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Ramez Naam

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Nexus: Nexus Arc Book 1 Paperback – December 18, 2012

by Ramez Naam (Author), ARGH! Oxford (Illustrator)

4.4 3,552 ratings

Book 1 of 3: The Nexus Trilogy

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Winner of the 2014 Prometheus Award

Mankind gets an upgrade

In the near future, the experimental nano-drug Nexus can link humans together, mind to mind. There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it.

When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage – for there is far more at stake than anyone realizes.

From the halls of academe to the halls of power, from the headquarters of an elite US agency in Washington DC to a secret lab beneath a top university in Shanghai, from the underground parties of San Francisco to the illegal biotech markets of Bangkok, from an international neuroscience conference to a remote monastery in the mountains of Thailand – Nexus is a thrill ride through a future on the brink of explosion.

File Under: Science Fiction [Humanity 2.0 | Mind Matters | Hive | This Will Happen]

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Naam, an expert in new technologies and author of More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement (2005), turns in a stellar performance with his debut sf novel. Nexus is a nanotechnology that allows human minds to link up. But rogue scientists are using it to turn ordinary people into killers (shades of Richard Condon’s classic novel The Manchurian Candidate). The American government recruits—in other words, blackmails—Kade Lane, a grad student who’s been known to tinker with Nexus, to get close to the suspected leader of the mind-control program. But, as Kade soon discovers, one man’s villain is another’s visionary, and he’s forced to choose sides in a hurry, before someone else decides he’s too dangerous to stay alive. Naam has set himself a difficult challenge here: he’s telling a story in which much of the action and dialogue takes place inside the characters’ minds. But he succeeds admirably: one scene, in particular, in which a character races to make changes to the Nexus system by reprogramming it inside his own head, is nail-bitingly tense, when it could easily have come off as preposterous. The dialogue might be a bit raw in places, and there might be a slight overuse of exclamation points, but those are minor rookie mistakes. What matters here is the remarkable scope of the story and its narrative power. --David Pitt

Review

"Good. Scary Good."
-Wired

"Provocative... A double-edged vision of the post-human."
-The Wall Street Journal

"A lightning bolt of a novel, with a sense of awe missing from a lot of current fiction." -Ars Technica

"Starred Review. Naam turns in a stellar performance in his debut SF novel... What matters here is the remarkable scope and narrative power of the story."
-Booklist

"A rich cast of characters...the action scenes are crisp, the glimpses of future tech and culture are mesmerizing."
- Publishers Weekly

“Naam displays a Michael Crichton-like ability to explain cutting-edge research via the medium of an airport techno-thriller.”
–SFX Magazine

"A superbly plotted high-tension technothriller ... full of delicious, thoughtful moral ambiguity ... a hell of a read." -Cory Doctorow

"Nexus and Crux are a devastating probe into the political consequences of transhumanism; a sharp, chilling look at our likely future."
– Charles Stross, author of Singularity Sky and Halting State

"A gripping piece of near future speculation... all the grit and pace of the Bourne films." -Alastair Reynolds, author of Revelation Space

"The most brilliant hard SF thriller I've read in years. Reminds me of Michael Crichton at his best." -Brenda Cooper, author of The Creative Fire

"Any old writer can take you on a roller coaster ride, but it takes a wizard like Ramez Naam to take you on the same ride while he builds the roller coaster a few feet in front of your plummeting car... you'll want to read it before everyone's talking about it."
- John Barnes, author of the Timeline Wars and Daybreak series.

"An incredibly imaginative, action-packed intellectual romp! Ramez Naam has turned the notion of human liberty and freedom on its head by forcing the question: Technology permitting, should we be free to radically alter our physiological and mental states?"
- Dani Kollin, Prometheus award winning author of The Unincorporated Man

"The only serious successor to Michael Crichton working in the future history genre today."
- Scott Harrison, author of Archangel

"If you are posthuman or transhuman this is an absolute must-read for you; and even mere mortals will love it."
- Philip Palmer, author of Version 43 and Hell Ship

"Ramez writes excellent action sequences, incorporating his technology well, and the lives at stake are more than just cardboard cutouts. No one in this story is 'as meets the eye'"
- Timothy C. Ward

"a fast, fun read which is both emotionally engaging and thought-provoking. You'll be mulling over the implications of Nexus — the book and the drug — long after you put the book down."
-Analee Newitz, io9.com

About the Author

Ramez Naam is a professional technologist, and was involved in the development of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook. He holds a seat on the advisory board of the Institute for Accelerating Change, is a member of the World Future Society, a Senior Associate of the Foresight Institute, and a fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.

