Schismatrix is Bruce Sterling's masterpiece looking down the tunnel of future history in the footsteps of one man as the human race spreads out across the Solar System and beyond.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94115 in Books
• Published on: 1996-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Synopsis
From the pioneer of crucial, cutting-edge science fiction comes the stunning world of the Schismatrix, where Shaper revolutionaries struggle against aristocratic Mechanists for ultimate control of human destiny. Original.

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Customer Reviews

A + +
This is what SF is for. Books like this justify SF and excuse the torrents of trash. Schismatrix is unashamedly hard. It is about technology, and culture shock, and evolution. It is not literature 'masquerading' as SF but genuine genre in all its glory.

Once again, I am amazed and the level of detail and depth built into what is really a very short book. Sterling makes each choice, each detail count towards the bigger picture - many modern novels build worlds by cudgelling the reader under the weight of facts.

Schismatrix moves in ever accelerating leaps, without losing a sense of continuity and story (the longevity of the major characters helps), the pace of the narrative reflecting the accelerating disintegration of society, culture and eventually humanity.

Part of the story's strength lies in the appeal of the lead character - Abelard Lindsay. He's good without being perfect; smart without being infallible; purposeful with out being all powerful. Schismatrix - for all the technology - takes a fundamentally humane perspective on the future - reflecting the beauty and the tragedy of the individual successes and failures weaving into the large perspective of progress. Nothing lasts for ever - no person, no society, no philosophy - but neither are they pointless.

Schismatrix is breathtaking.

Schismatrix is an old and treasured companion.
Schismatrix would have to be one of my favourite ever novels. I first encountered this intelligent and thought provoking novel as a 15 year old High School student. While I may not have properly appreciated it or fully understood it at the time, I realised that there was a lot happening in those pages and I've constantly revisited it over the years. I love this book for the fact that every time I've read it I've got something new from it and have understood it as a whole just a little bit more. Schismatrix Plus is an enhanced book with the inclusion of the Shaper/Mechanist stories, which I feel add a richness to the main text. A particular favourite is "Sunken Gardens", not least because it has a believable timeframe for a project of such magnitude. However, I dearly love the concept of the failed factions. New technology isn't necessarily adopted, nor does it always work in the manner or for the purposes originally intended. William Gibson wrote, "the street finds its own uses for things" and I would add 'so do politicians'. I love this novel and its attendant stories and I'll continue to return to them as old and comfortably worn companions for years to come.

amazing
With most books, you can read them several times and find something new in them each time through. With this book, it's an absolute necessity. The ideas expressed are so numerous, there must be at least two or three lurking on every other page. It would take probably a half dozen readings to really peg them all. The story itself is visionary, immensly complicated, and superbly executed, with a protaganist I couldn't help but admire and root for. This book definately has an incredibly unique flavor. This is one space epic absolutely worth owning.