Rapture of the Nerds
by Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross · first published 2012
60% recommend27% neutral13% critical
Why HN recommends it
Clever, tongue-in-cheek science fiction about the singularity and transhumanism, with a sharp take on tech and humans living inside computers; a good pick for readers who enjoy weird, playful SF, especially as audiobook.
Common criticism: Some find it too strange and hard to connect with.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A tale set at the end of the twenty-first century finds the planet's divided hominid population subjected to the forces of a splintery metaconsciousness that inundates networks with plans for cataclysmic technologies, prompting an unwitting jury member to participate in a grueling decision.
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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I enjoyed these books by Charles Stross, Accelerando, Halting State and the follow up, but not sequel, Rule 34, and of course The Rapture of the Nerds, co-written with Cory Doctorow. Also I've enjoyed his non cyberpunkish books especially The Laundry Files series. I also liked William Hertlings Singularity series, Avogadro Corp, A.I. Apocalypse and…
on “Neuromancer, 30 years old this month” ↗Also for anyone who likes weird scifi, read Cory Doctorow's Rapture of the nerds, it has an amazing audiobook and is just fun and clever
on “We are all nerds: The literary works of Neal Stephenson” ↗Charles Stross is not unaware of this; he's written multiple novels on the topic of the singularity including "Accelerando" and "Rapture of the Nerds". I recommend either of them if you're interested in the subject This blog post is simply a different approach to the topic. Basically, what would happen if the singularity never happens and it's just…
on “The Year 2512” ↗While I often read Science Fiction and recently enjoyed Corey Doctorow's Rapture of the Nerds, Last week I finished Jeet Thayil's Narcopolis. Currently, I am reading the third volume of Rick Atkinson's history of the second world war, The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945.…
on “Ask HN: What literature do you read?” ↗…too long-winded and using vague, colloquial terminology and appeals to intuition where a methodoological naturalist can and should appeal to the fruits of science. (Copy-pasta'd from my Amazon review) Rapture of the Nerds by Charles Stross -- pretty funny, even if it made a transhuman superintelligent supercivilization look kind of... dumb. Currently re-reading for fun: The Wee Free Men and I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry…
on “Ask HN: What is HN reading?” ↗"Down and out.." or, "Why is sucks to be an asshole in a reputation-based economy". +1 upvote, would cautionary tale again. PS - If you haven't read Rapture of the Nerds, check it out. It's a Doctorow character (downer of a dude) in a Stross world (craaazy tech).
on “‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine” ↗Reading this reminds me of a great Cory Doctorow / Charlie Stross book - "The Rapture of the Nerds" (https://craphound.com/category/rotn/)
on “Mind Emulation Foundation” ↗It is really not my own favourite of the books I've written, though. (If you want to understand why, you might enjoy The Rapture of the Nerds -- my two-fer with Cory Doctorow, revisiting the same themes a decade later from a rather more tongue-in-cheek, not to say skeptical, direction.)
on “Nothing like this will be built again (2002)” ↗I once commented on HN how much I loved Accelerando and Charles Stross responded suggesting I read his The Rapture of the Nerds. I read it soon after and loved it. I very much enjoy the genre of people living inside computers; I welcome recommendations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rapture_of_the_Nerds
on “Permutation City (1994)” ↗Thank you for your work! Last time I praised Accelerando on HN you commented that I should read The Rapture of the Nerds. I read it shortly after and loved it! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rapture_of_the_Nerds
on “Permutation City (1994)” ↗I once commented on HN how my favorite Sci Fi novel is Accelerando and the author, Charles Stross, replied to it suggesting I try his The Rapture of the Nerds he co-wrote with Cory Doctorow; I loved it when I read it too. I love HN - it's basically the only website I visit these days (aside checking mail, watching YouTube, and gardening my GitHub repositories).
on “Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025” ↗Rapture of the Nerds, Corey Doctorow.
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations for 2014?” ↗…itself. Life gets a lot better and a lot weirder but basically just goes on. Which has the major upside of meaning we'll never have to deal with the Vile Offspring. By the way, the final component to Rapture of the Nerds didn't seem to have a very good "exam", as I can't imagine the Galactic Authority would never have come up with any way to analyze minds, for instance a sample of human minds, and thus infer the chance…
on “"We need a pony. And the moon on a stick. By next Thursday."” ↗/me: waves Be aware that this novel is a cautionary tale, not some kind of technological utopia. And for a contrarian take, I co-wrote another novel with Cory Doctorow, "The Rapture of the Nerds", which is also a free download here: https://craphound.com/rotn/download/ (I'm currently working on another singularity-themed SF novel, this time a far future space opera, but there's no ETA to publication—it…
on “Accelerando (2005)” ↗Looks like that could be the case, yes. Maybe his publishers changed their minds. I know he and Charlie Stross had great difficulty getting Charlie's publishers to agree to a free ebook of Rapture of the Nerds. It looks like there was briefly a giveaway of Walkaway and as a result it's on the Internet Archive, but I've not checked it.
on “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom” ↗