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Permutation City Mass Market Paperback – August 25, 1995

by Greg Egan (Author)

129 customer reviews

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The good news is that you have just awakened into Eternal Life. You are going to live forever. Immortality is a reality. A medical miracle? Not exactly.

The bad news is that you are a scrap of electronic code. The world you see around you, the you that is seeing it, has been digitized, scanned, and downloaded into a virtual reality program. You are a Copy that knows it is a copy.

The good news is that there is a way out. By law, every Copy has the option of terminating itself, and waking up to normal flesh-and-blood life again. The bail-out is on the utilities menu. You pull it down...

The bad news is that it doesn't work. Someone has blocked the bail-out option. And you know who did it. You did. The other you. The real you. The one that wants to keep you here forever.

Permutation City

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Greg Egan is the author of the acclaimed SF novels Diaspora, Axiomatic, Quarantine, Permutation City, and Teranesia. A winner of the Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Mr. Egan lives in Australia.

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Eos (October 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 006105481X
ISBN-13: 978-0061054815
Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.9 x 6.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 129 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,545,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4236 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Hard Science Fiction

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Customer reviews

129

4.2 out of 5 stars

5 star		51%
4 star		27%
3 star		15%
2 star		5%
1 star		2%

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Top customer reviews

Hard science fiction by a master of that genre, with his usual insights regarding the sociological implications

ByDoug J.on December 31, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I am: a Greg Egan fan; a reader of only the hardest of the hard science fiction books; a computer science academic researcher; experienced in doing research on "AI" (the interpretation of which has evolved over the last four or so decades). So it is unsurprising that this book scratches my science fiction reading itch.

Despite my lack of qualification as a literary critic, this book seems to me to be somewhat weaker in style as a literary work than as a scientifically based hard science fiction speculation involving important sociological and morality issues.

On that basis, I strongly recommend reading the other reviews, some of which are very insightful, and will inform you about whether this book is for you or not.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

A solid addition to any hard sci-fi fan's library

ByJerryon April 26, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Just reading the back flap of this book doesn't even really begin to describe the depth of the concepts presented in this story. While the material subjects in Permutation City are firmly planted in sci-fi, it also puts concepts such as what it means to "be" human both objectively and subjectively at the forefront. Whether you are an ardent fan of computer science, biology, physics, or even philosophy, this book will elicit some kind of respect from you for its depth in those regards. This book does lean heavily into both hard science and fiction, but quite honestly it takes the concepts so far that that distinctions between the two are trivial.

What this book ISN'T is a flashy science fiction romp with action and adrenaline for just for the sake of excitement. What we DO have is a deeply thought provoking series of events and perspectives that challenge how evolving technology can redefine or completely do away with our current concepts of humanity.

My only real cons are that Greg goes to such lengths to explain and take you to each of his thought points and conclusions, that the actual "story" is relatively light. Now, if you enjoy staying in those thoughts and sort of letting them gestate, this won't be much of a problem. If however, these thoughts don't resonate with you, you might find yourself waiting for the next "thing" to happen.

Sort of on the other end of that, I felt that the conclusion of the book was a bit hasty. When considering the effort that went into making sure that the reader has bought and understood the rules of the world, the end felt a tad rushed and unearned. It's not to say that it's bad by any means, it just felt as if SOMETHING that fit a more typical sci fi ending had to happen just for the sake of it, rather than the story logically leading there.

The fact that this book was written in 1994 blew my mind, as many of the technologies mentioned seem like logical progressions of things that have only become common in the past 10 or so years, so the foresight alone is incredible. All in all this book is a must read for any hard science fiction fan. While not perfect, enough love and attention clearly went into it to add it to your collection

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Simulated "you" is stranger than you can imagine

ByDr Zoomon June 13, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Other reviewers are pinning this as "very hard" sci-fi, but it feels a lot more like an exploration of philosophy of mind. The book is well written, with a pretty straightforward style. The explanations of hardware (real or simulated) are a little hand-wavey, However, this doesn't detract from the book because the real story is the "software": the simulated minds running on said hardware. The author uses the experiences of these characters to explore and share ideas about being a mind. Eg: Does it matter how or where the pattern that is "you" is computed? What are you if you can change your emotions, memories and capabilities at will? How do beings with these capabilities relate and interact with each other? If having a set of fairly interesting characters explore these questions is remotely interesting to you, then pick up this book.

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A Mind-Blowing Journey

ByMichael Rutherfordon December 13, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Something about this novel was unexpectedly comforting. The idea of a "virtual world within a world" is very cozy to me, but Greg Egan contrasts utopian ideals with bleak realism. In the book, even though immortality can be achieved, humans are just as defective as they were before, and living forever births many new social issues. It's a powerful message that will likely be partially lost on many people, myself included, because of the highly technological and scientific nature of the text. Mr. Egan goes out of his way to make the book as accurate as possible, even if it's only theoretical, which is amazing, but it comes at the expense of understanding. The world he established is believable, plausible, and seems right around the corner. Ultimately, this is a fantastic novel, but it certainly puts the "Hard" in "Hard Science Fiction".

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Excellent, well plotted adventure, with profound implications.

ByCaraleisaVINE VOICEon August 17, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I loved this book. Couldn't put it down. You don't need a lot of AI knowledge to fully grasp the story, but knowing your way around a computer would help. Egan creates a world- a set of worlds, and takes them to logical conclusions, doing so with well-drawn characters. The only thing that bothered me was the persistent, consistent misspelling of bail - using bale. There was nothing to explain why he did this. In any case, it was so minimal that it didn't affect my review of five stars. The characters, intelligent and visionary, have normal human emotions such as mistrust, not surprising when you're working on creating universes. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I won't say much more than this - if you like science-fiction which is based on extrapolations from real theory, you'll love this book.