Interface: Bury, Stephen: 9780553572407: Amazon.com: Books

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Interface Paperback – May 1, 1995

by Stephen Bury (Author)

32 ratings

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A near-future thriller in which a shadowy coalition bent on controlling the world economy attempts to manipulate the president of the United States through the use of a computer bio-chip implanted in his brain.

Print length

640 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bantam
Publication date

May 1, 1995
Dimensions

4.21 x 1.03 x 6.84 inches
ISBN-10

0553572407
ISBN-13

978-0553572407
See all details

Nicole Galland
758
Hardcover
$16.99
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A biochip in presidential candidate William Cozzano's brain hardwires him to a computerized polling system that channels the mood of the electorate directly into his brain. Neal Stephenson fans should note (if they don't already know) that Stephen Bury is his pen name.

From the Inside Flap

A near-future thriller in which a shadowy coalition bent on controlling the world economy attempts to manipulate the president of the United States through the use of a computer bio-chip implanted in his brain.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam (May 1, 1995)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 640 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553572407
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553572407
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.21 x 1.03 x 6.84 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,427,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,007 in Technothrillers (Books)
- #8,322 in Political Fiction (Books)
- #98,851 in Suspense Thrillers

Customer Reviews:
32 ratings

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5 star		40%
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Top reviews from the United States

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Patrick Shepherd

The Robot President

Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2001

Verified Purchase

Interface posits a new computerized device that can be implanted in a person's brain that can help the brain recover from the effects of a stroke by re-making some of the neural connections destroyed by the stroke, with the side 'benefit' of allowing a two-way communication path to an external computer. This device is installed in the brain of the Governor of Illinois, who becomes a Presidential candidate. The story follows his campaign and the slow gain of complete control of his mind by a shadowy Network that financed the research for the device, directed by its media control arm as embodied by a virtuoso of a campaign/advertising manager. As the other side of the equation, another device is introduced, a very much enhanced version of a lie detector that can deliver a person's emotional reactions in real-time to whatever he is experiencing. These devices are given to 100 people who represent a complete cross-section of the American voting public, and their reactions to campaign events allow instant feedback control of what the candidate should do/say to maximize his appeal.
The story reads as a high-suspense political action thriller, with a very dark sub-text of there really are powerful, world-spanning conspiracy groups who are intent on molding the world solely to their own benefit. While the prose style is adequate and straightforward, Stephenson's normal cynicism, hysterically funny irony, and satirical stabs at the world are almost wholly lacking here, and the net result is something of a poor copy of a Tom Clancy thriller. Characterization is thin and uneven; even the Governor is little more than a cardboard setup. I felt the final plot resolution was forced, with certain unnecessary elements, and is probably politically impossible, which heavily detracted from his overall thematic message. A great idea, but could have really used the Stephenson we found in Snow Crash.

9 people found this helpful

not the best, but still entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2003

Verified Purchase

I didn't think I would like this book. I had put it on my wishlist and bought it once in a frenzy of ... well, buying things off my wishlist.
I didn't know what it was about, but I saw that Neal Stephenson was associated with it, and that was good enough for me.

After the first 10 pages or so, I really found myself enjoying it.

The only complaints I had about it were that it was written in a style that didn't feel right - something about it felt rushed or just that the person writing didn't have the right touch - it was a bit off. That and I felt that it used the word "teflon" way too often. It almost has the feel that the author was like "Whoa! Have you heard of this teflon stuff? Its FANSTASTIC! I'm gonna try to mention it every chance I get."
I at first thought that perhaps this book was written around the time that teflon was invented and he was just trying to cash in on the wave of the future - "my book is vaguely forward thinking because I use words like 'teflon' frequently - more stuff should be made of it."
But this book was published in '94 and I can recall Teflon having been around for a bit by then.
Maybe it was part of a bet with a friend - see how many mentions of it he could make past the editors - ideally in poorly thought out allusions.

3 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2015

Verified Purchase

Fun, fairly well written and full of fun thoughts and wordings. A great summer read!

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2004

Verified Purchase

What a boring book. This book has a very interesting premise, but it has too many charecters, frankly. A big letdown. The interesting idea does not drive the novel, but seems rather like an afterthought. The many, many charecters have no depth and do not develop (excluding the main charecter - I hesitate to say main charecter, because he appears in less than half of this novel). Avoid.

2 people found this helpful

Techno Thriller with humor

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2019

I suspect if I'd read this when it came out I'd give it 4*... But given how well I think it's held up 5 stars.

I won't bother listing its faults, and it has a few, because it does its job: Fun but thought provoking.

And as current events show: Farfetched is the new reality.

Is it live or is it tape? It's Stephenson . . . .

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 1999

The central question for anyone contemplating purchasing this novel is: is it Neal Stephenson, or is it the co-author who's the intellectual engine?
It reads like Stephenson -- curiously, more like "Zodiac" and "Cryptonomicon" than like the middle works, "Snow Crash" and "The Diamond Age." "Snow Crash" is a dazzling portrait of the William Gibson's cyberspace taken to a higher level: the Metaverse. It's fascinating, but true science FICTION. The same is true of "The Diamond Age," which, while Stephenson's most intellectually thought-provoking work, is the least accessible.
"Zodiac" and "Cryptonomicon," and "Interface," on the other hand, are SCIENCE fiction. "Zodiac" is chock full of information about environmentalism and industrial pollution; "Cryptonomicon" is a cornucopia of mathematics and cryptology. The science in those novels is basically present day, without the need for more than minimal extrapolation. The same is true of "Interface."
Other Stephenson touches: a fine eye toward non-tedious detail. One thing I found amazing about "Cryptonomicon" was that Stephenson could describe eating cereal in four pages without making it boring, something that neither Herman Melville nor Charles Dickens would have been able to accomplish (for me). "Interface" has that same quality of nerdy fascination in the seemingly trivial.
In summary: if you liked "Cryptonomicon" and/or "Zodiac," you'll probably like "Interface" as well.

82 people found this helpful

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