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Greg Egan
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Permutation City Mass Market Paperback – October 1, 1995

by Greg Egan (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 2,137 ratings
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Transformed into an electronic code, a Copy must discover an alternate way out, back into its real body, because the original avenue of escape has been cut off by the human version from which its was originally copied. Original.
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  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Eos
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 1995
  5. Dimensions
    4.19 x 0.88 x 6.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    006105481X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0061054815
  8. See all details
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The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now

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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Eos (October 1, 1995)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 006105481X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061054815
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.19 x 0.88 x 6.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 2,137 ratings

About the author

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Greg Egan

Greg Egan

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Greg Egan lives in Perth, Western Australia. He has won the Hugo Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the Japanese Seiun Award for best translated fiction.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
2,137 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the concepts interesting, intriguing, and mind-bending. They describe the book as a good, hard sci-fi book worth checking out for fans of the genre. Opinions are mixed on the story quality, writing quality, and character development. Some find the narrative compelling and enthralling, while others say some plot lines seem unnecessary and disconnected from the central story.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

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Thought provokingValue for moneyStory qualityWriting qualityCharacter developmentPacing
52 customers mention "Thought provoking"52 positive0 negative

Customers find the concepts interesting, intriguing, and deep. They describe the book as a mind-bending tale of a virtual universe. Readers also mention that the characters are intelligent and visionary.

"...This story is utterly thought provoking but also complex. Be prepared to think as you go through it and savor considering the implications...." Read more

"...have only become common in the past 10 or so years, so the foresight alone is incredible...." Read more

"...The science is prescient (as in, several of the things the characters take for granted technology-wise have come to pass since it was written)...." Read more

"...high hopes, it had a very strong beginning and the overall concept is mind-bendingly awesome...." Read more

23 customers mention "Value for money"20 positive3 negative

Customers find the book good, hard sci-fi, and worth checking out for fans of science fiction. They also say it's an excellent choice and brilliant. Readers mention the book is a little tough to follow but worth the effort.

"...Definitely worth checking out for fans of sci-fi or just fans of interesting literature." Read more

"This book is amazing...." Read more

"...thinking about reality in a speculative fiction form this is an excellent choice...." Read more

"My first Egan book and it was amazing. Conceptually complex and challenging. The AI, VR and comp sci stuff was smart and convincing...." Read more

46 customers mention "Story quality"31 positive15 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the story quality. Some mention it's compelling, enthralling, and detailed. However, others say some plot lines seem unnecessary and disconnected from the central story.

"...What we DO have is a deeply thought provoking series of events and perspectives that challenge how evolving technology can redefine or completely..." Read more

"...The writing is fluid, the story development is consistent and builds throughout the novel...." Read more

"Like much of Egan’s work, an utterly novel premise executed so smoothly that it brings you right in...." Read more

"...The plot is fascinating. The ending is extremely odd on first reading, but actually makes sense. The computer technology is spot on...." Read more

27 customers mention "Writing quality"11 positive16 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book. Some mention it's well-written, fluid, and straightforward. However, others say they had a hard time understanding it very often, find some parts technical and difficult to follow, and some explanations take multiple paragraphs.

"...Gut all of that - it becomes incredibly tedious and annoying...." Read more

"...The writing is fluid, the story development is consistent and builds throughout the novel...." Read more

"...However, the novel reads like an academic textbook at times with long technical passages that do nothing to move the plot forward...." Read more

"...A little confusing at times, but nothing too hard to figure out." Read more

10 customers mention "Character development"3 positive7 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the character development. Some mention the book has better emotional depth than many in the genre, while others say the characters seem unrealistic and shallow.

"...None of the characters feel developed at all, they are simply there for exposition...." Read more

"This is a good, hard sci-fi book, with better emotional depth to characters than many in the genre." Read more

"...Character development is minimal but such is not really what the book is about, and actually the characterization, etc.,..." Read more

"...My main criticism is that the characters are forgettable, with the exception of perhaps one or two, which makes it difficult to care about them or..." Read more

7 customers mention "Pacing"3 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some mention it picks up quickly, while others say it's slow and dense with jargon.

