Now jump ahead a couple thousand years. Vinge's latest work , A Deepness in the Sky , is another visionary work. On one level, it is about a galaxy-spanning, loosely defined family of traders who bind civilization together through goods, services, gossip and information. But behind all this, and binding it all together, is the concept of information as an asset. Managing information is at the heart of A Deepness in the Sky , using networks and communications webs, and some truly small microcomputers.
Information management is used as a tool for the ultimate evil, as well as for a resplendent good.
You'll learn a lot about computers and information theory, with far better plot, setting and character than most such works on the subject. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the future. At nearly a thousand pages, it is intimidating at first glance, and the character development isn't nearly as impressive as Vinge's work. In glorious detail, Landau covers operating systems, utilities, disk drives, CD-ROMs, video, sound, and virtually every other subject, explaining not only how they work but also how they fail to work, and what to do about the failure. The genius of the book, aside from the sheer weight of knowledge, is the organization.