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Loading... Turing's Delirium (edition 2007)by Edmundo Paz Soldan
Work InformationTuring's Delirium by Edmundo Paz Soldán
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This underwhelming book is very close to a much superior work, Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Very much a Cryptonomicon set in Bolivia, the author has interspersed short chapters of the stream of consciousness of a side character with very little help to the plot which drags down the story significantly. For those interested in the cryptology portion of the book there is minimal information on codebreaking or early computers. It really is more a pseudo-history of hapless codebreakers working for a dictator with intermittent reign in Bolivia. Set after an evolution of this organization, there is suddenly a contemporary revolutionary threatening the computer systems and energy grid of the dictator in a modern South American state. The story does move along, and weaves in all the historical cultural relevant issues such as family members being 'disappeared' long ago, corruption, the military, poverty, and more. Do not expect much of this book. ( ) This is a political thriller, with a cryptographic background. Each chapter takes the point of view of a single character, going back and forth between them as the book progresses, which keeps things moving. The writer's lack of first-hand experience in some of the cyberenvironments he describes is occasionally noticable, but he never strays into cliche or doubletalk. (Well, hardly ever.) It's set in Bolivia, around 2003 or 2004. The government of democratically-elected General Montenegro (formerly dictator) is under pressure from the populace, having taken privatization one step too far. The cast of characters: Saenz, cryptanalyst for the government, nicknamed Turing Ruth, his wife Flavia, his Daughter Albert, his old boss, now comatose Ramirez-Graham, his new boss Judge Cardona and Kandinsky, leader of the Resistance An interesting read, however it was stylistically not something I'm used to. Chapters are told from different character's points of view, but different characters are from different POV (1st, 2nd, 3rd person.) This took some getting used to. The story as a whole was good, but the ending was abrupt, I felt that all of the characters had a few more chapters of story to resolve. Disappointing. The cover promises "sleek, brisk, and clever" along with "fast-paced, thinking person's thriller." I found it slow, not exciting, filled with cyber-inaccuracies, and one-dimensional characters. I just don't get what the reviewers saw in this book. Took me FOREVER to finish it because I just wasn't excited about picking it up. no reviews | add a review
The setting: Bolivia in the near future. Miguel "Turing" Saenz, a veteran cryptanalyst, is the most famous code-breaker in the employment of a secret government organization known as the Black Chamber. He is leading the pursuit of the Chamber's latest target: Kandinsky, a "cyberhacktivist" leader who is staging a war against both the government and the country's transnational corporations as part of an antiglobalization revolution. As Turing finds himself drawn into a web of murder, intrigue, and deception, he begins to suspect that his work is not as innocent as he once believed. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)863.64Literature Spanish and Portuguese Spanish fiction 20th Century 1945-2000LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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