SOJALS rating:

Good (3/5)

I first read this on the 8th April 2007.

Robert is slowly recovering from Alzheimer's. Little by little the fog is lifting and he finds himself in a new world of pervasive IT, a new world to which he must learn to adapt.

This is a brilliant view our future world. We've seen the first invasion of IT into our everyday lives and we've almost ignored it because it's so, well, everyday*. But think: if we now have processors in our fridges and washing machines; in our watches and portable music players; in our telephones* and our printers; even in the ink cartridges for our printers; in the decorative fridge magnets and greeting cards. If the speed of IT development is increased, what do we expect in twenty more years? It's quite astounding, and worrying and exhilerating.

*I wrote this review on 25 January 2007 but failed to load it. It's quite amusing to see I referred to music players and telephones. Now of course we have phones, tablets and 3D printers. We still have Alzheimer's disease, but I think Vernor has it right - we'll fix that in a few more years and not only prevent Alzheimer's but bring back the those affected.