This guy sound too dark for me!

Yes, the teacher was a ractor who had some sort of body modification where she could broadcast from her body a recreated image of herself in whatever costume was required to tell the story she had to tell. The knowledge in the book was like an interactive AI archive, analogous to the archivist in the Time Machine Story by H.G. Wells. Some of the books did not have this human element and was just AI, which led to the Mouse Army of practical, intelligent followers, one of the girls who had to many ractors decided the books was boring, one whom the ractor was her father, and our protagonist who had a number of very caring ractors who felt like they were bringing her up. So in the book the human element was important, in this case the ractor was also of a similar background to the princess and understood the cultural subtleties required to navigate the different phyles.

I only have a few books of his left to read The Baroque Cycle Volume 3: The System of the World; In the Beginning…Was the Command Line; The Big U, and the up and coming Anathem. I will miss him! Those Baroque ones were loaded with so much information on the evolution of science and technology in the west that I found it hard to recall all the characters and keep track. I will probably have to read them again some day.

Who would you recommend as a good read? I have been reading a few William Gibson books, but I do not find them as exciting as Stephenson’s, I think they are a little more macho while i find Stephenson has developed some really interesting female characters. It is interesting that Nell’s knowledge sources are male, very much like today’s universities with mostly male modes and forms of thought yet she had some superb female teachers, the Primer was written by a male while the ractor was a female.

How is India? I am still waiting form my GOI approval to do research there. We’ll see! I also see that you now have this crazy guru like thick beard! Hope all is well and that you enjoyed your journey up north. Was Dartagnan there?

But best I liked the computerized all-knowing book, which, as far as I remember, was just a window to the lessons played by cheap teachers somewhere distant. An really interesting approach, not to use huge expensive IT-solutions = Databases but better use cheap ‘third-world’ labor, this really feels ‘real’.

Anyway, you motivated me to start another book-reading sci-fi session again, great. Just have to find a nice book here in India.

Greetings from the other side of the world,
Rene