Glasshouse
by Charles Stross · first published 2006
59% recommend41% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Far-future post-singularity sci-fi on identity, memory, war and infohazards, with a light unreliable-narrator twist. Suits readers of Accelerando, Banks's Culture books or Vinge who want big ideas in a stand-alone novel.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
When Robin wakes up in a clinic with most of his memories missing, it doesn't take him long to discover that someone is trying to kill him. It's the 27th century, when interstellar travel is by teleport gate and conflicts are fought by network worms that censor refugees' personalities and target historians. The civil war is over and Robin has been demobilized, but someone wants him out of the picture because of something his earlier self knew. On the run from a ruthless pursuer, he volunteers to participate in a unique experimental polity, the Glasshouse, constructed to simulate a pre-accelera
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…Levy The Four Steps To The Epiphany - Steve Blank The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman not a book, but the various writings of Douglas Engelbart - http://www.dougengelbart.org/library/library.html Glasshouse - Charles Stross Permutation City - Greg Egan Neuromancer - William Gibson The Shockwave Rider - John Brunner The Society of Mind - Marvin Minsky The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics…
on “Ask HN: What are the most thought-provoking books that you have read?” ↗+1 for "Hyperion" + "Fall of Hyperion" – both are amazing books that I just finished. Also, "Glasshouse" by Charles Stross was pretty rad too.
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011” ↗Just finished The Glasshouse by Charles Stross, really great sci-fi Now reading Neil Young's autobiography
on “Ask HN: What Books Are You Reading?” ↗Fiction: Permutation City - Greg Egan Revival - Stephen King Glasshouse - Charles Stross The City - Dean Koontz Non-fiction: Predictable Revenue - Aaron Ross How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World - Steven Johnson The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and…
on “Ask HN: What are some good books you have recently read?” ↗OP asked about novels. Here are a few excellent novels in this genre which I highly recommend: Soda Pop Solider by Nick Cole Ctrl-Alt-Revolt by Nick Cole Glasshouse by Charles Stross Second the Vernor Vinge recommendations, and the Neal Stephenson and William Gibson Sprawl Trilogy recommendations. Gibson's The Peripheral, as well as Pattern Recognition, Zero History,…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations of good cybercrime novels?” ↗…Wicked This Way Comes - Bradbury Strangers - Koontz After Dark - Murakami It - King The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien The Hobbit - Tolkien Perdido Street Station - Miéville Permutation City - Egan Glasshouse - Stross NON-FICTION Report from Engine Co 82 - Smith Godel, Escher, Bach - Hofstadter How the Mind Works - Pinker The Four Steps to the Epiphany - Blank Charles Proteus Steinmetz: The Electrical…
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗Accelerando and Glasshouse fall in a "the ideas of one feed into the next" sequence that I find interesting to read in sequence... the first four of which are available on the web. COMP.BASILISK FAQ https://www.nature.com/articles/44964…
on “Accelerando (2005)” ↗All of Sherlock Holmes Glasshouse by Charles Stross
on “Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.” ↗Neuromancer - William Gibson REAMDE- Neal Stephenson Pattern Recognition / Zero History / Spook Country - William Gibson The Peripheral - William Gibson Not exactly the same thing, but I'll also throw in Glasshouse by Charles Stross. And since we're talking Charles Stross, also add Halting State to the list. Oh, and VALIS by Philip K. Dick. Definitely worth a read.
on “Ask HN: Books that altered your view of reality” ↗…highlights. Completely blew me away: - Anathem by Neal Stephenson - Accelerando by Charles Stross - Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Liu Cixin Great Reads: - Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - Glasshouse, Neptunes Brood & Saturns Children by Charles Stross - Rendezvous with Rama by Isaac Asimov - Hyperion by Dan Simmons - A Deepness in the Sky by Verner Vinge The two categories are pretty subjective,…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗…neon Jesus". 11. Charles Stross - fellow HN'er and famous author! https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=cstross Writes radically entertaining stuff, including the Laundry Files series, Halting State, Glasshouse, etc. I'd say Glasshouse is an absolute "must read". 12. Greg Egan - I especially recommend Permutation City. 13. China Miéville - Check out Perdido Street Station
on “Neal Stephenson reacts to Facebook name change” ↗Charles Stross has an excellent novel, "Glasshouse", a major plot point of which is that due to shoddy digital preservation practices, far-future historians know virtually nothing about ≈1950 through ≈2050 or so. What little they know is pieced together…
on “The Geocities Torrent (~1TB of awesomeness)” ↗I started reading this year after a gap of perhaps 10. Sci-fi. Couldn't be happier. Strong recommendations: - Anathem, Neal Stephenson (already on my second read) - Accelerando, Charles Stross - Glasshouse, Charles Stross
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗Some suggestions: Any of the "Laundry Files" novels by Charles Stross, or Glasshouse also by Stross. Permutation City by Greg Egan. Off To Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer. Any of the "Dresden Files" novels by Jim Butcher. The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner. Neuromancer by William Gibson.…
on “Ask HN: Best non-business books to read on vacation” ↗I think we've swapped notes on a similar thread before, so we may have already talked about this, but let me say that if you liked Permutation City by Egan, you may also like Glasshouse by Charles Stross. I also "second the motion" in regards to both The Selfish Gene and *Gödel, Escher, Bach".
on “Ask HN: What are the most thought-provoking books that you have read?” ↗