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Review title: Unfathomably Bad
Product review: Harrison's a pretty good SF writer and Minsky is a leader in AI, so this seemed a good bet. Not so. The writing is wooden, mechanical and impersonal. All of the characters talk the same and we have to rely on the authors to tell us what each of them is like. Which often comes as a surprise. 15 years is a long time for any book that centers on computer technology, so one wouldn't expect this to have aged well. But consider: Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is from 1962, this from 1992. Heinlein's book is fresh and thought provoking, this one is just boring. The computer ideas aren't really very interesting and, really, Minsky should have known better. So how can you have the right ingredients and have such a lousy result? I got this used and very cheap. It's still a waste of time. Alas.
