The Diamond Age
by Neal Stephenson · first published 1995
47% recommend45% neutral8% critical
Why HN recommends it
Post-cyberpunk speculative fiction with deep world building, a post-scarcity society, and a vision of education and raising a child to become a capable hacker; it still reads well and suits Stephenson fans.
Common criticism: Some find the ending abrupt or messy
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The story of an engineer who creates a device to raise a girl capable of thinking for herself reveals what happens when a young girl of the poor underclass obtains the device.
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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I liked it, but I am a big Stephenson fan. I skipped Anathem and the baroque cycle books, but Diamond Age is one of my favorite books and I also like Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon a lot. Reamde was pretty good, and this is an interesting setup. Edit: Anathem not Anathema (thanks __david__ and lmm)
on “First 26 pages of Neal Stephenson's new novel Seveneves” ↗…in Seveneves. But, that said, I think the book is worth reading, especially the first 2/3's. My personal, quick, rough ranking of Stephenson's bibliography: * Anathem * Snow Crash * The Diamond Age * Seveneves * Cryptonomicon * The Baroque Cycle * Zodiac * Reamde * The Interface * The Big U Haven't Read * The Cobweb * The Mongoliad
on “An Interview with Neal Stephenson” ↗…has a passing familiarity with the topic. Nonetheless, I place him up there with Stephenson. All this DESPITE the fact that Stephenson stands in a league of his own - he pioneered "post cyberpunk" with Diamond Age and went from having as much style as Gibson to as much scientific grounding as Asimov. With that said, Stephenson's latter books are all science, no char dev, no (interesting) story. I really can't…
on “The Influence of Neuromancer on Cyberpunk” ↗The Diamond Age (Neal Stephenson, 1995) had many eerily prescient visions but I've always liked some of the more subtle ones: the "Neo-Victorians" who put extra value on handmade goods in a world where anything can be…
on “Ask HN: Favorite technology predictions in science fiction?” ↗…banality of the future, because they were fixated on the romantic cowboy-gangster hackers outlaws who lived on the fringes. Among the big names, Neal Stephenson did a great job of it with Snow Crash and The Diamond Age because he remembered that the megacorps had to sell to someone at the end of the day, and had to have shiny customer-facing dross.
on “The Gernsback Continuum by William Gibson (1981)” ↗Highly recommend the Neal Stephenson book The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, for an interesting exploration of a custom AI tutor for each student. In that book, students have a "magic book" that teaches them lessons in a story form while…
on “Khan Academy integrates GPT-4 as every student’s customized tutor” ↗I loved Diamond Age. My favorite Stephenson book, by far. But the ending, the resolution of all the action, was such a letdown. Such meh. I find that this is often a problem with cyberpunk.
on “"A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" Simulated by GPT-4” ↗…fast. It can sound a bit woo-ish but I think it'll be objectively measurable. > What's the successor to the book? And how could books be improved? I don't know but I really like Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age (subtitle: "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer"). Wikiquote: "At the age of four, Nell receives a stolen copy of an interactive book, Young Lady's Illustrated Primer: a Propædeutic Enchiridion, in which…
on “Questions” ↗Neal Stephenson really matures between Snow Crash and Diamond Age. I read snow crash after some of his later stuff and it's almost hard to believe it's the same author. Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon are great books but each has their own style and you would think it…
on “The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)” ↗…something of moderate size. If I can pop over to a store and get the same item manufactured in the traditional way, I probably will. Finally, if by any chance, someone reading this comment hasn't read "The Diamond Age" by Stephenson, please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.
on “How a new manufacturing technology will change the world” ↗I was just thinking how close we must be to "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" (see: "Diamond Age", by Neal Stephenson, referenced by me and seiji here. GREAT book.)
on “Disney Research unveils augmented reality books” ↗Yep, exactly. Stephenson has a crazy lot of potential - Diamond Age hit pretty well for me, Anthem hit, but some of his other stuff are simply not for me. Readme was a straight forward action story in the middle and I just gave up. He seems to have very very different…
on “First 26 pages of Neal Stephenson's new novel Seveneves” ↗I've given out several copies of "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson and "Stories of Your Life and Others" by Ted Chiang.
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗…Charles Stross, is that, for me at least, they're massive catalysts to my own thoughts and imaginations of what might be possible. If I had to pick one book above others from Neil Stephenson it would be Diamond Age. I just keep going back to it. It's got a lot to say, and I wouldn't mind seeing a similar analysis by the Author of this post.
on “Snow Crash Revisited: Grokking a Satire of Mimesis” ↗As a huge fan of Neal Stephenson I found Seveneves to be one of his worst books. Cryptonomicon, Diamond Age, Snow Crash; some of my favorite books so the length of the book has nothing to do with it. The characters were flat, unbelievable and unlikable. The dialogue was weak and awkward. The scenario felt contrived…
on ““The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason”” ↗