Interface

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Great!
Review: If you're like me, you've already read Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Zodiac, his on-line short stories, and are now sketchin' to get your hands on anything else by him.

Well, "Interface" is good, but not as great, in my opinion, as the works penned under the author's real name. The ideas are just as killer as in his other books, but this story lacks the overall punchy Gen-X narrative that I consider to be Stephenson's greatest asset, apart from his way cool ideas. To be fair, this is really an unfair comparison since the whole purpose of Stephenson writing under the "Bury" pen name was probably to allow him to go after the mainstream (more conservative?) market without disappointing his traditional fans (but someone let the cat out of the bag) and without prejudicing the non-science fiction reader, hence "Interface" is categorized under general fiction, rather than sci-fi.

So if you don't mind a slightly watered-down read, do check this book out. As I mentioned, the ideas are still Grade-A Stephenson.

As for me, I think I'll draw the line at "Cobweb"--I heard it was a collaboration effort and that sounds too diluted for me.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Great!
Review: If you're like me, you've already read Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Zodiac, his on-line short stories, and are now sketchin' to get your hands on anything else by him.

Well, "Interface" is good, but not as great, in my opinion, as the works penned under the author's real name. The ideas are just as killer as in his other books, but this story lacks the overall punchy Gen-X narrative that I consider to be Stephenson's greatest asset, apart from his way cool ideas. To be fair, this is really an unfair comparison since the whole purpose of Stephenson writing under the "Bury" pen name was probably to allow him to go after the mainstream (more conservative?) market without disappointing his traditional fans (but someone let the cat out of the bag) and without prejudicing the non-science fiction reader, hence "Interface" is categorized under general fiction, rather than sci-fi.

So if you don't mind a slightly watered-down read, do check this book out. As I mentioned, the ideas are still Grade-A Stephenson.

As for me, I think I'll draw the line at "Cobweb"--I heard it was a collaboration effort and that sounds too diluted for me.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant satire.
Review: Interface is a very well-crafted political satire. Like the best satires, it places a recogniseable institution into an extraordinary situation, adds a good dose of humour, and uses that to expose some truths about the real world.

What is interesting about Interface is not the science-fiction storyline about brain implants or global conspiracy. What makes this a brilliant book is the insight it gives into the election process, mostly in the USA, but I'm sure it translates worldwide.

This is what made it impossible for me to put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: The Robot President
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Neal Stephenson Fans! He co-wrote this!
Review: Neal Stephenson (Snowcrash, Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon) is a co-author of this book. This makes it worth reading. I don't know who the other author is. I read it a while ago & can't remember any details, except that I really liked it.

Rating:
Summary: This book should be buried
Review: Some reviewers have suggested we might see the hand of Neal Stephenson in Bury's "Interface". Almost everyone knows by know that Bury is a pseudonym of the "collaberation" between Stephenson and his uncle. But no one who as read the intensely poetic "Snow Crash" or the sardonically funny "Zodiac:the Eco-Thriller" could mistake the clunky, amateurish "Interface" for a work by Neal Stephenson.

The plotting, while well-paced, seems pieced together from one of those Author Help computer programs. The characters are cut completely from cardboard and hammered into upright positions with coathanger frames. Neal Stephenson at his best reminds us of the young William Gibson, etching his name with a hybrid SciFi-Adventure-Poem called Neuromancer. In a normal Stephenson book, not a paragraph goes by without causing us to shake our heads in disbelief that one book could contain so many dead-on passages.

"Stephen Bury" at his best recalls Stephen King when the rent is due, idly cranking out another forgettable work with precious few clever observations and fewer interesting moments. If Neal Stephenson has truly offered his uncle a hand in co-authoring this book, he must have been responsible for writing the page numbers, because I found them the most interesting part. I kept counting down the number of pages to the end.

Rating:
Summary: Is it live or is it tape? It's Stephenson . . . .
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Thriller, Somewhat Lacking in Humor
Review: This book has a compelling story idea, and a plausible plot. It showcases some of Stephenson's skills, such as his three word demograpic characterizations (DEBT-HOUNDED WAGE SLAVE) and his obvious empaty with the thought processes of engineers, while improving on some of the flaws he had at the time this was written (Especially his inability to write decent endings). The plot is fairly disciplined and straightforward, while I prefer the more chaotic style of his cyberpunk novels. In an effort to write a more mainstream thriller, Stephenson seemed to have toned down his outrageous humor considerably for this novel, although there are still some very funny moments.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, that makes u think.
Review: This book put the American political system in a whole new, futuristic, light for me. It showed me what might happen if we let corporate America get the upperhand in politics. The plot is great, with pretty well filled characters.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable pre-elections read
Review: This book really made me take a step back and look at our upcoming Presidential elections in a whole new light. Sure, it's sci-fi and not real, but it's pretty scary to imagine that our political system could degenerate even further into something like this. Personally, I tried to avoid comparing this to other works of Stephenson's. I'm impressed that he's able to extend his range beyond high tech speculation to lower tech political thrillers like this book and Zodiac. These books won't appeal to readers with a narrow focus on sci fi like Snow Crash or Diamond Age. However, for readers who don't mind less technical sci fi or even those who just like political thrillers, pick up a copy of this book. There are some slow parts in the plot and it is very detail oriented, but overall this is a book I would recommend to my friends, even those who are not sci fi aficionados. Think of this book in the upcoming Presidential election race!