"...paragraphs (or even a full page or two), and some of the story lines can feel slow and unnecessary...." Read more

"good book on time" Read more

"It is filled with great ideas. a little slow and dense with jargon, but ultimately satisfying. I think I'll read some more Egan." Read more

"...can be a bit stilted (particularly in the beginning) but the story picks up quickly and builds on itself well...." Read more

Great, but...
3 out of 5 stars
Great, but...
This is A fantastic premise, written by a very talented author. However , do be advised that the novel is concerned mostly with computing.
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Top reviews from the United States

James Walker
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Groundbreaking
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2024
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So ahead of it’s time. It’s absurd to me that such a story has existed my entire life, just waiting for me to read it. I believed sci-fi from the 90s would be out of touch today in the 2020s. Blasphemy. Greg Egan has created a story that completely connects with our modern interactions such that not a single word needs to be changed. We appear to be advancing faster than the world he created, but he even predicted the Turing Test being passed in 2024, something we accomplished ~2023, and that people would pretend it never happened…exactly what we did

This story is utterly thought provoking but also complex. Be prepared to think as you go through it and savor considering the implications. I’m a better human for having read it.
7 people found this helpful
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Jerry
4.0 out of 5 stars A solid addition to any hard sci-fi fan's library
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 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
23 people found this helpful
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Darren
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books ever written.
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2016
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If you have ever introspected on what makes you "you," this book is for you. The science is prescient (as in, several of the things the characters take for granted technology-wise have come to pass since it was written). The plot is fascinating. The ending is extremely odd on first reading, but actually makes sense. The computer technology is spot on.

It's the future, and it's possible to scan your brain and live in a simulation. This also gives you access to your own consciousness, so sit back and mix up a glass of Confidence and Optimism with a splash of soda. Or decide that you like mountain climbing, and go out to enjoy something you never liked before.

I've read it a dozen times and find new things every time. You won't be disappointed.
3 people found this helpful
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Steven
3.0 out of 5 stars Some fascinating concepts marred by annoying characters and pointless plot threads
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2021
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I went into this one with such high hopes, it had a very strong beginning and the overall concept is mind-bendingly awesome. Once I hit about the halfway mark I started losing interest fast, but mostly due to the terrible characters. Maria Deluca might be the most annoying character ever created from a pen and not in a “love to hate them” type of way.

None of the characters feel developed at all, they are simply there for exposition. Paul plays the super levelheaded character and Maria plays the snippy skeptic. A whole lot of this book is dedicated to Maria never believing in Paul and being an absolute pain in the backside about it, even when faced with direct evidence contrary to her views in any given situation and despite Paul never really giving a strong reason to doubt him. He pays her handsomely and is very upfront, but page after page after page she dunks on him the entire time, doubting everything and being a sarcastic preachy pain. I grew so tired of this schtick that I nearly DNF’d the book.

There are a few parallel plot lines going on and really none of them make much of a difference. The entire Kate and Peer thread could have been axed.

This whole thing should have been a fun 80 page short story. It would have been way more fun if the whole Kate and Peer plot was completely gutted, the whole Thomas Riemann line was gutted and Maria was along for the journey and together with Paul they could have been a fun dynamic duo. Being skeptical is fine, but SO MANY pages, oh so many pages are simply her complaining to Paul. Gut all of that - it becomes incredibly tedious and annoying.

If you read the plot summary on Fandom then you will see how little Kate, Peer, and Riemann matter (I don’t even think Riemann is mentioned in the whole summary despite him having an entire thread in the book). The plot summary on Fandom is more fun than the actual book.

I really struggled with rating this novel. It’s not 1-star because the whole Elysium and Autoverse concept is awesome, the whole uploading a copy of your consciousness into a super cloud computer with limited power that runs on a sort of exchange where you’re paying for and competing for precious processing time is super cool and I like how the virtual worlds are approximations (efficiency matters!). I love the questions this book brings forth, like what does it really mean to be *you*? Even if a perfect representation of you is copied and digitized then is it still you? If it is, then is it still you when you make changes to yourself? If you can run a simple routine to forget something painful in your past then are you losing a part of yourself by doing such? There are a lot of really interesting questions raised in this book!

