A great cyberpunk fairy tale. Neal Stephenson is the twisted love child of Frances Hodgson Burnett and William Gibson. In the future, due to advances in nano-technology it is possible to grow just about anything out of constituent atoms. Humanity's basic needs are thus pretty much cared for, but there are still privileged sections of society and not so privileged sections. Someone in one of the privileged sections decides that his children were brought up a bit too mundanely and so commissions a "Young Girl's Primer" for his granddaughter. This interactive, artificially intelligent book falls into the hands of a little girl from a not so privileged section of society and stuff happens. It's cool. Read it.

To paraphrase another review of an old Sci-Fi classic, this is "a vast, uncontrolled explosion of a novel".
The characters, setting, situations, and technologies are as well thought out and presented as possible. IN this novel Stephenson creates a new genre, "Nano-Punk". Move over William Gibson, N. Stephenson takes over as the crown prince of modern science fiction thrillers!

To paraphrase another review of an old Sci-Fi classic, this is "a vast, uncontrolled explosion of a novel". The characters, setting, situations, and technologies are as well thought out and presented as possible. In this novel, Stephenson creates a new genre, "Nano-Punk". Move over William Gibson, N. Stephenson takes over as the crown prince of modern science fiction thrillers!

Set in a future dominated by cybernetic technology and computer-based enterprises. Stephenson does a fabulous job of avoiding all stereotypes of this genre, and what results is an exceptionally mature work. The plot revolves around a young girl named Nell who come into possession of an electronic book. The author brilliantly maps out her development, creating a parable of mankind's increasing dependence on technology. Proves that science fiction can be literature as well.