His non-fiction book More Than Human won the H.G. Wells Award.

His novels has been nominated for the Kitscie Award for Best Debut, the Prometheus Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He is a 2014 nominee for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Book 1 of 3

The Nexus Trilogy
Print length

464 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Angry Robot
Publication date

December 18, 2012
Dimensions

0.04 x 0.04 x 0.04 inches
ISBN-10

0857662937
ISBN-13

978-0857662934
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Angry Robot (December 18, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0857662937
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0857662934
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 0.035 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.04 x 0.04 x 0.04 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,274,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,919 in Cyberpunk Science Fiction (Books)
- #8,795 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #43,070 in Science Fiction Adventures

Customer Reviews:
4.4 3,552 ratings

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Ramez Naam

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Ramez Naam was born in Cairo, Egypt, and came to the US at the age of 3. He's a computer scientist who spent 13 years at Microsoft, leading teams working on email, web browsing, search, and artificial intelligence. He holds almost 20 patents in those areas.

Ramez is the winner of the 2005 H.G. Wells Award for his non-fiction book More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. He's worked as a life guard, has climbed mountains, backpacked through remote corners of China, and ridden his bicycle down hundreds of miles of the Vietnam coast. He lives in Seattle, where he writes and speaks full time.

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4.4 out of 5

3,552 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

Still works 10 years later

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2023

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I read this novel when it first came out; I found the science, the characters, the pacing were all practically perfect. An amazing first novel. I went onto recommend it to many friends as a vision of what could be. I find myself rereading it some 10 years later, and finding it as compelling and as gripping as that first read. And world events seem to be tracking to a recognizable version of what was written. With AI, ChatGPT, quantum computing and nanotechnology all making strides in the directions described. If you want to understand what the future might look like, this is a great roadmap, and great entertainment, and also a call to freedom from possible tyranny.
Well worth your time I believe.

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Tghu Verd

Pleasingly thought provoking...and action packed

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2013

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I found the first few pages of 'Nexus' a little stilted and was slightly worried that it would be another good idea badly told.

I needn't have been.

'Nexus' is well paced and utterly thought-provoking, and after my shaky start it launched into a compelling story that packs a punch as both an action adventure and extremely believable future view.

The premise is pretty straightforward - naive geeks create mind altering nano-tech with no comprehension of how the "Powers That Be" will come down on them - but the characters and the nuances of what it means to turn your brain into a minicomputer that can be programmed at will are what powers the plot.

Our geek hero is Kaden Lane, a young, idealistic neuroscientist in training who has already pushed way beyond the boundaries of what is legal in this future United States, let alone what is moral. His apparent nemesis is Samantha Cataranes, a super secret agent with an inimical view of Kade's way of being. Forced together as pawns in a larger game, their journey of private challenges and personal growth is emotive and engaging.

The whole point of Nexus is to get under the skin of another person, and Naam does this particularly well. His vision of a übertech United States essentially at war with the future is fundamentally scary - and all to realistic. Lie, cheat, steal...whatever it takes to maintain the status quo is the motto of the Government of the Day, and if that means dropping Special Forces into other countries for a little snatch and grab, well that's OK so long as nobody leaves a trace. The fact that they do so with a vast array of very sneaky spy toys only adds to the fun.

Indeed, the "concept count" for Nexus is very high, with Naam ranging wide on neuroscience, biological enhancements, brains in a box and general weaponry. But unlike some other authors, these concepts remain accessible to us mere mortals (Stross, I'm thinking of you). All of which means that as I write this, 'Nexus' has only 4 and 5 star reviews, which across 80-odd people reinforces that this is a novel worth reading.

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Todd Hoff & Linda Coleman

If you like high tech with high ideas then you'll inhale this book.

