Diaspora

I picked up this book by Greg Egan at a second hand bookshop last weekend in Maleny. I've read books by Egan in the past and, while I can't remember them in any great detail, I do remember enjoying them. This one followed the same pattern. I enjoyed it, but I can see why I find them hard to remember.


It's a science fiction book, set in a distant future when humans have split into different species. Some have migrated into space and have created robot bodies, others have uploaded themselves into computers known as polises, and others have remained in physical bodies and are known as "fleshers". They've taken to genetic engineering in a big way and have improved their body types in many ways, so there's very few "classical" humans around anymore. The three types of humanity have very little to do with each other.

The plot follows the citizens of a polis. The earth faces a catastrophe on a galactic scale, that can't be avoided. It's the story of how they discover and cope with this catastrophe.

It's a hard science fiction book, and contains a lot of physics and computing information. Most of this went straight over my head - I found my eyes glazing and skipping ahead until the technical terms were over. In a way these details are important because they are part of the response to the catastrophe and do drive the story forward. Without them it wouldn't be the same book, and the story wouldn't work so well. I have no way of judging if the physics discussed makes any sense, though, so disregarded most of it.

But they're also irrelevant, too. The story works because I found the characters interesting. The way they coped with strange environments and challenges was fascinating. Living in a virtual world, such as a polis, would be strange in ways I can't imagine, but Egan makes the experience believable. Exciting, even. There are so many ideas included in this book - different ways of being human, post-human, what it means to be and intelligent and conscious being, identity. There's a lot of food for thought here, if that's what you're looking for.

So, overall, it's a good book but with lots of eye-glazing moments. Mostly one for the fans of hard science fiction, though.

Diaspora, by Greg Egan.