Galatea 2.2

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I've found the success of a work Science Fiction as a work of literature is closely correlated to how far removed it is from present day society. Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World are both fairly close to society today, as far as Science Fiction goes. Richard Powers has had great success writing about things like virtual reality (Plowing the Dark) and artificial intelligence (Galatea 2.2), but his works are even closer to present day than Bradbury or Huxley. The Foundation Series, while not quite on Powers's level, are still incredible books that might just belong in the class of real literature. I don't think it will ever get there though because its world isn't coupled closely enough with the one we know.

… to pursue a PhD in the field because of ... b) the apparent absence of pleasure in the reading and writing that graduate students and their professors do (see his novel Galatea 2.2)." That's a pretty damning statement! 3) But I'm beating around the bush. The most important point is that the presence of a few decent novelists residing in university English departments says nothing about the experience of the average student. Let's look at the faculty list for Swarthmore: http://www.swarthmore.edu/x10024.xml Not a single member of the full-time faculty actually produces writing that people outside the university will voluntarily read for enjoyment or interest. Not a single one! The poetry and short stories will only be read in a small circle of mutually back scratching academics. The journal articles will only be read by journal referees a…

Snow Crash , Cryptonmicon . Both are by Neal Stephenson. Another pair of good fiction novels are Plowing the Dark and Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers. Sometimes you need good fiction to inspire you.