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2012

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Nexus by Ramez Naam. Wonderful book. If you like high tech with high ideas then you'll inhale this book. The writing while not flashy is very smooth and professional. Surprising given this is his first work of fiction. Characters are well drawn with depth and interest, perhaps they fit a little too closely to type, but they are people worth caring about. The plot has a sense of the inevitabel as it is grounded in the idea that history repeats itself not because of any sort of magic, but because human nature itself does not change. Yet there's still enough freedom that the plot stays interesting throughout and the ending is both satisfying and pragmatic.

Nexus is very H. G. Wells. There's a big bold futuristic idea, in this case it's how nanotech will create transhumans and bootstrap nextgen posthumans, and then see how that big idea plays out in the arena of our human capacity for great good and even greater evil. Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, Time Machine, Island of Doctor Moreau, follow this pattern with humans always weighing out as wanting.

In Nexus humans are still on probation, but the book radiates with the same sort of optimism you'll find in the psychedelic era writing of Gordon Wasson, Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, John Lilly, and Timothy Leary. There was a hope at the time drugs could open the human mind to a greater understanding that would lead to transcendence. A new way of humans to be with each other.

For some, in the right circumstances, this is no doubt true, but these powerful drugs, released in a common culture free of shamans, were abused and trivialized. The psychedelic era ended with a predictable reactionary anti-drug movement firmly in place.

Then end game was clear relatively early on, but how it worked its way through a twisty backstabbing path was fun to watch. We have our extremes set against each other.

The War on Drugs types who think the way to protect the world is complete control, even while they themselves become completely corrupted in the process. I'll call these the Sith.

Then there are the profiteers. They look to exploit any new development for profit without regard to morality or consequences. These are the Merchants.

Then there are the utopians who can only see the upside to their favorite development. These are the Hippies.

Then there are people who just want to be better. Enhancement is seen as a good thing. These are the Humans.

Then there are the elites who want control so they can profit and/or believe they are the only ones who know how the world should be run and everyone else's freedom is a purposeless misguided waste. I'll call these the .01%.

So, we have nanotech in Nexus following a similar path to the psychedelic movement, yet nanotech technology has an even greater more tangible promise, along with an even greater more tangible terror.

What happens then when you chum the social and political waters with a revolutionary technology like nanotech, that promises vastly enhanced intelligence, a group mind, and the possibility of absolute mind control? How will humans handle it?

Nexus doesn't answer that question because it is unanswerable. There will be as many answers as there are humans.

The interesting broader implication is that technology will change humans so much they will not be human anymore. If you aren't human then why not just kill and control humans? The implication being only your kind deserves respect. As humans we have this same issue with animals and when we visit people from different cultures. You can imagine when much more powerful aliens visit they will have the same issues. Robots will no doubt have the same issue towards humans in an uncomfortably short time.

Why shouldn't the strong crush the weak? Why shouldn't those who are different be treated as other?

Nexus casts back thousands of years ago for approaches to the how-we-can-all-get-along problem. It will seem very familiar to Buddhists and early followers of Jesus. Technology both amplifies and destroys. In the end it's about making a personal choice to be better than we are. Not everyone will make that choice, but we should always be aware it is a choice that is constantly being made, regardless of technology, tribe, nationality, or species.

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GC

Un possibile futuro per l'umanità, nemmeno così remoto. Un bel romanzo sci-fi.

Reviewed in Italy on December 6, 2019

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Ho letto questo libro su indicazione di un amico appassionato come me di fantascienza e devo dire che ne sono rimasto rapito, fin dai primi capitoli.. mi è piaciuto molto perché è sì un romanzo fantascientifico, ma quanto accade non è così impossibile da immaginare come un futuro neanche troppo remoto, di cui se ne hanno già le prime avvisaglie (utilizzo di parti elettroniche per sopperire a mancanze fisiche di persone, magari con legami anche profondi a livello di sistema nervoso, a tal proposito l'autore dedica alcune pagine interessanti a fine libro).. l'ho apprezzato anche per i legami con il mondo informatico, dato che si parla di sistemi operativi e pratiche di hacking, trattati anch'essi in modo piuttosto realistico. Senza svelarvi dettagli, la storia mette in luce un contrasto tra due "razze" umane differenti, quella "normale" e quella dotata di potenziamenti (i postumani o transumani), è molto ricca di azione e per quanto mi riguarda non annoia mai.. Devo dire che il romanzo mi ha fatto pensare in parte ad un incrocio tra Neuromante e Altered Carbon , entrambi dei capolavori della fantascienza.
Unica nota dolente, finito il primo romanzo vorrete sicuramente procedere con i due successivi, ahimè non ancora tradotti in italiano. Speriamo che questa serie abbia successo e che anche Crux e Apex vengano tradotti al più presto.

