The Peace War
by Vernor Vinge · first published 1984
59% recommend32% neutral10% critical
Why HN recommends it
Sci-fi built on one impossible technology, the bobbles, with its consequences worked out logically. Appeals to readers who like ideas-driven SF, anarcho-capitalist politics, and a sequel, Marooned in Realtime.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
First in a quintessential hard-science fiction adventure, Hugo Award-winning author Vernor Vinge's The Peace War follows a scientist determined to put an end to the militarization of his greatest invention--and of the government behind it. The Peace Authority conquered the world with a weapon that never should have been a weapon--the "bobble," a spherical force-field impenetrable by any force known to mankind. Encasing governmental installations and military bases in bobbles, the Authority becomes virtually omnipotent. But they've never caught Paul Hoehler, the maverick who invented the
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2008–2026Marooned in Realtime
Vernor Vinge
Recommended by 37 · mentioned by 4737 recommend · 47 mention37 recommend · 4737 recommend
2012–2025Implied Spaces
Walter Jon Williams
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 43 recommend · 4 mention3 recommend · 43 recommend
2011–2025The children of the sky
Vernor Vinge
Recommended by 11 · mentioned by 3311 recommend · 33 mention11 recommend · 3311 recommend
2008–2026True Names
Vernor Vinge, James Frenkel
Recommended by 41 · mentioned by 7141 recommend · 71 mention41 recommend · 7141 recommend
2007–2026A Deepness in the Sky
Vernor Vinge
Recommended by 202 · mentioned by 354202 recommend · 354 mention202 recommend · 354202 recommend
2007–2026A Fire upon the Deep
Vernor Vinge
Recommended by 227 · mentioned by 405227 recommend · 405 mention227 recommend · 405227 recommend
2016–2026Across Realtime
Vernor Vinge
Recommended by 8 · mentioned by 148 recommend · 14 mention8 recommend · 148 recommend
2018–2026The Freeze-Frame Revolution
Peter Watts
Recommended by 15 · mentioned by 2015 recommend · 20 mention15 recommend · 2015 recommend
…few of them, but nearly every one is a gem. Read Understand on the web (http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/under.htm) to see if you like his style - I do. Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky, The Peace War, Marooned in Realtime. All great novels, but start from A Fire Upon the Deep (I read that in 2008) if you haven't read Vinge before, it's the best introduction. Greg Egan, Diaspora, Quarantine, Distress.…
on “Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?” ↗I basically discovered Vernor Vinge. A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge The Peace War, by Vernor Vinge Marooned in Realtime, by Vernor Vinge Hyperion, by Dan Simmons Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt, a fun book about some math and physics problems
on “Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?” ↗Have you read Vernor Vinge's Peace War series? At some point in the 22nd or 23rd century, the Earth's human population was down to a few million individuals. As I recall. They tended to live alone, on large properties. Each used as much resources…
on “Authors see dark side of tech's advances” ↗…Baroque Cycle is a fiction series about the beginnings of computation and cryptography. He does have a propensity to navel-gaze though. Vernor Vinge was a computer science professor. Rainbow's End and The Peace War are worth reading. Anything else he writes is worth reading too, actually. Anything else by Stross, not just Accelerando, will have a bit of a tech bent to it, but is often not very serious and a bit…
…for the ride". I feel like we've read a lot of the same Sci-Fi books... here are some of my favorites that involve augmented intelligence and the possible AI struggles in the future: True names, the Peace War books, as well as the short story "Bookworm, Run!" by Vernor Vinge. Old man's war by John Scalzi. The Heechee Saga by Frederick Pohl. The Fall Revolution series by Ken MacLeod. The Virga series by…
on “Elon Musk's Neuralink looks to begin outfitting human brains with faster I/O” ↗Those two books of his, and in addition his earlier books The Peace War and Marooned in Real Time, have all had a huge influence on me.
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗…which I thought were awesome. These are the smartest science fiction books I have ever read. After reading these, I ordered all the rest of his books. I also really liked Marooned in Realtime and The Peace War.
on “Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End fails to thrill” ↗…many of my favorite stories follow that pattern: Take a normal world and add one radical (or even impossible) piece of technology or magic. Then explore the implications. Vernor Vinge's bobble books (The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime) are an excellent example of this. The thing that annoys me is when authors don't see an implication of their invention. Or worse, they make their characters use the invention…
on “Scientists Help Movie Writers Make Films ‘Plausible-Ish’” ↗A few other SF books with the idea of an external co-brain: - Psychohistorical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury (plays a major role) - Accelerando by Charlie Stross (minor role) - The Peace War, Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge (relatively major roles) edited for formatting
on “Thinking Differently about Thinking: The Mind-Expanding Ideas of Andy Clark” ↗…book was published around the time that I was growing from hobby programming to writing software as a career, and it exposed me to non-trivial proofs, LISP, and recursion in general. Vernor Vinge's The Peace War. It's a bit stupid, but . . . I want to make the tech in this book become reality :-) Bobbles are sheer fantasy, of course, but the Tinker tech stack would be a lot of fun.
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗You might like Vernor Vinge's work. This is briefly touched on in "Marooned in Realtime", and I suspect a prior novel, "The Peace War" is similarly interesting.
on “Could a Peasant Defeat a Knight in Battle?” ↗Vinge already cemented himself with the peace war books, but his ability to present otherness in the Zones of Thought books is probably his most impressive accomplishment. Spiders you both can and can’t understand, and then hive mind mammals… The facile…
on “A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (1992)” ↗…okay to invent magical tech in hard SF, if and only if you clearly distinguish the magical bits and work through all the ramifications logically. A great example is the “bobbles” in Vernor Vinge’s The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime.
on “Liu Cixin's Technologies of the Future” ↗I think it's worth going back and reading Vinge's "The Coming Technological Singularity" (https://edoras.sdsu.edu/~vinge/misc/singularity.html) and then follow it up reading The Peace War, but most importantly its unappreciated detective novel sequel, Marooned In Realtime, which explores some of the interesting implications about people who live right before the singularity. I think…
on “The Singularity Is Nigh!” ↗…Eriophora, Sunday Ahzmundin is about to discover the components of any successful revolution: conspiracy, code—and unavoidable casualties. --- Also going to recommend the various Vernor Vinge books: The Peace War Marooned in Realtime A Deepness in the Sky and the short story "The Peddler's Apprentice" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collected_Stories_of_Verno... )
on “NASA engineers make progress toward understanding Voyager 1 issue” ↗