The Hacker and the Ants

I'll start by saying what's wrong with this book. Rucker must have had a really bad marriage as he uses his wife in his books rather negatively. But even with this he writes a fantastic book. I can look at the technology that he describes and almost see it in use today. No magic but solid tech. And the story fits so well with the genre of both cyberpunk and today's news. I really wish this book was in print for others to read.

This book taught me more about the Internet and Web when I first read it in 1994 than any other book, magazine or article. In 1999, the "science fiction" in it has largely become reality, while other parts of it will hit the market in the near future.When the paperback comes out, I will buy many copies to share with older friends who seem "afraid" of the Net. I also recommend the book for literature classes at both the high school and college level. The blend of science with human reality is mature and sophisticated, making the novel crossover from sci-fi to literature.

It's a fun book to read, with believable technology (i.e. Virtual Reality "construction"). It's light hearted yet gives you something to think about, a pretty cool combo!

Stated simply: 99% of the time, I dislike cyberpunk. It tends to overexagerate and overestimate the future of humankind, ignoring current facts and trends... this book is totally different. Rucker really knows it's way arround computers and cyberculture. Jerzy Rugby, programmer, is involved in the creation and design of a new robot for massmarket. The product has to be alive, or better stated, A-life. In the process a special kind of ant is created, a cyber-ant, one that lives only IN the computer, and it's very very alive. You may be guessing the ants are troublesome and are going to get loose. What you are not going to guess is the rest of the plot...

Intelligent computers that run mega-corporations. Cyberjockeys that are being blackmailed into stealing something from them. The gangs that populate the overcrowded metropolis. Some weird notions of what cyberspace is going to be in ten years. When you're finally fed up with them all, pick up "The Hacker and the Ants" and read it. There's a fiction book with some real science, from someone who knows what he's talking about and shows it.