Title: Disappointing and sketchy
Review: I'd expected more from Sterling. Distraction could have been a much better book, if the author had decided what exactly it was supposed to be about. Instead the book jumps from subject to subject, never spending enough time on any of them to convince, and none of the characters are well-enough drawn to make you care about them. Sure, Distraction is full of interesting ideas, but none of them are immediately, intuitively convincing, and because they're skipped over so rapidly, they just aren't supported. I've always found science-fiction to be most interesting when it deals with the results of scientific discovery or societal change, so Distraction should have been a bargain, since it includes about twenty times as many changes as most or SF novels. Instead, its very unsatisfying, because instead of exploring the effects of one idea, Sterling throws another one at you. I remain unconvinced.
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