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Original Essays | December 12, 2009

The Courage of Others

0 comments By Alexander McCall Smith

I have recently written a novel about life in England during the Second World War. I felt some concern before I tackled this theme — the War... Continue »

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1. 
   $16.76 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

   La's Orchestra Saves the World

   Alexander McCall Smith

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julius, October 13, 2008

I have always found that in the genre of science fiction, that what makes a good writer is the ability to see what we have before us and following these to various possible conclusions. What makes the writer great, is when some of these conclusions come true. It was thus with Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov, so to with Neal Stephenson. Snow Crash introduces us to Hiro Protagonist and the "Street", a three dimensional virtual world that you plug into and interact in this world via an avatar. You can be anything in this world. Sound familiar? Sure we don't plug into our computers for full immersion participation, but anyone who has played World of Warcraft or socialized in Second Life can dig this! There is also the globe in Hiro's virtual office on the Street. Very like Google Earth. When I read this book, (my first by this author) in 2005, I checked the publication date and was surprised to see that the original publication date was 1992! Of course the story is very good and the characters are engaging as well. All in all a very exciting read!

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