Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell

by Stephenson, Neal
ISBN: 9780062458728
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Used - Trade Paperback - 9780062458728

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Overview

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Seveneves, Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon returns with a wildly inventive and entertaining science fiction thriller--Paradise Lost by way of Philip K. Dick--that unfolds in the near future, in parallel worlds.

In his youth, Richard "Dodge" Forthrast founded Corporation 9592, a gaming company that made him a multibillionaire. Now in his middle years, Dodge appreciates his comfortable, unencumbered life, managing his myriad business interests, and spending time with his beloved niece Zula and her young daughter, Sophia.

One beautiful autumn day, while he undergoes a routine medical procedure, something goes irrevocably wrong. Dodge is pronounced brain dead and put on life support, leaving his stunned family and close friends with difficult decisions. Long ago, when a much younger Dodge drew up his will, he directed that his body be given to a cryonics company now owned by enigmatic tech entrepreneur Elmo Shepherd. Legally bound to follow the directive despite their misgivings, Dodge's family has his brain scanned and its data structures uploaded and stored in the cloud, until it can eventually be revived.

In the coming years, technology allows Dodge's brain to be turned back on. It is an achievement that is nothing less than the disruption of death itself. An eternal afterlife--the Bitworld--is created, in which humans continue to exist as digital souls.

But this brave new immortal world is not the Utopia it might first seem . . .

Fall, or Dodge in Hell is pure, unadulterated fun: a grand drama of analog and digital, man and machine, angels and demons, gods and followers, the finite and the eternal. In this exhilarating epic, Neal Stephenson raises profound existential questions and touches on the revolutionary breakthroughs that are transforming our future. Combining the technological, philosophical, and spiritual in one grand myth, he delivers a mind-blowing speculative literary saga for the modern age.

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Stephenson, Neal
  • ISBN: 9780062458728
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 7.90 x 1.70
  • Number Of Pages: 896
  • Publication Year: 2020

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  • Two books in one!

    Doug W. - 5 years 8 months ago

    This is not Stephenson's best. The first half of the book moved along with a fast-paced narrative of life and technology in the 21st century. The second half was another book altogether. LOTR and swords-and-sorcery fans will be pleased.

  • Dan's Booktalk Review For Neal Stephenson's Fall, or Dodge in Hell

    Dan J. - 5 years 10 months ago

    If you’re looking for something to keep you entertained for a long while, this book clocks in at almost 900 pages. Stephenson is one one of my favorite authors, and I often joke he believes in literature by the pound. Technically, Fall is a semi-sequel to his earlier book Reamde, as several of the character in the earlier book play roles in this newer one. But Fall is definitely a standalone work that doesn’t require prior knowledge and can easily be read apart on its own. This novel is an ambitious syncretic melding of cyber-punk futurism, creation mythology, and high fantasy. As someone who both loved the sci-fi worlds of William Gibson as well as the Classical mythology of Hesiod, this book has been one of my favorite reads in recent memory. Dodge is CEO and founder of a popular Massive Multiplayer Online Role Play Game, semi-retired, but still active in the game he created. After a routine medical visit goes cataclysmically wrong, Dodge dies suddenly. That kicks off a wild series of medical procedures to cryogenically freeze his body and preserve him until such a time as medicine advances and he can be brought back. He had written that into his will decades ago, having invested some of his videogame company wealth in a cryo-freeze startup. But he had never updated that part of his will, and he had honestly forgotten to really mention it to his family. Fast forward to several decades after his death, and what’s left of Dodge’s consciousness is uploaded into a virtual afterlife. I hate to say more, as a large part of the fun of this book are all the bizarre hairpin turns it takes, both in the real world and in the virtual one. It takes a great author to successfully balance the various genres, tones, and complex multi-threaded plot lines. But if you’ve read any of Stephenson’s earlier books, you know you’re in the hands of a master. And if you haven’t read Stephenson before, this book is wonderful place to start. #SummerReading