Today is a Kifune discussion group, for those in LA, Kifune is a nice Japanese restaurant that we meet infrequently at with friends and acquaintances to talk about wild things.

I finished Rainbows End yesterday, and it was very good, excepting Vinge's characteristic avoidance of AI. Vinge is very clear in his understanding of the power of AI, but he always refuses to attempt to directly depict it. It's central to his stories, but it always occurs off-camera. Here, we're extremely near future, where things are getting quite exciting, but entirely through 'normal' ultratechnology like automated manufacturing, pervasive computing, social networking, bio sciences.

It's definitely worth the read, and it will probably inspire quite a few real life inventions, unless I miss my guess. Much of what he depicts is intriguingly possible.

I bought it from Amazon, you can get it from any major retailer. It's not online yet, that I can tell, but it will be soon. I don't know what Vinge's personal opinions are on personal property, but I'll probably want a digital copy to go along with my hardcover, so I'll let you know.