>An appended glossary explains many of the specialist terms in the novel. Egan invents several new theories of physics, beginning with Kozuch Theory, the dominant physics paradigm for nearly nine hundred years before the beginning of the novel. Kozuch Theory treats elementary particles as semi-point-like wormholes, whose properties can be explained entirely in terms of their geometries in six dimensions. Certain assumptions common to Egan's works inform the plot.i find it hard to believe that any book can be worth this level of investment. i didn't have to learn a new theory of physics to read moby-dick. has anyone read this, or a similiarly demanding work by egan? is the juice worth the squeeze? i am interested in work that explores extreme transhumanism, not just johnny-mnemonic type cyborgs, but something in which the entire body is modular and biological/synthetic is no longer a meaningful distinction.
You don’t need to understand his entire theory to enjoy the book. But the point of hard sci-fi is kind of that the authors go to such pains to world build. It is definitely written for people interested in science fiction for more than just the plot.
Start with permutation city though, diaspora is kind of a sequel. Egan is probably one of the most sophisticated thinkers in sf, along with Liu and Watts
>>25499913Is Egan a leftist? He's on Twatter.
>>25499913You're looking for Permutation City. Diaspora is weird transhuman consciousness stuff + Physics and PC is just weird transhuman consciousness stuff (and it gets EXTREMELY weird in the second part). The fake physics in Diaspora isn't really that hard to get your head around, he explains it just fine, and the real-world math/physics stuff that you might struggle with is explained with little applets on his website.
i read this earlier this year, my first egan. you don't really need to learn a new theory beyond just the idea that particles have sixth-dimensional properties and you can physically go to higher dimensions than your own with sufficiently advanced technology. it's a dense book but i would not say the investment is too crazy considering it is fewer than 300 pages long. especially if you are into extreme transhumanism, as this book is very specifically about the period where the bio/synth divide is crossed and broken down (the beginning of the book anyway, the prologue is a great description of a synth 'soul' being born in the womb-simulator of a mind-polis on a space probe). i'm not sure if i'll read another egan but i enjoyed this one.
>>25501017>>25501495thanks, guys. i'll check it out.
>>25499913I was going to post in /lit/ about how to cope with having read a book that was too hard for youI’d just finished Dichronauts and I had the companion website open pretty much the entire time and made sure to face east while reading it to make spatial reasoning easier
>>25502090…but I still couldn’t figure out what happened after the big important balloon ride and what the physics was like there
I just finished Permutation City recently and I read Diaspora last year. Honestly found Diaspora to be more interesting and digestible. Still really enjoyed Permutation City though. Going to read picrel next. Wish me luck.>>25501100>Two out of two books I've read by him take leddit cheap shots at Christianity>Characters use gender-neutral pronouns>Is AustralianOutlook is pretty grim.
Try the Orion's Arm Universe Project. Plenty of stories, including short stories and poems, and a vast crowdwritten setting with lots of cool and unusual stuff, including a sort of mysticism which still works even under extreme transhuman conditions. Lots of fun.
>>25499913>>25502090>>25502093This sounds impressive and ridiculous. Thanks /lit/
>>25502294Reddit were the ones who originally came here (4chan) and proceeded to destroy and ruin any conversation that was not full worship of Christianity. Lurk moar or get off /lit/ and spend more time sacrificing babies to Moloch. Either way, you offer no post of substantial value.
>>25499913>>25502294This guys sounds neat thanks for the rec guys
>>25501100I think he's an ardent leftist and that's why he doesn't like to show his face. But it's there in the books. The one novel I read by him, the protag takes a pot shot at Richard Wagner's opera for no discernible reason. Although, Freud also catches strays.
>>25502294Dichronauts only has the Australian, for what it’s worth.
>>25502838This is selling me on him
>>25502443Permutation City has Australian characters and mostly takes place in Sydney during the first part
>>25502368Ok Schlomo
I read the Orthogonal trilogy.No I did not understand it all.The ending sucked.
I read Quarantine earlier this year. It was very straightforward (assuming you've digested a lifetime of popsci about the many worlds interpretation) but there was one fucking little Egan-y hitch, one fucking sentence towards the end that fucked up my whole understanding up until that point. I really thought I was going to get away clean. Fucker. Show yourself, you fat Australian coward!
