferable to this one, for many of the world's population currently living in misery?).

For those of us interested in computing and the Internet, these topics are all familiar ones to us: what is the reality of the Internet? Do we spend too much time there, wherever "there" is? What is the impact of computers in our own lives? What should it be? Are we going down a dangerous path ending in a pod or its intellectual or moral equivalent?

For a full review see Interface, Volume 3, Issue 3.

Terrorist or freedom fighter? Reality or just a whiner's view of life? Red Pill or Blue Pill? The Chosen One or a Teenager's wet dream? Explore the Matrix, from the science to the myth, and find out if it is what you thought it was. Great book to read before watching the next two films. Even better to read after them and see how many nails the authors' hit on the head. David Brin, Joe Haldeman, Alan Dean Foster, and Kevin J. Anderson. Young and old masters of the science fiction story. Lets dive into the book and see how THEY see the Matrix.

This book was very entertaining. Although it is a bit misleading, the book discusses Cyberpunk fiction more than the Matrix. But that is what I enjoyed about this book. The collection of essays is fun and goes through some great largely unknown books of sci-fi. The Cyberpunk genre is cultish but a personal favorite of mine.

If you like the Matrix this is a good book but don't complain about sidetracking to other topics of interest, because that is what this book does.

the eve of the release of the first of two sequels (the number 3 is the power number in science fiction - reviewer babble). The eighteen contributions come from a virtual "cyberpunk and science-fiction visionaries" with most of the inputs quite interesting especially when two authors are diametrically opposite in their interpretation of the film. Debates range the gamut from whether the heroes are cyberpunks opposed to the overreach of science placing a web on their personal lives or comic book superheroes on the screen. If one is looking for the next great philosophical debate or a treatise on the Second Coming, then go elsewhere. However, fans of the movie will enjoy the discussion, much of which is simple fluff, but also enough fun stuff. Though enjoyable, the bottom line of EXPLORING THE MATRIX is the psycho prattle debate seeks hidden meaning when to many of the fans it is simply an entertaining flick.

Harriet Klausner

The essays written by these successful science fiction writers are all very interesting in thier own right. Thier review of the movie is also helpful to gain a deeper insight into its meaning, or lack thereof.

We stand at the doorway of a whole new world. Of course if there was ever a powercut that new world would cease to exist. Never the less I am grateful to any author who will construct a deeper insight into those worlds such is given here. We need visionaries to show us what can be possible and what to be careful of... Its a wonderful time to be online..