Friday, February 24, 2012

"Ender's Game" - a book ahead of its time

I don't normally review books, but I feel the need in this case.

Orson Scott Card was so far ahead of his time with Ender's Game, it's almost creepy.  I'm only halfway through reading it, and although it was published in 1985, there are so many things in the technology and information realm that we now take for granted.

The main character, Ender Wiggins, and his brother Peter and sister Valentine, work on "desk" computers.  In my mind, these sound like tablet computers, like the Kindle or iPad.  In one of the chapters, Peter and Valentine go onto the "net" and post comments on sites.  Wow!  This was in 1985!

What floored me today was I read a passage that talked about searching for one's comments on the net.  Google or Yahoo! anyone?

Ahead of his time?

That's an understatement.

What's sad is that I didn't read this book until I am in my late 30's.  Then again, I didn't read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings until Peter Jackson's movies came out.

2 comments:

  1. I first read Ender's Game in high school and have been saying the same thing for years!

    With his uncanny accuracy for predicting future technological uses, it gives me some serious concern for the future!

    ReplyDelete