But then again, as I have already harped on, this book should have been a romp and not a chore. I grew so tired of the characters and so tired of the exposition, for its few really high points this book sure does have a lot of lows. It’s a 350 page book that feels like 600.

3 stars feels a little generous because I was annoyed through a majority of this book, but 2 seems a bit low because I will be pondering over some of the really awesome concepts for a long time to come. In the end I give it an optimistic 2.5 (rounded up to 3).
22 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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5.0 out of 5 stars This book will blow your mind if you can finish it.
Reviewed in Canada on June 19, 2020
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Greg Egan is well known for being one of the best 'ideas men' in Sci-Fi, and this book is one of the best examples of that.

This is not an easy book to read. There are references to mathematical concepts you'll need a maths degree to fully understand, but they aren't crucial to the story and can be ignored where necessary. The characters are often fairly shallow or perhaps better described as only as deep as the story requires, but they're not the point. Much like Socrates in the works of Plato the characters only exist to better illustrate the concepts Egan is interested in exploring.

Ultimately this book leads you step by step into a breathtakingly mind-blowing argument about the nature of consciousness.

Definitely something anyone interested in SF should read.
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Steersman
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece examining reality
Reviewed in Germany on August 22, 2020
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Greg Egan's Permutation city is a novel examining the nature of reality and the consequences of a digital immortality, where copies of our brain patterns live a possibly eternal life in virtual environments. Being released in 1994 the novel is actual as never before, as we see this topic rising up in new tv shows ("Upload") and books ("Fall or dodge in hell" by Neal Stephenson). Needless to say, none of the books or shows reach the depth of this classic. Egan on the one hand truly asks the reader to imagine consequences of possible immortality, as it can be seen in the discussions of the "solipsist nation", and on the other hand provides extremely interesting "dust" idea on the basic nature of the whole reality. This idea reminds me of the notion of "Humean mosaic" (as stated by David Lewis) which can be summarised "that all there is in the world are regularities of occurrence, without any necessary connections between them".
These regularities may also give rise to conscious experiences believing to live a coherent life in a coherent universe. This also reminds me of the Boltzmann brain idea or problem in physics, a Boltzmann brain being a fully formed brain, complete with memories of a full human life in our universe, that arises due to extremely rare random fluctuations out of a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. What if, all we are is a succession of Boltzmann brains? Egan answers a number of common questions to this novel in a Q&A site on his homepage and I encourage every reader to seek it out.
Besides the big ideas, the novel is gripping and dense, full of characters who are grappling with their inner self during the long eternal virtual years and in the finiteness of the "true" reality.
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Flower
5.0 out of 5 stars And four times...
Reviewed in France on September 10, 2018
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This book never ages. I ve read it the first time 15 years ago. And the story will still be a shock in 15 years more.
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Kindleのお客様
5.0 out of 5 stars A great read
Reviewed in Japan on November 16, 2021
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I would recommend this book to someone who likes to think about the theory behind science-fiction novels. Those who are interested in philosophy might also find it interesting.
(e.g., Those who enjoyed philosohy lectures on death, such as online open yale course PHIL 176, might find this book interesting)

As a story, the reader might find the first half of the book more than the second half. (Although the second part is important in that it poses important questions, and makes you think.)
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M.D. Diaz Toledano
4.0 out of 5 stars Dos partes diferentes
Reviewed in Spain on October 14, 2015
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Esta novela tiene dos partes bien diferenciadas. La primera me ha parecido genial (5 estrellas), muy bien pensada, se nota que el autor ha reflexionado bastante sobre el 'uploading' del cerebro humano a los ordenadores.
Sin embargo la segunda mitad del libro no me ha resultado tan interesante ni de lejos (3 estrellas).
En resumen, buena novela aunque ojalá hubiese seguido la línea argumental de la primera mitad.
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