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Greg Egan

Permutation City Kindle Edition

by Greg Egan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

330 ratings

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The story of a man with a vision - immortality : for those who can afford it is found in cyberspace.

Permutation city is the tale of a man with a vision - how to create immortality - and how that vision becomes something way beyond his control. Encompassing the lives and struggles of an artificial life junkie desperate to save her dying mother, a billionaire banker scarred by a terrible crime, the lovers for whom, in their timeless virtual world, love is not enough - and much more - Permutation city is filled with the sense of wonder.

Print length

382 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Gollancz
Publication date

December 30, 2010
File size

784 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Greg Egan is a computer programmer, and the author of the acclaimed SF novels The Arrows of Time, Distress, Diaspora, Quarantine, Permutation City, and Teranesia. He has won the Hugo Award as well as the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. His short fiction has been published in a variety of places, including Interzone, Asimov’s, and Nature. He lives in Perth, Australia. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Greg Egan is a Hugo-award winning author (with eight other works shortlisted for the Hugos) and he has also won the John W Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Permutation City. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN : B004JHY84E
Publisher : Gollancz (December 30, 2010)
Publication date : December 30, 2010
Language : English
File size : 784 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 382 pages
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #144,032 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #661 in Hard Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #1,012 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #1,441 in Dystopian Fiction

Customer Reviews:
330 ratings

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Customer reviews

5 star		56%
4 star		26%
3 star		12%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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mando man

I wanted to like this book

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2018

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I wanted to like this book. I gave it a chance. The concepts are interesting, and the setup was fine in the first half, then it fell flat. I actually quit reading around 3/4 of the way through because I suddenly realized I did not care one whit about any of the characters, and did not care if they lived or died, or at least I did not care enough to slog through more of the metaphysical musings of the author (how many times do we have to go back and examine "what makes a person a person" from yet another vantage point?). It's very rare for me to not finish a book, so this was a rare dud from a decent author.

17 people found this helpful

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Jerry

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

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2017

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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

12 people found this helpful

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Robert Hills

Important and challanging

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2016

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Greg Egan is an important writer in the tradition of Azimov, Verne and Wells. Like them, he explores the feasable technologigies of his era and expands their scope and implications for individuals and civilization. Permutation City addresses immortatality, cloning and the utility of life in unique ways and in depth. Simly using the terms science fiction, ethical exploration or fantasy-allegory to catagorize this book and his output in general is both difficult and misleading. "Hard SF" for the fans of "hard SF" is accurate but unfortunately may dissuade too mayny potential readers, just as calling ""Gone with the Wind" historical fiction is silly at best.Try this novel or sone of his short stories and decide: You may become addicted to him.
This book and this author are one of my most frequent recommendations to my friends, especially millenial (I am a geezer). But not to all: Enjoying technologyand both knowing and enjoying learning about scientific concepts is critical. High school physics or computer science and reading about current events in the science pages of, say, The New York Times is enough. So too, if you enjoyed reading Carl Sagan's or Stephen Hawking's popular books then you are in the potential audience.

10 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

BSouls

Life Beyond Life Beyond Life

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2018

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I struggled to get into this book, which happens to me from time to time so I tend to keep on reading, rather than give up. I’m really glad I kept on with it because I love this book. Maybe I’m not smart enough to get everything they were trying to say, and while I really do like knowing the intentions or meanings an author wanted to convey, I believe what’s important is how it makes an impact on the reader.

I honestly don’t know how to describe this book, it has so many layers and brought out so many emotions in me. It was a great story and a great adventure. Really glad my friend recommended this to me.

6 people found this helpful

Zafeirios Fountas

Just excellent!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2015

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I really don't know why Greg Egan is not that famous. In fact, I have recently found a whole article in tor.com with the title: "Why Isn’t Greg Egan A Superstar?" I suspect this is because he focuses on making his stories so scientifically consistent that it becomes a bit difficult for a reader to understand without any background to the related scientific fields.
However, myself being a research student in the field of brain-inspired artificial intelligence, this is definitely my favourite scifi book so far and I totally recommend it!
It has evoked countless discussions with my friends about various philosophical issues and changed my views on many things.

9 people found this helpful

Nick

More philosophy than story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2012

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I found this to be more a philosophical investigation of virtual reality than a story that exposes concepts. Anyone who has already read many stories of virtual reality will find a number of familiar ideas here - not that it's a copycat book, but you can only do so much with a given theme. What this book does is to explore the area in quite some detail. If you're interested in the theme in its own right, you're likely to enjoy this, but, as a philosophical investigation there are large gobs of narrator exposition, rather than telling a story. If you want a good story, this isn't the book for you.

One person found this helpful

Ewan Mcrobert

Though Provoking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 5, 2020

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This was a thought-provoking book. For the most part I found the imagined future quite plausible, though there were elements towards the end I didn't find that believable.

Definitely one of those books where the ideas behind it stick with you and worth a read.

Bob Fossil

And it left me feeling like an enlightened idiot

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 19, 2015

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One of the deepest sci-fis I've read. And it left me feeling like an enlightened idiot.
This is hard sci-fi. Not the opposite of space opera, just f****** hard to read. Immensely rewarding if you have the patience. I tried to read it again a few years later and realised I didn't hate myself enough. I keep it on hand, just in case.

2 people found this helpful