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R. Taylor

Mind alteration for the improvement of humanity.

Reviewed in Australia on June 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

This was recommended by Neal Asher and I'm so glad I read it. Mind blowing but plausible concept, great action and characters. Sci Fi at its best. I have started the next book, Crux , now.

Ashley Charles Williamson

Absolutely fantastic!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2015

Verified Purchase

As a Computer Science undergradate, this subject fascinates me. The ability of computation and interfacing to a brain and between brains is literally my dream. This book highlights the dangers of a world where modification due to technology is abundant and all the socio-political mess that comes with it, including much soul searching and ethical-boundary issues. A highly recommended read for people who enjoy a science fiction novel with plenty of technical goodies ( Hard Sci-fi ) and contains a narrative that literally stops you from putting this book down.

If you could touch the mind of others, what could you accomplish? A lover, a colleague, a friend, a relative. To experience raw concepts without the conversion to language as a medium. To relive memories shared of a life a generation ago. To feel and share the emotions another person is going through and be able to comfort them in the most intimate way possible, to let them know your true feelings in utter clarity.

Ramez Naam is a supporter for transhumanism, and this book ( this trilogy ) perfectly embodies that goal. The world in Nexus is set in approx 2040 where such technologies could exist that 'enhance the human condition'. This isn't just a fictional novel but a possible extrapolation given today's technological feats and engineering. The author even outlines several research studies and experiments, at the end of the book, which show how technology has already improved people's lives. Electrodes implanted in the brain to help a blind man see ( and even drive! ), Cochlear implants for those who are severely hard of hearing, or those whose cochlea hair cells are severely damaged, who can hear again! Even then, some of these preliminary research experiments were set in the early 2000's, and look how much technology has grown since then.

It feels real enough to be a possibility for our immediate future, containing well explained processes for the underlying technologies, including the world's response to these technologies and the 'fear' around their use ( Just look at general public response to ever increasing AIs ). It really leaves you wanting to read more, and gets you excited and also concerned for our future where nano-scale technology may, one day, enable us to directly interface technology with our neurons in our brains. It leaves you asking: What does it mean to be human?

Joseph

Great Book !!

Reviewed in India on July 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

Its a fantastic book. Read all three over a few days. What really got me excited is that the sci-fi world he talks about are mind blowing yet completely grounded in the emerging and expected technological reality. And at the end of the first novel he makes a detailed explanation as to why he thinks so. But it does have quite a few grammatical mistakes, which I found irritating.

Cacciatore

Future technology in your head...

Reviewed in Canada on March 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

Nexus is a book that challenges the lines between good and evil. A drug that lets people share their minds with others is on the market, but has been outlawed. A small group of people figure out how to take it and go even further with the drug to make it more permanent. This can lead to furthering humanity or turning people into slaves...all depends on who gets their hands on it.

While it was a slow read, that was definitely not due to the lack of action or twists. There was some predictability, but most of the book was twisting and turning that you didn't know what was going to happen or who was going to be on whose side. What slowed the book down was a lot of explaining of what was going on, but that also helped the story along and helped develop the relationships of all the characters. If it just sped along, too much would be passed upon and the story would have severely suffered. Using the Nexus drug to get inside the minds of the characters also was a new perspective in storytelling and really pushed the emotional side further than anything I have read before.

The technology (in the form of the Nexus drug) was very believable and is something that seems like it is coming faster than we think. There are a lot of smart minds out there, so it is highly likely that some smart kids are more likely to hack and crack the software than the government that is trying to contain it. While some of it seems extraordinary today, there is not much doubt that in 20 years these things will be a reality. Even the abuses of power and red tape on actions rings very true to the society that we already live in.

I would highly recommend Nexus to anyone who enjoys future technology or even just human relationships. There are not many dull parts through the book and it will also keep you wanting to read on to see where things are going and who is going to turn their back on whom. A lot of unexpected, but very real, character shifts make this a great read from cover to cover.

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